On The Shelf

Diksha At St. Martin8217;sBy Siddharth ChowdhurySrishti; price: Rs 145Siddharth Chowdhury8217;s first book, a collection of short stories,...

Diksha At St. Martin8217;s
By Siddharth Chowdhury
Srishti; price: Rs 145

Siddharth Chowdhury8217;s first book, a collection of short stories, brings a breath of fresh air. He grew up in Patna and has spent his most of his adult life in New Delhi. These two cities both inspire Chowdhury and form the backdrop for his tales. It comes as a relief that he writes like the insider that he is.

From a poet who seeks salvation in Ghalib, a young boy who kills the teacher who has been sexually abusing him, a young aspiring IAS candidate whose pursuit of the civil services leads him to the mental asylum in Ranchi, to the woman who hands over her Naxalite husband to the police in order to save him, the book is a kaleidoscope of lives all juxtaposed in a 8216;8216;modern Indian8217;8217; socio-cultural context, a context forever metamorphosing.

8212; Esha Roy

Yadav: A Roadside Love Story
By Jill Lowe
Penguin; Rs 250

IT is a real life travelogue and a love story and the two are supposed to be inter-woven. As the former, it oscillates between bland and bountiful descriptions of Exotic India. As the latter, it simply leaves the reader numb, which is the most disappointing aspect of the book, given that it is about two people whose worlds could not have been any more different. Jill Lowe, crusty, divorced, late middle-aged British woman decides to tour India and while sampling typical exotica, falls in love with her driver 8212; Yadav, 39 years old and a typical Haryanvi, complete with farm, cattle and an entire village that goes by the same last name.

8212; Puja Birla

Sourav: A Biography
By Gulu Ezekiel

Penguin; price: Rs 250

Sourav Ganguly loves to describe himself as India8217;s most-hated captain. Certainly he inspires cricket watchers to take extreme views. A skipper proving unworthy of high honour with his tantrums and machinations? Or a man infusing dollops of vigour into an otherwise laid-back squad? Ezekiel8217;s painstaking effort to trace the career of one of India8217;s classiest batsmen doesn8217;t settle it either way.