Shame by Salman Rushdie

Though the characters and events are cast in a fable like fashion, “Shame” is clearly a portrayal of post independence Pakistan, with some of its main characters replicating prominent political figures in real life, albeit loosely. Iskander (a vairant of Sikander/Alexander) Harappa is the liberal Zulfikar Bhutto, Raza Hyder, his subverter and subsequent president, [...]

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Online is fun, but offline is where it matters

        In the days of pushbutton publishing without the threat of quality control in the form of an editor, it is easy to become a writer or a critic. Yet I wonder how many sincere writers and critics, [...]

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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry: Of quotes, names and more

        I wanted to follow up my earlier post with a few things I had in mind, but could not fit in, due to lack of context and contemplation.
The first is in the name of a principal character – Dina Dalal. This is almost too perfect a nomination, yet doesn’t sound jarring or unnatural [...]

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Midnight’s Children Festival

Came across this on you tube. It’s a brief introduction to Midnight’s Children and the play based on the book. The introductory words are read from the book by the author himself.
 Read the Review posted earlier
 
 
 

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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

If you missed the Introductory bit…

Dukhi, the father and Ishvar and Narayan, fed up of the oppression of lower castes, sends his sons to his friend Ashraf, so he can train them as tailors, breaking away from the erstwhile caste dictated professoin of chamaar. Narayan then returns to the village, setting [...]

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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry: The horrors of caste system

In Mistry’s “A Fine Balance”, Indira Gandhi’s emergency era is the backdrop of tragic events befalling the four protagonists, who, despite the utter hopelessness and anxiety surrounding them, find comfort in each others’ company. The story starts in the same year the emergency was declared, 1975. Indira [...]

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