Simmering. Never stopping. Always simmering. Simmering at the contours of our cognition. Simmering at the edges of our dreams. Simmering at the rims of our comprehension. At the corners of our being but never vanishing. That’s how our past lives. And how do we make eye contact with it? With pride? With temerity? With shame? With a … More The unending dance of ‘listening’
Katabasis – A journey to the underworld, to Hell. It was supposed to take me in, get me hooked. It was supposed to present me a world from where my eyes wouldn’t tear off. A world where wild things happened, unannounced. A precipice that threw me into vertiginous depths wherein everything was alien, sterile black, … More A rewarding journey to Hell
I sat with this book for a long time. I didn’t know what I felt more – angry or hopeful. “I would answer violence with art.” But how to do it? Especially when one imagines the intensity, the horror, the sheer inexplicability of violence? Violence that beats its bare chest over the unarmed, defenceless body … More Art over violence, again, and again, and again
Of late, I have been wary of picking up a chunkster to read – no, not because they have lost their appeal but because I have come to attach greater value to the time I have at hand. Almost to the point of being miserly to let it go without doing my best dance with … More Friendship in the frigid weather of life
Watchmen by Alan Moore (Illustrated by Dave Gibbons and John Higgins)My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’. In other words, ‘Who will guard the guards themselves?’ .The undercurrent of this question is all over the novel and pretty much rocks the boat, both literally and figuratively. In 1970s of America, a bunch of costumed … More Book Review: Watchmen by Alan Moore (1986)
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean VuongMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Memory. A twig to hang our old ages on, a current to charge our failed youth from; a blanket to hush our demons from the black, a spring to nourish our wounded dreams underneath. A whole. A hollow. And everything suspended in between is … More Book Review: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (2019)
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami My Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars If I close my eyes tight, what shall I see? If I shut out all the noises I can sense, what shall I hear? If I shun the world completely, what shall I feel? A dark nothingness? Or a blinding muddle of overlapping images? … More Book Review: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (2018)
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Confession , as a word, has a strong connotation – prelude to its utterance is a hesitation, and that hesitation alone, is sufficient to engulf the confession-maker with an odour that reeks of both delay and guilt. But Mishima’s protagonist can take … More Book Review: Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima (1958)
Ties by Domenico Starnone My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Validation is a monster we carry within us – we seek it in abundance for the tiniest of things to the biggest of matters; and in the sordid event of its unavailability in external sources, we turn inwards and grab it nonetheless. We validate ourselves; … More Book Review – Ties by Domenico Starnone (2014)
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars When the weapon inflicting a wound is done with its work, it hops onto to its next victim with a repugnant nonchalance. It doesn’t look back, it has barely any emotion. But it does not do the disappearing act before leaving behind the story of … More Book Review: Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (2018)
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