The Blog of Small Things

Name : Indira Gandhi and the years that transformed India Author : Srinath Raghavan     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics, Biography, History     Rating : *** ( 3 stars out of 5) Srinath Raghavan, the erudite scholar who has previously written valuable works on Nehru and  Bangladesh war (among others)  pens a semi-biographical, semi-political portrait of the "Long 1970s" through the travails and decisions of the fragile yet indestructible "Durga"- Indira Gandhi. While the research material is new and the context setting is thorough (understanding local economic decisions through the lens of global crises), the author is in a hurry to pack in too much material in limited space. In a book with large ambitions, epiphanies are expected but the book stops short. The biggest decision in Indira Gandhi's career was to withdraw Emergency when she was at the peak of her political legitimacy.  Ramachandra Guha's "India after G...

Name : OTP please! Author : Vandana Vasudevan     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Economics, Society     Rating : *** ( 3 stars out of 5) The author pens a well-researched tome on gig workers and online commerce - a theme hitherto unexplored in developmental literature. The book documents the travails of such workers across South Asia through patient one-to-one interviews (from Swiggy delivery boys to Amazon warehouse workers) and emotion-based chapters (guilt, anxiety, freedom etc). The author resists broad brushstrokes and paints a mixed picture of this new world with words of caution about it's future.  This book is an important addition to our understanding of jobs and development in the South Asian perspective.

  Name : Chronicle of an Hour and a Half Author : Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari     Year of Publication : 2024     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : **** ( 4 stars out of 5) The debutant author spins a lyrical narrative set in small town Kerala covering nearly 200 pages of events which happen within 90 minutes. The structure of the novel - a new narrator every chapter- adds to the frenzy. A tempest-hit village in Areekode(or is that the right spelling?) smells an affair while the woman's husband is away in the Gulf, feeds poison on Whatsapp and turns into a mob baying for blood. The result is a heady (and scary) work of fiction which sounds eerily close to reality in our rabid times. A new and original voice has arisen in the Indian Fiction horizon and Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari is here to stay.

  Name : Nehru's India Author : Aditya Mukherjee     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, History     Rating : **** ( 4 stars out of 5) Aditya Mukherjee's love for the Nehruvian Idea of India shines through in this short tome which provides a brief overview of the different aspects which underlines Jawaharlal Nehru's commitment to democracy, socialism and secularism. The book also provides a snapshot of how Nehru's passion for the discipline of history guided his ideals. Along with Nehru's short biographies by Shashi Tharoor and Walter Crocker, this volume is a handy introduction to who Nehru is and what Nehru means to today's India.

  Name : The Secret of Secrets Author : Dan Brown     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Fiction     Rating : **( 2 stars out of 5) Dan Brown's ever-reliable mix of guided tour in historical places, pseudo-science, decrypting codes and action thrills is back again in his latest novel, this time set in Prague. Every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger as usual, but the payoffs are meagre this time. The novel is long over but it meanders for atleast 100 more pages - first for a Dan Brown novel who usually unties all knots and ends immediately.  Balderdash but page-turning balderdash.

  Name : Why the poor don't kill us Author : Manu Joseph     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non - Fiction     Rating : **** ( Four stars out of 5) Manu Joseph , the original and provocative novelist, saves these adjectives for reviewers to describe him in his first work of non-fiction as well. He takes up the burning topic of the poor and inequality , asks some disturbing questions and answers them in his typical irreverent and witty manner. No one's hypocrisy (sample : "And the disdain that Arundhati Roy has for Mukesh Ambani's giant home - wouldn't a malnourished tribal feel the same about Roy's affluent home in Delhi's prime Jor Bagh? ") is spared in his inimitable manner. The author's style may infuriate many but that is exactly his aim. He concludes : "As long as there are the rich, there will be the poor". As long as there is hypocrisy in this society, Manu will keep waging such verbal battles.