The Blog of Small Things

Name : Contenders- Who will lead India tomorrow ? Author : Priya Sahgal Year of Publication : 2018 Genre : Politics, Essays , Non-Fiction Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5) An excellent introduction to our leaders of tomorrow. Each chapter profiles a leader comprehensively in a pithy manner - covering where they began, the journey thus far and the challenges ahead. The author has penned cover stories on politics for newsmagazines and this experience shows as she intersperses interviews with anecdotes, political philosophy with a comment on the leader's hairdo. Almost all the leaders represented were born into political families , excepting the ones from BJP but these BJP leaders suffer from issues graver than lineage. In his foreword, Vir Sanghvi says that atleast one of these leaders profiled will be Prime Minister of India one day. I cannot see how but exciting times lie ahead.

Name :  Hashimpura -22 May Author : Vibhuti Narain Rai Year of Publication : 2016 Genre : Crime, Religion , Non-Fiction Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5) This book is a must-read for any Indian citizen for the light it throws on the dark recesses of the Indian state. A group of PAC armed men rounded up 40 odd Muslims in a canal and killed them simply because they are Muslims. It took more than 30 years for the culprits to be sentenced for life. But even then, only the lower level PAC men were convicted and it is obvious that such a brutal and cold-blooded operation could not have been executed without instructions from the top. Who were those at the Top ? How did they manage to escape scot- free ? When someone mentions Bullet Trains and "Developed India" tropes , reply back "Hashimpura".

Name :  "Sol alla seyal" Author : Athisha Year of Publication : 2017 Genre : Essays, Society Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5)              A collection of preachy essays that uses highly interesting anecdotes to put across lessons on suicide, possessiveness, remorse, moving on , fighting for one's rights and what not. The moralising is made palatable by the anecdotes - some such as those involving the friend who laughs off her nude pics being circulated by her ex-boyfriend online or the old man who fights as to why should he pay extra for gravy in a restaurant or the father who refuses to forgive his erring son even on his death bed are particularly stirring.  The author has a penchant for story-telling a la Rajamurugan's "Vattiyum Mudhalum" but I wish his future works stop at story telling and leave the morals to us.