The Blog of Small Things

  Name : Collector Bro Author : Prasanth Nair Year of Publication : 2021 Genre : Non-fiction, Memoir Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5)   Prasanth Nair, a pioneer in IAS who made a "bro" out of the otherwise distant "Collector saab/sir/ayya", debuts with this memoir detailing his experiences as District Collector, Kozhikode. 2015 was a year when avenues of social media like Facebook were waiting to be tapped as a tool in effective administration and Prasanth arrived at the right time converting Facebook posts into amphitheaters for displays of public compassion.  The book is at its best when it talks about the people of Kozhikode . His smartness shines through whenever he couches stories about his own ingenuity in a self deprecatory tone. The illustrations are so good that they steal the thunder from the writing at times. Young readers dreaming of a career in IAS/IPS will definitely enjoy this short and breezy read .  The pageant of the Kerala cadre of IAS is a rich on...

Name : Jugalbandi Author : Vinay Sitapati Year of Publication : 2020 Genre : Non-fiction, Biography, Politics Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5)   Vinay Sitapati's sophomore work on the Advani-Vajpayee duo is a delightful mix of anecdotage, research and engaging story-telling without judgement. He unearths nuggets of information which cannot be found elsewhere : How the crowd started to cheer Vajpayee's name when Advani was about to announce BJP's prime ministerial candidate in 1995. The book's best parts relate to the 2002 National Executive wherein Modi captured the imagination of the cadre despite Vajpayee's reservations. As evident in his book on Narasimha Rao as well, Vinay's strength lies in his ability to focus on engaging trivia without losing focus on the larger picture. Followers of Hindu Nationalism should first listen to the music of "Jugalbandi" before diving into scholarly prose.

Name : Velvithee Author : M.V.Venkatram Year of Publication : 1963 Genre : Fiction,Novel Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5) M.V.Venkatram weaves sociology with relationship dilemmas in this novel. Set in times when the Congress is giving way to DMK, it beautifully captures the lives of the Sourashtrian weavers' community in Kumbakonam. Kannan, the protagonist, rises in life due to his single-minded hard work but is thrown off the tracks by a woman outside his marriage. While the plot has huge potential, it shines more as social commentary than an effective novel which strikes an emotional chord.

  Name : Karunanidhi : A Life Author : A.S.Paneerselvan Year of Publication : 2021 Genre : Non-fiction, Biography,Politics Rating : **** (4 stars out of 5)   In his seminal "India After Gandhi", Ramachandra Guha underlines the need for good biographies of great regional leaders. A.S.Paneerselvan's deeply researched of M.Karunanidhi is one such work. Karunanidhi's previous English biographies failed to capture his multi-faceted personality. Vaasanthi is too besotted with Jayalalitha to do justice in her book while Sandhya Ravishankar's work is a light one skimming the surface except for allegations of corruption.A.S.Paneerselvan is sympathetic to the causes espoused by Karunanidhi and the book is a must read for non-Tamil readers who have thus far understood Tamil Nadu only through the Brahmin-Savarna lenses of "experts". Karunanidhi's epitaph reads : " He who toiled without taking rest is resting in peace here". The hard work involved in th...