The Blog of Small Things

  Name : Mission Domination Authors : Boria Majumdar and Kushan Sarkar Year of Publication : 2021 Genre : Non-fiction, Cricket Rating : * 1/2( One and a half stars out of 5) Boria Mazumdar's fall from a doctorate-holding cricket historian to an establishment journalist is itself worth the study of a doctorate. The authors treat every superstar cricketer as Gods and portions of the book read like a PR exercise for the incumbent coach-captain duo. For political correctness, the book features a pointless coda on women's cricket which feels like it is from an entirely different book. The only superstar they dare to criticize is MS Dhoni but the day Dhoni grants access to them through "exclusives", the fawning author duo will get to work.

  Name : A Rude Life Author : Vir Sanghvi Year of Publication : 2021 Genre : Non-fiction, Memoir, Politics, Journalism Rating : *** ( Three stars out of 5) Vir Sanghvi's memoir is a rollercoaster exhibition of "access journalism" as his anecdotes and experiences segue into a tapestry of name-dropping. His pedestrian writing is all forgotten as his ringside view of famous personalities/events is alluring enough to keep us engaged. From Amitabh Bachchan to Sonia Gandhi, Tony Blair to George Harrison - every page is a treasure of intriguing anecdotes. He is unduly soft on those who gave him access (Vajpayee, Sonia etc) while he makes a mincemeat out of leaders who did not grant him the same. (He lays the blame of Kashmir unrest at the door of VP Singh while conveniently skipping the Original Sin of Rajiv Gandhi's 1987 rigging of polls in J&K).  At the end of it all, what is the point of such Delhi-focused journalism which does not even acknowledge the issues faced by...

  Name : Sujathavin marma kadhaigal Author : Sujatha Year of Publication : 2005 Genre : Fiction, short stories Rating : *** ( Three stars out of 5) This compilation  of Sujatha's short stories has the common theme of crime and O Henry-like twists at the end. While some of the stories are contrived and written only with a twist in mind, the humor and the style of narration keep us engaged throughout. As the author himself admits, it was these stories which assured him of repeated publication in journals and gave him the space to try more "serious" stories later in his career. Overall, a worthy time-pass read that serves it's purpose of momentary thrills.