The Saffron Storm



Name : The Saffron Storm
Author : Saba Naqvi
    Year of Publication : 2024
    Genre : Non - Fiction, Politics
    Rating : *** ( Three stars out of 5)


The author is a journalist and a fellow-traveller who has chronicled the rise and fall (and rise) of BJP over the past 3 decades. That the author is a Muslim adds spice. The author steers clear of ideological judgements and opinionated writing. Her forte is reportage and she clearly sticks to that. The best portions cover the day-to-day functioning of the first ever non-Congress coalition government to have completed a full term. The most interesting anecdote relates to Vajpayee's strategy on handling USA's request to mobilise Indian troops for it's operations in Iraq.  A good read to compare and contrast the times of Vajpayee and Modi.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why the poor don't kill us

Image
  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.
Read more

Heart Lamp

Image
  Name :  Heart Lamp Author :  Banu Mushtaq, Deepa Bhasthi (Translator)     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Fiction, Short stories     Rating : *** 1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) An evocative collection of short stories which throws light on the gender dynamics and patriarchy in the lives of Muslim women in South India. While some of the stories like "Be a Woman once, oh Lord" and "Heart Lamp" leave a lump in one's throat with it's dreary endings, it is the rebellion in the women of "Black Cobras" and "High-heeled Shoe" which gives hope that not all is lost. Some stories like "A Taste of Heaven" and "A Decision of the heart" are elevated by the element of surprise in their denouement. Overall, an important work of translation which rises above the despair to hope for a better tomorrow for our women.
Read more

Mother Mary Comes to Me

Image
  Name :  Mother Mary Comes to Me Author :  Arundhati Roy     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Memoir     Rating : *** 1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) Arundhati Roy effortlessly blends the personal and political in her trademark polemic style. In the introduction, she gently guides us : "Read this book as you would read a novel". Had this been a novel, she would have faced criticism as the entire mother-daughter relationship and most of her life decisions cannot be explained by cold logic. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. What dampens the impact is that we are privy to most of her early life memories through her first novel and all her political anxieties through her non-fiction since 1998. Hence, most of the material is already familiar to any Roy follower. It is a pity that Mrs.Roy is not alive to review her daughter's book. Would she have told a "Well done, baby girl"? Arundhati Roy may not feel optimistic a...
Read more