A Virtual Tour of Mughal India

I don't write book reviews. But sometimes, I write about a book or share my excitement about a book that enthralled me. You may call it a book review if you chose so. In fact this article was first published as a Book Review in the September 1999 issue of 'Bengaluru Review'. I am sharing … Continue reading A Virtual Tour of Mughal India →

The Idea of India

If I were asked to have only one post on the current AtoZ theme, mera gaon mera desh, I would have this one. It is a book review of ‘India: a sacred Geography’. The book was written by Diana L. Eck - an award winning professor of comparative religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University. … Continue reading The Idea of India →

How far can one deviate in retelling our Itihasas and Puranas?

In India along with books of chick-lit genre written by the ilks of Chetan Bhagat, the books of another genre that sell well are those based on the characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Some authors like Devdutt Patnaik call their books as re-tellings, which of course is nothing new. Retelling is perhaps as old as … Continue reading How far can one deviate in retelling our Itihasas and Puranas? →

To buy or not to buy

The fare comes to Rs. 492. I hand over a five hundred rupee note. While searching diligently for the change to return, the Ola driver smiles sheepishly and says, 'Sir, five star please'.. Let me simplify this for you. There are two kinds of reviews. Influenced reviews and honest reviews. Or, paid reviews and honest … Continue reading To buy or not to buy →

The age of content overload

This post is in response to not only indspire #273 prompt but also the blog posts written by fellow indibloggers on the topic suggested by Dr. Rekha Rani. It is interesting to note that fellow bloggers have examined the topic from various angles. I have also put my views as comments on their blog posts. … Continue reading The age of content overload →

my book will be available for free download

My book IDLE HOURS will be available for free download between 1st and 3rd December 2017. I have made minor revisions recently and those who have already got it may download it again to get the latest version. Meanwhile here are a few reviews / feedbacks: https://twitter.com/s_k_pathak/status/932085793618763776 Enjoyed reading the book. At places the humour … Continue reading my book will be available for free download →

Thus, here is my first published book

My first published book was supposed to be a book of poetry to celebrate the labours of love of an unsung poet who has been writing poetry off and on for the last three decades. Being a professional procrastinator I had also set a deadline for the completion and the publication of the book. My … Continue reading Thus, here is my first published book →

The Silence of the Lambs

School reopened after the summer vacation. Now I was in standard VII and a large number of of books had been added to the school library. Prominent among them were translated versions of abridged editions of all time western classics like Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, The Three Musketeers, Time Machine, Animal … Continue reading The Silence of the Lambs →