Book Review: Travels in Kashmir

Frederick Drew pointed out emphatically - 'from Kashmir AND FROM NO OTHER SPOT IN ASIA one may go westward through countries entirely Muhammadan, as far as Constantinople; eastward among none but Buddhists to China; and southward over lands where the Hindu religion prevails, to the extremity of the Indian peninsula.' What can be more enticing …

Book Review: Special Lassi

‘A backbreaking misadventure in the Himalayas’, this line coupled with one look at the book cover was enough to entice me towards it. And I quickly flipped it around to see if its blurb held any material to justify my interest. And it did. There is something about travel writers that I don’t find in …

Book Review: One Life to Ride

Ajit wrote One Life To Ride quite some time back. The actual road trip happened much earlier. My guess – 2003 or so. That explained some of my discomfort with the context, as things have changed dramatically in the last few years, and more and more people are doing these road trips. Now, for a true …

Book Review: Grand Delusions

Every year, come Durga Puja, all my Bengali friends go slightly crazy. Those who can, run back to Kolkata; those who can’t, enthusiastically flock to CR Park – Delhi’s mini Kolkata. If you talk to anyone who has lived in Kolkata for a considerable length of time, they will assure you that there is no …

Book Review: Delhi Mostly Harmless

What do you get when you put a mollycoddled Oxford resident who hates getting out of her comfort zone into the chaos that is India – or, more specifically, Delhi? You’d think you’d get a coming of age story, a witty/ interesting/ hilarious account of her travels, or perhaps her travails to grasp the culture …

Book Review: Becoming Mrs. Kumar

Like many, I am a sucker for happy endings and when I was looking for a light read after a exceptionally heavy dose of an autobiography from my previous read, I came across this book. And it turned out to be exactly that - a light read for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Becoming Mrs. Kumar …