THE JEERA PACKER by PRASHANT YADAV

What an extraordinarily good read this book is. And, rather puzzlingly, what an extraordinarily uneven book it is too. I dislike crisiticising someone’s writing, because it is such an intensely personal thing, but this excellent book is so uneven in its writing that it could almost have been written by …

BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS by KATHERINE BOO

There have been few books that have moved me as much as this extraordinary book by the Pulitzer prize winning journalist Katherine Boo. It is a stunning read, and one that every thinking Indian should read –  well, not just Indians, everyone who has a heart and a conscience should …

DREAMING IN HINDI by Katherine Russell Rich

An Oprah-validated book, “Dreaming in Hindi” is a fascinating account of a middle-aged American’s woman’s foray not only into India and learning Hindi, but into living in small-town India, and in a joint family to boot. Part auto-biography, part academic treatise on linguistics and neurology, full of humour and self-mockery, …