Howzzat!

In the odd pages of Pavić’s magnum opus, the various trials undergone by the ‘great walking parchment’ is described in much detail. An envoy is sent to the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus with his entire body tattooed with Khazars’ history and topography. He lets his hand get chopped off in Constantinople when a man pays in solid gold for the second Khazar year chronicled on his left palm. He is forced to return to the Khazar capital from time to time so that the inscriptions can undergo multiple corrections and new additions. His daily bread comes from hours of standing still so that the Greek and other scribes could copy the Khazar history from his back and thighs into their books. He ultimately passes away, unable to bear the incessant itching brought about by the prized inscriptions and “…and it was with relief that he died, glad to be finally cleansed of history.” I found The Dictionary of Khazars to be an ode to the life of this great walking parchment who is belie...

The year was 1938. Under the guise of rescuing the Sudeten Germans, Hitler assumed control over the frontiers of Czechoslovakia. The Munich pact signed between UK, France, Italy and Germany readily paved the way for him. The rest of Czechoslovakia was wrested a year later from a meek leadership and was brought under the realm of the Nazis, driven endlessly by their desire of establishing the Aryan Supremacy in Europe. This annexation was met with almost no military resistance and made millions of Slovaks who constituted “the others” vulnerable to mindless persecution and inexplicable wrath. Anti-Semitism was not the only threat. “The others” also constituted Slovaks who tried to flee their Nazi-held Czechoslovakian homelands, homosexuals, artists who dared to decry the Nazi authority and the Communists. Members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) were already ostracised by the incumbent democratic Government in Prague prior to the arrival of the Nazis. Julius Fučík joi...

First published in 1990, Rubber is the debut novel of acclaimed writer Jeyamohan. The rise of Ponnumani, the obscure orphan to Ponnu Peruvattar, the rubber estate magnate and proud patriarch of the Peruvattar family is spanned in the nearly 200 page long book. The colossal growth of Ponnu Peruvattar is juxtaposed with the story depicting the fall of his empire.    The end of the Peruvattar stronghold stems from the wrong business decisions that Chellaiah Peruvattar, the only son of the patriarch makes. The family is further undone due to friction between its members. Therese is the detached spouse of Chellaiah who doesn’t make any attempt to hide her contempt for “lower beings”. She lives in a world of her own and is indifferent towards her sons’ waywardness and her husband’s crudeness. Of the couple’s five children, only Francis and Livy still reside with them. Francis, Peruvattar’s favourite grandson, is a school dropout and a spendthrift. He is outspoken and is ...

It has been an eventful three months. I met some incredible people this year and they have made a dent in my universe- Kambili, the protagonist of Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's "Purple Hibiscus", Okoye, the head of Dora Milaje, the all women security force of Wakanda in the Black panther universe, Indu, a young widow from “Amma Vandhal” who wears her heart on her sleeve and Anne Frank who, with her fiery spirit and audacious mind, continues to draw sympathy, laughter and tears from all realms and makes everyone fall irrevocably in love with her awkward charm . I finally got back to reading and it feels so good like being able to breathe normally after holding it for what seemed like ages. The first few months of 2018 have been kind indeed. The Pantheress It is not everyday you find a movie that checks all the right boxes and milks the moolah. I'm not the quintessential Marvel-holier-than-DC fan or the other way around. Superhero movies are fun to watch a...