- Opinions
The Decline And Fall Of Handwriting
Languishing in remote corners of publishers' warehouses must be piles of mildewed books that claim to understand human beings through their handwriting. Yellowing pages devoted to the way you dot your 'i's and cross your 't's, with each characteristic loop, … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/06/23/the-decline-and-fall-of-handwriting/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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India’s Second Freedom Struggle
It was both ironic and poignant when, a few days ago, Anna Hazare remarked that his crusade for the Lokpal Bill was akin to a second freedom struggle for India. Hazare is fighting against the right things in the wrong way: … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/06/22/indias-second-freedom-struggle/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Reading Yoga
Practitioners of yoga have been much in the news these days — sadly, not because of the practice of yoga. Such a practice, as we should all know by now, has been firmly established as a discipline that's Good For … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/06/09/reading-yoga/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Why India is a Democracy
Let me begin with two questions: Who is Pakistan's current Chief of Army Staff? I suspect General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's name rings a bell even for those who did not answer correctly. Now, who is India's current Chief of Army … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/06/05/why-india-is-a-democracy/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Reader, Interrupted
One of the aims of the novelist, writes John Gardner in his The Art of Fiction, is to create for the reader "a vivid and continuous dream". Well, these days, I find that dream to be full of interruptions. I'm … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/05/27/reader-interrupted/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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When Authors Borrow Characters
Daniel Defoe died three centuries ago. Yet, in December 2003, at a Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, the world listened to him musing on Robinson Crusoe's later career. The voice and imagination were those of J.M. Coetzee, who co-opted the … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/05/13/when-authors-borrow-characters/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Unfinished, Not Unpublished
Decades ago, while browsing at a bookstore on Park Street in Kolkata, I came across a novel by P.G. Wodehouse with the most un-Wodehousian title of Sunset at Blandings. Upon examination, it turned out to be the novel he was … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2011/04/14/unfinished-not-unpublished/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Window pane versus stained glass
From the time of Cicero to Messrs Strunk and White and beyond, we've been told that effective communication eschews the ornate. In other words, write simply and plainly. The writer and critic William Zinssner made students at a Columbia University … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/11/26/window-pane-versus-stained-glass/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Books on Holiday
Before departing for a brief trip out of the city last week, I faced the usual, last-minute dilemma. What books should I choose to accompany me? The award-winning, comic exploration of Jewishness? (What if I don't make it past page … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/11/12/books-on-holiday/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Confessions of a Book Pirate
Psst. Sar! You are wanting book to read? A fine selection here, Sar. Look! And for you, all at great discounts. Very cheap. Forget about going to bookshop and getting these books at cheaper rate, why, you will not be … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/10/29/confessions-of-a-book-pirate/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Novels at Work
It's an arena where dramas of power, insecurity, pride, jealousy, attraction, repulsion and politics are played out every single day. Not to mention bitchy water-cooler chatter. One would think that this was fertile ground for any novelist; yet, few and … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/10/15/novels-at-work/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
- Opinions
Tasted Any Good Books Lately?
Pity the poor book reviewer. Not only does he or she have to plod through novel after novel, but then, racing against deadlines, compress sparkling insights into a limited number of words. Yet, after this toil, there are those who … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/09/17/tasted-any-good-books-lately/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Absurdistan
We live in Serious Times. A period when families, faith and finances, or so we are told, are crumbling all around us. Today's committed novelist tries his or her best to reflect this: witness the so-called 9/11 novel, the family … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/09/03/absurdistan/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Losing The Plot
I recently read two debut novels by Indian authors in English that left me musing once again on the aspect of the novel that allegedly causes much heartburn to those who write them. As the dictionary so breezily defines it, … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/08/20/losing-the-plot/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Pollyanna Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
If a Martian was to send a postcard home about what he'd learnt of the human race after a study of its novels, we'd be singled out as a species marked by sorrow, dissatisfaction and frustration. Fictional characters are, in … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/08/06/pollyanna-doesnt-live-here-anymore/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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The Proper Care and Feeding of Books
Almost from the moment I received a book for review a few weeks ago, I knew that I didn't like it. Lest you jump to the conclusion that I write reviews without reading books, let me hasten to clarify that … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/07/23/the-proper-care-and-feeding-of-books/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Don, Emma and the Risks of Reading
"Life is calling," insists a TV commercial for a brand of vodka, going on to enquire: "Where are you?" More often than not, my answer is: "Do go away, I'm reading." The problem with such a rejoinder is not so … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/07/09/don-emma-and-the-risks-of-reading/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
- Opinions
Beating the Reader’s Block
A few weeks ago, I was afflicted by a nasty ailment. Reader's block. Try as I might, I was unable to concentrate on a book - any book - for more than a paragraph or two, sometimes not even that … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/06/25/beating-the-readers-block/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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The Joys and Perils of Re-reading
An American author once told me of his former professor's reactions to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. The first time he read it, said the professor, he was in his early teens, and was mesmerised and heartbroken by the outcome of Anna's … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/06/11/the-joys-and-perils-of-re-reading/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>
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Insert Title Here
One of the many fruitless pursuits I engage in is to dream up titles for as-yet unwritten novels. It's not that I have a cabinet-full of ideas for novels awaiting transcription; it's just that I'm taken by the notion that … <a href="http://blog.tools.news.yahoo.com/opinions/2010/05/28/insert-title-here/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>