#Book Review: Illicit by Dibyendu Palit

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Illicit by Dibyendu Palit

Translated by Arunava Sinha I have always enjoyed reading translations by Arunava Sinha and this was one of the reason for me to pick up this book. But, it was an utter disappointment.Dibyendu Palit’s Illicit, translated to English by Arunava Sinha, was originally published in 1989 as Aboidho.  The plot spans just three days and is a slice of the protagonists’ illicit life. Jeena, an attractive young housewife is bored of her ‘wooden relationship’ with much older husband, Ashim. Partha, her neighbour, is married, a father of two, and equally bored in his marital life. We are introduced to them in the …

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Red Oleanders by Rabindranath Tagore

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Red Oleanders by Rabindranath Tagore

I was intrigued to pick up this book due to the fact that it is a work of translation by the Nobel Laureate himself Rabindranath Tagore and I have no shame in accepting the fact that I had no clue that Tagore also wrote in English. This is the story of Nandini, a beautiful woman who appears at a time of the oppression of humanity by greed and power. The antagonist in the story is the King, who represents enormous authority but barricades himself behind an iron curtain. He transforms a town in to a fort and the humans into …

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‘My Name is Gauhar Jaan!’- The Life and Times of a Musician by Vikram Sampath

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‘My Name is Gauhar Jaan!’- The Life and Times of a Musician by Vikram Sampath

To begin with, if you’re not a non-fiction reader and avoided exploring the genre of biography, after picking up this book, you would feel how lame were your inhibitions. I finished reading this 300 page book in one week- a feat that I had never achieved earlier and thanks to my dear friend D, who suggested me this wonderful book. It was the curiosity to know about the first gramophone record celebrity, Gauhar Jaan, and the status of Hindustani Classical music women maestros at the beginning of the 20th century that continuously prompted me to turn one more page. The urge to …

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Panty by Sangeeta Bandhopadhyay Translated by Arunava Sinha

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Panty by Sangeeta Bandhopadhyay Translated by Arunava Sinha

I saw a lot of eyes staring at the book cover at the book shop and our society is such that people find such graphics titillating and pass stereotypical judgement. But I cared less and had reposed all my faith on my favourite translator Arunava Sinha. For me picking up this book was opening up the windows of my soul and gearing up my mind for something unexpected. “Panty” by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay is a collection of two novellas – Hypnosis and Panty and each of them is about unrequited love, longing and sexual desire. The two novellas kept me thinking …

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Tales of Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond

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Tales of Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond can never let you down. He tops my chart as my most favourite writer. Tales of Fosterganj is his latest bestseller. Set in a fictional hamlet near Mussoorie, this book reads like you are in a holiday in a bizarre place yet very happy. Bond has once again shown his creative brilliance in creating a host of characters who are quirky in their own supernatural way yet few characteristics lend association with the real world. The story chronicles the adventure of a of writer from Delhi, who while exploring the beauty and serenity of Mussoorie passes through the quaint …

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