M Chawla Reviews Bengaluru / Bangalore: In First Person Singular

Meenakshi Chawla Reviews Bengaluru/ Bangalore: In First Person Singular

To begin with, a city is a difficult organism to perceive; then to break it up into discrete segments of culture, history, people and other headings for its sights and smells, its moods and seasons and the luminosity of its sunsets, is a task for the gods. Or perhaps, a photographer with a pain in his heart for his city. Mahesh Bhat is the photographer with a pain in his heart for his city Bengaluru, or shall we just call it, Bangalore, as we know it better. Bengaluru/ Bangalore: In First Person Singular (photo book) is, from the cover to the last page, a labor of deep love and concern. The very first photograph on the flyleaf inside the cover is that of Basavana Gudi taken in 1995. That picture sums up the book I’m yet to read. The dappled sunlight, the waiting stance of the structure amidst lengthening afternoon shadows and people arrested in mid-stride tell of a Bangalore that is caught in the cross-currents of identities, a city with roots, finding its wings.
Title: Bangalore/Bengaluru: In first person singular Author: Mahesh Bhat Publisher: Mahesh Bhat Publishing Year: 2012 ISBN: 978-81-904535-1-6 Price: Rs 1200 / USD 30 To buy the book, visit flipkart This photo book delights the visual sense; at the same time, the mind processes the subtle message of the image. And that is how the author conveys the pain in his heart to his readers – not through cart-loads of words on reams of acid-free paper, but through pictures (on art paper) that reflect a city in all its living, and lively, detail. The author begins with a brief acknowledgement of the catalysts and supporters for this endeavor to narrate the story of Bangalore’s 25-year journey of change. Contemporary thought leaders come first – Nandan Nilekani, Subroto Bagchi. Nudging them (gently) are the artistes who, by the author’s admission, ‘have been amazing’. The book begins with a full-page photograph of a sunlit field at the edge of a wood with a girl running across while her brother stands by, playing his violin – a wide-open sky looks in interestedly. The caption informs the reader that this field has now been imprisoned by a cigarette factory at Chikkajala.  The next picture, three pages later, belongs to another world - urban squalor of asbestos-capped shanties amidst piles of garbage dwarfed by futuristically designed commercial complexes in the background.  We have seen this picture – in cities that grow breathlessly, and mindlessly. The author asks “Whose city is it?” Indeed, who has the right to stake first claim on Bangalore? Its cultural denizens re-imagining concepts of life and living; IT professionals, taxi drivers and businessmen from all parts of the country coming in search of a new life; students; or its oldest residents holding fast to memories of the first urban neighborhoods – whose is Bangalore? A city is planned on sterile drawing boards to systematic plans and proofs by conscientious engineers, farsighted patrons. Give the city ample time, minimal space… and you will see it grow under the sun and sky - amidst the confusion of livelihoods and living spaces, braving the profusion of vehicles and vagaries of weather, through government inaction, or worse, pot-bellied solutions to civic issues... the city will grow with a life all its own, into a future that belies all predictions. The harsh midday sun and the struggles it contains give the city-face its character. The author documents Bangalore’s character evocatively. There are so many pictures, and of such diversity – marketplaces, bus stands, and women vegetable sellers glittering in diamond earstuds.  Then there are dargahs, people celebrating Durga Puja, as well as shops being set up for the day’s trade and the new night life in the newly emerged part of the city. Pages 56 and 57 present a contrast that truly mirrors present-day Bangalore – the left page shows a line of four somber black burqas adorning a shop window, deep undertones of demure womanhood. The right page has a picture of a highlighted bright-red banner shouting, “Happiness Sale Last 4 days left” and a line of four painted-up smiling ragdoll-faces atop the banner. They both thrive – to each, Bangalore is home. Pictures pack in power – elegantly. The portrait of the descendants of Sir Mirza Ismail, five graceful matriarchs of varying vintage, is a keepsake; old world charm that we lost in our relentless march into bold new futures. The chapter that leaves behind a lingering fragrance is ‘Bengaluru Karaga’. A ‘dramatic’ festival that began in the 1800s but still has relevance for ‘struggles over urban space’, it encapsulates the essence of the teeming city. It unifies across ‘geographical, religious, linguistic and cultural’ divisions and is perhaps the only time when Hindu deities are allowed to enter the precincts of a dargah, Tawakkal Mastan Dargah. A city is the sum total of its citizens’ experiences. It is what a rickshaw-puller feels when he sets down his first client at seven in the morning; it is what the student sees as she takes the bus back home; it is the child watching the birds in the school playground. The city shows a different side to each of its citizens, like a million-sided prism. Each side of the prism is true, and each side must keep pace with the other faces in change and growth. In frame after frame in this well-produced, sturdily-bound, and smartly edited book, the reader sees the million-sided prism that is Bangalore, or Bengaluru…a living, thriving organism suffused with energy and flaws, and radiant hope. Author’s Bio: Mahesh Bhat is a Bangalore-based photographer and has worked on projects for a number of publications in over 20 countries, all the way from New York Times to Newsweek of Japan. Reviewer’s Bio: Meenakshi Chawla is a Delhi-based writer and writes book reviews for Contemporary Literary Review India. Get Your Book Reviewed by Contemporary Literary Review India — journal that brings articulate writings for articulate readers. CLRI prides itself to have a good number of review writers. We have different review writers for books of different genres. Our reviews are gaining recognition among the publishers, journals and academia for fair and high quality reviews. To know more about book reviews, please visit: Book Review Services

Savant Books Releases Tendai Mwanka's Novel "Keys in the River"

Savant Books Announces the Release of Tendai Mwanka's Novel "Keys in the River"

Keys in the River is a cycle of stories about economically-challenged, politically-torn, and disease-ridden Zimbabwe, told as if the reader were sitting and listening to neighbors and friends talking about life. Some stories are tender, even comic; in others, tragedy and outrage lurk. The stories share a common thread, a noble stance in the struggle to find love, freedom, justice, completeness, and satisfaction.

The author, Tendai Rinos Mwanaka, was born in 1973, in Nyanga, Nyatate, Mapfurira village, in the remote eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. He is the author of "Voices from Exile," a collection of poetry on Zimbabwe's political situation and exile in South Africa (Lapwing Publications, 2010). He has written numerous articles and won several awards. "Logbook Written by a Drifter," and "Voices from Exile" were both short-listed for the Erbecce Press Poetry Prize in 2011 and 2009, respectively. He was nominated for a Pushcart Award twice, once in 2008, and again in 2010, as well as commended for the Dalro Prize in 2008. He has published over 200 short stories, essays, memoirs, poems and visual art productions in over 100 magazines, journals, and anthologies in the following countries: USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Kenya, India, Italy, France, Spain, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand. He lives and stays in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe.

"In the spirit of self-promotion and with a wink and a playful smile, I recommend to you 'Keys in the River'," says Mwanaka. "Put on some good music, place some tasty food within reach, then let yourself sink into the stories. Let the ideas growl within your consciousness. Challenge all your perceptions about Africa and Zimbabwe until even your new perspective becomes a howling, mangy dog. Now you know modern Africa. I prescribe 'Keys in the River' is the best medication for people suffering from this exhausting, frustrating and high-strung twenty-first-century world."

Source: Originally published on a blog by Savant Books and Publications LLC.

Get Your Book Reviewed by Contemporary Literary Review India — journal that brings articulate writings for articulate readers. CLRI prides itself to have a good number of review writers. We have different review writers for books of different genres. Our reviews are gaining recognition among the publishers, journals and academia for fair and high quality reviews. To know more about book reviews, please visit: Book Review Services

Review on Vinay Capila’s The Revolution And Other Stories

"Vinay Capila is a compelling story teller. Vinay lets his stories evolve on their own and never makes the readers feel he is bending the storyline. That is the power of him."

– Khurshid Alam, Editor-in-Chief,

Contemporary Literary Review India

Meenakshi Chawla Reviews Vinay Capila’s The Revolution And Other Stories

Vinay Capila’s The Revolution And Other Stories is for the winter afternoons when the sun is old and mellow, and when the heart is seeking a warm refuge that envelopes, gently. The stories display a ripeness of perspective that comes from accepting the world—with all its flaws and flippancies. The readers can only conjecture that they are – from the author’s life – a full and rich life.

 The first story from which the anthology takes its title ‘The Revolution’ is a titillating read that takes the readers through college-style ‘revolution’, that first flush of idealism and righteousness. The lengthiest story in the collection, it stands its ground until the end – which, incidentally, does not come as a surprise! The author builds up the atmospherics in this one rather well woven story – the university comes alive in one’s mind.

‘One Summer’ is a heart-warming story. It handles two momentous events, first love and a loved one’s death, with the simplicity of life itself. Nevertheless, there is innocence in the interactions between Sunita and Vinod that touches the readers’ heart. Adolescents that they are have not yet learnt the wiles of the world of adults. Where the story falters is in dealing with the memory of that first love. First love is almost always tender, and its memory almost always clutches at the heart in the most unexpected ways, at the most unexpected times. But on second thoughts, the author probably wishes to leave this understated.

‘Behind the Scenes’ is where the author is within his comfort zone; a production has drawn to its close, the cast has silently drifted away and the emptiness of endings enfolds the protagonist. Words and sentiment are doled out with sharp sure jabs, as they would be in a stage production. The author has captured the somber mood without arc lights and cues.

‘Fish and Chips’ lays out the quirky paths wealth takes to reach the people who have little or no need for it. Beneath the word-layers, there also surges a question: what is real – that which the eye sees, or that which the eye misses? So, indeed, which of the two Dr. Slopers is the real deal? Which of them is the real inheritor of the millions of dollar left behind by one of his relatives? The story flows naturally with the writer’s ink with an innate honesty – no clever twists or showy turns.

The usage of Indianism (for example, ‘A year back’) makes the language writer’s own, however sometimes it narrowly escapes slipping down to less refined language. Also, some stories lack clear destination, such as ‘Shepherd on the Mountain’ where the narrative is lost in multiple threads – the shepherd’s side, diary entries and a third perspective too.

The story unfolds largely in the protagonist’s mind and the reader is led through a complex question-answer-wonderment plot. The essence of a poetically-underpinned story is squandered in too much reflection and too many questions.

‘The Battle Within’ might leave a reader puzzled in its wake – does it or does it not deal with schizophrenia? The change in voice leads to a disjuncture in understanding. The narrative tends to lumber in a free-wheeling fashion.

Remarkably the writer, Vinay, escalates his sharp story telling skill with ‘The Idealist’ – a nicely sketched story. Vinay sketches his characters rather expertly: a line here, a flying curve there. It is left to the readers to fill the details into a love story nuanced with life and living.

Here is a collection of stories a dreamer, or a ‘straggler’ in the material world, might pen in his diary – a gracious framing of experiences, ideas and all those mundane days that made the man! The pieces resemble lyrical sunsets – bringing to viewers, and readers, a vague feeling of longing, a soft whispering sadness. The author, Vinay Capila, has been successful in his objective in that the reader’s thoughts linger on a story even after its last line has been read – just as the author’s mind might have lingered after his pen had moved on. He makes the stories his own and they flow on in their own rhythm – ebbing now and rising to a crescendo soon after. In this, his telling is vaguely reminiscent of Guy de Maupassant’s early work. It is a volume that every short story reader must add to his/her collection.

Reviewer: Meenakshi Chawla is a book review writer with Contemporary Literary Review India, and her writings have appeared with many other journals.

Book Title: The Revolution and Other Stories
Author: Vinay Capila
Category: Story Anthology
Publisher: Angus and Graphers Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
ISBN: 978-93-80254-05-0
Year Published: 2012
Pages: 293.

Get Your Book Reviewed by Contemporary Literary Review India — journal that brings articulate writings for articulate readers. CLRI prides itself to have a good number of review writers. We have different review writers for books of different genres. Our reviews are gaining recognition among the publishers, journals and academia for fair and high quality reviews. To know more about book reviews, please visit: Book Review Services