Mind, body and soul
YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG GIRL (Hachette, Rs 350) by Sreemoyee Piu Kundu is meant to be a modern retelling of Kalidasa's Sanskrit classic, Abhigyan Shakuntalam. In reality, however, it is a poorly-imagined concoction of clichéd situations, unidimensional characters and an almost-non-existent plot.
Sreemoyee Piu Kundu's protagonist is Dushyant Singh Rathore, a mushy, metrosexual man, who also happens to be the author of a bestseller, Kinda Clichéd. He has a chance sexual encounter with a girl, whom he meets at his best friend's wedding. Partly forced by the demands of his publisher to produce a sequel and partly by his own pinning for the elusive girl, he embarks on journey that starts in Agra and ends in the shady bylanes of Sonagachi in Calcutta. Kundu, a self-proclaimed feminist, had earlier garnered praise for Sita's Curse, which was hailed as the first female erotica in India. This time though, she puts her feminist sensibilities on the back-burner in order to get into the minds and hearts of new-age Dushyants. The result is, unfortunately, a pretentious and tawdry novel, a bit like an unwatchable Bollywood film.
START UP YOUR RESTAURANT: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR ANYONE WHO DREAMS OF RUNNING THEIR OWN RESTAURANT (Collins Business, Rs 299) by Jayanth Narayanan and Priya Bala lives up to its name. This compact book provides all the necessary information for opening a restaurant in India. The Indian market, the authors write, is particularly challenging because of the sky-high expectations of the average Indian customer and his obsession for getting value for money. Complete with useful chapters on funding, maintaining balance sheets, and managing suppliers, this is the go-to book for every budding restaurateur.
WALKING TOWARDS OURSELVES: INDIAN WOMEN TELL THEIR STORIES (HarperCollins, Rs 399) edited by Catriona Mitchell is one of the most inspiring anthologies of feminist writings to come out in recent times. Contributors range from big names like Leila Seth, Anjum Hasan, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni to lesser known authors like Tisca Chopra and Tishani Doshi. The result is a book of high literary merit that features writings that are at once deeply personal and unabashedly political. Reminiscent of the ground-breaking collection by Susie Tharu and K. Lalita, Women Writing in India, this one too has greatness written on it.
Leila Seth gives a candid behind-the-scene account of the workings of the Justice Verma Committee and tries to make sense of the committee's recommendations within the current legal framework of our country. Tisca Chopra's humorous account of her encounter with Bollywood's notorious 'casting couch' is a gem. So is Ira Trivedi's account of online dating services in India which, she argues, are important for the women in the country to exercise their freedom of choice. Urvashi Butalia's struggle to set up the first feminist publishing house in India, Kali for Women, comes alive in her essay, "Oxygen". Recommended for scholars and activists, this collection will surely inspire more such writings in the future.
A TASTE OF WELL-BEING: SADHGURU'S INSIGHTS FOR YOUR GASTRONOMICS (Harper Element, Rs 299) by Isha Yoga Centre is not the kind of book one would expect from a godman. Written by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, it is based on the idea that food in yogic tradition has a life (prana) of its own. Recipes of such 'pranic' food - which includes plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and lentils - are included in this book. Straight from the kitchens of the Isha Yoga Centre, this delectable collection is a must for all those who care about their souls and bodies.
