The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers
(Penguin India, Rs 395)

It could translate as Hutom Pyanchar Noksha, but The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers is in English, has just appeared and is a graphic novel. It is by Sarnath Banerjee, who is being seen as India’s leading graphic novelist (not that there is much competition around).

Barn Owl has all that Hutom Pyancha had: a teeming Calcutta of the 19th Century, sex, scandal, gossip, ganja communities, perfume-loving promiscuous babus, plump prostitutes, burning ghats, decadence. And more — a Jew from 18th Century Calcutta, who befriends elite Calcuttans and Britishers by dealing in novelties such as corsets, aphrodisiacs and zebras, and is compelled to write about them at night. His is one of the voices telling the story. The other is the authorial voice that comes from a long-haired, world-weary, young Bengali head.

A certain journal surfaces in Paris in the 1950s and is picked up, quite unaccountably by the narrator’s grandfather, another Bengali with a sense of having inherited a fate. When he dies, the narrator decides to search for it. He comes to Calcutta and meets many people — and many other things, and many other dimensions — journeying.

Banerjee has come a long way from Corridors (2004), where he appeared as a much better illustrator than story-teller and seemed to drop too may heavy names. That he still does, but his drawings are as dark, brooding, eerie and stylish — the black-and-white illustrations and colour photographs combo works well. But he is far more assured with his urban mythologies now. The end is almost good. Almost. A good read.

The Mahabharata — An Inquiry in the Human Condition
(Orient Longman, Rs 1,095)

From urban myths to an ancient one. Chaturvedi Badrinath’s book is a huge effort to make Mahabharata usable for contemporary readers.

Badrinath, the philosopher who was an IAS officer for 32 years and now lives near Pondicherry, divides his book into 18 chapters. Each chapter selects an important aspect of the human condition: food, water and life; dharma, ahimsa and death.

The last chapter is on Moksha — liberation from the human condition. Each chapter carries quotations from the epic relevant to the topic. As a reader points out, the book makes it clear that the real fun of the Mahabharata is not in the heavy-duty philosophy, but in the fact that it is a continuous argument with God.

The book uses about over 500 shlokas from the original text, supported by Badrinath’s commentary. Introspect — and enjoy!

The Bollywood Cookbook
(Mapin Publishing, Price not mentioned)

Why should one buy a book called The Bollywood Cookbook — The glamorous world of stars and over 75 of their favourite recipes?

Is it because we would like to know that SRK likes Lamb Galouti, Bhatti Da Murgh, Kovalam Pomfret and Langarwali Dal, though this doesn’t come from King Khan himself, but from a Taj Land’s End chef, who knows the actor’s tastes well? Is it to be told that starlet Amrita Arora likes Avial? And Payasam? And Sambhar? Who cares?

The Bachchans could be a little more exciting — they like Hara Channa Masala, Achari Aaloo and Aaloo Tikki Aur Pudine ki Chutney. The pictures of the dishes are sandwiched between stills of the members of the actor family, some of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Really.

Kareena Kapoor likes pure non-veg: Chicken Haleem, Goan Fish Curry, Junglee Mutton, Yakhni Pulao and Paya. Interesting insights into stars’ personal choices?

But we flip through this not-so-glossy coffee table decoration really because it’s reassuring to know that stars also eat. The food that we like.