Thursday, October 11, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Satyamev Jayate, in Practice
According to Wikipedia,' "Satyameva Jayate" (satyam-eva jayate सत्यमेव जयते; literal English: Truth Alone Triumphs) is a mantra from the ancient Indian scripture Mundaka Upanishad. Independent India adopted it as the national motto of India. It is inscribed in Devanagari script at the base of the national emblem.'
On various occasions, many Indians have used this term to describe some truthful and noble effort of their own making. Thus there is at least one Hindi film called Satyamev Jayate, released 1987; on social networking sites, the name frequently pops up , as declaration of truthful intent, as a userid, as the name of a website .
And now, a just concluded tv series, Satyamev Jayate, without the a at the tailend of the first word from the motto.
What is Satyamev Jayate, the tv series of 2012 ?
And now, a just concluded tv series, Satyamev Jayate, without the a at the tailend of the first word from the motto.
What is Satyamev Jayate, the tv series of 2012 ?
To quote Wikipedia again :
Satyamev Jayate (English: Truth Alone Prevails) is an Indian television talk show that airs on various channels within Star Network along with Doordarshan's DD National. The first season of the show premiered on May 6, 2012 and marked the television debut of popular Bollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan. While Hindi is the primary language of the show, it is also dubbed and simulcast in other Indian languages such as Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.Satyamev Jayate received positive response and feedback from both the critics as well as the public. The show was widely appreciated by several film and television personalities, politicians and social activists for its research, format, presentation and content. The show has highlighted sensitive social issues prevalent in India such as female foeticides, child sexual abuse, dowry, medical malpractice, honor killings, insensitivity towards the physically disabled, domestic violence, overuse of pesticides leading to pesticide poisoning, alcoholism, untouchability, plight of senior citizens and water crisis.'
The final and 13th episode was a wrap up episode without one single theme --and yet it manged to make a hope-filled final statement as it showcased real-life heroes and survivors of chaotic ungainly modern India.
Over the past three months I have followed each 66 minute episode (running time, without the ads); it was a tv show that
informed , often saddened, made me reflect,
empathize , smile occasionally, reflect
anew…sometimes the topic was not one to which I had given much thought;
frequently the episode talked of an issue that concerned me almost on a daily
basis (episode 8, Toxic Food ; episode 12, on water conservation).
Being a frequent net browser, I couldn’t help noticing that
while the general Indian public took to the show in a positive manner, many supposedly progressive media
sites used this as another opportunity to assert their own so-called intellectual superiority plus display the latent cynicism that is killing
this country. After all here was documentary type chat show on real issues,
being helmed, by God help us, an Indian movie star. How could one openly support such an enterprise? And so,
supposedly wise media names ( among others, a liberal Indian weekly , viz.the cover story
of Open magazine dated 9th June 2012 -- http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/art-culture/does-he-mean-it
) -- used their platforms to mock a well-intentioned tv
show –that truth to tell, has been pretty good, if not perfect.
Sadly, the media sites continue to bark even after the show
has ended last Sunday. While the show’s followers have bid a warm regretful goodbye to this well-made and
well-meant effort ( a tv venture
that made temporary tv fans
out of people who have sort of given up on tv), the usual suspects (like
www.firstpost.com) have been banging
away their skeptical views on a show that involves
a certain acceptance of idealism towards one’s nation.
Perhaps nationalism and idealism are not exactly cool topics
in these tough times. It’s more about surviving these uncertain times, when a train trip could leave
one in flames.
Still, there are many Indians who seriously feel that 65 year old Free India has not lived up to
its full potential. Rural India soldiers on gamely , muddling through, whilst Urban India despite its
malls and flyovers, is quite a mess. China has outstripped us in the development stakes -- though of course we are a better democracy ; and thank god we are not what Pakistan is ( a failed state). But for every plus point, there are many demerits waiting to be ticked off, corrected, if we are to survive as a sovereign ,secular, socialist and democratic republic. Overpopulation eats away at whatever progress has been made. Men and women are still not equal; women have
progressed in certain fields and yet…the other day a group of four louts teased and harassed a female co-passenger , then threw
the protesting girl off the train .
The horror and injustice of it all.
The horror and injustice of it all.
Perhaps the times are also ripe for a show like Satyamev
Jayate, a tv show that takes a good long look at topics that have been
brushed aside in the race to survive. Thankfully it’s been a 360 degree look,
where the warts are uncovered, but a
resolution is also attempted.And the show did end on a note of hope.
Many Indians ( and surprisingly,
a section of non-Indians
too) have watched the show through three months – and at least some viewers, would have understood
the need to be hopeful and positive
-- much like it’s
actor-anchor Aamir Khan. The man has in fact said so in his last
column ( which has been appearing in the Indian press as a corollary to the
show, on Mondays following the Sunday telecast). Here are some excerpts from Aamir’s
latest and last column
‘The future of our nation depends on whether we decide to be
determined followers of dreams or cynical naysayers.’
‘I think somewhere along the way too many of us have become
a little too clever, a little too practical, a little too cynical, a little too
materialistic, a little too selfish. Maybe we need to let go a little. Allow a
little space in our hearts for hope, for idealism, for belief, for faith, for
trust, for innocence and… for a little madness. If one Dashrath Manjhi can move
a mountain, imagine what 120 crore Dashrath Manjhis can do.’
Well, Aamir has had his say all these weeks; he now returns to
his filmmaking. He has said that he and
his team are game for a second season next year, as a follow up; he has mentioned that they will follow up on old topics, plus cover new ones untouched so far, but needing attention.
Meanwhile, people – viewers, journalists, bloggers, all – are perhaps rightly wondering whether the thought process started by the show – will it
fizzle out?
My feeling is that it is upto us, to keep alive, the hope of a better India, better
life. All we need to do is put into practice what we occasionally debate – and let go, in the hurry of every
day living.
For starters, rewatch this show’s episodes as and when time
and inclination permits. They are available on
youtube. Here is a guide to the show, courtesy cnn-ibn channel’s
website.
Also, and this is important, do check out the ‘ASAR'
programmes telecast on ABP News (Star News in new avatar), on the
Friday following the Sunday telecast. These asar (impact) shows are as good as
the original episodes . They discuss the episode's immediate effect , involve more experts, government
functionaries, plus of course Aamir
himself, along with the channel’s well-informed anchor, all discussing the
cumulative fallout of the last episode. Asar
every week, it’s one solid hour-long meaningful show; all are
available on youtube --
One understands that the various NGOs involved with the
show, these worthies can still be helped with donations, till August 31st
2012.
And here is the show’s own website -- http://www.satyamevjayate.in/
Now on to some
practical suggestions, with regard to keeping the spirit of a show alive and going.
Start by watching episodes that one has not watched; or revisit a favourite. All have interested, touched me, some particularly. And I have actually hooted with laughter at the comments made by certain guests--like the feisty Dr.Gulati ( Medical Malpractices episode); or the silver-haired, sharp-tounged ,wise and witty Kamla Bhasin (Domestic Violence episode).
So watch, and decide what steps one can take, to improve one's life and society. I have generally been pro-active in this respect, but this show certainly woke me up even more. It has helped marshall my thoughts and action ... a few pointers follow.
So watch, and decide what steps one can take, to improve one's life and society. I have generally been pro-active in this respect, but this show certainly woke me up even more. It has helped marshall my thoughts and action ... a few pointers follow.
1.The monsoons should hopefully be upon us soon, without
playing truant too long. If you are a Chennai-ite like me, check whether your rainwater harvesting pit is clean and clear
enough to let the water percolate through to the ground. As mentioned in episode
12, Chennai was fortunate to get the services of an IAS officer who worked with
the state government CM and made
rainwater harvesting mandatory. Thanks to the efforts of these fine ladies
(back in 2002-2003 when Chennai was reeling under the impact of increased
urbanization and decreased water table), we now in 2012, are in the happy
position of being fairly comfortable with our ground water supply.
Anybody who lives anywhere in India—harvest rain water, catch it, store it.
Ask the experts and act before rain water gets wasted into the sea or open
drains.
The sooner we become self-sufficient in many respects, the
better for all of us. The government’s piped water supply is erratic, dependent
on availability. Use it only as a bonus or standby.
2. The episode on Toxic Food (Poison on the Plate, episode
8) –it affected me in a big way, particularly because this was an issue that I
was well aware of. For some years now, we have
all been aware that the shiny plastic looking pears apples and tomatoes may not really be all that perfect for
consumption. So one has taken recourse to
available known measures –buy organic when possible, or
soak vegetables and fruits in rock salt
solution, or cook in same, then drain out the
residual pesticides (hopefully). The best solution would be growing veggies in one’s own vegetable
patch/pot, whatever possible.
In episode 8 and
later in the follow up Asar programme, Aamir himself said something interesting
–he related something that a farmer had told him; a black spotted fruit may
actually be better than a clear looking
sprayed and cleaned up fruit –since a fruit bug has found the fruit good enough
to eat and left behind a black mark!
Shop wisely for food, try and use your own groundwater ; it
is less likely to be contaminated -- as compared to commercial canned water or even municipal supply, if at all it is available.
3. Child Sexual Abuse, at home, as delienated in episode 2 -- it was
frightening as it was enlightening. What one has read about frequently in the papers --the topic was finally discussed on tv, probably a rarity on Indian tv.
Ironically there was a positive fallout even to this grim episode –over
a lakh cases of child abuse was reported
to the Childline helpline 1098,
advertized on the show. One learns that Childline is spread in many towns all
over India. Similarly, the Alcoholics
Anonymous number too was used to good
effect within a few hours of the
telecast of episode 9.
Moral of the story –it helps to know that there is a lifeline out there. So many lives could be saved in so many ways.
Moral of the story –it helps to know that there is a lifeline out there. So many lives could be saved in so many ways.
4. The episode on medical malpractices –besides raising the
ire of a section of doctors – it also raised the important question about the
need to make available medicines at an affordable price. Thankfully, state
governments have started taking this issue seriously, and many Indian states are now in the process of setting up generic
medical stores. Check out the
inexpensive and safe options available already…and watch out for further
news in this regard.
5.And as one expert noted in epiosde 11 (Sunshine Years, Sunshine Life)--retirement is a time to Rewire, not Retire. Well said.
5.And as one expert noted in epiosde 11 (Sunshine Years, Sunshine Life)--retirement is a time to Rewire, not Retire. Well said.
Knowledge empowers ; it helps one make the right
choices -- and help others in need.
People, books, films…they have always inspired. Now a tv show has done it. Let’s not dismiss it.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Monday, July 02, 2012
Summer Note …and some Summer Wine
Let me first get the unimportant bit out of the way—Summer
Wine is simply a favorite ol’ song I’m plugging in -- check out the link here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=325jxJIJkJM
Well , after the desktop got straightened out early in April –
the tv has again got relegated to second spot, except for special
occasions-- occasional doses of an old favourite (Masterchef
Australia) ; then the new weekend
favourite of this summer (SJ, the truth serum show that tells tales which need
to be told, not brushed under a carpet of apathy and ignorance); or a definitive
must-watch film -- Saudagar, the graceful Nutan-Amitabh starrer from 1973; or The Help , currently on tv today.
Sadly the film has never made it to our Indian theatres; incidentally, the book is good too, in my uninformed opinion—since a section of American public seems to have had problems with the tale ( as per web reports).
Sadly the film has never made it to our Indian theatres; incidentally, the book is good too, in my uninformed opinion—since a section of American public seems to have had problems with the tale ( as per web reports).
However, browsing of world wide web remains a staple
activity, beyond, home, books, real life
; and the variety it throws up can lead
to engagement in a good way, occasionally, or despair at the cynicism and frivolity pervading our media spaces.
Take my disenchantment with a magazine that began so well in 2009 – Open
magazine, the news weekly that started off as
really different, open-minded
with a new fresh voice. Check out their
archives -- http://www.openthemagazine.com/archive/146
And check out their recent
issues : a cover story that is plain pessimistic and disbelieving -- (http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/art-culture/does-he-mean-it
Or you have another one
, simply superficial and out of touch with an India that matters -- http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/living/the-vagina-wears-diamonds
This last story made me go
-- ‘ugh—does this matter as an
inside story, leave alone a cover story?’
Glad to see though that an old favourite is still doing
good. Two years back, Tehelka weekly wrote two consecutive cover stories
about something that touches us daily—the irradiated and deadly air around us,
courtesy the friendly mobile cell phone tower
in your neighbourhood, a place it
has no right to inhabit.
The second issue offered a simple solution to householders faced with the dangers
of mobile phone tower radiation in their vicinity :
‘Look at simple steps in the house that might help, like
placing plants in balconies and by the windows, because plants tend to absorb
EMR to an extent.’
I need to plant a Jasmine or Bougainvillea creeper in my balcony asap.
I need to plant a Jasmine or Bougainvillea creeper in my balcony asap.
I am not sure how much it will help, but whatever the
benefit, it’s surely better than being fried by invisible rays, courtesy, the looming tower visible from my balcony.
Meanwhile, to get back to browsing matters, here is the
latest issue of Tehelka : it talks of a
picturesque Indian state that is, in
great part, being abandoned !
Excerpt –
The ghost villages of Uttarakhand
Over a decade after the state was founded, nine of its
13 districts are facing a crisis of migration. More than 1,000 villages have
been deserted for the comforts of the plains, reports Baba Umar
Close family members
honeymooned in Uttarakhand less
than two years back spoke about its heavenly beauty and calm.
Can’t this state be turned into a tourist paradise, bring
employment to its young, revenue to its coffers?
Won’t migration to
plains make the latter even more overcrowded and uninhabitable?
Wish our media would
write about topics which matter—not ghastly essays on personal adornment
and surgery that is horrendous to read, leave alone experience!
Thursday, April 05, 2012
PC-less Alice in Temporary TV-land
Our desktop went on the blink—again—and I rediscovered TV—along with certain attendant truths.
I happen to be a homemaker-reader-blogger-spouse-parent. The two offspring now reside in different corners of the world...and my time is more or less my own, to follow inclination and sense.
The daily routine generally follows this pattern—give spouse breakfast while he watches a bit of tv; mostly shut off tv soon after (unless there is a charming Farooq Shaikh speaking sensibly and mellifluously in Urdu to a pretty equally well-spoken interviewer, as happened the other day); have breakfast, clean up, attend to maid—and sit down at desktop for a session of browsing-blogging-skyping. The rest of the day follows as per work schedule—and at the end of the day, late evening or so, there is some more tv, whatever spouse has finally settled on after a manic round of channel-browsing (in the manner of many men; more on this later, another blog post).
Now from the afore-mentioned lines, one thing is obvious—tv is rather low on my priority list. Not that I shun tv totally, oh no; I am not one of those who declaim in supercillious fashion—“I don’t watch tv’. It’s just that my tv viewing is limited; I'm a specific audience, not a random surfer. Occasionally I get drawn into a particular show—like Masterchef Australia -- when a family member tempts and draws me in. But with daughter away for the nonce—my next session of dedicated tv viewing will be if and when I make the effort for something that catches fancy.
Well, to get to the point—my tv set has my attention again, for the present, at least. The late morning browsing session has been replaced by some rediscovery of tv-land.
And here are some revelations from within the box.
1. Private news channels are as banal as ever. Also, a bit of a fraud. More time is devoted to commercials, than actual news. Besides, to a lay viewer, the news presentation and content seem, umm, slanted perhaps.
2. Doordarshan and its sister channels are as quaint and charming as before. While DD news is just about ok, features are generally good, worth a watch at the least. Thus it was that I got re-acquainted with Farooq Shaikh.
And not just Farooq saab. Bonus add-ons included scenes from Farooq’s films. So one got to watch Poonam Dhillon in her very first film (Noorie), plus all those alternative cinema stalwarts from the nineteen-eighties—an actually slim Satish Shah, a kooky Neena Gupta doing a comic turn in one of Farooq’s zany comedies; a young Shabana Azmi good as ever…well, the whole class of eighties, really. Now I have this urge to watch Gaman, Rang Birangi, Bazaar and all those forgotten charmers from those innocent times.
3. Movies on tv—ahhh. How long is it since I watched a full film on tv? Very long, really ; but, here I was watching on two consecutive mornings, two films, almost completely—meaning, I caught the films after they had started—but watched to the end. Interestingly both films starred a filmi favourite, and equally interestingly, it was fun to note the transformation of an actor from effortless charmer in mid-nineties to a still-in-there-trouper.
And yes, the other actors…Karisma Kapoor could act very well indeed, even though her film Raja Hindustani managed to self destruct from a fun and musical first half to a Bolly melodrama in the second half . Still, overall, RH was a good watch in its own way.
Far better of course, was the second Hindi film I watched, on a weekday morning. I had watched Rang De Basanti in a theatre , Feb 2006, loved it, despite its questionable nihilism and climax. Since then I have watched it a couple of times on video and of course recently on tv. As before, the film managed to move and simultaneously engage my attention and admiration. I just love the whole ensemble cast, the varied characters but especially those of the young Muslim pacifist Aslam and rightwinger Lakman Pandey ( who finds himself reconsidering his rightist leanings). Plus of course the music…fabulous, absolutely thrilling.
Basically RDB is right up there among my favourite films.
Must report though that tv-land provides only this much and no more; by the end of the first week, the tv remote was contiuously being used, channels changed--all in vain; an old sitcom elicited some smiles, but otherwise the procession of boring news and silly bolly item numbers—it simple had me reaching for the remote. Back to waiting chores, and, my good ol’ friends -- books.
4. Rediscovery of Discovery, Fox, National Geographic and all knowledge-entertainment channels—as usual worth every minute. Thus it was that I watched Paul Merton in China and somebody else in Argentina. The feature on China was like revisiting an old friend, but the one on Argentina—something fresh and new, a revelation.
A couple of days back, it was Paul Merton again, in India now, entertaining his blasé much travelled self in a Hyderabad ice-land, where blazered and well-covered Indians forked out Rs 250 for a chance to experience an artificially created indoor landscape of ice, snow and blower-driven winds. If I am not mistaken my home town Chennai too, has one such polar- place.
Vide Discovery’s Animal Planet channel, I found myself getting reacquainted with the Tigers of India, the few that manage to survive . A new revelation was the use of robot driven moving cameras for use in film-capture of tigers, deer, monkeys, wild boar, the tiger cub-hunting leopard… the magnetic cast of jungle-India. Fascinatingly, some of these robot-cameras are each attached to an elephant’s tooth! A group of elephants steered by mahouts spend the day in the jungles of Pench Forest Reserve in Madhya Pradesh tracking a tigress and her cubs, through a whole year of recorded observation. Some cameras are also fixed at certain spots, notably water holes where all jungle animals come to slake their thirst, splash about, and cool off.
Robot cameras--What a unique, clever yet unobtrusive tool to capture undisturbed, the glorious reality of Wild India.
And yet another fascinating discovery was the National Geographic Channels’s In the Womb show. This line from their website says it all—
Using ground-breaking photography, state-of-the-art special effects and amazing 4D scans National Geographic's In The Womb takes us on a series of remarkable journeys into the extraordinary world of fetal development.
5. Watching one good film and one bad film—all in the space of one afternoon.
So, well into the second week of PC-lessness, I decided to check out the movie fare available on tv and watch one worthwhile film plus one cheap-thrill flick. Luckily, I managed to get a sample of each kind. MGM was showing a musical, ‘Tom Sawyer’, an American production from—unbelievably—Readers’ Digest. The film was of course charming , sweet, funny—as expected. The unexpected pleasant surprise came from watching a very young Jodie Foster, playing Becky Thatcher.
Now anybody wishing to see this nice sweet ol’ film--please do-- check it on video, or watch out for its appearance on MGM channel. Here is a link that gives information about this 39 year old production--http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070814/.
And to end this report about surviving-rediscovering tv—here is a bit of rant about one annoying Hindi film from recent times—Rascals, the BAD Hindi copy of a slight but charming American film—. the late eighties comedy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring a favourite (Michael Caine) and a couple of Holly veterans . The Hindi abomination Rascals easily wins my Golden Kela/Rasberry for the Worst Film of period 2001-2011. Starring two Hindi film ‘heroes’ (one 40 plus, the other 50 plus) in their worst possible roles, plus a 25 year old Himachali beauty who here manages to look sexy in an ugly manner, this is the sort of film that needs to be taught in film school, under the subject—How NOT to make a film. Crass, silly, vulgar, cheap, loud—watch it if you want cheap thrills.
And thus ends my two week PC-less holiday. The desktop is back—and the tv set has been ignored more or less, over the past twenty-four hours. I am NOT an IPL fan, so the April-May cricket carnival will go on without my passive participation. I will of course continue to peep in and catch whatever the spouse is surfing; will also as usual, check out newspaper listings, hoping to chance upon a long-awaited show…the usual city-life circus, it rolls on.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Rhyme from an old Diary
Mrs. X runs a heavenly home;
So neat , so nice, such a nest.
The curtains are crisp,
The taps don’t drip --
The house passes every blessed test.
Well almost every test;
For while I do swear
That cockroaches don’t dare
To prance on her tables—
She’s just too perfect, too able.
The morning newspaper
Is in it’s place,
Yesterday’s is inside a shelf;
I can’t find a quick-stray pin or a pen –
They’re all in their appointed stables.
There’s nothing unexpected, no sudden joy;
No ad leaflets to laugh at.
The useless is thrown off,
The latest displayed so –
To be used and promptly disposed off.
There's no shoebox old,
Brimming with tales,
Of a naughty birthday greeting,
Or a bauble that sparkles
With mischiveous memories
Of a riotous party.
And so the X nest ,
So squeaky-clean , so neat;
Still fails one final test—
To my seeking mind
It
Is
Just,
Too predictable,
So
Totally
Utterly
Boring.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Book Review: Ice Boys in Bell Bottoms—Krishna Shastri Devulapalli
A quick review, in a nutshell -- This book is a laugh riot. Finally, a genuinely funny, sweet, sensible Indian book about the angst of growing up. Two thumbs up!
It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed out loud after reading an Indian writer’s English prose. Maybe it happened last in the 90s —when Upamanyu Chatterjee and his English August had one chuckling at the shenanigans of bureaucrats in small town India. Next, Pankaj Mishra had the same effect with his debut work travelogue, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. Of course since then, the internet space has thrown up a variety of LOL raisers, but by and large, Indian English fiction is generally dead serious, nostalgic, whimsical, sometimes twee, occasionally risqué—but rarely funny, hilarious, in the mould of a Sue Townsend or a Bill Bryson.
To get back on track—here is a debutant novelist bucking the trend –and having this reader-reviewer at least, in splits. ROFLing, to use internet forum jargon.
Ice Boys in Bell Bottoms by Krishna Shastri Devulapalli is a laugh riot of a tale about growing up in Madras of the nineteen seventies. The book’s back page blurb tells us that it is the first of an intended trilogy. All I can say is—we’re waiting KSD!
The book tells a highly diverting tale about the child Gopi and his journey to teenage angst and understanding, about his setting roots in Ramalingam Street of T Nagar along with his delightfully eccentric circle of family and friends—the Telugu film lyricist grandfather-family head; the comic illustrator- artist father that Gopi tries to emulate, the pesky siblings and adventurous friends, the wierdos that weave in and out of the frisky protagonist’s life; the movie- buff mother, a surprisingly and pleasantly liberated lady, no doormat this .
Their tales and background have one chuckling and nodding as one recalls similar characters from one’s own life, similar situations. To give an example, the mother experiments with doll- making and finally gives it up since ‘after hours of toil, the end products resembled a Nazi experiment gone terribly wrong.’
Like any such ironic tale, there are of course some very interesting neighbours—like the octogenarian neighbor whose monthly shave fest provides Gopi and pals with their very own freakshow, the Dikshit family who feast and fast in their own special way, the family doctor who turns out to be more than bargained for.... there are the film aspirants from Hyderabad, bedding down for the nonce at Ramalingam Street, trying their luck in the movie machine of Madras…and for the reader with insider knowledge of Madras ( and not just Chennai of present times), it is wonderful to read nostalgic tidbits about the Veecumsee group of theatres, the very first multiplex from back then—Safire, Blue Diamond and Emerald. This whole lot is now off the map—but the book brings those times alive. What fun.
Yet fun is not just fun; the tale starts off merrily enough…but by the time Gopi’s hormones get active, the story changes tone, there is young love, teenage angst, moving passages, closure.
Overall the book is a breezy read. The language is lucid, effortless, effective—‘Our landlord, Raghavan, had built the rambling grey two-storey house with scrupulous savings, and judicious pilferage from the Indian Railways.’ Ha ha.
A couple of small quibbles—a few copy-editing errors caught my eye. Also, perhaps, some lines could improve with better phrasing.
But my final words to the reader of this review—read this book if it is one of the few books you are going to read this year.
As the blurb declaims --Ice Boys in Bell bottoms is ‘gloriously funny and surprisingly poignant’.
Amen to that.
More details about the book : http://www.harpercollins.co.in/BookDetail.asp?Book_Code=2931
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