pen.books.and.scalpel

BOOK NAME: THIS LAND WE CALL HOME  AUTHOR NAME: NUSRAT F. JAFRI GENRE: BIOGRAPHY / POLITICAL NONFICTION PUBLISHER: PENGUIN INDIA BOOK BUY LINK:  https://www.amazon.in/This-Land-Call-Home-Conversions/dp/0143465546 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Who would have thought that I would endorse a nonfiction so strongly when I was almost convinced that I already had enough of them? The last time I read such impactful nonfiction tracing the history of partition was almost two years ago, and it was a spell-binding book called 'The Map and the Scissors' by Amit Majmudar. I was seriously so so sceptical about this book. But guess who couldn't stop swooning over it all along? That's right.  Jafri takes creative liberty and carves out this nonfiction with fictional prose in the third person narrative, in which she talks about her lineage starting from her great-grandparents. Every family event of Jafri's is linked to a political occurrence in India, and she shifts gears and swit...

BOOK NAME: MARTYR! AUTHOR NAME: KAVEH AKBAR GENRE: CONTEMPORARY FICTION PUBLISHER: PANMACMILLAN - PICADOR BOOKS BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/Martyr-Kaveh-Akbar/dp/1035026074 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Martyr is a book I was expecting to fall head over heels with throughout, but it turned out like a waveform spiking high initially, then dipping low and, luckily, ending with a peak. Martyr is the journey of Cyrus Shams, who is grieving the loss of his mother, whose plane was shot down in the Persian Gulf by a US Navy warship when he was a child. Cyrus was then brought up by his father after migrating to the US (ironically) for his higher studies until he succumbed to poor health. He then takes on the journey of writing his book, "The Earth Martyrs", inspired by his mother, his Uncle and Orkideh, the cancer survivor who he meets on the verge of her death. This book had a thunderous start with a solid opening line and a brilliant display of characters. The plot wa...

"Ma, did you just make tomato rice again? That's twice in a week." I twisted my face in disappointment.  "Ha, yes. What's wrong with tomato rice? You love it every time I make it. Why are you sulking now?" Ma was right. Not just tomato rice; I never said no to anything she made for me. I can eat anything and everything made of things that grow from the ground, that which walks, one that flies and swims. I never segregated my food choices like my sister. "It's your favourite peerkangai aviyal (ridge gourd stew). I made it just the way you like." The next day at lunch, Ma was beaming as she displayed her culinary skills at the table. It was white rice, ridge gourd stew, pepper rasam and curd for lunch. As someone who loved it usually, I should have been ecstatic because I was getting to eat them after a long time. But it was also the very fact that made me sad. After my sister departed from our home, everything has been of this sort at home. It...

BOOK NAME: ANATOMY A LOVE STORY (Book 1 of the Duology) AUTHOR NAME: DANA SCHWARTZ GENRE: MEDICAL FICTION / YOUNG ADULT MYSTERY THRILLER / HISTORICAL ROMANCE PUBLISHER: WEDNESDAYBOOKS BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/Anatomy-Love-Story-Dana-Schwartz/dp/1250774152 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Never in my wilder dreams had I imagined I would ever read a medical fiction with an aspiring female surgeon as a protagonist set in the Victorian era. This book was everything I never thought I would get served in a book together. It made me feel guilty for misjudging it altogether, even before starting it. I really thought it would be another average book, but I never knew I was in for a surprise. I love it when a book manages to amuse me by surpassing my expectations. Set in Edinburg in the early 19th century, Hazel Sinnett had always wanted to become a surgeon. But she has been engaged to her cousin since childhood, who wants her to take over the Almont house. Imagine wanting to b...

BOOK NAME: WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS (TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI NOVEL UDHAR KE LOG BY NITA KUMAR) AUTHOR NAME: AJAY NAVARIA GENRE: DOMESTIC/ POLITICAL FICTION PUBLISHER: NIYOGI BOOKS BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/worlds-within-Ajay-Navaria/dp/9391125808 BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Worlds Within Worlds is a translated work of the Hindi novel Udhar Ke Log, which is about a Dalit man's journey through life and relationships. The protagonist is a professor at an unnamed university and has already suffered the loss of his wife. Though being a professor should have given him the blanket of protection against caste prejudices, he finds it only as extreme as before. The book also explores his interpersonal relationships, family dynamics and friendship between people with religious differences. After his wife's demise, he remarries only to land himself in soup because of his circumstances. Later, he meets Aisha, a sex worker whom he admires because of her nature and smartness....

Here she comes, wiping her damp hands in the saree fold that's shoved inside her in-skirt on the waistline. Her stance is skewed even as she is happily greeting us at the dining table for the family dinner. Ma is old, fifty-eight, to be precise, and probably has multiple joint aches and back pain. Probably - because we never asked her, and she never complains. Even as she is nearing sixty, she has never accepted the idea of someone else taking over the kitchen in our house. She lets us help her while cooking once in a while. But a cook in her place is never what she had imagined. Maybe because she knows we are all bound by her handmade food that no one else can replicate. Or maybe because Papa wouldn't approve of the taste of anyone else's cooking. I wonder if it's because she secretly thinks we would stop loving her if she ever stops cooking. Or just because she just loves doing it. Whatever the reason, aren't mothers the most underappreciated creatures on this pla...

With Eid around the corner, one of our major discussions at home is about the cooking plan on the day of Eid. Even if we are away from home, my husband and I are trying to make it as good as at home this time. For us, Eid is the most important occasion, and if you didn't know this already, Eid-al-Fitr (Eid of charity) is celebrated as Ramadan and Eid-al-Adha (Eid of sacrifice) is celebrated as Bakrid. Both of these occasions revolve so much around food, such as sacrificing and donating it to those in need. Eid, for us, is not just a festivity but a day that shows us ways to lead our lives by example. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims worldwide give up on their food, which is the most irresistible part of human life. We start the day by waking up as early as before dawn and have a meal before sunrise, which is called sahari. The Sahar food is either prepared the night before or early morning before 3 AM. The fast is broken at dusk as the sun sets, and the Iftaar meal is shared am...

BOOK NAME: FROM PASHAS TO POKÉMON  AUTHOR NAME: MAARIA SAYED GENRE: WOMEN'S FICTION PUBLISHER: VISHWAKARMA PUBLICATIONS BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/PASHAS-POKEMON-MAARIA-SAYED/dp/9395481544 BOOK COVER IMAGE ABOUT THE BOOK At 25, Aisha has seen more than many people do in a lifetime and has understood one thing: no matter who you are or where you are from, there are things that you can study and others that you can actually learn from and grow. Lively tales from family history and everyday life in Mohammad Ali road colony in Mumbai from the background of Aisha's internal journey. Childhood memories mingle with her experiences while studying in London, and are woven into a sharp commentary on the transformation in India over 20 years as she ponders her place in this ever changing world.  Narrated with distinct humour and a throbbing heart, rooted in Urdu sensibility, the debut novel of Maaria Sayed is the story of a family caught in the shift to the new mille...

BOOK NAME: SORROW AND BLISS AUTHOR NAME: MEG MASON GENRE: DOMESTIC FICTION PUBLISHER: W&N BOOKS BOOK BUY LINK:   https://www.amazon.in/SORROW-AND-BLISS/dp/1474622992/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= BOOK COVER IMAGE BOOK REVIEW Sorrow and Bliss is a book I never knew I needed. I started this book in October last year and kept pushing it back because I just wasn't ready for it. But as I progressed and completed it, I was extremely happy for at least having read it now instead of saving it for later. Sorrow and Bliss, as the name suggests, is about Martha's journey through her mental health problems and the altering dynamics in her familial relationships. Martha is a middle-aged woman with a constantly fluctuating relationship with her mother. She instead seeks comfort from her sister Ingrid, her father and aunt. Later, Patrick takes over and tries to be her support system only until they can't break it any further. After a dismal and dull start, I...

See, let's get it straight. I love experimenting with foods every now and then. I love myself some white sauce chicken, godhumai dosai (atta dosa) and chicken tikka biryani. However, there are certain limits to which inventions can be accepted. With the increasing number of food bloggers and online critiques, there has been increasing demand for originality and creativity in content, forcing certain members to commit such unforgivable sins. Let's see some of those fusion foods that I think are absolutely unnecessary and shouldn't exist on the face of the earth. LEAVE OUR DOSAIS AND IDLIES ALONE Dear food bloggers, it's a kind request from a humble Tamilian foodie to leave our dosais and idlies alone. Please don't put anything apart from oil or potato masala in our dosais in the name of invention. And what's a pizza dosa anyway? If you want to have a pizza, have a pizza. If you crave a dosa, please have one. But putting these two together is absolutely nonsense. ...

One thing that I have realised in the past thirty years of my life is that food is what I seek for both celebrating success and as a coping mechanism under stress. This post might not be essentially about the food items or the places per se. But it's about the circumstances under which I had them that made it a memorable experience for me. 1. BENGALURU - NEELADRI ROAD Those were the most challenging days of my life - the three years of my post-graduation period from 2017 to 2020. It was the first time I stayed away from home. I still remember how painful it was when my mother parted ways with me after leaving me in my room. As an introvert, I couldn't accommodate the PG lifestyle and rented an apartment of my own, even though it meant living alone for the rest of the years. All thanks to my landlord and the people of Bengaluru, I was safe and sound on my own. Amidst all the shambling and rambling, I was extremely homesick and would be sick to my stomach to find myself all alone...