Before the whole phenomenon of algorithms was revealed to me by a young friend, it felt spooky the way my devices — luckily only two, phone and laptop — used to throw up items of supposed interest. From shampoos to shows, the whole shebang, some thought-provoking, a

It’s the journey that matters, not the destination, and reading books is a constant reminder of this, especially if you are enjoying the read and are eager to figure out how it all ends. But you stop your impatience and savour every word, sentence, idea… For many,

A clip doing the rounds on YouTube features Oprah Winfrey talking to Abraham Verghese about his latest book, The Covenant of Water. Heaping praise, she said it featured among her top three books of all time, including a Toni Morrison. ‘And I’ve been reading since age 3,’

Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth…’ This statement by the French (of Algerian birth) philosopher, writer, dramatist Albert Camus provokes. Think about it. Readers often ponder over what they read, why they read, how they read, and the train of thoughts that follow.

You never know what will come your way, when and where. That certainly goes for information, possibly the most searched ‘item’ going, which is possibly the reason why the world is enmeshed in a web of agents and double agents. This brings to mind the American MAD

To be perfectly honest, I visit my local bookstore simply because it’s in the neighbourhood. Each time, I drop by hoping that it will yield bountiful treasures. That hope is often belied, but I persist because the two bookstores in my city that I used to visit

January 26 and February 18. The first is Republic Day. And Republic Day celebrates the date on which the Constitution came into effect, back in 1950. That’s the day, this year, that I started reading a book published on August 15, 2022. The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers

We are familiar with the word, bibliophile. It describes a person who loves books and possibly also collects them. However, it’s only this morning that I discovered what describes a person who loves words. Upon reflection, it’s a no-brainer: of course it is ‘logophile’, from the Greek

Every once in a while, comes time to revisit shelves overflowing with books, some read, mostly unread, purchased for various reasons: because the jacket looked inviting, because this is just the author I’m looking for, because it is highly recommended, and sometimes just on the whim of

Before Ponniyin Selvan was a film, it was a book in five parts, and before it was a book, it was serialised in a Tamil magazine called Kalki, starting October 29, 1950, concluding May 16, 1954. Kalki was a magazine started by Kalki. And Kalki was the

My heart leaps up when I behold / A rainbow in the sky: / So was it when my life began; / So is it now I am a man; / So be it when I shall grow old, / Or let me die! / The Child