Kusum Choppra

A Review by Kusum Choppra The title of Murli Melwani’s collection of short stories should have been “Against Many Skies.”       More than half the stories crisscross  India and her myriad cultures; the rest follow the ancestral trading trails beyond India’s borders trod by the hoary ancestors of a unique community, the Sindhis. I was so impressed by the perspectives the stories present that I could not   help but make brief comparisons of today’s   reality with the   layers of   literary pastry, appealling to different sensibilities, across numerous boundaries into the hearts of many readers. “ A Bar Girl.” A   touching story   woven around the life styles that both Amar Badlani and Rak have  chosen, that prevent them from stopping and evaluating their lives or asking where there are heading. For me the significant event was  Amar heading for Rak’s village, where it came home to ...

China’s One Belt One Road initiative is neither new, nor about A road. Essentially it proposes to resurrect the ancient land and sea Silk Routes from China to the West, with modern infrastructure in roads, rails, ports, power plants etc. China will play $115 billion Santa Claus to 60 odd countries strung across Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. It scored early by co-opting earlier projects like the Europe-China rail and CPEC into OBOR … since there is no definitive project list anyway.    The aim of OBOR?    Anything from using up China’s     mythical cash hordes; to resurrecting centuries-old domination over South East Asia, later Africa and now Europe and Australia too; to establish its hegemony over more than half the world with cheap loans, after its moves over the South China Sea. The territory is familiar to India, History’s hoary Trading Nation. International trading routes cannot ignore India, straddling the Indian Ocean, with Zanzibar, ...

The Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) 2013   presents a modern manthan, of ideas and ideals, opinions, books, fashions, what have you.   With six issues being taken up per hour from 10 am to 7 pm, the choice is incredible, whether one wants to just hang out with a cup of tea or coffee or any of the other delicious eats on offer, watching the latest in winter wear on display   or partake of more serious offerings in any of the panel discussions. In one of his less controversial statements, Ashish Nandy pointed out   India’s   four favorites:   films, sports, crime and politics. All were present at Jaipur, so footfalls were obviously heavy.   It was during the same discussion, after Tehelka’s Tarun tejpal offered a different view of corruption that Ashish let fly.   When Tejpal suggested that the ‘corruption’ be looked at as a way of means of equalizing equity, offering a pick me up to the have nots,   Ashish Nandy let fly his missile ab...