In a letter she wrote to me in response to my translation of her story ‘Do Haath’, Ismat Chughtai said, “Translating from Urdu to English is a very difficult task. There are great differences between languages. If you are satisfied,
Woman…woman…woman… Very good, disloyal, loyal, this and that, and god knows what else. In every country and in every age, great thinkers have put forward some opinion or the other about woman. If one gentleman emphasizes her beauty, another insists
Ismat Chughtai needs no introduction. Born on 15 August, and with a name that implies infallibility, Ismat Chughtai prefigured the struggles of common women in the sub-continent.[1] My ‘affair’ with her began at the time I was studying Comparative Literature at
Masaan Director: Neeraj Ghaywan Starring: Richa Chadda, Vicky Kaushal, Sanjay Mishra, Shweta Tripathi Rating: 4/5 The English title of Neeraj Ghaywan’s directorial debut is key to understanding the central theme of the story, and its ambiguous ending. As titles go, Fly Away Solo
“For thus hath the Lord said unto me: Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” —Isiah 21:6 The entire novel hinges on the above quote. It’s about what we see and what we do about what
If you are a fan of James Wan, the Malaysia-born director of Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious, The Conjuring and Furious 7, chances are that you are smitten and/or horrified by the freakish Billy the Puppet, or the scene in Dead Silence where innumerable dolls
Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Asha Jaoar Majhe is an inexplicable film. While it lacks any dialogue (save for the slogans from a political rally, which arches over the desolate spirit of the film), it is not in the mould of conventional silent films. It is embedded
And Home Was Kariakoo MG Vassanji Doubleday Canada Rs 1,555 | 400 pp A book about Africa (East Africa, in particular) by a writer of Indian origin who spent his childhood in Africa but now lives in Canada—a writer
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Director: Kabir Khan Starring: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Harshaali Malhotra, Sharat Saxena Rating: 2/5 The first cheers—not counting the obligatory applause and whistling at Bhai’s first appearance on screen, of course—only came near the end
When Greece adopted the euro in 2001, it was far from meeting the Maastricht convergence criteria, a five-point “entrance test” that takes into account a country’s inflation, budget deficit, debt, exchange rate stability and long-term interest rates. This made it one of the weakest