The Colours of Nationalism: An Excerpt

Human-rights lawyer, teacher, campaigner and writer, Nandita Haksar has represented the victims of army atrocities in Northeast India, Kashmiris framed in terrorism cases, migrant workers, and refugees seeking asylum in India. The Colours of Nationalism is her recently-published memoir, which offers both an insider’s look at the working of the government and legal system as well as the abuses of power against minorities. ‘The second in the series of Haskar’s introspective memoirs, this book is the story of an Indian human rights lawyer’s journey to discover India. Born to a privileged upper-caste and upper-class family, her human rights work takes her to the remote corners of the country, and in the process, she discovers how her fellow citizens, across religions, ethnicities, classes and castes, experience India,’ says the publisher’s note. With the publisher’s permission, here is an excerpt from the book…

Book Review: An Inky Parade

Author, avid bibliophile and book collector Pradeep Sebastian’s new book, An Inky Parade ‘is a window into the charming world…

Book Excerpt: Shades of Blue

Our lakes and rivers are the very source of life itself and yet they’ve never been more threatened. Today, all…

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GALF 2024: Poetry, Abhangas and Abolim

The Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) concluded in the evening on 17th February, with poets, writers and literature afficionados swirling to Goan music and songs by Sonia Shirsat, one of Goa’s music icons and…

Great Japanese Short Stories: An Excerpt

We have a bit of an obsession with all things Japanese, here at BooksFirst. And that includes works of fiction as well as non-fiction from Japanese authors, translated into English of course since we can’t,…

Book Review: Indian Advertising – Laughter and Tears

The art – and science – of advertising is pretty fascinating. On average, mainstream filmmakers have anywhere between 90-150 minutes to tell their story. Book authors get 300 pages and 100,000 words. Working as a…

Oral History Masterpieces: Londoners, New Yorkers

London and New York are undoubtedly two of the greatest cities in the world, cities that hundreds of thousands of people aspire to visit, see and experience. Some want to live and work there, some…

Book Summary Websites: Are They Really Useful?

Some things take time – that’s just the way it is. Want to be an expert at playing the piano? Want to build a National-level championship-winning physique? Want to learn to cook like the head…

The Yellow Sparrow: An Excerpt

Consigned to the shadows, their very existence swept under the carpet, the transgender community in India – even as it struggles to somehow eke out a living at the fringes of society – faces widespread ridicule and humiliation. The challenges they face have often been documented in the media but have never been adequately addressed.…

Book Review: Adman Madman – Unapologetically Prahlad

One look at the mildly risqué back cover of this book and you know this isn’t going to be a run-of-the-mill memoir. For there is an exuberant Prahlad Kakar, bearded and long-haired, with an impressively long cigar in his mouth, holding up a large fish (which he has presumably just caught) in one hand and…

The Final Farewell: In Conversation with Minakshi Dewan

Despite its inevitable eventuality, most of us find it difficult to talk about ‘death’ and the rites and rituals associated with the passing of a loved one. Given that death is almost always associated with a deep sense of loss, suffering and pain for those who are left behind, perhaps the human brain is hardwired…

Book Review: An Inky Parade

Author, avid bibliophile and book collector Pradeep Sebastian’s new book, An Inky Parade ‘is a window into the charming world of antiquarian book trade in India and around the world, as well as an ode to the book as an object of art, sure to delight every reader,’ says the publisher’s note. ‘Blending personal experience,…

Book Review: Raw Umber – A Memoir

‘Some of the boxes had never been opened. The viscous oil colours dried up and hardened, and the tight caps were difficult to unscrew. Raw Umber, Gamboge, Cobalt Blue, Scarlet Lake, Ultramarine…,’ says Sara Rai,…

Mihir Vatsa: Tales of Hazaribagh

A PhD candidate in Literature, Mihir is an Institute Fellow at IIT Delhi. A writer, a photographer, and a man of many talents, he has earlier worked in advertising, taught English at the Sido Kanhu…

Immunity in a Spoon of Ghee: An Excerpt

Strengthening and ‘boosting’ our immune system is a thing these days. Rather than popping pills indiscriminately, more people than ever before now pay attention to how they can help their own immune system to prevent…

Cityscapes: Memorable Books on Indian Cities

From Bombay to Banaras and Lucknow to Ludhiana, Indian cities are full of interesting characters and remarkable stories. Here’s our list of some great books that talk about various Indian cities and bring out the…

My Life With Books: Marco D’Souza

Based in Gurgaon, Marco is a career journalist who jumped to corporate communications and now works for Google. A consummate geek and a fan of eBooks and the Kindle Paperwhite, he loves rediscovering the wonders…

Kavitha Iyer: Landscapes of Loss

Mumbai-based Kavitha has been a journalist for more than two decades and a significant part of her work has been reporting on those living on the margins – slum dwellers, small farmers, indigenous communities, landless…

Talking Audiobooks with Deepika Arun

Based in Chennai, Deepika Arun has a B.Tech in bioengineering and biomedical engineering, is a huge Potterhead, a podcast producer with Spotify, and audiobook narrator for Storytel and Audible. She has a passion for Tamil…

Book Review: Indian Advertising – Laughter and Tears

The art – and science – of advertising is pretty fascinating. On average, mainstream filmmakers have anywhere between 90-150 minutes to tell their story. Book authors get 300 pages and 100,000 words. Working as a team, advertising copywriters and visualisers often get a single image and a sentence or two to tell an entire story,…

Book Review: Out of God’s Oven – Travels in a Fractured Land

Out of God’s Oven was first released way back in 2002, so why are we writing about this book now, in 2023? That’s because Speaking Tiger Books has released a revised and updated edition earlier this month; it’s a terrific piece of work and well worth revisiting. The book has been written by Dom Moraes…

Book Review: Forgotten Foods

Edited by Tarana Husain Khan, Claire Chambers and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Forgotten Foods: Memories and Recipes from Muslim South Asia is a delectable anthology of essays where the authors write about food – the food they remember enjoying as children, the food of their community, the food that reminds them of home. And, yes, it’s important…

My Life With Books: Srinivas Krishnan

A legend in his own lifetime, Mumbai-based Srinivas has been an automotive person in the communications business or a communications person in the automotive business all along – advertising, journalism, corporate and public relations. He…

Nadim Siraj: Secret Notes From Iran

Based in Noida, Nadim Siraj is an author, journalist and columnist. He’s one of the Founder Editors of Empire Diaries, a current affairs website he jointly launched a few years ago, after spending over a…

Slogan Murugan: In Conversation with Gopal MS

Based in Mumbai, Gopal MS is an advertising professional (hence the ‘Slogan’ in ‘Slogan Murugan’) and also a street photographer who captures the vibrancy and diversity of Mumbai on his camera. Gopal has meticulously documented…

Heavy Metal: In Conversation with Ameer Shahul

A green crusader, emerging technology advocate, public policy leader and now an author, Ameer Shahul has shaken things up with his book, Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal. It is an important piece…

Book Extract: Silk – A History in Three Metamorphoses

Dr Aarathi Prasad, who has a PhD in genetics from Imperial College London, is an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London’s Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, where she is part of an international…

The Mighty Paperback – It Saves Lives

A paperback is defined as a softcover book with a thick paper cover or paper board cover, the pages of which are held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. Glue is used in…

Book Review: Balochistan at a Crossroads

Balochistan has a long and rather complex history. The region is sandwiched between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Part of it (Afghani Baluchistan) lies in southern Afghanistan, another part (Sistan and Baluchestan province) belongs to Iran,…

Asia after Europe: An Excerpt

Sugata Bose is Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University, and has earlier authored a very well-received selection of books, including His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire,…

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