columns

Salman Rushdie and VS Naipaul in some mysterious way, have turned into mirror images of each other, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image In the Eighties, Indians regarded the emergence of Salman Rushdie with a special sort of pride. Admittedly, he hadn’t lived in India for a long time. His parents had migrated to Pakistan and […]

Though the Jaipur Heritage Fest brought leading writers together, many were dissatisfied with the proceedings. HT Image Salman Rushdie is busy signing autographs on scraps of paper. Suketu Mehta is less than thrilled with the hygiene standards in his hotel and Jerry Pinto is busy exhorting people to read his Helen: The Life and Times of

Economic power brings literary power & there is a big boom in Indian non-fiction & fiction, reports Namita Bhandare. HT Image India everywhere was the theme at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year. It has now found a resonance in the literary world — as was evident at the ongoing second Jaipur Literature

The fatwa for The Satanic Verses has failed to silence writer, Salman Rushdie. HT Image The fatwa for The Satanic Verses has failed to silence writer Salman Rushdie. He has unequivocally condemned the Indian army’s role in Kashmir. “You cannot escape the fact that the army has behaved absolutely dreadfully,” he said. Insurgency, he said,

Insurgency, he says, began in 1989, but the army?s atrocities in Kashmir had begun well before that, reports Namita Bhandare. HT Image The fatwa for The Satanic Verses has failed to silence writer Salman Rushdie. He has unequivocally condemned the Indian army’s role in Kashmir. “You cannot escape the fact that the army has behaved absolutely dreadfully,”

Rushdie wishes Shetty to come home with the prize, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image The fatwa against him for The Satanic Verses has neither silenced him nor made him bitter, said author Salman Rushdie. “If you’re going to censor yourself, you should shut up and never speak again in public,” he said.  Rushdie who is in India

Authors as Tarun Tejpal and Pankaj Mishra are there too, adding to the firmament of stars at the Festival, reports Namita Bhandare. HT Image Salman Rushdie is busy signing autographs on scraps of paper. Suketu Mehta is less than thrilled with the hygiene standards in his hotel and Jerry Pinto is busy exhorting people to

An interaction with NDTV’s Barkha Dutt had a varied audience get-together at Diggi Palace, the festival venue, reports Namita Bhandare. HT Image It took a while for Kiran Desai to get the mike going. Part of the problem was technical. The other, she is simply too soft-spoken.  “It’s like I’m kissing the mike,” she protested

Africa is all about adventure, even when you are stuck in slush waiting for the rescue jeep, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image I have an uncanny feeling that I’ve been caught slap bang in a B-grade Hollywood film. This is Out of Africa II, or should the title be Stuck in Africa? Consider the scene.

MTV?s irreverent humour and Kandagaon?s traditional iron craft come together in an exhibition that takes contemporary art to the edge of desire, Namita Bhandare. HT Image MTV makes its debut at the National Gallery of Modern Art. A sweeping exhibition that captures a decade-long perspective on ‘contemporary visual practices’ in India runs the gamut from desi cool

As the art season gets going in the city, gallery owners begin scouting around for new locations, reports Namita Bhandare. HT Image Less than 12 hours after its wine and cheese opening of artist Aditya Basak’s exhibition, the walls at Anant Art Gallery in Defence Colony had been stripped bare, the paintings sent into storage.

Despite the harsh terrain, the Rann of Kutch is a stretch of spectacular beauty, writes Namita Bhandare. HT Image I am connected to Kutch in a strange and roundabout way. I grew up in a rented apartment in Bombay in a building owned by Pragmalji Madansinhji, the former maharaja of Kutch. The building, on busy Napean