(Image Credit: http://www.amazon.in) The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic stood every bit of received wisdom relating to the concept of socializing, on its head. These SOPs put a taboo on even the most fundamental of physical contact such as shaking of hands, let alone an enveloping bear hug. People were forced … Continue reading Afternoons and More – Jaya Pillai

(Image Credit: http://www.barnesandnoble.com) Books can be like Russian Matryoshka dolls. Similar to these nested wooden dolls where one primary doll has many smaller dolls stacked within the bigger ones, a solitary book can lead the willing and eager reader down a warren boasting many other books each of which in its own right has keys … Continue reading Writing – Marguerite Duras

(Image Credit: http://www.netgalley.com) An illustrated polemic, “Accidental Czar” takes pictorial potshots at the egregious President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. While the heavy lifting on Putin’s adventures and misadventures (mostly the latter) is done by Andrew S. Weiss, former director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, and currently the James … Continue reading Accidental Czar: The Life & Lies of Vladimir Putin – Andrew S. Weiss & Brian “Box” Brown

(Image Credit: http://www.amazon.com) How often do we pause to reflect about the benefits and disadvantages of a roundabout, other than when honking, hollering or haughtily giving the finger to an indiscreet driver? Well, Lily Bernheimer does and doing so is what distinguishes this environmental psychologist from a lot of us. The Founding Director of Space … Continue reading The Shaping of Us: How Everyday Spaces Structure Our Lives, Behaviour, and Well-Being – Lily Bernheimer

(Image Credit: http://www.goodreads.com) At the outset, I wish to gratefully acknowledge Tim Herfkens for leading me onto this wonderful book and an even wonderful author, and to Sabitha Karri for penning a poignant review. While yet another review might not add to what has already been eruditely articulated by the revivalist and his acolyte, not … Continue reading Travel Light – Naomi Mitchison

Laird Hunt’s formidable protagonist Zorrie Underwood of Clinton County is not so much a quintessential woman of the soil as she is the very daughter of the roughly hewn earth. Set in the cleave between the pre and post-depression eras that united the early and late twentieth centuries, Hunt’s lilting work is more bales of … Continue reading Zorrie – Laird Hunt

(Image Credit: http://www.bookdepository.com) Beginning 1966 and extending well into the early 1980s, two veritable titans nursing tangentially different ideologies in the domain of economics, pitted their wares against each other by penning alternating columns for the Newsweek magazine. Such a marvelous exercise or experiment even, has not been repeated since by either Newsweek or any … Continue reading Samuelson Friedman: The Battle Over the Free Market – Nicholas Wapshott

(Image Credit: Macmillan Publishers) The Norwegian-American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen coined the term, “conspicuous consumption’. This term explains the practice of consumers purchasing goods of a higher quality/greater quantity than is necessarily practical. More specifically it refers to luxury goods or services to publicly display one’s wealth or status. Hence a ‘conspicuous’ attempt at … Continue reading Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life – Luke Burgis