In the Name of Honour by Mukhtar Mai

‘In the name of Honour’ by Mukhtar Mai first caught my attention at Crossword. I did not buy the book right away because it was only available in hardcover, which made it expensive. So, I made a note and decided to wait for a few months, to be launched in paperback.


Several months later, while going through my wish list, I came across this book again and luckily, it was available online in Paperback. It is a small book, about 180 pages, so I picked it up for reading immediately after finishing the book I was reading.


To me this book is all about the courage and determination of the woman who was supposed to commit suicide after she was subjected to gangrape as a punishment for an “honor crime”. But she survives and overcomes her handicaps to turn into a social activist. Mukhtar Mai is inspiring, and this book stands for all the injustice and atrocities that women are subjected to, in the name of honor.


There are 2 things that come out very starkly in this book – the first is illiteracy. Half the battle is lost due to the fact that several women in the back and beyond of villages are illiterate, and thus are unaware and incapable about fighting or filing cases for the injustice caused to them. The second thing that has been captured vividly is the quantum of violence against women, predominantly rape and murder. In the tribal regions and villages, it is common practice to take vengeance with the other man by raping the women of his family. For years, women have been subjected to all sorts of violence under the guise of ‘justice’.

Mukhtar Mai is a divorced, 28-year old, tribal woman who is subjected to the punishment of gang rape because her 12 year old brother is accused of talking to an upper - caste woman. She contemplates suicide like any other woman subjected to such heinous crime, but unlike them she turns around, stands up and fights for not only her own honour but turns into a social activist and makes the public and the media sit up and take note of such atrocities in the society.


She is not bogged down by the fact that she is illiterate, though she regrets not being able to read, several times in the book. She comes across as an extremely courageous and intelligent woman, who did not let herself be intimidated by the powerful men and the system. Because she is illiterate, it becomes all the more difficult for her to fight her case because she is never sure whether whatever she is saying is getting documented correctly, and she attributes illiteracy a major problem in cases getting registered for such crimes.

Not being political about it, I would just say that It is just a matter of chance that she belongs to Pakistan because 'honour killings' happen everywhere.


Read another review of the book here. I definitely recommend this book. It has been written well and deserves all the attention for the cause it brings forward. 

Some more books on my shelf (actually beyond shelf now)

People! Get jealous. I have just acquired a host of great books. In fact, even finished reading 1 of them and in the middle of the second one.



Here’s the enviable list:


A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Finally! and quite a fat book it is. Friends at work felt that it was too late for me to read “a suitable boy”; while my husband rummaged through the packing to confirm that it actually was 1 book and not a couple of books! The only thing he had to say was, “forget about reading, I don’t understand how anybody can write so much in the first place!”


In the Name of Honour by Mukhtar Mai
Quite a famous book by now, I had first seen this book in Crossword, on the ‘new releases’ shelf. At that time only the hardcover was available and it was too expensive, so I gave it a miss. Got this for just Rs 252 in paperback. Reading it right now.


Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
My current favourite is Iran and last couple of books have been in and around it. I came across this book, while hunting for some good books based in Tehran / Iran. I have already finished it and posted a review as well. Quite a good book really.


The Invisibles: A Tale of the Eunuchs of India by Zia Jaffrey
I have already read this book 4 years back while I was in Mumbai. It is a well-written and well-researched book. It really opens your eyes to the world where these “invisibles” belong. A lot of things are horrifying and eye opener. I definitely wanted it in my collection and I will surely re-read it.


Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America And American in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni
Another recommendation on Iran. In fact, I have got a long list of recommendations on good books on Tehran which was published on the back pages of ‘Rooftops of Tehran’. I’m all for it!



Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi
Yet another one. Read about the author here. Still awaiting the delivery of the book.


Dreams Die Young by C.V.Raman
I came across this book in The Hindu Book Reviews long time back, but it was ‘out of stock’ on almost all the websites as well as bookstores. I was lucky to re-discover it recently on a1books.co.in

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Just finished another book based in Tehran – Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji. Unlike the other 2 previous books that I read, this one is a fiction and closer to the genre of ‘The Kite Runner’.


First things first, I liked the book. I finished this 348 page book in 4 days. ‘Rooftops of Tehran’ is essentially a story woven around friends Pasha, Ahmed, Faheemeh, Zari and Doctor. It is a touching story of love, friendship, political turmoil, courage and sacrifice. The story is narrated through the voice of Pasha, whose name you don’t get to know for a very long time. Nevertheless, the story succeeds in touching an emotional chord with the readers. The emotions that the protagonists go through can be true for anybody of their age in any part of the world, while at the same time, the story also creates a rich and vivid kaleidoscope of Iranian culture.


The back cover rightfully describes it as ‘an unforgettable novel of young love and coming of age in a nation headed towards revolution’. Pasha spends several moments of love and longing on his rooftop, in the relatively conservative Iran. Although the summer afternoons spent together by Pasha, Zari, Ahmed and Faheemeh sound unrealistic in the conservative Tehran, where so much time spent between unrelated young boys and girls can only be frowned upon; but one can overlook such things in this richly woven story of young love, Pasha’s guilt of falling in love with Zari who happens to be engaged to Doctor - his friend and mentor, his longing for her and so on. There are some potions that try to add humour but seem a bit forced.


For me, this novel was about understanding the contemporary Iran during 70s. I personally know very little about the history and culture of this politically disturbed country. You cannot help but feel sorry for the young people who are not free to express themselves, the schools are controlled, the expressions are controlled, so that you do not fall out of line with the government. The people of Iran have seen and gone through unimaginable violence for people and their families who opposed government.


Read more about the book here.

Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks

Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks has the cover page strikingly similar to the last book that I read ‘Prisoner of Tehran’. But the reason I picked up this book was because it promised a glimpse into “the Hidden World of Islamic Women”.


It is an interesting non-fiction account of the author’s interactions with women from several Muslim countries – their lives, the rituals, rules, regulations.

Geraldine Brooks treads the middle path of questioning the things passed on as religion while rationalizing some of the regressive aspects of the Muslim countries.

It was interesting to note what Geraldine’s colleague Asya had to say in justifying the role of burqa - ‘burqa-clad women are treated as equals based on their intellect not as sex objects.’

The book discusses the origin of a lot of practices like child marriage, polygamy, role of women, etc and their relevance in today’s society.

Frankly a general non-Muslim understands this culture only so much, but surely to world’s second largest population it must make sense. Even the most popular books that have come out on Muslim countries, have done little to create a good picture, say Not without my daughter, for example.

Geraldine attempts to strike a balance between criticizing the customs that stifles an individual’s (read woman’s) rights, and yet not being too judgmental about Muslim women who are comfortable in the safety of their ‘hijab’.

Personally, I learnt a lot about women in Muslim countries and I think this book will appeal to everyone who has interests in studies related to culture, religion and women. There are horrifying rituals, unbelievable stories, unjustifiable customs accepted and followed the world over. I think the book surely does some justice to the genre. In fact there are stories of several courageous women who overcame the limitations of hijab and participated in sports, politics, education and public affairs, which will appeal to the readers.

I also came across this interesting write up which is ‘a Muslim response to the book’.

Book Review: Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat

I was looking to read about people in countries which have undergone political upheaval, that is when I came across this book. ‘Prisoner of Tehran’ in its own words is ‘one woman’s story of survival in a torture jail’.



I got a rare opportunity of reading a book without many breaks. It truly makes a difference in the way a book can affect you. And ‘Prisoner in Tehran’ by Marina Nemat surely did affect. It is surprising to know how politically aware and involved is the young people in countries that are unsettled, and it equally saddens to know what they go through just by voicing their opinion. Just voicing an opinion, just simple thing as having a conversation about what you like and what you don’t. For us, it truly sounds far-fetched to be in a situation like this. And that is the reason, somewhere in the middle, while reading the book, I asked myself if we take our freedom too lightly!


Every day newspapers are filled with stories of violence from across the world. There are several innocent people getting killed everywhere, there are countries who are constantly in turmoil, no law and order, no rules. 



Marina’s story is scary, even unreal, and sometimes too incredible to be true. You tend to feel empathetic and sorry for the people who live in a disillusioned state of a country. There are few choices and all wrong! It gnaws at your heart to read about such young people – teenagers - go through so much. It is disheartening to read about conditions that you would not even wish to your enemies.


It all boils down to only one thing - religion. Why did man create religion? Religion was supposed to be an individual choice of how they wanted to reach out to someone above, to the belief that there was someone there above who took care of us, who helped us in difficulties, who you call out to in moments of distress! And why did religion came to be mixed with politics? Religion should have remained personal. Just like it does not matter to others what food we eat at home or how we like our interiors, it should never have been anybody’s business as to how I reached out to my God, or even who was my God, for that matter! In the place where we have reached today is terrible and I don’t think we can ever go back and start this all over again, learning from where we went wrong.


It is certainly a difficult book to read, simply because Marina’s experiences have been horrific. My eyes were moist a lot of times, I even got a headache but I finished the book in 2 days flat.


I wanted to write about it before I forgot the feelings I experienced while reading it. And I’m happy that I could!


I completely believe that reading a book is an experience, and it changes with the book and the person reading it, who relates it to her own experiences. I just expressed my experience; I did not really review the book. For those who want to catch a review. Here’s one. Also read more about the Evin Prison here. This book is for anybody who wants to hear the voice that had always been there but probably not loud enough to reach us. I think it is really important to be aware about our world and what people go through while trying to live.

My all-time favourite

I got acquainted with 'ARCHIES' much later, and fell in love with it. Even today, I don't lose an opportunity to get hold of Archies and specially 'Betty & Veronica' Double Digests! They are awesome.
I don't buy the new issues, I take loads of old issues in very low prices, since I find the new ones quite expensive. There is nothing new or old about it! An ARCHIES is an ARCHIES!

Some more books on my over-flowing shelf!

I wrote about this celeb magazine 'PEOPLE' earlier. I am absolutely hooked to it. It has none of those trashy gossips and some really good pictures, plus it has celebs from all walks of life. So, well, they have 2 pages on Books towards the end and I definitely look out for the recommended books. I ended up buying 2 books from the last issue and one more for my collection on Mahabharata:

• Home Boy by H.M.Naqvi > It has the most amazing covers I have ever seen. There is this grainy feel to the photograph on the cover, which is apparently paining of the characters from the book. I am just starting this book. It has got good reviews. Read one here.
• The Return of Khokha Babu > Wel, it has collection of short stories from Tagore, so did not think about it much. Just bought it!
• Thus spake Bhishma > An English translation of 'Main Bhishma Bol Raha hoon'. So, with this, I have added another perspective to my rapidly expanding collection.

Back with Loads of New Books!

I can’t believe it that the last time I wrote something here was October 2009! But this Blog is very much active.

I am back with a whole lot of Books that are now proudly displayed on my shelf (I must confess, my books are now outgrowing my bookcase. I desperately need a bigger space!)

Here’s the list of my proud acquisitions:

1. Urvashi by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (Hindi) – an award winning epic-poetry which won him Jnanpith Award. I had heard so much about this when we were kids from our hindi teacher. He used to say that though a masterpiece, we were not of the right age then to appreciate the masterpiece that it was. While I had chanced upon some Hindi works on Mahabharata recently, I suddenly remembered about ‘Urvashi’ and got it!
2. Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer – We have heard so much about Kashmir and the various issues around it, but atleast I have always been drawn to knowing about the people of such disturbed places. While searching for some good books, I chanced upon this review on Curfewed Night and got it.
3. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin – Yet another fruit of my online research for good books. Read the review here.
4. Indian Summer by Alex Von Tunzelmann – Quite a difficult book to locate. I searched several online bookshopping sites, but eventually got it in ‘BOOK WORLD’ on F.C.Road in Pune. So I did not even think twice on the discounts (anyways they were giving 10% discount on all books). This book is a “secret history of the end of an empire”. Read the review here.
5. Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie – Well, this book happened to me. I went to Big Bazaar and they were running 60% discount on books! Probably, clearing their whatever book stock is left at their Book corner “DEPOT”. I had heard about Kamila Shamsie and when I read a first few lines and the back cover, the book sounded interesting. Here’s the review.
6. A Princess Remembers: The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur – An autobiography of Maharani Gayatri Devi, I tried hunting for this book also at quite a lot of places, and again found it at BOOK WORLD, in Sagar Arcade, Pune. I bought this with “Indian Summer”. I had read bits and pieces about Maharani Gayatri Devi’s life and was quite intrigued about her life.
7. Size 12 is not Fat by Meg Cabot – Yup, a chicklit! I wanted to buy a chicklit for one of those times when I read very serious stuff and want to read something really light.
8. Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat – Hunting for some books on foreign countries, I chanced upon this one. What hooked me on to this one was “One Woman’s Story of Survival Inside a Torture Jail”. Read the review here.
9. The Great Indian Middle Class by Pavan K. Verma – Picked up at Big Bazaar DEPOT’S 60% off sale. It is quite a popular book and well, I do want to read this one
10. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali – This international bestseller was on my wishlist for sometime now. Everywhere only the International titles were available which were extremely expensive. But lucky me, I found the Indian edition on Indiaplaza recently and bought it immediately. Read about the book here.
11. The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen – I have heard a lot about this Award-winning book. Another one from BOOK WORLD!
12. Native Son by Richard Wright – I first read about this book when a critic compared Aravinda Adiga’s The White Tiger with this one. I went on to read the review but yet again all the bookshopping sites had very expensive international title to the tune of 600-700 rupees. And guess what? I bought it for Rs 50. There’s this perpetual book sale where a lot of books are for Rs 50 and Rs 100, most are useless but sometimes you could just get lucky. Last time I had picked up a hardbound edition of “Nanny Diaries” for Rs 50!
13. Mira and the Mahatma by Sudhir Kakar – I picked up this book from City Palace, Udaipur. We were touring the grand and fascinating City Palace at Udaipur, and I wanted to capture those moments. So, I went to the small bookshop in the City Palace to pick up story of that palace. I did buy the book on Udaipur, and also bought this one. I am always on the quest to read something beyond what is common knowledge. I did not even know about “Mira” so much, so I was curious to read this. Sudhir Kakar is a well—know psychoanalyst and has written several books. I have another book by him called “The Indians”.
14. Mixed Doubles by Jill Mansell – Picked it at Landmark sale. Read about the book here.
15. Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks - The book is about "the hidden world of Islamic Women". Need I say more? It has got good reviews too.

Books on Mahabharata - all are great literary works

1. Mahabharata by Kamala Subramaniam - Picked it from a popular bookstore here called POPULAR BOOK STORE
2. The book of Yudhishthir by Buddhadeva Bose (Translation from Bengali) – Really wanted to read Yudhisthir’s story because he never came across as a strong personality. I could never understand how he claimed to be the king!
3. The women of the Mahabharata by Badrinath Chaturvedi
4. Mrityunjaya by Shivaji Sawant (Hindi) – (Translation from Marathi): This book is on Karna. I am having a little trouble reading my first hindi book after school and comics of those years! It is a fat and lengthy book, so my pace is much slower than otherwise.
5. Parva by SL Bhyrappa – (Translation from Kannada): Got hold of this out-of-print book recently through a1books. It is quite a fat book
6. Yayati by V.S. Khandekar – Yayati was an ancestor of Kuru clan. So far, I know this much only. But you may read about the book here.
7. Yugandhar by Shivaji Sawant (Hindi) – (Translation from Marathi)
8. Second Turn by MT Vasudevan Nair – (Translation from Malyalam): This is Bheem’s perspective of the Mahabharata. I had been hunting for this across the country. Finally found it on a1books.co.in. I must say I have got quite a lot of rare books there. And the service is good too.
   
   Phew! I totally got berserk with book shopping. No wonder I don’t save any money. Look at the quantum of books I have bought in last 4 months. My books have crept their way into my dressing table also. But I totally, absolutely and really love my collection. May it increase many times over !

Reading: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Whenever I finish any book, I open my books cupboard and take a long, long time to decide which one to pick up next. As I say, reading a book is always a unique experience, so it totally depends what can of mood I am in.

I picked up this book because first of all it is quite thin. Considering the fact that I don’t get too much time everyday, and keep reading the same book sometimes for the entire week. So, I thought I should read a short one.

I had bought this book online primarily because I have read so much about it, and there has also been a film with Audrey Hepburn. So, there you go.

Review: The Cradle Snatcher by Tess Stimson

Why I picked up this book?

This was one of the recommendations by Smita. I just wanted to buy a couple of books and I was looking for something which is in the genre of chiklit or quick-read or whatever. I liked the review and ordered for it.

What’s the book about?

The book is about Clare Elias, her husband Marc and their nanny. Clare, a successful businesswoman, planned everything perfectly in her life; she even ‘plans’ the birth of her children. But when the kids actually come into her world, it turns upside down, creating a havoc which Clare never expected. She never thought managing two tiny-tots would be such a difficult job. Reluctantly, she hires a nanny.

It is a fairly engaging story about Clare's desperation to go back to her work, her frustration on not being able to handle her own kids, unexpected troubles in marriage and much, much more. At the same time, the story is also about Jenna, her nanny, their evolving relationship and Jenna's own life and troubles.

Before I started the book, I thought there would be the usual angle of nanny trying to take the place of the wife. But this turns out to be different.

I liked the way in which the author lets us into the perspectives of all the main characters. There are chapters dedicated to each character alternatively so that the reader knows why that character behaved in the way he / she did.

It is quite an interesting read. There’s romance, jealousy, heart-breaks, misunderstandings, issues faced by women pertaining to motherhood, work after having babies, marriage, etc.

My verdict

Again it would mostly appeal to women. Though not really a chicklit but it is quite woman-centered in its approach. I would give it 8 out of 10. I finished it in 3 days again.

Image credit: Amazon