Culture

The Corner Shop has a lovely cover and that is  probably the nicest thing to say about it. Elizabeth Cadell wrote light romantic comedies in the Britain and her books were fairly popular, so I feel bad about dissing it. When I picked it up I was looking for something similar to the likes of E.F. Benson or Monica Dashwood – light, sharp and witty notes on the quiet country life. Which is why I…

Some plays are a social commentary on the past or the present, then some plays are witty and intelligent using their razor-edged lines to make sharp cuts in your mind and then some plays are just for fun. The play,  Peter Colley’s “I’ll be back before midnight” does not promise to be anything other than your average edge-of-the-seat thriller, and it succeeds in that promise. A remote house, quirky neighbor, nervous wife, incest, and paranoia–are…

As I was just a few weeks away from my trip to India and Istanbul, I was itching to read something to get me into the spirit of things. I started with Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul, but the book wasn’t it. His Istanbul is black and white, always cold, and inhabited by jinns. I don’t know what it is with Pamuk and me. I love his writing; the prose is poetic, but I can never seem…

“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”  ― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair Isn’t that a beautiful start? I fell head over heels in love with the novel the minute I read that opening sentence. However, as it often happens, it was easier to fall in love than to stay in love. So, What’s It About?…

After an excruciatingly painful first half of 60 minutes, which could have been shorter or craftier, the film really kicks in. KCK is the story of Karthik (duh), a timid man, bullied around by everyone who gets much-needed help by therapeutic phone calls from himself. As bizarre as it may seem to get calls from himself, which have no existence on his phone records, he goes with the flow and trusts the caller. His life…

Hope Springs is a classic example of a movie where great acting can make up for an ordinary script. Screen legends, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, bring a lot of class to a simple yet deep story of a stagnating marriage. So What Is Hope Springs About? Kay and Arnold have been married for over 31 years and their life has inevitably set into a pattern. With the kids grown up and away with…

It’s nice to know that the circus is not dead. “Cirque du Soleil” or ‘Circus of the Sun’ retains the traditional aspects of the ageless crowd puller with a juggler, acrobat, dancer, trapeze artists, and tight rope walkers. It bumps up the experience several notches higher with fabulous choreography, music and art direction. The use of projectors and laser lighting brings a mystic and ethereal quality to the performance. It’s pure entertainment for 90 minutes…

Over the past one year, there are some books that I read and meant to blog about. However, they made so little an impression on me, either good or bad, that I never got around to reviewing them. I thought I would just mention them in a single blog post. Death At the Bar by Ngaio Marsh Marsh was a New Zealand writer, heavily inspired by Agatha Christie. I have read reviews of her works…