Lazy reads and foodie treats

Storybook Raj, Bollywood culinary secrets and drama are some of the books doing the literary circuit

The Raj 011 the Move: The Story ofthe Dak

Bungalow by Rajika

Bhandari traces a fascinating tale on these iconic dwellings

E stab lished in the 1840s b y the peripatetic British, 'dak bungalows' forever changed the way officers of di e empire and their families travelled across the subcontinent and got to know the real India. \Xfidi most of die British Raj perpetuall y on the move, whether on tour or during die summer migration to the hills, dak bungalow travel inspired a brodiei:hood of sorts for generations of British and Indian officers, who could recount tales of horrid dak bungalow food, a crazed 'khansama', and die time their only companion at die bungalow was a tiger on the loose.

Today, too, P\XTD- run circuit houses and dak bungalows continue to occupy an important place in die lives and imagination o f India's civil servams. Audior

Rajika Bhandari weaves togedier history, architecture, and trave l to take us on a fascinating journey of India's British-era dak bun6>-alows and circuit houses from the original colonial outpost of Madras in die south to the deep interiors of Madhya Pradesh, the heart of British India.

Evoking the scories of Rudyard Kipling and Ruskin Bond, and filled with fascinating titbits and amusing anecdotes, the book unearths local foU<lore abom these remote and mys terious buildings, from crotchety kJJansa111as co dieir delectable chicken dishes.

The Mirror ofWonders nnd Other

Tales written by Said Rafiq Husain and translated by Salim Kidwai covers a surprising range of scories

The plig ht of a hungry tigress and her cubs, a dog's undyin g love for her foend, a do mesticated r epali lost in the woods, die wide ambit of a cow's maternity and the pangs of separation felt by a monkey's mother and her child - die anthology o f short stories explor es the range of human emotions in this unusual anthology of short stories peopled b y animals

Originally written in U rdu b y a lictle known early 20th century writer, the stories in die genre of Orwell's Animal Farm satire the plight of h Lm1ans from die v antage point of animals. The writer combines animal behaviour and their e m pathy w idi humans to bring die wildlife of die Tehri reg ion alive.

Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life by Yashodbara Daln:ua js a biography of di e beauti.ful and brilliant Amri ta She r-Gil who lived life on her

A lascinatinq journ cij recoun Unq amusinq m1ecdotcs and local folklo re about rm1steri ous Raj-ero dah bunqolows

The Raj C On The Move

STORY or THE DAK BUNGALOW-=~Rajf ka Bhan dari

''Raj ika Bhandari weaves together his tory, architecture, and travel to take us on a fascinating journey of India's British- era dak bungalows and circuit houses from the original colonial outpost of Madras in the south to the deep interio rs of Madhya Pradesh ' ' own terms, scandalizing the staid society of her rimes with her love affairs and unconventional ways. lo th.is fasdnating biography, art historian Yashodhara Dalmia paints a compelling portrait of the artist who, when she died in 194 1 at the age of cwency-eight, left behind a bo d y of work diat estabEshes her as one of the foremost artists of die century and an eloquent symbol of the fusion between th e E ast and West. A biography that blen ds elem enrs o f fiction w ith a gripping narrative.

Calcutta b y Amit Chaudhuri chronicles the audior's experience on returning to die city ln 1999, Am.it Chaudhuri returned witli his fanu.ly to Calcu tta He did so tentativdy. Calcutta was where his parents had moved after retirement; it was die city he bad loved in his youth and in whose lanes he had spent tranquil childhood h o lidays; one he had made his name writing about. Bur diat Calcutta had receded and anoth er had taken its place.

Calc111ta is Chaudhuri's account of two years (2009- 1 1) in the great metropolis. Using die idea of return a nd die his torical dections of 2011 as h is fulcrum, he travels between the 19tli century, when the city burst \\,j th a new vitali ty to the twe n ty- first century; w hen , utterly changed , it seems to be on the verge of anotli er turn. Along die way Chaudh uri evokes all tlia t is most particular and extraordinary about die city. He painrs, coo, an acute, o fte n iro n ic, and occasionally terribly funny p icture of life in di e ci ty today - of its malls and restaurants, irs fitful attemprs to embrace globalisation, i t~ middle class who leave and tl1en return reluctantl y, its bygone aristocracy, and its homeless Calcutta opens on his canvas in all its warring colours.

Blood Red Sari by Ashok Banker is an actio n di riller wi tli a feminine couch. M issing social activ ist Lalima has p icked diree women to car ry out di e task s he was unable to finish - Sheila, the owner o f an all-women's gym in

''Spanning the murky underbelly of the country 's metropolises and the internationa l human trafficking mafia, Blood Red Sari is a pulsepoundi ng act ion t hrille r with a feminist punch

Kolkata; Nachikera, an a ttorney in Delhi who is suing her in-laws for the violent abuse tliat left her whedchair-bound for E.fe; and Malayali private invesrigator A nita, w ho se own brothers are out to get her. Lalima's adversaries use influence and hired kiUers to track down all tli ose w h o have been sent incriminating ev id e nce again st them, forcing Sheila, Nachike ta and Anita to battle for survival even as they race agai nst time to tmdersrand die import of die docum ents tl1ey have received. Spanning the m urky und e rbelly of die country's metro polises and the interna tio nal human trafficking mafia, Blood fud S01i is a pulsep o unding action diriller with a femini st ptmch

1he Vegan Kitchen: Bollywood Style by i\nurad ha Sawhney is one o f the first book s for di e g rowing vegan p o pulation of India that brings together recipes from n o less than 50 leaclin g names from tl1e world of Bollywood, fashion and mus ic.

Anupam Kher, Dilip Kuniar, Gulshan Grover, Hema Malini, John Abraliam, Mahesh Bhatt, Om Puri , R. l\1adhavan, Rahul

Khanna , Saira Banu and Vidya Balan - diese are just a few who have co ntributed tlieir recip es, show ing h ow it is po ss ible to incorporate a delicious healtliy vegan diet w ith no cholesterol , in other words, one with no animal products, including dairy i nto one's life, and keep the celebrity status intact.

Cold Feet by Meenakshi Redd y Madhavan j5 the scory o f five women and their encounters witli love.

Am.isha has found her prefect man and is going to marry him, but suddenly feels threa tened to push tl1e boundaries o f tl1eir relationship. Akshara is in love with her best friend, bm w lu.le he will g ive her benefits, he will not g jve her love. Ladli has her heart broken. So she runs away, on ly to find him waiting for her o n the otlier side Shayna knows what sh e wants in a man, but die man she wams is nothing like that. A nd finall y, the girl who wants Shayna, actuaUy, just meets a friend The book is die stor y of the strangely entwined lives of five women who li ve in Mumbai and deal d jfferentlr witli die same thing - Jove.