hopscotch

  This is a book review of The Sixth String of Vilayat Khan, written by Namita Devidayal and published by Context, Westland books Ambika Shaligram Published on :  12 Jan, 2020 , 8:18 am The Sixth String of Vilayat Khan gives us a close look of the man and his whimsical genius. What or who makes a prodigy? Well, god-given talent is one, but there are other factors too — nurturing of that talent, destiny and the artist’s approach to exploring his/her music.  Namita Devidayal, the biographer of brilliant sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan deconstructs his persona vis-a-vis his contemporary and another brilliant artist, Pt Ravi Shankar.  Those of us who are far removed from the exalted stratosphere of genius musicians, might not be so clued in to their ‘rivalries’ or the disagreements between the fellow artists. But the few tidbits that float into public domain help in creating a ‘perception’ about the artist.  Devidayal, a journalist and musician, explores the image of Ustad Vilayat Khan with me

  Tanu Shree Singh talks about her book Darkless. The interview was published in Sakal Times Ambika Shaligram Published on :  19 Jan, 2020 , 8:57 am Darkless. If you are in a hurry, you are bound to read and mutter to yourself, Darkness. Let us tell you that it’s a common enough mistake, surrounded as we are by situations that are anger and sorrow inducing. Why blame Ani who is awake one night when the moon shines on and little specks of light dance on the ceiling? In the morning, when the sun peeps in, the boy whispers, ‘It’s dark. Still dark.’ When Nani exclaims that it’s a bright, sunny day, just right for ice cream, Ani keeps quiet. It seems that everything has lost its colour. Why is the boy so dispirited? It’s because Ani is missing his Mumma. ‘I wish she comes home,’ he whispers to Dobby, his dog. And, when he sees the familiar car, Ani rushes inside his home and straight into her arms. Mumma is home, but her hair is gone...She is ill with cancer and that’s why Ani is desolate. 

I spoke with Taran N Khan, who has written a book titled Shadow City. The interview appeared in Sakal Times Ambika Shaligram Published on :  07 Mar, 2020 , 9:54 pm Walking in Kabul is like looking through the kaleidoscope... and as journalist Taran N Khan makes her way through the city’s bazaars, squares, library, bookshop, graveyards, university, and archaeological site, wedding halls, we get intimate with each new image of Kabul. An image which is far removed from the pictures that we co njure up from reading the headlines of a city and a country (Afghanistan) that has seen war, destruction and loss.  Khan’s book, Shadow City — A Woman Walks Kabul, published by Penguin Random House India, doesn’t sidestep from talking about war, Taliban, ISAF and the NATO, but the journalist in her takes the backseat, and the storyteller in her steps up, in ways which empathises with the people and their joys and sorrows and the yen to live.  We get to meet the people who stayed in touch with their k

Interviewed Sameena Dalwai for her book Bans & Bar Girls. The interview appeared in Sakal Times Ambika Shaligram Published on :  24 Mar, 2020 , 12:21 pm Earlier this year, the Supreme Court paved the way for the reopening of dance bars in Mumbai, relaxing stringent conditions imposed by the Maharashtra government on their licencing and functioning. The decision to ban dance bars was taken in August 2005 and the public discourse revolved around the subject of ‘morality’. A new book on the subject, Bans & Bar Girls — Performing Caste in Mumbai’s Dance Bars, says the reason had to do with economics, with wo men from lower caste earning more. The monograph (defined as a highly detailed and thoroughly documented study or paper written about a limited area of a subject or field of inquiry) has been authored by Sameena Dalwai and it has been published by Women Unlimited — An associate of Kali for Women.  EXAMINING THE REASONS In the introduction to the book, Dalwai says, ‘The essence