Jaya Banerji
Jaya Banerji is a writer, loves to read, and currently works with an international humanitarian organization in Switzerland.
The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa
JAYA BANERJI | 23 May 2004On his way back home after a night of frivolous fun with his friends at Lakhan Singh's dhaba, Ramchand realises his life is empty of meaning. He resolves to change it. He would start by reading Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, practice his English every day by speaking in front of the mirror, and decide once and for all whether he believed in god or not. He would paint his dingy room, get a 500 watt bulb and work towards... [ more ]
The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
JAYA BANERJI | 23 April 2004The cover of [the US edition] of YASMINA KHADRA's book THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL is as arresting as its title. It could be a watercolour of an ocean bed but for a blue, burqa-clad figure heading purposefully from the bottom right into a moonscape edged by a ruined brick structure pockmarked with bullet holes. And above it all, in the murky, smoky sky, a flutter of swallows searching for somewhere to settle, to build nests, to live as they always... [ more ]
Trespassing by Uzma Aslam Khan
JAYA BANERJI | 24 December 2003TRESPASSING bursts into life in a village by the sea with a powerful image of a boy, a wanton child of nature, beaten to pulp for trying to stop thugs from stealing a turtle's newly laid eggs. UZMA ASLAM KHAN begins her book with death, as turtle eggs are destroyed in a splatter of yolk and albumin, and ends with birth -- explosions in the sand as hundreds as turtles hatch and rush unerringly to the sea.
JAYA BANERJI | 26 September 2003From the moment of her birth in a village hut surrounded by paddyfields in then East Pakistan, Nazneen is left to her fate. Born blue, assumed dead, Nazneen surprises her mother, her aunt, and the old midwife by letting loose a loud howl of life. And still her mother, Rupban, refuses to do anything to aid her recovery. Let fate take its course. If fate decides this child of hers should live, then she would live. If it decides... [ more ]
Lessons from an Empire Builder: Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy by Partha Bose
JAYA BANERJI | 25 June 2003We are the product of our collective past. And what a past it's been, full of courageous and valiant men occupied with conquests, crusades, and swashbuckling adventure. Without knowing it, they were changing our destinies at ever turn, exposing people to new ways of thinking, being, and living.
This world of ours is a truly magnificent melange of the actions of our ancestors. Where would we be, for... [ more ]
India Unbound by Gurcharan Das
JAYA BANERJI | 08 July 2002India burst into independence with high hopes and a clean slate. Led by erudite statesmen and men and women of impeccable political backgrounds, the country was all set to sail the seas to wealth and modernity. These soon became distant goals. India's slide into the mire of backwardness has been the topic of countless heated and unresolved after-dinner discussions in every household across the country. Given our infinite... [ more ]
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru
JAYA BANERJI | 24 April 2002Kinship and marriage are serious matters in India. Bloodlines and caste lines are guarded with fanatic zeal by most Indians except those tainted by western mores. And even they are directed by subliminal orthodoxies. No fate can be worse than losing your caste either by marrying someone from a different race, region, or caste, or by being born a "half-caste".
The good news is that there's no stopping... [ more ]
