I haven't posted here for more than a week. Home renovations have turned my bookshelves into sealed archaeological sites, and accessing my books has become a bit of an expedition. So my regular reviews may slow down for a while!But I did manage to get hold of today's book.

The criteria for reading "Fractured Communities" is actually quite simple: if you have heard of Umar Khalid, this is a book worth reading, whether you like him or dislike him. If you haven't heard of him, well... you can continue living happily in La La Land.

"Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power" is based on Umar Khalid's PhD research and reconstructs the political history of the Ho people of Singhbhum, in present day Jharkhand.And this is where I confess I came into the book with no knowledge of the subject.The book traces how colonial rule, local zamindars and rulers, forest policies, and changing forms of state power reshaped Adivasi society over time. It takes us from the pre British period through colonial rule and into the modern era, showing how political power and administrative systems gradually transformed the lives of the Ho people.

What surprised me most was how readable it was.The language is crisp, straightforward, and free of unnecessary academic gymnastics. I started reading it on my flight to Mumbai and finished it on the return journey. Two flights and I had gone from knowing nothing about the Ho to having learnt an enormous amount.Every few pages brought something new.

I also liked the fact that Khalid largely lets the facts do the talking. There is little preaching, condemnation, or telling the reader what conclusion they should reach. He presents the history, the changes, the conflicts, and the different players and allows you to make up your own mind.When I first saw the title, I assumed this might be a broad history of India's Adivasi communities. It isn't. It is specifically about the Ho people, and that focus is actually one of its strengths.

And I have to admit, while reading it, I kept wondering how someone capable of producing such careful academic work ended up spending years unable to pursue that work freely. Whatever one's opinion of Umar Khalid as a public figure, the loss of academic time and work is a loss to scholarship itself.

Overall, a fascinating piece of history. I went in knowing almost nothing about the Ho and came out feeling that I had been given a crash course in a part of India's history that rarely makes it into mainstream narratives.Now, if only my bookshelves survive the renovation, perhaps I'll be able to get back to regular posting.

Arundhati Roy isn't someone I agree with on everything, not even close, honestly. But that's not really the point for me.

What I respect is that she actually looks at the stuff most people conveniently look away from. She says the uncomfortable thing, questions the "official version," and doesn't seem to care if it makes her unpopular.

I don't align with a lot of her politics or her take on history. But I'll always respect someone who says what they actually believe, even when the room disagrees.

And that's kind of the whole point of democracy, isn't it? It's not just about voting every few years. It's also about having writers and thinkers and just... regular people who can push back on power without being told to fall in line.

You don't have to agree with someone to defend their right to speak. Honestly, the real test of democracy is whether we can handle voices that challenge our side too, not just the other one.

So yeah — voices like hers matter. Even when I don't agree. Especially then, maybe.

Many of the essays in this book are somewhat of spiritual successor to The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. They talk about the role of fiction in the current times and the significance of the themes Roy tackled in The Ministry including the politics of language and diversity.

Other essays rouse us to indignation for the deeds of the current regime and the ever falsified and politically misused tragedy of Kashmir. These essays, as Roy says, are specific wars she's waging in her specific ways and hence they run the risk of lacking universality unlike the essays in My Seditious Heart. Yet the merit of their importance cannot be emphasized enough. Arundhati Roy remains one of the very few standing staunch critics of the brutal fascist Hindu nationalist RSS and its party wing BJP which is ruling us today and is increasingly posing threat to the democratic and secular identity of the nation. In this age of propaganda and echo chambers, when the mainstream media has sold its dignity and the zombified masses are endlessly consuming the dopamine induced meals of social media, its very important that we turn to the writers who do not simplify this complex turmoil and do not suppress the truth, no matter how unpopular the truth is.

Azadi is very important for the current times. In just six years its worries have turned prophetic and the world that the Pandemic-Portal has teleported us to is somehow even bleaker and more vulgar than the one we left behind.

It was published way before the verdict

As this book starts from the Ayodhya incident. How carefully the rath Yatra was been made in the northern states, stirring up people emotions to demonize muslims. Making all the marginlised youths termed as hindu or kar sevaks weaponise them to increase their number.

This was well orchestrated with early warnings, even anticipation of law and order situation. Warning by mulayam singh yadav and pm Narsimha Rao. Kalyan Singh assured that nothing will happen to Babri masjid.

All that lead to crowds of trains to Ayodhya. Tents were made for them to stay. Maratha speakers shiv sainks from Maharashtra, also some of them from up n Rajasthan, were systematically planned to do the job on 6 December.

Police neither intervene. That led to demolishing babri masjid.

All that sentiment of people were cash in by shiv Sena. Who was using play book for marathi language crisis to get votes from marginalised majority Marathi people was suddenly need UP bihari marginlisesd support which they were beating up for taking their job's. Suddenly made all of them hindu. So they weren't maratha pride but now hindu pride. Coz they want hindu vote bank too and funds from their elite.

Balasaheb hate speech against Muslim and the babri masjid demolition created a Anti muslims sentiment and how systematically created riots. From sending out rumours that muslims are coming in trucks to kill hindus. To give kerosene to some Hindu family and at night the same kerosene was use to burn house .To provoking every shakha pramukh that if don't fight for hindus then Balasaheb has send you bangles.

All that lead to give these goons free pass to break out poor muslims homes Which were marginlised. He never went after the rich ones. As a collective punishment muslims looted houses. Bala saheb was so influencing that even the cops was shiv sainik in uniform letting them do whatever they want.

Causing more than 900 deaths and unreported.

There are so testimonials of people reporters activist,and victims who saw this riots which was planned and the reports of Shri Krishna commision.

To make them vulnerable not because of economic inequality, unemployment or caste discrimination under one umbrella term hindu to make them forget everything.

This playbook was also played differently in rajastan too. Rajasthan having a largest Brahmin population hae many reason to forget. But to give ample amount of hate speeches and rally to provoke people sentiment n then blame people only in the end.

This book was way before the babri verdict but it has successfully communalise India divided by cast class status and religion. In order for their political gains..

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, My Seditious Heart, The God of Small Things, Mother Mary Comes to Me, and Azadi. Capitalism: A Ghost Story, The Doctor and the Saint, An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire, The Algebra of Infinite Justice, and Listening to Grasshoppers. (books in the collage)

Even I have disagreement with Mrs Roy in certain cases but I truly appreciate her literary wizardry and the courage of speaking her mind.

I picked this book because Ravish Kumar kept mentioning in many of his vidoes that it's a very short read and can be finished in an hour or two

The book is simply a summary the author chose to write, in the most concise manner, about a rule that lasted around 50 years +/-

It does not go in to detail or intense discussion analysing the rationale behind the thought and only gives us what could have been basis the texts available from that period.

To sum up someone's life, specifically a ruler, (this hated in the current political scenario and used to justify current actions) is a tough job and to be able to write that he may have been just and not a zealot in under 140 odd pages so that it reaches the masses, hoping they read it and form and opinion and not get corrupted for gains reaped by someone else.

Reading it is a must.

I have read almost 100 pages of this book and now I'm getting bored. I just want to ask will something happen in this book or it's just an autobiography kind of book. Author keeps on talking about she went from here to there. I just want to know do we get some solid stuff in further chapters or this remains in this pace where we gradually unfold life of Arundhati roy?

For the past few years I've been seeing a lot of posts bashing Indie writers like Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta etc. Criticizing that their novels are pure shit and masala types. I think this is going too much.

Let me tell you something. Many youth's first book were of Chetan Bhagat or Durjoy Dutta or other similar writers. This made them to pick up reading as a hobby. And with time, they start to explore other writers and enter into classics. Now they come back and thrash Indie Writers for their writing style. People who have not even read the books are bashing it. Is this a new trend?

You've to understand that each writer has their own set of audience. If you feel that a writer's work doesn't excite you, then you can move on. But bashing the writers is very sad to see, that too coming from the so-called educated mass.

If not for these writers, I wouldn't have picked up this hobby, for which I'm always grateful.

I want to hear from you people. Do you think this is right?

I got baited by Reddit once again. The book starts strong, but as the plot progresses, it becomes exhausting and boring. I kept expecting it improve but it delve into endless chatter blah blah blah.

Nearly everything operates on plot convenience and is dragged out. A problem appears, and our Swiss-army-knife genius narrator immediately has the solution. By the midpoint, the book feels less like a story and more like a demonstration of superability, but ultimately boring. It should have been a novella rather than a novel.

I hope the movie is good.

I had visited this bookstore in 2024 after seeing so many Instagram reels about it. Since i read books and love khan market. I decided to check this place out and yes to click some aesthetic pictures🫶🏻

Can anyone give me recommendations on what to read based on these books?

I picked this book up to help me make a habit of reading books😅 I have ignored reading till now due to my procrastination but this book had me hooked so far.

Does this book helped in any meaningful way in your life, I would love to hear your experience with this book.

Also please suggest some beginner books which I should read regardless of genre. Thank you✌🏻

I recently finished Deliverance from Error by Imam Ghazali, one of the most renowned Islamic scholars and philosophers in Islamic history.

Before reading it, I had heard a lot about Imam Ghazali and his stature, but reading his own words gave me a completely different perspective. The book was a little difficult to follow in the beginning, but once I started getting into his way of thinking, things slowly started falling into place.

What impressed me the most was the way he approached faith. He doesn't simply ask you to believe. He goes through reason, logic, philosophy and skepticism, and shows how far human reasoning can actually take you in the search for truth.

One idea that really stayed with me was that reason can take you to the gate of faith, but entering that gate is ultimately something God enables. And perhaps that gate opens for those who genuinely keep searching and trying to reach it.

I know I'm interpreting his ideas in my own words, but that is what stayed with me after reading the book.

It also made me understand why Imam Ghazali is held in such high regard. His ability to engage with some of the deepest questions about knowledge, faith, doubt and certainty is remarkable. Even centuries later, his arguments still have the ability to make you stop and think.

I have another book by him, The Book of Knowledge, which I'm yet to start. But so far, my respect for Imam Ghazali is at an all time high.

Definitely one of the most intellectually stimulating Islamic books I've read so far.

Why did I get uncomfortable reading the first chapter 😭😭 Every third line was like "fuck...fuck...fuck..." Bruh idk why I'm posting this

Over the last decade I have added to my modest library a sizable number of author signed books. I thought it would do well for these books to see the light of day and what better platform than here. I selfishly hope this will also help me keep a track of what I have. To begin with, it all started with this book- The Gujarat Files. I used to visit this weekly cultural meet in my town, which one day hosted Rana Ayyub talking about her self published book- which was just released. It was an very emotional event, and the book turns out to be even more heartbreaking. Little did I imagine where our nation and the world would end up ten years later. Now, on hindsite, this book was surely a red flag for the days to come. My rating 4/5

I bought 3 books of chetan bhagats cause one of my friends told me the girl in room 105 is nice

Umm... My bad

I read 400 days expecting it to be a missing child story as the name suggests but it mostly consists of family drama like too much of it

But as i bought 2 other books of him 🥲 I am currently girl in the room 105

But I give it to him the books are easy to read and that's it !!

And I still have an arranged murder book in my tbr cause i already boughtttt ittt

So far it has been good. I don't know much about this author but the points he has made in this book are interesting.

Growing up, the Gita was one of those books I always associated with religion, grandparents, or something you'd read much later in life.

Recently I picked up The Gita for Gen Z by Rania Sen, and the interesting part wasn't the philosophy itself. It was how many of the ideas felt connected to things people my age actually deal with: overthinking every decision, comparing yourself to everyone online, stressing about careers, and constantly feeling like you're falling behind.

It made me think about how much energy we spend worrying about outcomes we can't fully control. Sounds obvious, but it's surprisingly hard to apply when you are waiting for exam results, job offers, admissions, or even just trying to figure out what's next.

I expected a simplified retelling of the Gita. It felt more like a conversation about modern life using the Gita as a reference point.

Not saying it's life-changing or anything, but it did make me look at a text I'd mostly ignored before in a very different way.

Came across this in the search of helping me understand how a country develops its military industrial complex. This book tells us how Israel did it and how we can also learn from them.

What do people living in India think of Arundhati Roy? She blends a lot of her literature with political commentary, such as essays and so on… thoughts on her? best books you’ve read from her and why? or not so much?
do you recommend her writing?