H is for Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes

Michael Innes (J.I.M Stewart) is one of my favourite Golden-Age writers and there was a time when I read his books one after the other till I ran through all the titles the various libraries (I frequent) had on their shelves. After all these years, the titles and the plots are a little hazy but …

G is for Geographer’s Library

At first all I could hear was a whooshing sound, like someone was holding the phone out an open car window. Then something or someone tapped on the mouthpiece, three times, then a pause, then three times again."Hello? Hello?" I called down the phone."Not this one. Not this one. Not this one. Not this one..." …

F is for Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

At times, a book can lead you to another book. When I read Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger, I came to know that the book was influenced by Waters' reading of Josephine Tey's The Franchise Affair. Since I wanted some questions answered as regards The Little Stranger, I downloaded Tey's book.About to close his office, the lawyer Robert …

C is for Case of the Imaginary Detective

The Case of the Imaginary DetectiveWhat happens when your godmother not only makes your father a character in her book but also goes ahead and presents him as a murderer, of his wife, no less?This is the interesting premise that gripped me when I started reading Karen Joy Fowler's The Case of the Imaginary Detective. Rima’s …

A is for And Then There Were None

Eight people - strangers to each other - are invited to an island off the Devon coast. On arriving there, they are welcomed not by their hosts -who have unfortunately been delayed but would be joining them the next day - but by the serving couple. Strangely enough, all of them have only a hazy idea …

Z is for Zephyr

Zephyr is a light wind (or the west wind) that awakens everything to life in the month of April. It is one of the many reasons, that makes April beautiful for Chaucer (and for the pilgrims to Canterbury):Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tender croppes...And so we begin …

Y is for Yadav ji and Yadav ji

"Yadav ji?""Yes, Yadav ji."This Tweedle Dee - Tweedle Dum act was done by actors Ashutosh Rana and Manoj Bajpai in the movie LOC: Kargil. Playing Indian soldiers, both named Yogendra Singh Yadav in the 18th Grenadiers, they constantly referred to each other by the surname with the respectful suffix ji at the end. Two of the …

X is for Xanadu

Xanadu, that fabled land which Coleridge immortalized in his poem Kubla Khan.In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea.The land is magical:A savage place! as holy and enchantedAs e'er beneath a waning moon was hauntedBy woman wailing for her demon-lover.The poet continues:The …

W is for We the People

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into aSOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all itscitizens:JUSTICE, social, economic and political;LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them allFRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity …

U is for Unsettling

Unsettling is Blogger's New Look. I simply can't get used to it. It has taken away the pleasure of blogging. I had done nothing to upgrade to the new look. It happened automatically.*Has it happened with you too? Are you happy with the new look? Do you know how to get the old look back?*Entry …