Raw Umber: A Memoir

LONG in the making, Sara Rai’s memoir is as much about the steady pulse of her childhood in 1960s’ Allahabad as about the nature of remembering and the role memory plays in shaping a writer’s sensibilities. She writes about the house where she grew up, her father, her mother, her sister, her maternal and paternal grandmothers, as also her grandfather, the literary legend Premchand, who loomed over her childhood. In chronicling the life and times of one of India’s most illustrious literary families through the prism of her childhood, she always keeps to her own remembering of the ever-changing past. However, primarily a writer of fiction, she admits to have embellished a few facts and invented some details.

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RAMAKRISHNAN SRIDHAR’S seven-year stint as India’s fielding coach during a very eventful period — marked by unprecedented Test success in Australia, and being involved with the most intense cricketer of our time — makes this book interesting. Some juicy tidbits from the book — the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma non-spat, the change of Shubman Gill’s attitude towards fielding — have been pushed into news by the publisher, but it offers much else that is actually substantial. The chapter on communicating with the players offers insights about the tactfulness of the coaches in handling star players. Two chapters on playing tough cricket during the pandemic — and winning in Australia! — are gripping. A must-read for a fan.

THE last decade or so has seen a rise in majoritarian communalism across large parts of the world. Partition of the subcontinent along religious lines seems to have exacerbated the desire of majorities within the countries of the region to further consolidate their dominance. This entails rehashing historical grievances and creating fear among the majority that minorities threaten the former’s religion, culture or tradition. In ‘Politics of Hate’, scholars discuss the role of media and political leaders in deploying hatred for political advantage, covering developments in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is a timely study of the phenomenon of politically motivated religious and ethnic divisions.

FALLING in love with the elderly and serene Ahana, a voice compels Adi to write her story, leading him to explore various dimensions of Vedantic mysticism. When Ahana recounts her meetings with Krishna across epochs and universes, Adi is spellbound, and restless to understand Krishna’s answers to Ahana’s questions. Adi suddenly realises that it was Ahana who had brought him to Almora and that he has veiled memories with her in past lives. ‘Somewhere Among the Stars’ chronicles a woman’s inner quest for love and truth across lifetimes and dimensions of being… an adventure of consciousness through rare terrains of Vedanta and yoga.