KhepiAri

Book Review: Odd and The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell. Quote: The fox tossed its head and walked away. Odd put his knife down and took out his hatchet once more. 'I've seen rainbows on the snow sometimes,' said Odd, loud enough for the fix to hear, 'and on the side of the buildings when the sun shone through icicles. And I thought, ice is only water, so it must have rainbows in it too. When the water freezes, I think the rainbows are trapped into it, like fish in a shallow pool. And the sunlight sets them free.' Odd knelt on the frozen pool. Set in the Viking land, Odd is an unusual boy on an unusual adventure. A cripple, son of a beautiful woman and a sailor warrior (cough-cough raider of Scottish water villages). After the death of his father, Odd hurts himself, becomes unfit for sailing. But that doesn't stop our boy from finding his joy. One particular day after his mom has remarried, when winter refuses to l...

Book Review: The Mahabharata: a Child's view by Samhita Arni Quote: Once, Shantanu the king of Hastinapur fell in love with a maiden. He asked her for her hand in marriage, and the maiden, being equally attracted, agreed. However, she laid down certain conditions--that Hemant never asks who she was or what she did. He agreed and they got married. A book I have reread multiple times over the years. I have not read Mahabharata in actual Sanskrit, closest I have come to read it in regional tongue was in Hindi years back. Samhita Arni's book is from the perspective of a child. The book was in making since Arni was a child. At the age of four, she read the epic, her mother had asked her to rewrite the epic during vacation because the author was finishing her books too fast. At age of four, I barely could construct spellings! The author even illustrated the scenes in simple pen and ink. This book is special because it just narrates, minus the higher thought ...

Book Review: Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman and Andrew Winegarner Quote: I call myself a warrior--a Peaceful Warrior--because important battles we face happen inside us. And even now, as we speak, invisible forces--forces of light and darkness--are fighting a great battle. But what does always have to do it-- A great work and sometimes we won by a single battle. The battles been fought right now, Dan . . . Inside you. A book picked up in a mad frenzy called Bookfair. I bet I fell for the cover and the words graphic novel and didn't bother reading the blurb. Three years later it is haunting me. Adapted from apparently a famous book of the same name, which has been dubbed classic. This book is a part autobiographical and fictional story of spiritual coming of age story of a young athlete called Dan, who meets a weird old man in a gas station who changed his being. Karate Kid plot meets Robin Sharma spiritualism meets Paulo Coelho's language meets White Ma...

Book Review: All Quiet In Vikaspuri by Sarnath Banerjee Quote: With some scepticism, Girish starts drilling. He has been given the most advanced drilling machine that man has ever held. The portable and lightweight GABOR-HKV22x. He takes great care in preparing for the journey. Body and mind. With patience and rigour of Arctic email Roald Amundsen.  A journey of the psychic plumber who has been given the task to find the mythical river Saraswati. Set in dystopic India, pitted against a background of development, corruption, political instability and opportunism, gang wars. A political satire that critically mocks self-induced amnesia of ignorance of middle-class India and Delhi is an example of that amnesia. Uses a lot of tropes from Bollywood, has some exceptionally well put funny scenes. The characters I felt were underdeveloped, through everything is happening through Girish's eyes, he was lost somewhere in the great shoot out of themes. It's an ambitious bo...

Book Review: What To Do When I'm Gone A Mother's Wisdom to her Daughter, by Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman. Quote: Consider this curry making time and emotional safety zone. Relax and enjoy the process of trimming, dicing, and excising rotten spots just as you would excise the blight of love gone wrong from your broken heart. A fear that every person who has a parent feels, the loss of their parent. Illustrator Hallie Bateman has constantly had this fear, an undeniable truth of future. So in her adult life she again had the dream of losing her mother Suzy. Eventually she asked Suzy to write a book that will help in future to cope up with the loss. Suzy wrote i,t and Hallie illustrated it. I don't know how to perceive this book. My feelings are definitely weird, because it's not a posthumous book, fortunately Suzy is healthy and active. But this book has all the emotional elements of 'P.S. I love you' novel. It is an epistolary tale, a mo...

Book Review: Mumbai Confidential by Saurav Mohapatra and Vivek Shinde Quote: The average handgun has a muzzle velocity of around four hundred metres per second. It takes less than one tenth of a second between thinking and pulling the trigger. So, given that we're standing barely a meter apart, each with a gun in the other's face. . . Carry the one . . . Round off the zero. Yup, the math is solid. Arjun Kadam, an ex-cop of Mumbai Encounter Squad, is now a junkie on verge of death, after a life-altering tragedy. He is victim and witness to a hit and run case. Where an urchin girl dies. From there on begins the cat and mouse chase. The story is fast, but that doesn't mean it is a good story. Filled with clichés from Bollywood/Hollywood police cop Stories. Dying wife, not enough money, supportive ex-boss obsessed with chess, ex-colleagues who are corrupt and investing in the cinema industry. One man versus the system. Nothing about the narrative was confide...

Book Review: Sabrina by Nick Drnaso Quote: Do you have my book? Yeah thanks for reminding me. What did you think? there were some interesting ideas but I felt empty when it was over. Sabrina, 27, goes missing and it's the story of the aftermath of her murder. Her younger sister Sandra is trying to cope up, Sabrina's boyfriend of two years Teddy has a nervous breakdown and moves to his friend Calvin's place in Colorado and ghosts his house in underpants. This is more a novel than a graphic novel. Rather a novel that has images in it. A typical American crime dramedy story you watch on Discovery Crime files. Throw in insensitive paparazzi, alternative facts, real news, fake news, conspiracy theorists, self-proclaimed experts on radio and ahem ahem American Herd Mentality on social media: you have a novel. While the missing case gets solved, the murderer found and video of crime getting downloaded by 5million people, I did feel the fear. This is real...

Book Review: Red Card by Kautuk Srivastava Qoute: ' Does anyone know the difference between confidence and arrogance' Nobody said a word because everyone rightly recognized this to be a rhetorical question. 'My coach Ramdin Sir used to tell us confidence means showing up and believing you will win. Arrogance is believing you will win because he showed up,' answered the coach. Welcome to the toughest part of an Indian student's life, the boards. Rishabh Bala has entered that horrific year with love for football and puppy love for Tamanna. A dependable player who is best friends with the care fee Puro the football team captain. Set in 2006, opens with the infamous Zidane red card in the world cup final, this is a sweet story of growing up and not figuring out what you want, but growing up and respecting what you care enough in the present. Rishabh wants to win one trophy with his buddies before the end of the year. But the tutorials and parents crazed by...

Cookbook Fangirling: Recipes by Peter Elborn That intelligent piece of book design that you find in office! Lunch breaks are meant for exploring the office library and when you are hungry it's best to look at cookbooks! Peter Elborn's Recipes, is a collection of dishes that he has loved and tasted on travels around the world, cuisines that he loves to cook himself and feed his friends. This book is an example of how book design is ever evolving craft in its own right, to design it as a MacBook with the infamous Apple logo is brilliant. The photographs inside the book don't necessarily replicate the final form of the recipes but echo more of the common ingredients used to make the dishes. From Jamaican to Bangladesh, cuisines from around the world are united by ingredients here. Sadly, I will just drool at the book, as I am a terrible cook. I will never dare to try the recipes in it. I will just look and sigh at this lovely book. And i...

Book Review: Munnu by Malik Sajad Quote:  'Mamma, here Kashmiri apples . . . I mean Chinese pears. They're good. Why did you put your life at risk for these pears? Why didn't you buy me some poison for good measure, huh?  Next time for sure.' Mamma was right the fruit imposed a curfew on her dry cough . I attended a workshop/seminar on graphic novels two years back, that's where I happened to learn about the work happening in 'Indian scene', though I mostly disagreed with Academia's observation there, I came home with a lot of information on creators to look for. Malik Sajad's Munnu made the biggest hue and cry in the sessions. Firstly his work was compared to Maus, secondly, his political-narrative position as a Kashmiri appealed to a lot. After hearing him talk about his art and politics, I wanted to read his book. Munnu should not be compared to Maus. Yes instead of illustrating Kashmiri people in their human for...