Tag Archives: Books

In My Hands Today…

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Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir – Farah Bashir

Rumours of Spring is the unforgettable account of Farah Bashir’s adolescence spent in Srinagar in the 1990s. As Indian troops and militants battle across the cityscape and violence becomes the new normal, a young schoolgirl finds that ordinary tasks—studying for exams, walking to the bus stop, combing her hair, falling asleep—are riddled with anxiety and fear.

With haunting simplicity, Farah Bashir captures moments of vitality and resilience from her girlhood amidst the increasing trauma and turmoil of passing years—secretly dancing to pop songs on banned radio stations; writing her first love letter; going to the cinema for the first time—with haunting simplicity. This deeply affecting coming-of-age memoir portrays how territorial conflict surreptitiously affects everyday lives in Kashmir.

In My Hands Today…

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my Hanuman Chalisa – Devdutt Pattanaik

Reflecting on one of Hinduism’s most popular prayer for positive energy
Acclaimed mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik demystifies the Hanuman Chalisa for the contemporary reader. His unique approach makes the ancient hymn accessible, combined as it is with his trademark illustrations.

Every time we experience negativity in the world and within ourselves, every time we encounter jealousy, rage, and frustration manifesting as violation and violence, we hear, or read, the Hanuman Chalisa. Composed over four hundred years ago by Tulsidas, its simple words in Awadhi, a dialect of Hindi, and its simple metre, musically and very potently evoke the mythology, history, and mystery of Hanuman, the much-loved Hindu deity, through whom Vedic wisdom reached the masses. As verse follows verse, our frightened, crumpled mind begins to expand with knowledge and insight, and our faith in humanity, both within and without, is restored.

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The Mind of a Terrorist: David Headley, the Mumbai Massacre, and His European Revenge – Kaare Sørensen, translated by Cory Klingsporn

David Headley, the American-Pakistani also known as Daood Gilani, lived a double life. One day he would stroll through Central Park in his tailored Armani suit as a true New Yorker, and the next he would browse in the bazaar in Lahore wearing traditional Pakistani clothes. One day he would drink champagne at the most extravagant clubs; on another, he would prostrate himself in prayer in remote Pakistan and pledge fidelity to Allah.

Born in 1960, the son of an American mother and Pakistani father, with one blue eye and one brown, Headley grew up between East and West. He was attracted to both worlds, even working as an informant for the US government, until one day he found he had to choose between the place of his birth and a radical form of Islam preaching global jihad. This is the disturbing story of the mastermind behind the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people—who two months later flew to Copenhagen to plan another act of terror with the help of al-Qaeda sleeper cells in Europe.

Veteran journalist Kaare Sørensen has reconstructed his movements and planning in a tense feat of reportage. His account, based on extensive reporting, eyewitness interviews, and documentation including wiretaps, court transcripts, and emails by Headley accessed from a chat room cache of nine thousand messages, offers unprecedented insight into the mind of the terrorist. The author has provided updates and a new preface for the English-language edition.

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Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family – Daniel Finkelstein

Daniel Finkelstein’s grandfather Alfred Wiener was a German Jewish intellectual leader who tolled an early warning of the impending Holocaust and became anarchivist of Nazi crimes.

He relocated his family to safety in Amsterdam, where they became close with Anne Frank’s family. But they were eventually separated, and Daniel’s mother Mirjam was sent to Bergen-Belsen with her mother and sisters while Alfred worked feverishly to free them. Finkelstein’s father, Ludwik, grew up in a prosperous Jewish family in Poland where his father was a patriotic hero of the Great War.

But when Stalin took control, Finkelstein’s grandfather was deported to Siberia, while Ludwik and his mother were sent to face freezing winters and harrowing forced labourm conditions in Kazahkstan.

Love and Murder is a page-turning account of ingenuity, bravery and the incredible coincidences that brought Daniel’s parents together as refugees in Britain. The story features secret archives, forgery and theft, and sweeps across Europe to show the expanse of the war. Moving, engrossing and inspiring, Love and Murder will profoundly touch all who read.

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To Walk It Is to See It: 1 Couple, 98 Days, 1400 Miles on Europe’s GR5 – Kathy Elkind

In 2018, Kathy Elkind and her husband decided to take a grown-up “gap year” in Europe and walk the 1,400-mile Grande Randonnée Cinq (GR5) across The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.

At fifty-seven, Kathy has chosen comfort over hardship: Unlike the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Coast Trail, the GR5 winds from village to village instead of campsite to campsite. She and Jim get to indulge in warm beds and delicious regional food every night and croissants in the mornings.

The GR5 is not all comfort. Walking day after day for ninety-eight days bring sickness, accommodation struggles, language barriers, and storm-shrouded mountains in the Alps.

Meanwhile, Kathy finds herself reflecting on difficult topics—primarily, her struggles with dyslexia, overeating, and shame. But she also finds that the walking becomes a moving meditation and the beauty of the landscape heals; she begins to discover her own wise strength; and as the days unfold, she comes to the gratifying realization that a long marriage is like a long trail: there are ups and downs and it takes hard work to keep going, but the beauty along the way is staggering.