Cuba: Paralysed and immersed in a fake war “A city of many stray sadness”

1989-born Carlos Manuel Alvarez, whose ideals of the Cuban revolution turned sour. His  novel The Fallen (2019) painted a portrait of family life in rural Cuba, where revolutionary dreams are dead, freedoms are curtailed, and opportunities are scarce.  False War is sequel published in Spanish in 2021, and now translated by Natsha Wimmer examines the destinies of some of those Cubans who have fled the embattled island. The common themes of Cuban migrants in Miami, New York, Mexico City, Paris and Berlin, their loss and longing of lives uprooted and grafted elsewhere, borne on oceanic currents of escape and return. The … Continue reading Cuba: Paralysed and immersed in a fake war “A city of many stray sadness”

Know your hatred and envy to avoid self-deceptions for successful intimacy

Love’s Labour is a collection of psychoanalysis case studies, is long awaited follow-up of American-born, London-based, Stephen Grosz’s bestselling debut of 2013, The Examined Life,  a series of slender psychoanalytic case histories, which opened the world of the consulting room with vividness.  In Love’s Labour, Grosz, gives us insight into the twists and turns of the patient’s inner lives. The woman who is horrified to find her husband having an affair eventually turns out to have a secret gladness: It’s a get-out-of-jail free card she can now legitimately divorce. After deeper exploration, these patients turn out to be Russian dolls, with … Continue reading Know your hatred and envy to avoid self-deceptions for successful intimacy

Dreams matter

Lionel Richie  Truly is a candid memoir, as he revisits hilarious and harrowing events that seek to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel’s unlikely success stories- from a shy, tragically late bloomer to his dramatic transformation into a world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives. Lionel’s early childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of Civil Rights movement to adventures as a member of The Commodores, to coming-of-age in Harlem where that band took off, to culture shock … Continue reading Dreams matter

Life outside a rigid hierarchy, amid tradition and modernity

Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her previous novels Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard (1998), set in India of her childhood- born in Delhi, The Inheritance of Loss which won the 2006 Booker Prize.  This tale is about Sonia Shah and Sunny Bhatia, whose once-wealthy families connected through their grandparents, are part of the first generation of young Indians to experience migration, travel and life outside a rigid hierarchy, caught in between tradition and modernity, between pleasing parents and pleasing themselves. They fall in love, but are soon parted by self-doubt, pride … Continue reading Life outside a rigid hierarchy, amid tradition and modernity

India defeat Pakistan by five wickets in Asia Cup final

Twenty20 International Asia Cup at Dubai International Stadium, Dubai India Vs Pakistan Pakistan 146 ao off 19.1 ov, Farhan 57 off 38, 5 fours, 3 sixes, Fakhar 46 off 35, 2 fours, 2 sixes, Yadav 4-30, Bumrah 2-25, Chakravarthy 2-30, Patel 2-26. India 150-5 off 19.4 ov, Tilak 69 off 53, 3 fours, 4 fours, Dube 33 off 22, 2 fours, 2 sixes, Faheem 3-29, Abrar 1-29, Shaheen 1-20. India win by 5 wickets. Tilak Varma scored an amazing unbeaten innings of 69 runs off 53 balls including four sixes and three fours, to steer India to five-wicket victory over … Continue reading India defeat Pakistan by five wickets in Asia Cup final

Game of Cat and Mouse

Two women, an office filled with secrets. One terrible crime that can’t be taken back. Dawn Schiff works as an accountant, and never says the right thing. She has no friends, and is always at her office desk precisely at 8:45am. One morning, she doesn’t show up to the office, her co-worker Natalie Farrell- beautiful, popular, top sales representative for five years running is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything. It turns out Dawn wasn’t just an awkward outsider- she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn … Continue reading Game of Cat and Mouse

Obstacles and indignities that Thatcher encountered

Charles Moore’s authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher illuminates her early life, rise to power and initial period as prime minister of the woman who transformed Britain and the world in the late twentieth century.  Moore takes us back to Grantham where she lived over her parent grocery shop. As there was no hereditary money, she had to work very hard, even serving at the counter. She knew about perseverance and in attempting to become an MP she lost in two general elections, but did not give up until she secured a safe seat in Finchley. She became the Conservative Party … Continue reading Obstacles and indignities that Thatcher encountered

Relentless pursuit of pleasure and success

Martin Amis’s “London Trilogy”, alongwith the novel London Fields, The Information, Money is hailed as a “sprawling fierce, Vulgar display and exhilarating skilful savvy when it made its first appearance in the mid-1980s. Ami’s funny and on-target portraits of life in the fast lane form a bold and frightening portrait of Ronald Regan’s America and Margaret Thatcher’s England. Money is the hilarious story of John Self, one of London’s top commercial directors, who is given the opportunity to make his first feature film- alternatively titled Good Money and Bad Money. He is also living money, taking money, and spending money … Continue reading Relentless pursuit of pleasure and success

Unlucky in love

Olive is always unlucky in love, career, well almost everything, but her twin sister Ami, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is a fairy tale, and she has managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of internet contests. Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who happens to be the best man. Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from … Continue reading Unlucky in love

Cinderella (La Cenerentola) English National Opera London Coliseum

An age old fairytale charms, amuses and enchants at the London Coliseum.Cinderella (La Cenerentola) English National Opera London Coliseum, StMartin’s Lane, London WC2N September 27 – October 14 2025. Show runningtime – 2 hrs 45 mins. One interval. Children under the age of five will not beadmitted. Featured as taking place in current time London, this show is based onGioachino Rossini’s classic romantic opera. Cinderella and Don Ramiro areencouraged, watched over and protected by a team of dramatic, colourful anduplifting ancestral spirits.The opera stars mezzo soprano Deepa Johnny as Angelina (Cinderella) andtenor Aaron Godfrey-Mayes as Don Ramiro. Director- international operaaward … Continue reading Cinderella (La Cenerentola) English National Opera London Coliseum