Midnight's Grandchild: "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida"
In all the years since I first read Salman Rushdie’s Midnight's Children, no book has matched its brilliance, its exuberance and its...
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- Mar 31
- 4 min
Raji's Recordings!
I have moderated book discussions and author interviews in the past few years, and even participated in a Readathon! The recordings are...
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- Mar 29
- 2 min
"The Perfumist of Paris" by Alka Joshi -- a Kepler's Books Event
The Henna Artist was released just when the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown began, and author Alka Joshi's book events switched to a virtual...
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- Mar 5
- 5 min
"Independence" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Much of the literature about India’s Partition has been written around the violence and tragedy in the northwest. The focus is the...
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- Mar 4
- 3 min
"The Second Life of Mirielle West" by Amanda Skenandore
Silicon Valley Reads had chosen “Journey to New Beginnings” as its 2023 theme. One of the books selected to showcase this theme is The...
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- Nov 14, 2022
- 7 min
South Asian Literature and Art Festival 2022: a glorious in-person event
The South Asian Literature and Art Festival (SALA) returned in style and with considerable substance on October 29 and 30, 2022 at the...
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- Oct 22, 2022
- 4 min
Margaret Atwood at Stanford Live
Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, and winner of two Booker Prizes among other honors, graced Stanford’s Memorial...
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- Oct 21, 2022
- 1 min
Announcing: South Asian Literature and Art Festival 2022
The inaugural South Asian Literature and Art Festival (SALA 2019) was held in October 2019, at the picturesque Villa Montalvo in...
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- Sep 23, 2022
- 3 min
Ramayan, Naatak's 100th Production
During the pandemic shut down, I had watched a few of Naatak's zoom plays. Ramayan was my first live Naatak play in a theater since the...
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- May 10, 2022
- 4 min
A Mother’s Beginnings, a Nation’s Past (Sisters of Mokama, by Jyoti Thottam)
In 1947, the year India got its hard-won independence from British rule, six nuns from Kentucky voyaged to India to set up a hospital in...
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- Mar 6, 2022
- 6 min
The Goddess Will Rise. (Border Less by Namrata Poddar)
Border Less, a debut novel by Namrata Poddar, is a collection of stories or vignettes, tied together by the main character Dia Mittal. We...
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- Oct 20, 2021
- 5 min
Requiem for a Beloved Uncle
On September 17, 2021, one of the sweetest people I have ever known went into cardiac arrest in the ICU at Thangam hospital in Palakkad,...
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- Oct 20, 2021
- 3 min
A Burning, by Megha Majumdar
Many years ago, I had a conversation with a colleague about life, dreams, and the choices we make. Early on in our career, or in life, we...
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- Oct 18, 2021
- 3 min
Where Has Raji Been?!
Dear Reader, I have not written to you or posted anything since January of this year. How the months have flown by! I last posted a book...
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- Jan 23, 2021
- 7 min
"Together" by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
Loneliness is like a cold hand resting on your heart. It can tighten your chest, and make you desperate with longing for company and...
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- Jan 23, 2021
- 2 min
Silicon Valley Reads 2021: "Connecting" - Upcoming events!
The COVID-19 pandemic took its place in our lives at the beginning of 2020, and changed life as we know it. Silicon Valley Reads picks a...
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- Jan 21, 2021
- 1 min
Pelicans!
What a magnificent bird is the pelican. This limerick by Dixon Lanier Merritt captures the wonder of the bird. A wonderful bird is the...
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- Dec 30, 2020
- 2 min
Jessie's Message (for Captain Margaret L. Putman)
Once upon a time, I had a dear friend named Maggie. She taught herself calligraphy, sitting at a drafting table and painstakingly writing...
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- Dec 30, 2020
- 5 min
A Year of Found Friends
Sometimes, the universe is kind. In a time of anxiety, even terror that you might lose those you love, it gives you back people you lost....
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- Dec 29, 2020
- 1 min
Suguna
In cold months, I wear The sweaters, caps and scarves you knitted, Feeling your love In their warm embrace. I picked the yarn, We picked...
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