Bibliofile

See For Yourself

Books may not be the first things that come to mind while talking of Bihar’s wily and maverick Laloo Prasad Yadav, but these days he is thrusting a thick tome to journalists. The book is A Bunch of Thoughts by M.S. Golwalkar, one of the founding fathers of the RSS, which has controversial chapters on Indian minorities, especially Muslims and Christians. In reference to them, Golwalkar proclaims: “Hostile elements within the country pose a far greater men­­ace to national security than aggressors from outside.” There are many gems of wisdom reserved for  Communists too. Favoured recipients are journalists from Delhi, whom Laloo exhorts to go through it before reporting on the RSS or the BJP.

Romantic Heist

Ananth Padmanabhan, who quit Penguin RandomHouse to join HarperCollins as its CEO in August, may have got his first coup. Bestselling author of young romance, Nikita Singh, has jumped ship and signed a two-book deal with HC. Apparently, the marketing team made a 360-degree presentation to Nikita and her agent, which impressed them so much that she took the dec­ision immediately. Will there be more such poaching?

Slurpily Lyrical

Janice Pariat’s second novel, Seahorse, is shortlisted for The Hindu Prize 2015. She is a writer to watch, who can even make porridge poetic. Look out for her piece on this common breakfast item in a new food anthology by Mita Kapur, Porridge and Chillies.