Books

FICTION:

NON FICTION:

BOOK REVIEWS:

First  Light in Colonelpura

 

1. “In a style reminiscent of Attia Hosain , the author takes the reader on a trip into the semi-feudal past as she depicts the minor and major social distinctions which permeate the life of the town.”

           Ranjana Kaul,  ‘Fey Charm’ , The Economic Times

2. “(Sic) this account of growing up in U.P mofussil town in the 50’s and the 60’s, told through a series of introspected  stories about two families: the Hindu Pandits and the Anglo-Indian Johns and Butlers, has the same elegiac note of time passing, and values and social mores changing-not necessarily for the better.”…………..“She has humour and a sharp eye and there is no romantic nostalgia for old times in her stories-people lust and lie , indulge in false pride and pretty greed, scandalmonger and cheat-but she seems to suggest that as “the old order changeth, giving place to new”, the sharing and caring between people and communities, the small change of human relationship, seems to be disappearing with it.”

          Laila Tyabji, New Metaphors for the Novel, The Book Review

3. “Kak traverses the paths that detail personal histories that merge with the history of a mofussil U.P town. The heart of the matter is the great changes that face new, independent , urbanized India, changes that shape the lives of the residents of Colonelpura.”

          Anjana Sharma, Snapshots of bygone days, The Hindu

4. “Manju Kak’s prose is excellent, (even though she insists of using the word ‘gay’ in its primal sense).”

           Keki N Daruwalla, Telling it like it is, The Sunday Observer

5. “The novel set in the sixties and early seventies in a small north Indian town, explores familiar terrain: of progress gnawing away at an older, leisurely way of life.”

         Manohar Shetty, A tale of two families, The Times of India

6. “The (sic) book seeks to bring to life a small town “in the sleepy backwater in the U.P heartland”. In a series of powerful vignettes”

          Aloknanda Banerjea, Local  Colour, The Statesman

Requiem for an Unsung Revolutionary and other Stories

1. “Here, …. Kak delves into the lives of the sundry characters and a very keen sense of observation lends authenticity to her description of places, people and other emotions, while retaining a necessary detachment. Her narrative is simple , flowing and direct, reminding one of the  amazing clarity which the elderly often recall their past.”

          Ritu Singh, Real life Cameos.

2. “When it comes to description, Kak almost creates a landscape before you.”

          Nikhat Kazmi, Trivia need to be trivial, Times Of India

3. “(Sic) several other stories pick up this theme of thwarted desire and invoke, in the process, questions about segregated social identities which are dependent on class and gender. A robust butcher fantasies about a jeans and T-shirt clad woman customer; a socialite gift shop-owner cannot understand her son’s attraction for that “ordinary” chit of a girl; the dollar earner in Hong Kong ogles at those “shameless” women near the ferry.”

          Dr. Malashri Lal, Literature Alive, 1996.

4. “(Sic) Kak displays a painter’s eye for detail and the external descriptions are insightful.”

          “Her facile way of handling Indian English makes for a delightful reading.”

           Shohini Ghosh, India Today

5. “(Sic) she does manage to capture the voices of her individual protagonists very deftly, slipping from the slight innocence of the young boy to the querulous complaints an incontinent old woman approaching death.”

          Anita Roy, The Pioneer

Nicholas Roerich – A Quest & a Legacy, Edited by Manju Kak

1  “Known today for his haunting portraits of the Himalayas, Roerich was also explorer, writer, spiritualist, archeologist and ethnographer. It is daunting for any one author to capture his story.”…..”Kak does a fine job in weaving disassociated strands of thought to produce a kaleidoscopic portrait of the artist.”

The Painter of Snow, The Indian Express, March 30, 2013

2     “Through a number of scholarly essays by Indian and Western writers accompanied by an exhaustive range of paintings, the book offers different perspectives on his life, making it a read for those who intend to take a deeper look into his life rather than those who seek to merely familiarise themselves with Roerich’s art and life. The writers included in the book are those who have deeply studied Roerich in an academic sense….(Sic)says Manju Kak, author, art and cultural historian who has edited the book”

A Luminous Mind, The Hindu, 5 April, 2013

3    “The legacy of the man who made India his home..(sic) in the last days of his life till he died in 1947 and whose life and works significantly influenced modern art and culture is captured in a new anthology of writings…..edited by Manju Kak, an art critic and writer.”….”Through his body of work, Roerich advocated a return to the ancient roots of human wisdom, which asserted the importance of spiritual life and of peaceful co-existence based on cosmic mentality.”

Deccan Herald, 14 March, 2013

4    ”The book describes his quest for Russia’s roots, art, involvement with theatre, expeditions, understanding of Shambhala, and works as a peace activist and theosophist,”

 Russia & India Report, 4 April, 2013