Review #645: Red Maize by Danesh Rana

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Terrorism has nothing to do with religion, Islam or otherwise. Terrorism is born of fundamentalism not of religion.”

----Abhijit Naskar

Danesh Rana, an Indian Police Service officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, has penned a vividly compelling tale about Jammu and not Kashmir, the metaphor of this heavenly paradise and its ever growing militants, which we rarely hear of from the hills of Jammu, in his debut book called, Red Maize. This book narrates the tale of three Muslim brothers and their headstrong and brave mother set across the idyllic mountainous landscape of Jammu, where the middle brother joins his hands with the militants to free his land from the Indian Armed Forces, caught between the crossfires of the jihads and the Indian Armed Forces are the innocent people of the land.

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Review #634: Bite of the Black Dogs by Sanjay Bahadur

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.”

----Mark Twain

Sanjay Bahadur, an India author, pens a terrific, nail biting and gripping real-life special operations of Indian Special Forces book based on a true story, and it is called, Bite of the Black Dogs that is set across the idyllic yet challenging landscape of Kashmir, India, where an Indian special force group is assigned to eradicate and extract the terrorists and the alleged killers of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus settled in Kashmir) belonging from the infamous militant group of Hizbul Mujahideen ("Party of Muslim Holy Warriors") who are funded and supported by various countries and various states of India. This real life account of the militants as well as the special task force men, who would do anything for their countrymen.

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Review #575: Lost in Terror by Nayeema Mahjoor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.”

----Anne Bradstreet

Nayeema Mahjoor, an Indian writer, pens a terrific and gripping tale of one woman and an Indian state fighting against injustice of the government and the so-called society's norms that oppressed the freedom of both, in her new book, Lost in Terror. Here the author weaves a sad and heart breaking story of a daughter of the valley disrupted by war and this woman gets caught up between the crossfires from both ends, one fighting for freedom and the other oppressing the rebellions.

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Review #466: Curfewed Night: A Frontline Memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir by Basharat Peer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more.”

----Robin Hobb

Basharat Peer, an Indian author, has penned his poignant memoir, Curfewed Night where he flawlessly captures the conflicted as well as forgotten pain of the pastoral state of India through his childhood days till adulthood and the author has also captivated the strong sense of one's own "home" be it idyllic or broken or tortured. Through this memoir, the author has walked down into the memory lane of his childhood days in Kashmir.

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Review #463: The Half Mother: A Novel by Shahnaz Bashir

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“God know that a mother need fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul.”

----Phyllis McGinley

Shahnaz Bashir, an India author, has penned a tragic story about a mother's love in his book, The Half Mother: A Novel where the author weaves the story of a Kashmiri mother looking for her son who has been arrested by the army in a raid following an attack by the militants in their locality. Thus begins the journey of a desperate mother looking for her son from one army camp to another to one minster's home to another police station to finally approaching the media, but with time, her health deteriorates and it seems no one is aware that a boy is missing.

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Review #462: The Book of Gold Leaves by Mirza Waheed

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

----Stephen Chbosky

Mirza Waheed, an India author, has penned an enthralling tale of forbidden love in a state which is disrupted by war, blood and politics in his book, The Book of Gold Leaves where the author weaves a painful yet enlightening love story where two young souls meet and fall for the very first time in a war-torn Kashmir. But the politics and the blood-thirsty agenda of then Kashmir threatens to strip away the happiness of these two souls found in each other.

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Review #458: Tears of Jhelum by Anita Krishan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Onnai je kore ar onnai je sohe, tobo ghrina jeno tare trino somo dohe."

Translated version: "Those who commit injustice and those who forbear it, Let them blaze like hay in the fire of your indignation."

----Rabindranath Tagore

Anita Krishan, an Indian author, has penned a gripping yet emotional bookTears of Jhelum that narrates the story of a Kashmiri man who tries to protect his family as well as himself while turning a blind eye to the crime happening around him, but when his act of turning a blind eye comes haunting to him, he realizes that he has committed a grave mistake in order to save himself from the inevitable death.

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