This week saw two reviews of the recently-launched Urban Voice 3. Nothing much to talk home about, but I thought I will share them with you, patrons, as criticism is what makes one grow, not just bouquets.
So here they go:
Bombay book
This fortnight's addition to our shelves.Frog Books' Urban Voice 3 features new writing from Mumbai. The opening piece, by Monideepa Sahu, is about an auto ride and there are pieces about riding the train, buying a train ticket and about the pedestrian subway outside Churchgate railway station. The series' editor Sunil K Poolani says it aims to be a "platform for thinkers to capture 'next-in-line' trends and go beyond."
(Frog Books; Rs 195)
-- Time Out Mumbai, 25 July 2008
Urban voice 3: Bombay (Frog, Rs 195) brings together “writings from and on Bombay”. There are short stories, poems and even the odd interview, but they have nothing new to offer, save clichéd themes depicting this bustling metropolis. Thus, we encounter (again!) tales about Bombay’s resilience after the bomb blasts, the warmth of its people, Bollywood, and so on. Vimla Patil’s “Magical memories”, surprisingly, touches a chord, with its earnest longing for a world made of tile-roofed houses, old temples and curative herbs that is now lost forever.-- The Telegraph, 25 July 2008
