Opening Chapters

This is a report I wrote for a class on Modern Political Concepts, while at BITS, Pilani. Doctor Who is one of the most fascinating shows in the world and has run for more than 50 years! This piece was written 4.5 years ago, which means it is incomplete, mainly for two reasons: more seasons have come out since then and I have gotten much better at doing research. Further, in 2017, the first female Doctor was announced which is sure to lead the show where no man has gone before, borrowing a quote from another sci-fi series I love so much. Please leave your thoughts below. Doctor Who is a British family-oriented science fiction television program that has been broadcasted by the BBC. The show first premiered on November 23, 1963 and is still on the air albeit for the suspension of broadcast from 1989 to 2005. The protagonist of the show is The Doctor (whose actual name is unknown, hence the name of the show): a Time Lord. Time Lords are an advanced species like humans i...

I first heard of Mohsin Hamid when the adapted movie for The Reluctant Fundamentalist came out. I had wanted to get my hands on a copy of his book since then, and Exit West is my first go at his work.  You have probably heard of Exit West already. The book has garnered critical acclaim for portraying what really goes through a refugee’s mind. Everyone from The Guardian to Vox has covered it. Exit West begins, simply enough, as a love story between Nadia and Saeed. Hamid makes even a simple love story so profound: “Every time a couple moves they begin, if their attention is still drawn to one another, to see each other differently, for personalities are not a single immutable color, like white or blue, but rather illuminated screens, and the shades we reflect depend much on what is around us.” Nadia who appears to be an orthodox Muslim at first (due to her niqab), then reveals she wears it so men don’t mess with her (Pg-13 version of those words anyway).  Sae...

  This is the first of the reviews I have done on the shortlisted books for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction for the year 2017. The shortlist was announced on April 3rd, 2017. For more reviews, subscribe! Every day, there seems to be more reports coming out about the various injustices done to a woman – or rather someone who is not a man. There are the girls brutally defiled and violated on the streets in public. The child who has been repeatedly raped by her male relatives. The grandmother who was murdered in cold blood because she refused to fund her grandson’s various activities. And don’t you wish, if only things were different, if only you could do something about them. That is the premise of The Power by Naomi Alderman. Alderman’s latest has been gathering colourful reviews and has been shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017. This is the first of the six shortlisted books I have read, and I decided to pen down my th...