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After discussing the various camera types available in India, lets focus on the features and what exactly the different jargon associated with them means. Most of us are ignorant of many features and aspects that we should be looking for in a digicam and usually get swayed by flashy ads and sleek models displayed in the media. Initially, lets cover the ones which matter the most to us here in India.

Resolution: Trying to find your way through the Mega Maze of Mega Pixels..! Well, don’t get swayed by those 8 MP, 10 MP figures. Resolution is important because it tells you how large an image you’ll be able to print. A 8 MP camera will allow you to print a 16×20-inch image – would you ever need to print an image that size (probably most of us don’t have a printer that can do it, either). A 5 MP camera will do fine for most users - it will allow you to print an 8×10-inch photo with all details still intact. And then if you’re only shooting photos to post on Orkut(Facebook, Bigadda etc) or just email them to your friends, images shot with a large resolution result in huge image files, not of much use. For that 2-3 MP resolution’s just fine. Also, whats more important is the size of the sensor rather than number of pixels. Usual size for standard digicams is 1/2.5 - 1/2.7 inches. About 5 MP is kind of optimum pixels that is placed on a chip that goes with sensors of this size. Manufacturers have placed upto about 8 MP on the same chip. How do they pack so many pixels on the same size chip? They interpolate. Interpolation can increase the resolution to interpolate and use a 5 MP chip to produce a 10 MP image. The quality will be not be as good as if the picture was taken with a true 10 MP chip.  So, just figure out what you need the digital camera for before going blindly on MP count figure.

Zoom:Many first time buyers are fooled by ads/salespersons about phenomenal zoom levels possible in a particular digicam brand. There are two types of zooms you’ll see referenced on a digital camera: optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom is the maximum amount of zoom the lens supports at its highest resolution. This means that if a camera has a 4X optical zoom, you can zoom in to 4 times the image size and still have a high-quality picture. Digital Zoom, on the other hand, is just going deeper into a photograph and will always lead to pixellations and a lot more noise. The effect of Digital Zoom is same as zooming in a picture in your PC/laptop. My advice? Simply, ignore the digital zoom, and look for a digital camera with an optical zoom based upon how you’d actually use it. Unless you want to shoot wildlife(in that case you would need at least 10x to 12x), your usual day to day photography would be well handled by a 3x zoom which is available on most digital cameras.

Battery Life: This may be the last thing that people check while buying a digicam. However, it will save you much in costs and frustration if you factor it in before buying one. Most cameras now boast of a 2.5 or even 3 inch LCD screen which eats up the battery in no time. There are two kinds used by most digicams available here. Standard AA-size batteries and Rechargeable batteries made by the manufacturer, also known as a proprietary battery. So, here’s the cache, initially rechargeable lithium-ion batteries appear much more energy-efficient and cost-effective, but you’d need to wait for them to get recharged before you can shoot anymore, unless you keep one spare. Your friend may have a Sony and you a Canon, but neither of you can exchange your batteries to use in another’s camera. Standard alkaline batteries (AA size) on the other hand can be found at almost any place and you can buy a pair (or two) without burning a hole in your pocket and even if they run out.

Have you made the switch to a digital camera from the traditional film camera, already? or you’re the last person in your lane/office that still uses a film camera? Do you get embarrassed when your friends on Orkut ask you to upload your pictures/email them? Many here in India still prefer film cameras because of their familiarity, affordability and top image quality. A look at the prices on TolMol for digital cameras would assure you that digicams are in your budget range now. Couple with it the advantages digital cameras offer, such as the ability to preview instantly and digitized images, you may be ready to make the leap to digital.
However, with so many models from various brands(approx 300 on TolMol at last count) to choose from and so many features/specs to consider, selecting the best one for your needs might appear like a herculean task. We at TolMol understand this and have tried to explain the types and features of digital cameras in this guide which would be a series of articles on this blog. Once you know what it all means, you can choose the best one for yourself.

First up, lets see the different types of digital cameras available in India currently. You can find one based upon your personality type!

• Ultra Compact:

This camera is for you if you like to take a camera along everywhere you go, to parties, shopping malls and even small outings. It can fit into your pocket and generally has a good build quality with metal body. Of course it comes at a price that’s a little extra compared to ones which have same features but are a bit bigger.

• Compact:

This is most popular amongst all digicam types. Its compact, lightweight and easiest to use. Great for point-and-shoot photo-taking, it offers plenty of scene modes. Some have semi-automatic and manual controls. Right from capturing those languid moments of life to taking pictures of your family and friends, it finds its use on all occasions.

• Mid-Range:

You are a back packer who hitch hikes at the word go. In your camera you expect high quality lenses and advanced features for creative control. You need mega telephoto zooms lenses or wide
angle lenses. Image Stabilization is one feature you can’t do without. Well, if you want so much, then go for this camera type.

• Digital SLR:

If you’re a professional photographer or a photography enthusiast who understands how to use ISO, aperture and shutter speed to your advantage, you need something which is top-of-the-line. A Digital Single Lens Reflex camera has outstanding optics to produce high resolution images. It also comes with interchangeable lenses – if you’re shooting a very specific project, you can change out the lens on a digital SLR to get a better shot and sophisticated accessories. It can function automatically though it also has a full range of manual controls. You would surely be able to capture just what you need with a digital SLR. The only thing that might hold you from going for this one might be its price, though the price is dropping for entry-level digital SLRs.

Hope, this has helps in identifying the digicam type. In the next part, we would cover the various features of digital cameras. Stay tuned!

You see shopping malls coming up almost everywhere in India these days. Even small towns now boast of mega-malls attracting much awe from people living in bigger cities visiting them occasionally. Not to be left behind, net savvy Indians have emerged as the third biggest credit card users globally for online purchasing, next only to the Turkish and Irish e-shoppers. The facility to research and review a product on the web and the diversity of products available on it is surely a big draw. According to the data released by the “Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet Shopping Habits”, a staggering 78 per cent of the Indian respondents (those accessing Internet) have used the Internet to make a purchase, while more than 55 per cent of the respondents have made at least one online purchase in the past one month.

The survey further reveals that online shopping has opened up new avenues, especially in the realm of traveling where Internet has made it convenient to book tickets. As many as 73 per cent Indians have purchased airline tickets/reservations in the past three months, this percentage being the highest for any country in Asia Pacific.

As per the survey, other popular items amongst Internet shoppers from India include books (46 per cent), electronic equipment (29 per cent), tours and hotel reservations (24 per cent), videos/DVDs/games (23 per cent), event tickets (23 per cent), clothing/accessories/shoes (21 per cent), and music (20 per cent).

Its the time saving factor that is attracting more and more people to Online shopping in India. Also, be it any product, small or big, expensive or cheap, it’s all available on the internet from numerous websites competing to provide the best deals to attract shoppers on their site. At the end of the day, its the consumer who is the winner of this fierce competitive world of online sales.
We at TolMol strive to help you in making an informed buying decision by bringing all these deals from different websites at one place. So, what are you waiting for, go ahead and get that best deal, without the fear of facing a traffic jam and the huge weekend crowd at the mall!

Ask any film trade expert from Bollywood about the best time for a film’s release and pat comes the reply: “There is no better period in India than Diwali for a film.” This, in fact is now conventional wisdom in Bollywood and hence filmmakers bank upon the Diwali weekend to rake in the moolah. Diwali is unique in that it is spread over four days and thus its supposed to be the period that draws maximum crowds to movie theatres.

This Diwali too the box-office expects fireworks with two of the most anticipated films of the year releasing simultaneously. Some call it the clash of the titans: King Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ VS magician Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’. Each film has its own merit to lure the audiences. ‘OSO’ has SRK flaunting his newly developed six-pack abs alongside the gorgeous newcomer Deepika Padukone . The film is a love story based on the theme of re-incarnation. ‘Saawariya’, on the other hand, introduces two newcomers – Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor . But what’s going to pull audiences to the theatres is the fact that the film has been directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali , a man known to have a deft command over filmmaking.

So, since when did this idea of slating big-banner films for release during Diwali catch up? Its relatively a recent one, aver trade analysts. They point out the fact that it was not until the mid-1990s that it became an established trend. Maybe the filmmakers started to think seriously about Diwali after the success of Feroze Khan’s Yalgaar and Ajay Devgan’s Jigar in 1992. The following Deepawali (in 1993), ensured the trend became common practice when Shah Rukh Khan’s Baazigar became a big hit (unexpectedly!). Diwali has become a golden period for Bollywood (well almost!) since then. Lets take a look at some of the Box-Office sparklers released during Diwali from then:

• DDLJ : 1995
• Raja Hindustani : 1996
• Dil To Pagal Hai : 1997
• Veer Zaara : 2004
• Don : 2006

Some films however flopped miserably even though their release was scheduled during Diwali.

• Ashoka : 2001
• Jeena Sirf Mere Liye : 2002
• Jaan-e-Mann : 2006

Multiplexes these days determine the fate of a film over a single weekend. The four days of Diwali are more than adequate to decide whether a film sizzles or fizzles out at the box office. That’s precisely what Om Shanti Om and Saawariya are battling over this Friday.

However, as already pointed out just scheduling a release during Diwali wouldn’t make any movie a hit, it the paying public who would actually decide its fate. They nonetheless have ample time and choice! this Diwali.

Give any name to it, this surely is the true pan Indian festival transcending all the barriers of caste and region. Celebrated across India with religious fervour and gaiety, it’s also a time to shop and gift. If Northern India observes rigorous fasts and prayers during Navaratras, with Ramlila in the evenings and Vijaya Dashmi on the tenth day, in Eastern India, its Pandal Hopping for populace during Durga Puja. Navratri in Western India holds a special significance and for the youth particularly its Dandiya (originally Raas and Garba dances to please the Goddess!) time. South India celebrates Dussehra(or Dasara) culminating in grand processions with the idol of Goddess riding in a golden Ambaari (Elephant-seat) heaved on Elephant-back(ever heard of Mysore Dasara!).

This festival season, most Electronics and Computers manufacturers have launched new models and offered cool discounts on many of existing models. Not to be left behind, even Auto majors have announced new offerings taking note of the popular belief that Navratras are an auspicious time to buy.

So, what are you waiting for, go check out the latest festival offering on TolMol and compare across different brands. Your loved ones expect Gifts during this time, just find the best according to their tastes and of course your budget!

Just why do people keep going back to classics? There are so many novels with storlylines like: girl meets boy, they fell in love, separated by friend/family/themselves and then a friend/family/themselves gets them together again and they live happily ever after. Well, maybe classics’ characters seem to be more realistic, believable and sweet. They have more conflicts to think about and it takes several months even years, before it can finally be resolved and you can follow their characters’ growth. You rejoice in their triumphs with them. This fact is exemplified none better than by the novels from the Victorian and Pre-Victorian era. Here’s a short list favoured by many (including yours truly!) available from Tolmol Books.

• David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) Sisters
• Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans actually, she took a male pen name just to make sure her works were taken seriously at that time!)
• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Scalet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Well, there are many, many more and if you’ve not read any of them yet just explore these classics. Did I hear some of you say that you’ve already read them over? Then I ought to reproduce Cliff Fadiman’s remark, “When you re-read a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before”.
Ready for introspection or you’re still reading those chic lits or novels of that ilk! I would love to hear from you.

A good mystery novel propels us into another world, engaging our minds to the extent that we forget ourselves and the time passing by. A good mystery stokes our imagination and fuels our memories. Since early school days children start reading The Secret Seven and Famous Five by Enid Blyton. On progressing to middle school, its the Hardy Boys (by Franklin W Dixon) and Nancy Drew (by Carolyn Keene) who capture their imagination. In fact many have idolized them as their heroes in that impressionable age. However, its the grown-ups whom mysteries enthrall the most.
Right from the time that Edgar Allen Poe created the eccentric and brilliant C. Auguste Dupin in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841, the plot formula has been successful, give or take a few shifting variables. The style of the analysis, with its attention to forensic detail, is perhaps the inspiration for the stories about the most famous of all fictional detectives, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Then there are the Queens of Crime Agatha Christie with her detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and Dorothy L. Sayers’s aristocratic sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey.
More recently John Grisham and Fredrick Forsyth have taken mystery novels towards the thriller genre.
So, whatever age group you belong to you can find the mystery of choice on Tolmol Books.

October the 2nd is a national holiday for all of us. For people at large, while there are some things to look forward to on other National holidays viz. the magnificent parade on 26th January and the PM’s speech on 15th August (new schemes are generally announced in it), Gandhi Jayanti is a day to relax. This observation when looked from the perspective of the youth is even more evident. The ideologies of Peace, Ahimsa, non-cooperation, Swadesi, honesty and integrity were mere words for Gen X. The principles followed by the father of the nation have for long been looked upon and typecast as stereotypical and dull by young India.
Well, all this seems to have changed after the Indian cinema’s resolve to revive the icon of the nation`s freedom struggle - Gandhi. New age directors such as Rajukumar Hirani (Lage Raho Maunna Bhai) and Feroz Abbas Khan (Gandhi My Father), have shown the youth the effectual results that come out of the implementation of these ideologies in today`s fast paced world. If Richard Attenborough’s celluloid epic had swayed audiences across the continents in the 1980s, these recent Bollywood films have sought to explore different aspects of the Mahatma’s mystique. In Jahnu Barua’s interestingly titled film, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara, a retired lecturer suffering from Alzheimer’s who is convinced that he assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.
As you look to get inspired from such movies just browse, compare prices and buy from your favourite seller on Tolmol movies.
Before concluding, another interesting piece of trivia, that would justify the title of this post. A recent poll on university campuses across the US put Mahatma Gandhi ahead of political figures anywhere in the world — the only man more popular than him among the student community, understandably, was Bill Gates!

Recently came across a remark from a British literary agent which emphasized the need for having warehouses for publishers to store unread manuscripts from Indian authors written in English! A certain exaggeration, no doubt, however it does indicate that more Indians than ever before are tapping at computer keyboards to sell stories. Recently, leading publisher Penguin celebrated two decades of business in India, the country with the world’s largest population of people who can speak English. Penguin opened shop in India with seven titles in 1987, but currently has more than 2,000 titles. Penguin India, Asia’s largest English-language publisher, declared that it is targeting US$50 million sales this year.
Having grown up reading honest and delightful novels set in the fictitious southern Indian town of Malgudi and narrated in simple English spiced with his special sardonic brand of humor, R K Narayan has been an eternal favourite of most Indians. He is probably the only Indian author in English whose novels were translated into a hit Hindi movie (Guide) and a prime-time television serial (Malgudi Days). Works from Mulk Raj Anand, Anita Desai, Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth have been read over and over again by generations. More recently Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy and Vikram Chandra have managed to sustain interest in writings from Indian authors across the World.
On Tolmol, you can find works from all these great Indian authors. Take your pick, find the best price available online and simply order from your favourite seller.
As big-bucks book deal signings fire hopes among India’s English-fiction writing hopefuls, you can be sure that you’ll find the latest on Tolmol. Also imminent are new novels by Amit Chaudhuri and Amitav Ghosh, along with Arundhati Roy’s second novel.

As India turns 60, Hindustan Times recommends 60 great books. The list goes as below:

A country is known by its books. Here is a list of India’s 60 best since Independence. Read on…

Gitanjali: Rabindranath Tagore won the elusive Nobel with this volume and many a school assembly still recites the lines: “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free… into that heaven, my Father, let my country awake.”

All About H Hatterr: GV Desani’s classic, rip-roaring 1948 novel that set the tone for the clanging concoction of the East and the West that would become the signature of writers like Rushdie.

Midnight’s Children: Saleem Sinai, born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, is Salman Rushdie’s magically real means of putting India’s political history (warts and all) on the global literary map.

The Flight of Pigeons: Ruskin Bond’s A Flight of Pigeons, set in pre-Independence India, was also made into a movie Junoon (1978) by director Shyam Benegal.

Aag Ka Dariya: Qurratulain Hyder’s generation was divided by Partition. But she refused to make an irrevocable choice and instead found home in both India and Pakistan. In this magnum opus spanning centuries, she narrates the tragedy of being forced into such a choice.

Train to Pakistan: in a far cry from his usual lighthearted and witty style, Khushwant Singh somberly etches out the agony of a village brutally torn apart at independence.

Adha Gaon: long before he became famous for scripting the Mahabharata serial, Rahi Masoom Reza set this novel in his native Avadh village, offering a vibrant Indian blend of Muslim and Hindu cultures.

Adhe Adhure: Mohan Rakesh, in a play going strong on the stage for nearly three decades now, traces the efforts of an alienated urban being to find meaning in her middle-class milieu.

Anandamath: this Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay novel can still make secularists flinch with its picture of an India tyrannised by Muslims and liberated by the British. A powerful story centred around the birth of the cult of the nation as Mother Goddess.

Rasidi Ticket: this autobiography of the popular Punjabi poetess Amrita Pritam created controversy when it came out,
which was predictable given her unconventional life lived very much in the public eye.

Aranyer Din Ratri: Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novel revolves around four young men whose worldview is challenged by the tribals among whom they are holidaying.

Awara Sijde: better known for penning unforgettable film lyrics like Kar chale hum fida jaano-tan saathiyon; Ab tumhaare hawaale watan saathiyo, Kaifi Azmi’s poetry collection tackles politics from Moscow to Telengana.

Kitni Navon men Kitni Bar: Ajneya won the Jnanpith Award in 1978 for the book representative of the prayogvaadi Hindi poetry promoted by the Tar Saptak series that Ajneya edited.

Family Matters: Family Matters is a colourful account of three generations of a Parsi family, with Rohinton Mistry’s central protagonist being a cantankerous old professor refusing to let age stand in the way of life’s little last pleasures.

Chidamabara: Sumitranandan Pant spearheaded Chhayavaadi poetry in Hindi and this poetry collection won him the Jnanpith Award.

Dast-e-Saba: Faiz Ahmad Faiz produced this volume of poems in a Pakistani jail, where he developed a covert imagery for compositions that he would later put to paper from memory.

Deivathinte Vikrithikal: set in Mahe, M. Mukundun’s saga traces the adventures of a Franco-Indian Alphonse endowed with the gift of magic.

Devdas: Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay introduced a certain “self-destructive syndrome” into our psycho-pop vocabulary that has survived three generations, with Saigal, Dilip Kumar and Shahrukh all doing their parts to keep it going strong.

Dipshikha: a freedom fighter, a Chayavaadi pioneer and the first female Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi, Mahadevi Verma also incorporated a distinctive mysticism in her poetry.

English August: Upamanyu Chatterjee’s fresh and quirky take on the dilemmas of a young civil servant who finds himself ill at ease in small town India.

Ghasiram Kotwal: a Marathi play by Vijay Tendulkar racily follows the life of someone who seeks power and privilege at the cost of everything else.

God of Small Things: mix a fractured family from southern India and a gifted author. Result: a Booker-winning gem from Arundhati Roy.

Godaan: perhaps the most popular of Hindi novelists, Munshi Premchand wrote about India’s semi-starved peasants with compassion abundant enough to bring tears to the eyes.

Golapitha: Dalit Panther Namdev Laxman Dhasal’s mother was a sex worker and his father a butcher’s assistant in Kamathipura, which helps explains his realistic rendition of the titular red light district.

Golden Gate: 690 wonderful sonnets describing the life, love and times of San Francisco’s young professionals by Vikram Seth.

Gul-e-Naghma: Firaq Gorakhpuri’s ghazals were enriched with Hindu mythology and his wit refined by years of teaching English at Allahabad University.

Hajar Churashir Ma: Mahasweta Devi tells the story of an upper middle-class woman whose world is transformed by the killing of her Naxalite son.

Indulekha: O Chandu Menon is credited with the breakthrough of the novel in Malayalam literature with this narrative of a modern rebellion against the degraded feudal system.

Interpreter of Maladies: her collection of short stories about the Bengali diaspora made Jhumpa Lahiri one of the youngest recipients of the Pulitzer at 32.

JJ: Some Jottings: A cheeky Sundara Ramaswamy novel purporting to be the posthumous biography of a Malayalam writer by a Tamil one ingeniously confuses fiction with fact.

Jokumaraswamy: Chandrasekhar Kambar’s Kannada play revolves around the phallic deity Jokumar, who is worshipped in the form of a snake gourd and ritually devoured by those who want to bear children.

Kanthapura: Raja Rao’s sensitive portrayal of a south Indian village during the independence struggle was actually written in a 13th-century castle in the heart of the Alps.

Kayar: admirers have said this Thakazhi Sivasankara novel summarises the social history of Kerala, from the coir factories to communism.

Khasakinte Ithihaasam: this book made a legend out of OV Vijayan and put the interior village in which it plays out on the map of literary tourists.

Kitne Pakistan: to put the historical document itself on trial, Kamleshwar uses a nameless narrator who summons the help of ‘Time’ to sift through records ranging from Kurukshetra to Hiroshima.

Krishnakali: her life’s journey, with pensive pauses at Shantiniketan and Kumaon, brought Shivani a living legend status.

Kurukku: as a Tamil nun whose grandfather sought to escape the stigma of being a Dalit by converting to Christianity, Faustina Bama’s message in this book: “You are a Dalit; lift your head and stand tall.”

Kutiyozhikkal: Vailoppilli Sreedhara Menon’s long Malayalam poem dramatises the ambivalent relationship between the poet and the world.

Love and Longing in Bombay: from the Maruti-1000 kind of stockbrokers to Rajesh bhaiyya’s akhara, Vikram Chandra successfully captures both the ageless and the ever-changing qualities of the metropolis.

Madhushala: better known as the Big B’s father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan was the first Indian to get a PhD in English at Cambridge. The gentle cadences of this early lyric, written in the mystic tradition of Omar Khayyam, have actually made him an enduring star in his own right.

Marali Mannige: using a chaste Dakshina Kannada dialect, Kota Shivaram Karanth’s saga of three generations traces how a poor Brahmin family copes with the winds of change.

Nilkanthi Broja: Assamese writer Indira Goswami has built upon her own experience as a young widow in Vrindavan into a heartrending sketch of hapless women abandoned in this Radheshyami town.

Paraja: Oriya novelist Gopinath Mohanty sketches the harrowing aftermath of wrenching a tribal away from his historical home in the forest.

Parimal: experimenting with ideas, harking back to Shivaji’s militarism, writing in khari boli when this amounted to a statement of dissent, Nirala was a man much ahead his time.

Pather Panchali: Satyajit Ray adapted Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s debut novel for his first film, and the rest as they say is history. Apu, Durga and Indir Thakrun now have a worldwide fan club.

Pathummayude Aadu: like Antonin Artaud, some of the most exciting of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s works were produced while undergoing mental treatment.

Coolie: describes the tragedy of a 15-year-old child labourer who dies of TB, and Mulk Raj Anand uses it to powerfully critique the caste system.

Raag Darbari: Shrilal Shukla’s wonderfully satirical account of petty village politics is credited with taking wit and humour in Hindi novels to a new height. Gillian Wright’s excellent translation makes the drollness available to English readers as well.

Randamuzham: MT Vasudevan, who also scripts and directs Malayalam mainstream cinema, wrote this novel after Bhima captured his imagination.

Sabdar Akash: Sitakant Mohapatra, the most translated of the Oriya poets, insists on composing poetry only in his mother tongue, saying: “Poetry is something so intense and emotive that the magical experience can be felt and expressed only in a language that is most intimate to you.”

A House for Mr Biswas: With this Indo-Trinidadian domestic tale, VS Naipaul etches out a fledgling postcoloniality.

Samskara: among those fortunate few whose literary credentials are established by their very first works is the Kannada author U.R. Ananthamurthy. This debut novel is about a Brahmin priest forced to adjudicate the case of a dead, defiant colleague.

Shadow Lines: Amitav Ghosh shows that secrets do not just evaporate when they are exposed. That they were hidden in the first place continues to cast shadows of doubt on the people and events surrounding them.

Subhuk Soda: Rahman Rahi, the first Kashmiri writer to receive the Jnanpith Award, is influenced both by the “leftism” of Iqbal and the romance of Ghalib.

Swami and Friends: set in the fictional town of Malgudi in pre-Independence days, spinning around with the adventures a 10-year-old boy from Albert Mission School, RK Narayan’s novel continues to bring a smile to the face of repeat readers.

Tamas: this powerful Bhisham Sahni novel captured the country’s imagination when Govind Nihalini turned it into an equally forceful telefilm. Sahni drew upon his experiences as a relief worker during Partition to write this anti-communalist saga.

Charandas Chor: credited with an innovative dramaturgy equally impelled by Brecht and folk idioms, Habib Tanvir seduces across language barriers in this all-time hit about a Robin Hood-style thief.

Terhi Lakeer: Ismat Chugtai’s magnum opus centres on the rebellious affirmation of female desire: “A woman’s heart has so many chambers, a mother’s love residing in one, love for her husband in another, for her beloved in a third. Then Shaman tried to peep into her own heart.”

Tughlaq: in this Girish Karnad play, the medieval despot at the heart of a Nehruvian allegory is a troubled figure, crying: “Tell me, Barani, will my reign be nothing more than a tortured scream which will stab the night and melt away in the silence?”

Zindaginama: it is somehow fitting that the last entry in this list is another Partition novel. Krishna Sobti’s rendition relies on her vivid memories of how I-Day impacted a Punjabi village on the banks of the Chenab.

Source: Hindustan Times - Just the right stuff