Category: Information
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https://www.amazon.in/dp/9364112482 In the history of classical music, there is a haunting superstition known as the “Curse of the Ninth.” For titans like Beethoven, Schubert, and Mahler, their ninth symphony became their final, towering achievement—an apex of creative genius that was abruptly followed by silence. Mahler was so terrified of this curse that he tried to…
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The Bose Conspiracy engages with the idea of mistaken and assumed identities—how individuals come to be seen, remembered, or sometimes misremembered. In the course of reading and listening, I came across references—often uncertain, sometimes contradictory—to individuals whose identities had, over time, blurred into something else. One such thread led me to a defining moment in…
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𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐣𝐢? I did not begin with Netaji. I began with a question that refused to settle—at a deeply personal level. Growing up, I had often heard my father speak of a fracture in our family. My grandfather and his younger brother had been disowned by their father, a domineering landlord. Much later, the brothers…
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On the 8:27 a.m. slow from Dadar to Churchgate, Shantilal Biswas stood in the doorway like a well-behaved sardine. He was middle-aged in the sincerest possible way—forty-seven going on “beta, you just focus on your job.” His belly was not a belly so much as a polite suggestion of one. His hairline had retreated respectfully,…
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1. The Setup At 03:17 hours, December 2nd, 1805, the first dispatch arrived at the French forward command post near the village of Puntowitz, Moravia. It was brief, unadorned, and encoded in the rotational cipher preferred by Marshal Berthier’s staff: “Austro-Russian force movement confirmed. Pratzen Heights lightly held. Orders?” General Vandamme read it, lit a…
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It is a truth universally ignored by publishers that when a debut book sells nearly two hundred copies in the first week (fifteen to fellow authors represented by the same dashing literary agent, five to benevolent friends not seeking income tax exemption under Section 80G and the rest to social media influencers paid to arrange…
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(In a parallel universe, where ‘Almost Mundane’ was released in 2024) (Scene: The familiar Gokuldham Society compound, Christmas lights twinkling. Residents are gathered for their annual festive get-together. A slightly tipsy Popatlal corners poor, unsuspecting Jethalal.) Popatlal: (Slurring his words) Jethalal bhai, tell me… tell me the truth! This whole year… all these crazy incidents……
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Voting link open at: https://www.salismania.com/single-post/voting Right ho, chums! Shantilal here, popping up like a cork in a bathtub to say a quick word or two about this what-d’you-call-it, this “Salis Mania Choice Awards” business. Now, I’ve always been a bit of an outsider to these literary shindigs, more at home with a plate of bhajiyas…
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[FADE IN] INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY SHANTILAL and SAUGATA sip their coffee. Saugata, the creator of Shantilal in his latest book Mostly Mundane, is visibly upset. SAUGATA (Frustrated) I just don’t get it, dear! I sent my book to that popular bookstagrammer, the one with thousands of followers, and all that he could manage…
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Shantilal, a man whose blood ran as thin as the discount lassi at his local eatery, was in a state of marital disquiet. Dhanteras, the festival celebrated to welcome health, wealth and prosperity, was upon him, and Anjali, his bride of three months, was expecting a gift. A gift that, in her own words, “spoke…
Saugata Chakraborty 