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Showing posts from June, 2020

Trailing The Panama Trail - Story from India

The Panama Papers: The untold India story of the trailblazing global offshore investigation                                      Authors: Ritu Sarin, Jay Mazoomdaar and P. Vaidyanathan Iyer                                     Publisher: Penguin Random House  2019  The book revolves around the leaks of the financial and legal documents of Panamanian law firm "Mossack Fonseca"  by ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists)    ICIJ took up many projects to leak and investigate the few cases involving public interest like Paradise Papers, Panama papers, Swiss leaks, Luxembourg leaks etc which are related to public policy and shaped discourses in public life revolving around misuse of legal and regulatory framework in different countries. Indian Express newspaper from India collaborated in the project by deputing the team of journalists namely  Ritu Sarin, Jay Mazoomdaar and P. Vaidyanathan Iyer. This book is a recap of the process and findings by the trio.  The

Kahani Khandhia ki: A Phiroze story

                Every book gives you some new insight, a new thought process or a point to ponder. That is why books are considered as guiding light leading us to new doors of knowledge world. So, when I picked Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer by Cyrus Mistry published by Aleph Book Company , I wasn’t aware of the content of the book but for the name. Few months passed by before the lockdown made me to pick up this beauty and reveal the mastery of words by Mistry.                  The book is a combination of biographical account and fiction simultaneously of a secluded world on which very few literary works exist. It tells a tale of very small yet significant sub-caste of Parsi Corpse bearers called as Khandhias and Nussesalars. Parsis' who follow Zoroastrian religion are small close knit community mostly in Bombay and Gujarat and have unique way to dispose of the dead i.e. by keeping the body at top of the Tower of Silence and letting the vultures feed the body. The tradition i