Short Story Reads: A Bond with the Mountains by Ruskin Bond

It is one thing to dream of living a simple, content life in the mountains. But to live the life one writes about, especially of a lifetime spent in deep communion with nature, well, that is something rare and profound. 

A Bond with the Mountains is a 1998 slim collection of stories, poems and thoughts by Landour's famous resident writer. 

But for the inevitable melancholic tragedy of No Room for a Leopard, the remarkable bonding of the young and old in A Bouquet of Love, nothing overtly dramatic occurs in this collection. 

Instead the pages are fragrant with Bond's deep bond (yes, Bond's bond) with all things green, flowering, chirping, flowing and flourishing. 

After all Ruskin Bond chose the mountains instead of the (more commercially viable option for a struggling freelance writer) plains, a choice that has defined his writing life and the view outside the window. 

Simple things: A New Flower is about a nine-year-old and the writer raving over a newly blossomed yet unknown flower. 

How man's drive for speed, comfort and machinery leaves jungle creatures vulnerable to his endless march is gently revealed in the thrilling Dragon in the Tunnel. 

No Room for a Leopard is the bullet-pierced heart of this collection, for the impending tragedy of the brutality that follows the arrival of man. 

The interpersed poems feel like the sway of branches to the evening breeze. The lines that particularly stand out in Living with Mountains and in a way sums up Ruskin Bond's life journey go: 

Once you have lived with mountains, / Under the benedictory pines / And deodars, near stars / And a brighter moon, / With wood smoke and mist, / Sweet smell of grass, dew lines / On spider-spun, sun-kissed / Buttercup and vine; / Once you have lived with these / Blessed God's favourite then, / You will return, / You will come back / To touch the trees and grass, / And climb once more the windswept mountain pass. 

This is not an utterly epic, absolutely unexpected collection, but of an elderly narrator living the long sunset of his life in quiet glee. What is dear to him splashes and thrives in these pages. 

Stories like The Glacier, My Tall Green Friends, To the River, A Mountain Stream, Tenacity of Mountain Water and Mother Hill are notes from the narrator's journal, counting his blessings and humming his gratitude to mountain life. 

The cynics may grumble that Bond could have thrived in writing more complex and layered tales, that he mostly goes semi-autobiographical, and seldom dwells on human anguish and darkness. Apart from not believing in ghosts but seeing them all the time, as he has often said cheekily. 

The heartfelt descriptions of natural beauty is what makes Bond's writing appealing, he's just being himself. Like Robert Frost, Ruskin Bond chose the less travelled path and behold! That has made all the difference. 

Endnote: A mingling of childhood life, uphill hikes, youth, ice cold stream baths, fireside tales, friendship and radiance, A Bond with the Mountains is about brief, concise pleasures, on the melodious importance of little things, something we city denizens have long forgotten and buried deep in our hearts.       

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)                 

Short Story Reads: The Visitor by Roald Dahl

How exciting would it be to receive an wooden crate from nowhere at your doorstep? 

What would it contain? Who is it from, you would wonder, your hands tingling to rip open its contents.  

The Visitor begins with the arrival of one such mysterious crate at the narrator's doorstep. 

Much to his astonishment, the crate is filled with books from the long forgotten Oswald Hendryks Cornelius, aka Uncle Oswald. 

Thing is, nobody in the family had heard from Oswald in thirty years!

The books are all dairies, twenty-eight volumes, three hundred pages to each volume. 

Due to the largely scandalous contents, the narrator after consulting a lawyer choses this one particular account to be safe for publication among all volumes - The Visitor is the very last entry in the last volume.  

The incident is referred to as the Sinai Desert episode and is marked to have occurred in 1946 by Oswald.    

Our narrator gives us an entertaining, brisk description of the womanizing, adventurous, world traveler Oswald, before reproducing Oswald's last diary entry word to word.

Desert, scorpions and temptation

The first time I commenced reading The Visitor a few years ago, just couldn't put it down and was compelled to run through it in one breathless session. 

Uncle Oswald is not just any master seducer, but also a man with eccentricities and relentless daring.

When we first encounter him, Oswald escapes his mistress and takes the road to Jerusalem, ceasing enroute to search for scorpions in the Sinai Desert, one among his many passionate hobbies.   

It is when he stops to fill his tank that things start going a bit against his liking. 

The attendant tells him that the fan belt is broken and that Oswald has to spent the night in the desert, the new fan belt will only arrive the next day. That is when a Rolls-Royce arrives at the gasoline station...   

A classic short story event, among the most satisfying and enjoyable of Roald Dahl short stories for adults, The Visitor has the trademark macabre elements, but the unexpected open-ended turn of it is both chilling and delicious. 

In retrospect, the story could have been trimmed, causing the climax to have a more shocking impact, but nowhere does Dahl seem to stall. 

Oswald is probably the most enigmatic of Dahl's short story characters, though the novel, My Uncle Oswald wasn't up to my high expectations.  

The Visitor first featured in the Playboy Magazine Holiday Special issue 1965 before making its way to the Dahl short story anthology Switch Bitch.

The Best of Roald Dahl is a good Penguin paperback anthology to catch the story. Also, the Everyman hardbound edition, Collected Stories by Roald Dahl is a great compilation to own.  

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Comic Book Reads: The Phantom by Lee Falk

The Phantom: Fighting crime since 1936

Before Superman and Batman, arrived the Phantom...

Did the creators of Superman and Batman borrow from Phantom's heroic features? 

May be they did, by the likes of it.    

Zero superpowers, full of grit, clearly wealthy, outlandish costumes, moral code, just like Batman. 

The ghost who walks...

Man who cannot die...

When the Phantom strikes, lightning stands still...

When the Phantom asks you answer...

Call the Phantom anywhere, and he will hear...(yes, even in regions without cellular network...)

Lee Falk's legendary crime-fighting vigilante, Phantom was an addictive, immersive comic book childhood hero, with an unending air of regality and mystery. 

A costume that fitted kiddie exagerration hand in glove, mesmerized females - only person supposed to see the Phantom without his mask is his wife, as he mischievously quips in one episode, even as the girlfriend (soon, wife to be) smiles away. Way to go Phantom, you smooth operator! 

The 1996 movie version poster

Adaptation hiccups 

Live action movie transition hasn't been smooth for the celebrated crime crusader. 

For one the purple spread is jarring in live action, certainly not a colour for camouflage, also the ears bulging out in certain adaptations is funny. The hero's enigma is lost in live action, masked face closing out most emotions.  

Having said that The Phantom (1996) seems like a good watch, will be doing a review soon on my blog, Movie Reviews, Mini.  

The animation adaptations have been great in some instances, particularly Phantom 2040, a superb well-written futuristic French-American TV series that aired between 1994-1996.    

Racial jibes? 

The eighties and the nineties were the golden age of comic book reading for me - exceptional, engaging stories, crackling dialogues, beautiful heroines, lavish colouring and illustrations, superb hero-villan face-off, cute, loyal pet animals and trademark mannerisms. 

It didn't occur to me then that underneath the costume, it was a first world white man saving the world from third world's darker-coloured villans (among others).  

In one's adolescent years, who thinks of that, and as comic book fiction, a lot of it is irreverent, bubblegum fun, apart from when the racist undertones are painfully obvious.

Phantom's wacky origins 

The back story for the ghost who walks...man who cannot die... is stuff of legend, classic comic book storytelling, with white supremacy splashes perhaps, you decide. 

Falk along with Ray Moore created a origin story that was often repeated in the initial frames of a new adventure, for those who came in late. 

Once upon a time, four hundred years ago, the sole survivor of a merchant ship attacked by pirates near the Bay of Bengal, washes up a remote shore, having witnessed the Singh pirates killing his father. The survivor is nursed back to health by natives.

Then many days later, a body washes up the shore dressed in his father's clothes! It's his father's murderer! 

Brazenly, I must say, the survivor takes an oath upon the murderer's skull to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty in all its forms, vowing that the eldest of each generation will succeed him as the next Phantom. 

Yet, common folk will think it is the same man, timelessly fighting crime across generations. I love that deceptive part, the fabulous, carefully manufactured and protected myth. 

To quote the comic strip: 

AS THE UNBROKEN LINE DOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES, THE ORIENT BELIEVED IT WAS ALWAYS THE SAME MAN! THE MAN WHO COULD NOT DIE! SO THE LEGEND OF IMMORTALITY GREW! 

MOVING SILENTLY AND QUICKLY , THE PHANTOM WAS USUALLY KNOWN BY THE SIGN OF THE SKULL, HIS MARK, WHICH HE ALWAYS LEFT BEHIND HIM! 

TODAY, AS ALWAYS BEFORE, STRIKING SUDDENLY, MYSTERIOUSLY, THE PHANTOM WORKS ALONE!

Yes, with the same bold emphasis and specifically underlined text. 

It did make me groovy to think that the Phantom worked alone, now it seems a bit sad, a kind of self-imposed social qarantine, even though the present Phantom, Kit Walker, has it all, gorgeous, intelligent wife, two lovely kids, thus ensuring employment to future Phantom artists and gifting bloodline continuity to the next Phantom generation. 

Did I mention, a cosy skull home deep in the jungle, away from the dreary city pollution with definitely no mortgage, skull ring to leave a mark on his enemies, comfy skull throne, well-guarded secret identity (Hush! Only you and me know!), two faithful animals (Hero, his white steed, more on Devil later) and a protective African tribe. 

What more does a crimefighting comic book hero need?   

Ultra cool Phantom moment       

My all-time favourite Phantom moment: 

When airplane authorities don't allow his dog, Devil, into the passenger aircraft as it is against the rules, the Phantom utters with gentle dark sunglasses-adorned relish, "He is a wolf, not a dog."

The authorities, baffled and stunned, allow Devil in. 

When the Phantom requests, you comply.

Thank you Lee Falk, and if legend has to be believed, hospitalized before his death in March 1999, Falk narrated the latest Phantom episode to his wife Elizabeth, while tearing off his oxygen mask to do so. 

Now there's a hero! 

(Article by Snehith Kumbla) 

Short Story Reads: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Gifted with an elegance remeniscient of Anita Desai and glowingly compassionate, Jhumpa Lahiri's debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies (1999) still eminates with delicate, beautifully carved keen insights. 

Indians living overseas are pivotal to most of the gathered tales.  

A Temporary Matter is about five days of a one-hour power cut and how it causes a young couple to converse and reflect. The premise may seem ordinary, but Lahiri weaves lively stems of thoughts, imagery and conversations to carve out the intricacies of a fragile marriage.

Tonight with no lights, they would have to eat together. For months now they'd served themselves from the stove, and he'd taken his plate into his study, letting the meal grow cold on his desk before shoving it into his mouth without pause, while Shoba took her plate to the living room and watched game shows, or proofread files with her arsenal of colored pencils at hand. 

- Excerpt from A Temporary Matter

When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine is a weaved mix of history, house guests and human tenderness in a heartfelt tale. The blood-splattering formation of Bangladesh is a moving canvas to this account of families, geographies, meetings and partings. 

Jhumpa Lahiri (file photo)

Interpreter of Maladies is about unique human connections and separations, rarely explored in a short story, loosely parallel to the universal spirit in Rabindranath Tagore's writings. Rich in descriptive prose, the oddities of bonding in transit are magnificently explored, a story that places Lahiri among  the best short story specialists.

The vulnerable life of the downtrodden is given strong emphasis and sensitivity in A Real Durwan. A powerful yet understated turn, a social take that evokes sympathy without any exagerrated drama.  

Stunning debut collection 

The other stories offer unique insights and perspectives into contrasting lives, different cultures, complexities of human relationships, expressed in graceful, unblinking, lush, intelligent detail. 

The publication lead to deserving rave reviews, with Lahiri gaining prominence as an important literary voice over subsequent decades.   

If I were to look for enhancements, would be more infusions of lightness and humour. But these are merely afterthoughts, for the writer's hold on her craft is exemplary throughtout, haven't read anything as fluid in ages. 

As if  Lahiri was destined to echo, amplify the voice of immigrants and the disowned through her yarns. 

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Jhumpa Lahiri photographed for Financial Times article (2019)

Non-Fiction Reads: Sholay: The Making of a Classic by Anupama Chopra

The first time I saw Sholay (1975) was on national television in the late nineties. It was also the first time the movie was telecast on Indian television, I found out later. 

Sholay never felt four-odd hours long on that first viewing. I mourned a major character's death way past the end credits, and an unbreakable fan-movie bond was forged.

Sholay (Embers) has the epic wide landscape features of Sergio Leone westerns and is yet endearingly Indian in its earthiness, dialogues, acting style, song and dance sequences. There haven't been many befitting mixed genre, adventure, buddy movie experiences like Sholay in popular Indian cinema.     

The movie still holds my cinematic imagination and I am a huge fan now of its filminess, well-moulded Western elements, imperfections, memorable dialogues, detailed train robbery scene (standout action sequence), overdone water tank top jokes, largely sturdy acting, good music, and popcorn-crunching screenplay. 

So much that I run a blog, Sholayism and was among the select few who saw Sholay in 3D at the theatres, on its limited one week run.

Unexpected,fun stories 

Sholay: The Making of a Classic (2000) was a story screaming out loud to be told and Anupama Chopra tells it with spunk and great enthusiasm. An exclusive collection of colour and black & white photographs also decorate the pages. 

Each chapter is wackily titled after a popular Sholay dialogue. The anecdotes are well spaced out, aptly arranged chronologically, and ending with an actor breaking down on realizing the magnitude of his popularity.

How did a lead actor lose out on a great opportunity, what was it about the Salim-Javed writing pair, the unlikely outdoor location in Karnataka, a villian who everybody had their doubts on, how the dialogue audio cassettes sold more than the soundtrack, why the director-cinematographer chemistry is so important, among many other interesting tales, when shooting a magnum opus was a daunting challenge, than it is today.    

If you immensely love movies, you will love discovering how much passion, madness, technicalities, patience and self-belief goes into creating a landmark cinematic experience.

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Non-Fiction Reads: Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored with Meena Iyer

Acting was in my blood and there was simply no escaping it. When I say this, I am thinking of not just the Kapoors but also the Malhotras, my mother’s side of the family, who were just as volatile as my father and his relatives.

Rishi Kapoor (1952 - 2020), the legendary spontaneous actor, was also an outspoken man, a wholesomely non-existent quality in a Hindi film celebrity. Just that one refreshing quality makes Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored a honest, spunky, if disjointed autobiographical account.

You may not like Rishi Kapoor as a person at all after reading the crushing Neetu Kapoor (wife, actor)  afterword. Neetu Kapoor's outburst is very revelatory of a man who is at home as an actor, but is otherwise a male chauvinist by his own admission, selfish, arrogant, and short-tempered.   

The Kapoors, Cinema's first family 

Rishi Kapoor belonged to the illustrious Kapoor family, easily the most iconic, talented family to have worked in Indian cinema. 

For four generations now, the extended Kapoor family have created unforgettable moments in Hindi films, the biggest star of them - Rishi's father - writer, director, producer, actor, Raj Kapoor. 

That Rishi Kapoor had no dearth of source material is both the book's doing and undoing. There are mountain loads of it and in a haphazard, zigzag manner, readers are in for a treat. 

Speculatively speaking, co-writer Meena Iyer either recorded or took down notes from Kapoor and then brought the whole book together, a staggering achievement by her to make sense of the abundant, exclusive material. 

Art in the blood: Rishi Kapoor, years before Mera Naam Joker (1970)

Movie star craziness 

Indian cinema is over a hundred years old now and the Kapoors have been an influential part of it for almost nine decades, spanning four generations, beginning in 1928 when my grandfather joined the Grant Anderson Theatre Company. He was, in fact, the last of the male Kapoors to graduate from college. He had started a course in law too, but the draw of theatre was too strong. He abandoned that degree for an acting career.

My grandfather was only fifteen or sixteen years old when he chose to become a stage actor. And his foray into the film industry was heralded by no less a figure than Rabindranath Tagore himself.

- Book Excerpt 

This is not a flowy, one-minded swing but an anecdote-rich book. 

The craziness, the madness of movie stars, how uncle, rebel star Shammi Kapoor drove his hand through glass just to get female attention is just one shocker. 

Kapoor also admits to have paid to receive a prominent film award. The blunt frankness in talking about disagreements with all his contemporaries, from Rakesh Roshan, Jeetendra, and Amitabh Bachchan is pure autobiographical joy. 

Kapoor in his first blockbuster Bobby (1973) 

Too much, too little? 

Strangely, despite Prithviraj Kapoor’s stature in the film industry, my father didn’t grow up dreaming of an acting career for himself. He in fact wanted to enroll at Dufferin, the naval training school, and join the Indian Navy. Fate willed otherwise and perhaps it was also the pull of his genes towards the world of cinema. After he failed his final exams at school, Papa started work as an assistant to film-maker Kedar Sharma. It wasn’t a long stint though, because he ended up stepping in front of the camera – and a star was born. His first role, at the age of twenty-three, was as lead actor in Sharma’s own Neel Kamal (1946). After that there was no looking back. Just one year later, he launched his own film production company, RK Films, becoming the youngest studio owner ever in India. He made his first film, Aag, the same year. These achievements were early evidence that he would go on to be regarded as one of the most influential film-makers in the history of Indian cinema.

- Book Excerpt 

In retrospect, the free-flowing Rishi Kapoor frankness could have been reined in to chronological effect. That there is no established storyline ensures that the content doesn't come together cohesively to be a defining autobiography of our times, but it's easily the liveliest I have read recently.  

From tales of his great-grandfather the gruff baritone giant of a man, Prithviraj Kapoor, father -  mercurial, showstopper Raj Kapoor, the scandalous Nargis story addressed without any hesitancy or guile, Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored is certainly one of a kind.   

More revelations, family photographs, hell lot of entertainment, this is a breezy read, simply told as it is, the late actor's spontaneity exuding in every page. The best moments are bare and raw, there is just too much to tell, and this clearly calls for a sequel, only that Kapoor is no longer around to tell it all. 

With Amitabh Bachchan in 102 Not Out (2018)

Good buy for Indian movie fans 

That there are no lingering moments is the book's greatest downer, the stories just rush through like a fast Mumbai local train, making for great popcorn-crunching reading, when it could have been so much more, an epic, sprawling account of arguably India's greatest film family.  

Despite the impulsive, speedy take, Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored is a great read in innumerable bits and pieces, wickedly disarming, and recurrently entertaining.  

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Non-Fiction Reads: Ten Best Books: A Selection of Memorable Book Condensations from The Reader's Digest

My not-yet-battered secondhand copy 

The Reader's Digest monthly magazine editions from the early 1970's to the mid-1990's are a treasure trove of superlative, crisply edited, extremely engaging, relevant content. 

I have never been a fan of their condensed books editions though, especially the abridged novels, but this 1992 edition is classic RD for the amazing non-fiction collective of investigative, humourous, thrilling, biographical writing at its sincere, pristine best. Multiple, varied life shades make up this sharply selective anthology.

A revelatory tragic account of how it really is to be a spy, and that it is no James Bond seduction-happy romp, is made alarmingly evident in Henry Hurt's Shadrin: The Spy Who Never Came Back. 

Though reeking of making the Russians look bad again (perpetual villains in American movies, fiction, comic books, media), the sinking feeling of despair and remorse is hard-hitting as glaring truths begin to tumble out into view.

Similarly thrilling and constantly fascinating are To Catch a Killer by Nathan M. Adams, The Breaking of the Hungarian Circle by David Moller and Inside the Cocaine Wars by Nathan Adams. 

But my absolute favourite of the groovy investigative genre is Moonwebs: Journey into the Mind of a Cult by Josh Freed, rigorous investigative journalism that got me deep into the murky psyche of brainwashing and deception.

Gerald Durrell's uproariously funny My Family and Other Animals is editing at its edgy best. I possess the unabridged version, can only marvel at how the text has been condensed into 20-odd pages. 

The Lincoln Who Lives in Anecdote is a lovely reverse of the classic biography format in brief yet unforgettable text. Every anecdote has been carefully chosen for this edition, an example of why sometimes, 'less is more' makes for superlative, entertaining prose. 

But the most remarkable of the lot is the aura and constant fog-like mystery that Death and the Magician: The Mystery of Houdini by Richard Fitzsimons is shrouded in - riveting, baffling puzzles surrounding the life, death and alleged afterlife (boo, yes) of the revolutionary, pathbreaking early 20th century magician, Houdini.

My only grouch - why isn't there more of it, say, like a second volume? 

If you are a regular at second hand book sales, consider yourself lucky to find a copy of Ten Best Books: A Selection of Memorable Book Condensations from The Reader's Digest. 

They just don't tell stories like that, anymore.

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Graphic Novel Reads: Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, Richmond Lewis

The darker, edgier Batman origin story that inspired the superhero crossover from frivolous teenage stuff to grim adult themes, Frank Miller's Batman: Year One (1987) remains a kickass, gold standard graphic novel, an ultra-engaging retelling of Batman/Bruce Wayne's error prone, almost fatal first steps to becoming Gotham's vigilante no.1.

Miller sticks to the fabulous story and dialogues, lets David Mazzucchelli travel the classic comic book illustration road, while Richmond Lewis splashes textured, layered colouring.

Miller, against the tide

Miller had already made a name for DC Comics with the formula defying Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), featuring a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne returning from retirement to fight off mutants and Harvey Dent.

Already obliged by contract to work on a Batman origin revamp series, Miller makes the crucial decision to not illustrate, the elaborate Mazzucchelli drawings are now legendary, especially the Sergio Leone-like close profiles. This is more like a perfect tweaking of Batman's origins, relatedly-human, grimy, frizzling with big city blues.     

James Gordon, badass!

A modern parallel to Batman's first year on the job, is not exactly like Peter Parker's almost embarrassing teenage errors in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but is no smooth sailing either. 

Bruce Wayne's first crime-fighting attempt almost ends in disaster, leading to his arrest and a close call to exposing his secret identity.   

Apart from a wonderful Catwoman origin story, corrupt policemen, fiendish villains, my utmost favourite is James Gordon, the incorruptible, courageous policeman, who is not without his faults.

In fact, the compelling parallel monologues are of Wayne and Gordon, letting us see things from their perspective, their nature to do good and what they have to sacrifice to rid Gotham of crime.  

Miller gives Gordon a badass persona - vulnerable, noble, headstrong, and the daring of giving it back as good as he gets! By his protective air, Gordon can easily be mistaken for Batman-in-standing.

The breathtaking bridge climax is one among many stellar moments. The siege to worm out Batman, the spectacular action centerspread.

Realism rocks! 

The tragedy of living in corruption-ridden cities, greed, depression, paranoia, Gotham is a mirror to a world where laughter and carefreeness are mega casualties.

That Bruce Wayne is extremely vulnerable is neatly conveyed, causing instant audience connect with Batman's failures, frustrations and victories. 

This is no superpower-blasting, alien nemesis world, but a world we identify with, a world that is coming apart in chaos and crime, a world we live and breathe in every day.  

But for some illustrated wee bits that are not detailed, can't find many glitches in this telling, still awed on repeat reads, by the imaginative, sturdy storyboarding, crunchy realistic dialogues, melancholy setting, and almost pitch perfect characterization.

Definitive, iconic, Batman: Year One remains a pathbreaking classic that led to the gritty Christopher Nolan Batman movie trilogy.

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Non-Fiction Reads: The Lonely Tiger by Hugh Allen

If not for a friend's recommendation, wouldn't have known of The Lonely Tiger (1960). 

Out of print for more than 50 years before Rupa Publications (Rainlight) released the work in hardcover (2014), this episodic collection of true and thrilling wildlife encounter stories is an exceptional, evergreen page turner. 

Probably pushed to near-oblivion by the looming popularity of Jim Corbett's works, The Lonely Tiger is at multiple times a breathless, pulsating experience, dense with rare repeated calls of - What will happen next?

Once upon a time in central India...

All stories are set around Mandikhera, Madhya Pradesh. As life unfolded, Allen was discharged from the British Armed Forces during the Second World War due to a head wound. On the spur, Allen and his widowed sister Babs bought large tracts of land, and cultivated peanuts, barley, etc. at this central Indian village. 

Meanwhile, India gained independence and the siblings' friends went - For heaven's sake get out while you can.

In the preface, Allen admits he was a trigger-happy hunter, before remorse and guilt led him to take up the gun only to hunt man-eaters or creatures that destroyed his crops.

Homo sapiens, the most dangerous species...

What follows is an astonishing jungle trial of 14 stories, featuring amorous tigers, kill-crazy leopards, deadly wild boars, meandering bears, and the sole tiger that makes for the melancholic title story. 

In between, the human cruelty holds a horrific mirror to who we are, hammering our greed and will on wild animals, the ones crossing their path and not the other way around. Hunting was not yet illegal in India in the 1950's and almost anyone who owned a gun killed animals for pleasure. 

Nature lovers will be deeply disturbed by the descriptive accounts of casual killing. The Lonely Tiger is a constant reminder of what we have become as allegedly, the most advanced species on the planet.   

Thrill-a-minute 

Most man-eaters featured here are animals injured by bullet wounds, which made me side with the creatures immediately. 

Allen is clearly a gifted writer, builds a relentless stifling tension to a level that every sentence leads on to alarming blind turns. The sheer daring of it, to hunt for man-eaters in the dark on foot, cut through dense growth, be vulnerable to death every second, and thus invariably be alive to the moment...

Among the brilliant tales, Death in Sixty-Five Minutes particularly made my mouth dry with anticipation, The Odd Chance... turns out to be more lethal than anticipated, The Laughing Leopard is a stunning illustration of a leopard's killing expertise, expect the unexpected in The Three Bears, and The Tiger's Trap has the most hair-raising climax. 

For all reading seasons...

The Lonely Tiger is the only book Hugh Allen wrote, it is filled with the entire rich essence of his life at Mandikhera, gold-plated wildlife experiences like no other.

Even as we mutely watch more jungles make away to blankness, probably our false comforts, or temporary refuge then are works like The Lonely Tiger. It is the best non-fiction account I have read this decade, hard to beat in sheer reading experience, can't wait to devour its contents again, whole and raw.   

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)