Solace from the printed word

The writer has always been an avid reader and a collector of books. But it was a health emergency that made him realize that books have transformative powers.

Books have always kept me company -- during flights, in waiting lounges and in the privacy of a clean toilet. I have never felt lonely in the company of a book. They have helped me visit new places, meet unknown people, and travel to bygone eras. Each book is unique, and each has something different to offer. Indeed, each book, each story, and each character has something to teach the reader.

Collecting books has been a lifelong habit. However, this has resulted in a serious space constraint at home. Still, bookshelves continue to expand at the cost of a shrinking wardrobe. Simply put, they are proud possessions and a new one is added to my personal library every week. I live in a typical middle-class home, one in which books are found in every room. The only rule is that books found in one room should not be shifted to another as space is in short supply everywhere.

But this is not a piece about books as home décor or even as an impediment to it. This is about how books have helped me throughout my life. When I regained my senses after being hit by a paralytic attack in 2024, the first thing I noticed was a book titled One Medicine by Dr Matt Morgan. Concluding that the most time we spend with animals is when they are on our plates, the author suggests that learning how animals survive and thrive be brought into our circle of concerns. At that point my cognitive ability was severely restricted. But I still managed to learn, via the book’s fascinating dive into the physiology of the animal kingdom, that the female kangaroo has three vaginas – two for having sex and one for giving birth.

2025 was a year of recovery for me. During its course, I met many relatives and friends though the numbers shrank as time progressed. Understandably, frequent visits were replaced by convenient phone calls and video chats, which worked as well.

Books, however, maintained their incoming regularity – a book once every week. Since I’m no fan of virtual volumes, I went ahead and kept buying, ending up with about 55 new books in more than 10 genres. They have all been comforting and a few have been transformative.   

My own experience made me think of the devastating accident in Rome in 2022 that left noted writer Hanif Kureishi paralyzed but did not dent his creative zeal. In Shattered, he records his daily ordeal with rare insights from hospital beds in different hospitals, and questions: Why me? Rarely is that question met with a credible answer. Why would it not be you? Though we would like to be acknowledged for our exceptional qualities, it is our ordinariness that comes to the surface most of the time. And this is what leaves us wondering, ‘Who else but not me?’ Though we may be important to one another, according to Kafka, we are not much more than nothing in the universe.

The self, however exceptional, is as best an illusion. Didn’t the Buddha argue that our belief in the self is the root cause of our sufferings? Drawing from ancient Buddhist texts, authors of How to Lose Yourself, Jay L Garfield, Maria Heim and Robert H Sharf, show the reader how to dismantle the notion of the self. I found that it made me forget my own troubles. Yes, physical books smell great, are reliable and informative, and, if you are lucky, are always there when you need them.

And of course, they are always full of information, stuff you never realized you absolutely needed to know before you stumbled upon it in a book. Take the case of the Italian invention once considered an indulgence befitting only the elite that has evolved into one of the most popular mass-market food products ever. In Ice Cream: A Global History, journalist Laura B Weiss embarks on a fascinating journey through the ages to tell the lively story of how this delicious dessert became a global sensation.

Then, there’s The Co-Intelligence Revolution envisions a future in which human ingenuity and artificial intelligence work as powerful allies to co-create ground-breaking innovations and transformed institutions. The book cites the cases of beauty giant L’Oreal and Venkat Ramaswamy, among others, to provide insights on how artificial intelligence engages as both co-worker and coach in generating new processes and products. 

I’ve realized that books on a variety of topics are now essential fodder for me to keep my cognitive faculties meaningfully engaged. I realize that I have been collecting and reading books and reviewing them too for a quarter of a century. Last year, I managed to review 26 books for a range of reputed publications. The neuro-surgeon’s yearly assessment revealed that my progress has been overtly satisfactory. According to the doctor, even in the medical exigency, a positive approach has worked.

Yes, books are essential; I’d say they have saved my life.  

First published in the Hindustan Times on Feb 12, 2026.

Robbed of a childhood

From her debut in 1955, the child artist Daisy Irani acted in over 300 movies. A natural talent with no formal training, she was known for her quick uptake on delivering the perfect performance before the camera. She was most successful and well-known child artist through the 1950s and 1960s – some roles were even written and rewritten specially for her. Daisy was a child star with the short, curly locks, the impish smile and big expressive eyes, for whom the arc lights had become her playground. From Naya Daur (1956) to Kati Patang (1970), she could share screen space with veteran actors Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Vjayantimala and Asha Parekh. 

Behind the Big Screen narrates untold stories of child actors from behind the big screen and delves into the lives of the kids who once lit up the big screen. It explores the joys, struggles, and unique pressures of growing up under the spotlight, The book is as much a celebration as revelation about the young lives consumed under arc lights. Tabassum, Honey, Raju, Khusbhu, Manju, Naaz, Guddu were household names, who alongside many others evoke pleasant memories. Few of these innocent faces were nothing less than a brand.

But the dazzling world of cinema ravaged several childhoods, which to some was a ’never-ending black comedy’. Some felt blessed but many others betrayed. Says late Tabassum, the noted yesteryear child artist: ‘There is no such thing as a child actor. Because when you enter the industry as a child artist, the word child drops off from artist’ life.’ This industry, the Bollywood Industry, has production schedules with limited moral and ethical compulsions, irrespective of one’s age the grilling and grueling remains the same.  

Behind the Big Screen makes compelling reading. The stories swing between opportunity and cost – between glittering fame early in life and to the lifelong scars. Journalists Sunanda Mehta and Suchitra Iyer provide a well-researched narrative on the prevailing ills of the industry and guides what may be correct way to navigate a world basically built for adults. In the makeshift would of cinema, the truth is that the child is uprooted from his ecosystem of same age friends and suddenly pushed into adulthood. Once inside this makeshift world of fiction and imagination, childhood dreams invariably collide with harsh realities.

The book explores the world of child actors and the film industry in its entirety. It doesn’t just skim the surface but examines both the sparkle of cinema and the shadows it casts. It is unfortunate that child rights are not yet formally protected whereas cinema acknowledges animal rights upfront in its credit– ‘no animals were harmed during making of the film.’ With lack of regulations for child artists, it is at the whim of producer-director for making such rules.

The rules of cinema are not strict, have yet to be framed for strict application. As things stand, it is not a rule industry rather still a free for all. Safety on the sets, school attendance, shorter work hours are easy to ensure. Exploitation of kids is an important issue that has yet to be addressed. Child artists Daisy and Honey Irani have openly talked about being exploited, with no one to counsel them as family members are complicit in the crime. When a child becomes a star, the parent-child relationship changes as the child becomes a cash-cow.

There is a refreshing honesty in the way Behind the Big Screen tackles inter-personal and socio-cultural issues. Within the complexity of the issues, the book lightens moments of humor and mischief. The playful memories of on-set pranks, camaraderie among child actors, and the sheer joy of being part of iconic films are insightful reminders. It’s this mix of insight and charm that makes the book such a page-turner.

Behind the Big Screen
by Sunanda Mehta and Suchitra Iyer
Bloomsbury, New Delhi.
Extent: 284, Price: Rs. 599.

First published in Deccan Herald on Feb 8, 2026.

Learning to deal with climate anxiety

If recent tragic incidents across mountain slopes in various parts of the country are any indication, losing sleep at night over uncertain mornings may not be unusual for those who have been dwelling on such mountain slopes, which are now considered vulnerable. Dreadful videos of people and property falling victim to such unprecedented natural catastrophes are nightmarish. People dread physical emergencies like forest fires, landslides and unpredicted floods, but climatic exigencies are no less dreadful with anxiety taking its toll. 

The cause of the imminent change may garner academic interest, be it caused by climate-change or man-made factors, but the climate anxiety induced in the pursuit may make people suffer in many horrible ways. How to think, how to feel, and how to manage stress will depend on what is referred to as ‘individual problems with climate change’ (IPCC). Even then the current crisis to more complicated, tragic, and unjust than we think. 

Dr. Thomas Doherty, a clinical psychologist and mental health therapist, offers a unique perspective about climate change and how should one relate to it, and guides the reader to keep himself equipped with the tools needed for navigation through climatic exigencies. A father and widower, Doherty uses his own life experience, tools, and client stories to help the reader navigate his/her own feelings about climate change and how to take action in a world that is consequentially suffering climate change’s effects.

Another aspect about the book is that it discusses social justice, environmental justice, eco-advocacy, marginalized groups and environmental racism. These are no less important issues, and the intersectionality between all of them is essential to discuss climate change through all levels of advocacy. Doherty also left us with an important reminder that advocacy is needed at all levels—whether front lines or behind the scenes—and our role is so important. 

It is a five-part process, starting with small coping skills, to skills drawn from therapy, to reclaiming happiness, and to taking action. In this book, Doherty promises to help reframe climate anxiety to work for us, rather than against us. It is written with the rare combination of scientific clarity and deep psychological compassion. Rather than pathologizing climate distress, he normalizes it as a sign of moral attunement—a natural response to an unnatural situation. Simple, calm down may not work when anxiety is embedded deep.

Doherty doesn’t think if ‘calm down’ or ‘think positive’ will work in such anxieties. Instead, he thinks to metabolize fear, guilt, grief, and outrage into something usable - into care, connection, and action. In fact, the climate disaster cycle is upon all of us right now; either amid a disaster, recovering from one or anticipating the next. In the words of William Gibson, the harsh reality is that climate-change-fueled disasters are a fact of life now. 

The climatic anxiety in no less prevalent with tragic human stories from different regions piling up. Sita and her family faced storms and wildfires; Jesse and her family were witness to their destroyed homes; there are any number who withstood coastal flooding. Once isolated, such stories are now common for generating sympathetic analysis. Doherty argues that retelling such stories is a way to unburden ourselves from the weights of the environmental transgression people seem to be burden with. 

This book may seem to have been written ahead of its time. But climate change anxiety is one of the biggest mental health threats afflicting growing population, irrespective of its economic and social status. From the geologist haunted by images of melting glaciers to the young couple agonizing over their own survival, Surviving Climate Anxiety provides the tools to cope, heal, and flourish even in such challenging times. This book is different as it is about coping and possibly thriving in the face of climatic change from a psychological perspective.

Ultimately hopeful and profoundly empathetic, Surviving Climate Anxiety is a comprehensive and comforting manual, and Doherty, a competent and benevolent guide. There are moments when the book acts like a gentle reminder to remain both awake and vigilant. If you care deeply about the world and are finding it harder to hold that caring without breaking, this book belongs on your nightstand. .

Surviving Climate Anxiety  
by Dr Thomas Doherty
Hachette, New Delhi. 
Extent: 407, Price: Rs. 799.

First published in the HinduBusiness Line on Jan 3, 2026.