Gleaning with insightful clarity

Mary Trump, a trained clinical psychologist who holds a Ph.D. from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, unveils the trauma and toxicity that shaped her uncle, Donald Trump. Fueled by her memories, she shines bright light on the dark history of a family that created the world’s most dangerous man. Too Much and Never Enough is a scathing attack on a person whom Mary has “no problem calling a narcissist – rather a malignant narcissist – as he meets all nine criteria of mental disorder outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-S).”

The author asserts that the book was neither written to cash in nor a desire for revenge, but an effort to let readers know that expecting anything pleasant on the alter of Donald’s hubris and willful ignorance will be at a huge cost. There are specific incidents and patterns that created the damaged man who occupied the coveted office, not once but twice. As the family members were often engaged in questionable business dealings, it allowed Donald’s failures to go unchecked. In fact, only a clinical psychologist could decipher such traits as causes of personality disorders.

Having learnt that ‘lying and cheating’ were legitimate business tactics, Donald built a reputation for success based on ‘bad loans, bad investments, and worse judgement’. Rather than the self-made billionaire he claims to be, he comes across as a beneficiary of his family’s immoral practices. “Donald had only his ability to spin father’s money to prop up an illusion”. Throughout the book, Mary expertly dismantles the myths around Donald’s success.

The book implores readers to recognize how personal histories shape public outcomes, drawing a direct link to Donald’s dangerous leadership. His fragile ego that must be bolstered every moment because he knows deep down that he is nothing of what he claims to be. Curiously, he makes his insecurities and vulnerabilities other peoples’ responsibility. Mary adds “that’s what sociopaths do, they co-opt others and use them toward their own ends — ruthlessly and efficiently, with no tolerance for dissent or resistance.”

Nothing is ever enough. Donald goes far beyond the garden-style-narcissism. He is not simply weak. He makes his insecurities and vulnerabilities other people's' responsibility. Mary’s candid exploration serves a warning. The powerful narrative urges readers to reflect how personal becomes political, and how it influences the global geopolitical landscape. 

There is so much to infer from the narrative, which refers to traits such as chronic criminality, arrogance, and disregard for the rights of others. According to Mary, “Donald’s pathologies are so complex and his behavior so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of neuropsychological tests.” Till such time such tests are conducted, casual dehumanization of people will continue across his dinner table. More so, he has surrounded himself with sycophants to ensure that his own mediocrity remains concealed. 

But as the pressures of his position continues to mount, his mediocre delusions are emerging more starkly than ever before. Though his character flaws and aberrant behavior have been remarked upon and joked about, his hegemonic behavior is becoming unbearable at the global level. But he doesn’t seem to care. Instead, his approach is: “if he can in any way profit from your death, he’ll facilitate it, and then he’ll ignore the fact that you died.” 

In her compelling narrative, Mary has no hesitation to postulate that ‘a second term to him would be the end of (American) democracy’. 

Too Much and Never Enough
by Mary L. Trump
Simon & Schuster, New York.
Extent: 225, Price: $17.99.

Is it the Era of India?

The India growth story is fascinating. During the middle of the Mughal regime in 1700s, India accounted for 24 per cent of global GDP. In the next 190 years of brutal British colonialism, it had become an impoverished economy accounting for just 3 per cent of global GDP. For half a century after gaining Independence in 1947, India had too small an economy worth taking note of. However, after several years of steady GDP growth since, it overtook Britain and is on track to overtake Japan and Germany as the world’s third-largest economy by 2030.

Using empirical data and research evidence, Minhaz Merchant argues that there won’t be any European country among the world’s three largest economies. The US believes that as India is on economic ascent, it will be the third economy alongside China to drive global growth. Much will, however, depend on how towards the middle of this century, India upgrades itself with digital technologies and artificial intelligence to lead the world. It is expected that by year 2030, an estimated 70 per cent of Fortune 500 companies will have their capability centers located in India. Its technological infrastructure and expanding consumer market will provide a perfect ecosystem for these companies, and through them India to grow.

It isn’t as linear as it may seem. The ongoing trade and technology war between the US and China is recasting global alliances. In such a situation, will India act as a balancing pivot between the two-warring factions? At this crucial time when the US is pushing ‘America First’ policy for seeking revival of its hegemony and China is rising as both an economic and military power, not much can be expected from a third party. The geopolitics of global change is turbulent, with the US playing a vital part in its strategic calculations.

Era of India provides an immensely readable perspective on the social, religious, political and economic history of the world. It traces the rise and falls of civilizations from antiquity to the present. History has been complicated as the weapons of war allowed for invasion and colonization. Much has changed since then; the stockpile of weapons is used instead to influence and enforce change. The book goes a step further to assess the shift in power, triggered by the decline of the West and the rise of the rest. It is an engaging assessment of shifting global power.

History will come full circle, argue Merchant, and apply growth data to prove that three countries — the US, China and India — will exert centripetal force in world affairs in 2050. However, despite economic and military superiority the three may not be without their own weaknesses and vulnerability. Counting India in this global power triad will favor the US. With India being a major consumer of a variety of products, the US will explore the markets by enforcing favorable tariff regime to dump its products. Incidentally, India may not have any choice.

As the title suggests, Era of India narrates all that favors the rise of India. But the questions worth asking are: where does India stand in this emerging world order? how can China’s role in reshaping the world be ascertained? The homogeneity of Chinese society should be an advantage in taking decisions whereas the noisy multicultural societies in the US and India may act as deterrents. Understanding China is critical, strategically. It has not only lifted more people out of poverty faster but is also the only economic power that has moved closer to the size of the US economy.

How India leverages its soft power will determine its status amongst the triad? Merchant leaves it for the reader to take a call. Era of India offers insights on the geopolitical imagination of India’s rise as an economic power. Recent debates around trade have put the spotlight on the deep structural challenges that the power triad may need to address. In addition, it should seek to address equity, territorial resilience and ecological sustainability. Just counting numbers (pertaining to economy) alone would not add value to the power triad.

Without fail, the world will be integrated economically and technically in a way it could be scarcely imagined. Therefore, exerting military supremacy or enforcing trade restrictions may remain a strategy of the past. Will India emerge as an architect of change by leveraging its soft power? Merchant leaves the reader to imagine such a scenario and argues further that nations rise and fall to the levels guided by their history. Need it be said that the balance of global power will shift decisively over the next few years.

Era of India is an ambitious undertaking on the geopolitics of change that the world has gone through in the past. It views history, geopolitics, economics, and demographic sociology from a socio-cultural lens in presenting the civilizational evolution of nation-state. It examines human society as interlinked civilizations set living standards. It is readable as it helps capture the finer nuances of change, but to forecast a future on the basis of the past may remain elusive.

Era of India 
by Minhaz Merchant
PenguinVintage, New Delhi. 
Extent: 501, Price: Rs. 999.

First published in Hindu BusinessLine dated on March 23, 2026.

In defence of a language

As long as a language is yoked to a particular faith—as Urdu often is with Islam—it neither grows freely nor is understood in its fullness. Yet Urdu today is widely seen as a Muslim language, partly because it is the national language of Pakistan. Such identification carries political overtones, though there is little empirical evidence to suggest that Urdu and Muslims are mutually exclusive categories. Can a language belong to a religion? Or can it be claimed by geography alone? Writer Rakhshanda Jalil addresses these questions in Whose Urdu Is It Anyway? a collection of sixteen Urdu short stories written by non-Muslim authors that challenge persistent stereotypes and misconceptions.

A supple and expressive language, Urdu emerged from cultural hybridization in the Indian subcontinent in the eighteenth century. What we recognize as Urdu today carries influences from Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, languages that reached the region through waves of trade, migration, and conquest. Over time, it became the preferred medium for poets and writers, who deployed its elegance not only in literature but also in the performing arts.

In the collection, stories by progressive writers such as Krishan Chander and Rajinder Singh Bedi, alongside film writers like Ramanand Sagar and Gulzar, reflect the remarkable thematic and tonal diversity of Urdu literature. The careful selection underscores a larger cultural idea: that Urdu literature, vast and layered, still has the potential to reach the far corners of the popular imagination.

The book poses a quiet but loaded question about a hybrid language that drew from many linguistic streams and once served as the elite lingua franca of medieval India. Over the course of its evolution, it was known by several names — Hindavi, Hindi, Rekhta, and eventually Urdu.

Some stories address the notion of proprietorship over language. Jalil’s selection remains largely representative of both the time and the people they depict. Many narratives foreground the small, often overlooked individual living on the margins, struggling to survive in a society where gender discrimination was a norm. Most stories are set in the early years after Independence, when a newly formed nation was grappling with questions of identity, belonging, and nationhood. In many ways, these concerns echo the present moment, when a surge of nationalism shapes public discourse.

The stories also demonstrate that language is shaped far more by region than by religion. Muslims in Kerala speak Malayalam, while those in West Bengal are at home in Bengali. The language, therefore, cannot be confined to a single religious identity. “It belongs to whoever is willing to embrace it,” Jalil writes. She allows readers the space to absorb the essence of these stories at their own pace. Urdu, after all, evolved through the voices of ordinary people.

Whose Urdu is it anyway?
by Rakhshanda Jalil
Simon&Schuster, New Delhi. 
Extent: 180, Price. Rs. 499.

Published in New Indian Express on March 22, 2026.

The queerness of desire

Our society may forbid transgressive desires, but it has non-hesitatingly preserved such expressions in murals, paintings and artifacts since time immemorial. While Shiva’s Ardhanareswara captures the synthesis of masculinity and femineity, the stone carvings in Khajuraho temple reflect protofeminist past that is quintessentially queer. The fascinating thing about queerness is that it permeates time. Either it is suppressed by societal norms or expressed as myriad human desires, but an ounce of femineity or masculinity is present in each one of us. It emerges and locates itself when the time is compatible. Queerness manifests itself as a gender identity that is beyond societal norms. It is as normal as breathing because human bodies and minds do not fit into prescribed templates of gender identity. 

Due to rapid social, economic and political change the world is going through, many of the traditional gender binaries have been rendered increasingly dysfunctional and obsolete. Even in ancient, medieval, and early modern times, polyamory, polygamy, and polyandry were well recognized. Draupadi may seem the only polyandrous woman in mythology, however, the polyandrous practice has been real across many communities in the subcontinent. Polyandry, the keeping of multiple husbands, was permitted in the remote mountain regions as late as the 19th century. Anthropologists have come up with socio-economic reasons for such arrangements, but ‘human desire’ has been the pivot that sustained these relations.

Ancient mythology is full of gender fluidity. Gods have been included; divinities transcend their gender. Shiva is often depicted as hyper masculine whereas Vishnu is quite feminine to start with. These are predominant examples but social practices relating to gender identities had a subculture that persisted through ages. Indian society was pretty cool about it but to the prudish Victorian eyes this was scandalous. As a consequence, the colonial rulers conveniently erased south-Asian queer sub-cultures. Colonial authorities passed a posy of laws to criminalize them, and the society was indoctrined to think of the past as necessarily regressive.  

A doctorate from the University of Strathclyde, Sindhu Rajasekhran considers herself ambiguous and acknowledges the decriminalization of Section 377 which spared the headache of justifying her being what she claims to be – sapphic, fluid, ambiguous, bisexual. Digging deeper into the subject of gender identity she found that gender fluidity is not a foreign fad and the fact that it doesn’t easily fit into the Victorian idea of gender binary led to its decolonization. Forbidden Desire places the categories of gender identity in cultural perspective. She further argues that queerness has the potential to dismantle patriarchal patrons, and perhaps the predominant reason for the new gender identities (LGBTQ+) yet to gain social acceptance. 

It goes without saying that patriarchy is petrified of gender fluidity, because it alone has the potential to dismantle hierarchical pyramids. The patriarchy is built on a solid foundation of masculine thinking, which fetishizes the feminine. As androgyne expressions are gaining widespread recognition, there is a reason to believe Rajasekaran’s assertion that future is turning femme. It is so because long forbidden (and suppressed) desires are beginning to surface. In this context, she believes that mxn could be the right gender expression that is neither man nor woman. With this being the new perspective, everyone is free to express in a manner that reflects their true selves.

Queerness isn’t out of the ordinary. It doesn’t confirm to prespecified choices and neither confine to established customs and practices. It is a period of destabilization in traditional gender roles and relationships. Forbidden Desire is a new way of approaching big questions about existence and the societies we create(d), then and now.

Forbidden Desire 
by Sindhu Rajasekaran 
Simon&Schuster, New Delhi. 
Extent: 238, Price: Rs. 799.

First published in Deccan Herald

Empire of extraction

By the turn of the current century, a 3-degree rise in a cocktail of temperature and humidity will make life unbearable for at least 3.25 billion people. By that time the monsoon cycle will be completely unpredictable, and glaciers will be viewed digitally. Much would get changed and doomsday models would erect dreadful scenarios. Nothing of the kind may happen, climate change skeptics argue. For such a change unlikely to occur, the world’s governments had agreed to keep global temperature under check from being heated beyond additional 1.5 degrees C.  

Far from mitigating an increase in temperature, the world has already heated up by over 1.4 degrees from pre-industrial times in only a decade since the world’s governments had agreed to keep heating to 1.5 degrees. Recent unprecedented floods across South and Southeast Asia may have been consequent to rise in global temperature. Much worst seems to be in store as the last two years were second or third hottest year on record. Escape from the emerging devastating reality, that is inching closer, is by no means compelling. 

Abrupt changes in climate have acted on the world being molded to serve human needs and desires. Yale University historian Sunil Amrith argues that the human destruction of nature began a long time before the industrial revolution, and which accelerated thereafter. Seeds of such transformation were sown as early as the year 1200. The Charter of Forests, issued by England’s King Henry III in 1217, acknowledged human freedom to exploit natural resources like the soils, forests, and water. Till the advent of industrial revolution, the benign climate and rainfall allowed both imperial and colonial forces to clear land, expand cultivation, and build cities. 

Industrial revolution fueled the energy-hungry economic systems that turned nature into lifeless commodities. The unshackling of fossil energy bolstered a way of seeing the world in which freedom defied any limits on what is possible for human beings to do and to make. The Burning Earth is an environmental history, in author’s view all history is environmental history, that includes both environmental effects on societies and those societies’ impacts on the environment. Taking an appropriately long view the environmental history, which is nothing short of history of the world, the long and continuous struggle for the want and desire has driven a large part of the human impact on the rest of nature. 

Amrith views the three distinct time zones in global history. From such events as the charter that led to wide-scale deforestation; the invasion of central asia and western eurasia by Mongols; and the importation of rice from China are significant global changes. Around the same time, the colonial powers initiated the slave trade which deprived the enslaved freedom as well as their vital links to land and food sources. Christopher Columbus and other Iberian conquistadors brought with them both war and deadly diseases that wiped out most of the Aztecs and Incas. All this led to many habitats vanished and species declined across the world.

All of these events speak of want and greed. Be it extraction of global trade in gold; the emergence of leading financial center; and centuries of fossil fuel dependence. However, the contest for resources increasingly now includes water. Gaining a handle on the planetary crisis is complicated by the fact that the wealthy nations have precious little moral high ground to occupy in making the case that the poorer nations need to stop their clamoring demand for wealth. 

The Burning Earth presents a far-reaching survey of the central role played by human want and desires in the destruction of the planet. As things stand, the human attempt to script and harness nature would grow more elaborate in centuries to come. In this expansive narrative, Amrith narrates how the humans not only transformed matter by taking control of technology but got transformed in return too. It is an epic exploration on human want and desire, leaves the reader with no real clarity on why everything continue to be like that and how things will ever change.  

Written with passion, the narrative is insightful and empowering. Getting slowly sucked into the world of technology; the compelling question remains whether there would be space and scope for freedom and democracy?  

The Burning Earth 
by Sunil Amrith
Penguin, New Delhi
Extent: 418, Price: Rs.799.

First published in Deccan Herald on March 1, 2026.

The Mughal bazaars were alive

Lot has been written about on the medieval Mughal rule in India in recent years, mostly about the iconic rulers than the ordinary masses. Hotly contested, some see the regime as a benign entity while others as one harmful to India’s long-term development. But by fixating on the king’s actions rather than those of his subjects, much seems to have been missed. Jageet Lally, an associate professor the history of early modern and colonial India, at the University College, London, prisms the business schedule of moneylenders, traders and the related in presenting the dynamic economic life through the Mughal period. To do so, Lally looks through the lives of small trader like the saint Guru Nanak, a failed businessman like Banarsidas and a complaining diplomat like Sir Thomas Roe to weave the daily rhythms of religious and commercial life in that era.    

Through the lived reality of real-life characters of the time viz moneylenders, merchants and middlemen, Badshah Bandar Bazaar examines what has long been taken for granted for the Mughal empire. It identifies the regime as a mighty giant at the apex of both the fledgling markets and expanding ports. It is part of a series of books on The Story of Indian Business that aims to trace the arc of commerce from earliest times, “mining great ideas in business and economics that have shaped commerce.” Despite ups and downs in the Mughal authority, its impact on both local societies and economies remained profound and durable.  

Need it be said that the Mughal power rested upon the state’s ability to set and collect taxes effectively, while ensuring effective spending on defense and expansion of the regime. While day-to-day petty trading went in full steam, the political elite were not disconnected as they depended on participation in rural and urban production cycles in buying and selling. As a result, unprecedented degree of centralization overtly nurtured the state as a mighty hegemon, but in reality, it had a a soft version that made its economy dynamic and robust. 

Interestingly, the day-to-day commercial life had an essential religious element to social life. Religion had a significant role in it. Guru Nanak and his Khatri background influenced trade and commerce during the early Mughal period. Though the guru applied his scribal and accounting skills in his early years before he set off to pursue his spiritual quest, the Khatris remained the core of the Sikh panth in helping expand the regime widen and deepen. The globalization of world economy started steadily after 1500, and with it the shift towards market-oriented production and marketing became relevant. With exotic goods for purchase, and ever more artful ways to make money, businesses became more potent and enticing. Some of the issues addressed in the book resonate powerfully even today. What and how trade expanded and diversified during those times need careful examination from the present perspective?

Badshah, Bandar, Bazaar fuels new life and a fresh perspective into the economic history of the Mughal Empire. fifteen volumes under the series do capture the wide socio-economic-political diversity of the time, the books are no less important for students and others who want to understand how historic currents shaped contemporary realities. The six chapters in the book provide insights on what role trade and business played then and what role it might play in emerging globalization and development of capitalism. 

Infrastructure development for trade and business held the key then, but its relevant even more today. There is much that can be inferred from the historic details. It relates the macro-level political reality with the ordinary lives of people, be it a diamond trader in Surat or a shopkeeper in Chandni Chowk. Badshah Bandar Bazaar draws an engaging connection between the throne and the world of business. The court was definitely above the daily realm of buying and selling, but it wasn’t beyond the ledgers and account books. 

Breaking a fresh perspective into the history of the Mughal Empire, the book takes us on a fabulous journey through its many twists and trails. It not only introduces the empire’s rich but exposes the reader to its fertile countryside. Such times were rich in opportunities and crises alike. All this was possible because the Mughals welcomed the firangis, who dealt with a wide range of economic actors. Their perspectives are difficult to access first-hand, because they left no testimony of their own. Had they been able to do so, they would have rid of some of the pervading myths? 

Badshah Bandar Bazaar is an absorbing study on the kinds of people and pleasures to be found within the Mughal bazaars.       

Badshah Bandar Bazaar 
by Jagjeet Lally
Penguin Business
Extent: 200, Price: Rs. 399.

First published in Hindu BusinessLine on Feb 23, 2026.

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.