You usually catch them at book launches and literary festivals, looking like they’d rather be writing or golfing than answering a bunch of questions from a bunch of people who essentially want to know how they themselves can get published. And most of them have come up with a stock answer to that omnipresent(ed) question - read. So, we decided to ask authors what they themselves liked from what they read in 2011.
Manu Joseph
Author, Serious Men, and Editor-in-Chief, Open Magazine
"I have read very few books this year. I would say Death in Mumbai by Meenal Bhagel is my favorite for the year. It is a very engrossing journalistic account of a murder and, through this, she tells the story of a strand of Bombay. It was pleasing to read a high-quality book about Bombay by an insider and not an NRI."
Sify Editor's Note:
Meenal Baghel's book is about the murder of television production house executive Neeraj Grover in 2009. The accused included an actress, Maria Susairaj, and her boyfriend Lieutenant Emile Jerome Mathew, a young naval officer. The brutal killing made headlines across the country, and the verdict came through this year.
Maria was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of destroying evidence, and was sentenced to a maximum three years' imprisonment. She was released the following day with time served. Mathew was found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and of destroying evidence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the killing, and 3 for destroying evidence.
In this book, Meenal Baghel, editor of Mumbai Mirror, explores the case. An extract can be found here.
Text: Nandini Krishnan