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Tarkaswar Cowaloosur,
Senior Executive Quality and Support, Mauritius Telecom

My love for books dates back to my early years as a student, when I used to voraciously devour Perry Masons, Agatha Christies etc. Over the years, the list expanded and this childhood past-time metamorphosed into my favourite hobby.

It is quite difficult for me to demarcate a single book or an author as my favourite- -there are a number of authors who spring to my mind, who I admire for their uniqueness of style and innovative treatment of genres. These authors induce in me happiness and inspiration: Paulo Coelho, Khalil Gibran and Robin Sharma are at the forefront in this category. On the lighter side, I greatly enjoy perusing Jeffrey Archer, Mitch Albom, Dan Brown, David Baldacci and Jhumpa Lahiri, among others.

If I had to single out a book which I have recently read and recommend it to book lovers, I would pick 'The Palace of Illusions' authored by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni and published in 2008; it is a narration of the Mahabharata epic from the perspective of the women protagonists. The author states in the preface to the book: 'If I ever wrote a book .... I would place the women in the forefront of the action. I would uncover the story that lay invisible between the lines of the men's exploits.' 'The Palace of Illusions' is the concretisation of these very ambitions to a degree of quasi-perfection.

The manner in which Divakaruni unfolds the story of the Mahabharata through the eyes of Draupadi, the way she treats her relationship with Kunti--her mother in law, her exploration of Draupadi's role as wife of the five Pandavas, the portrayal of the rivalry with the Kauravas leading to the battle of Kurukshetra, her description of Draupadi's enigmatic friendship with Krishna, and her moment of revenge against those who had shamed her in public, are poignant and unsurpassable in their execution.

I had the pleasure of reading this book at the height of the intensive campaign by WIN /WIP for a greater role by women in decision-taking. Consequently, the relevance still, of the wisdom couched in this great and ancient epic to our contemporary society, as delineated by Draupadi, was not lost on me.