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A
world turned upside down
by Rumina Sethi
Postcolonialism: A Very Short
Introduction
by Robert J. C. Young. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pages 180. £
6.99.
Several
years ago, in his book Colonial Desire, Robert Young presented an
interestingly engineered contrast between the East and the West in his
description of the zero degree GMT Meridian that runs arbitrarily
through the Old Royal Observatory in London.
Lives interrupted, dreams live on
by Roopinder Singh
Dreams after Darkness
by Manraj Grewal. Rupa & Co., New Delhi. Pages 224. Rs 395.
Individuals
whose shadow loomed large over Punjab during the "dark decade"
between 1983 and 1993 when violence punctuated ordinary life in the
state come alive in this series of 10 interview-based accounts by
Grewal. In just less than a decade after militancy in the state was
declared over, that time seems a historical fact more than a lived
experience that impacted the lives of thousands of persons living in
Punjab and the reverberations of which were felt around the world.
Life and language
by Shastri Ramachandaran
A Place to Live Contemporary Tamil Short Fiction
Edited by Dilip Kumar translated by Vasantha Surya Penguin, New Delhi. Rs 250. Pages 276.
Translations
never fail to bring home the truth of the observation that the
limitations of one’s language are the limitations of one’s life.
Indian languages are a treasure house of literature. Yet a large
majority of Indians, whose mother tongue is different from mother’s
tongue, discover cultural experiences specific to their language only
through translations.
Punjabi review
A humorous trip
down memory lane
by Nirupama Dutt
Mera Pind
by Giani Gurdit Singh. Sahit Parkashan, Chandigarh. Pages 544. Rs 200.
Mitthewal,
an obscure Malwai village of the Malerkotla state of yore, was to be
immortalised by Giani Gurdit Singh, in any essay written way back in
1953 at the time of the amalgamation of the states and the creation of
East Punjab following Independence.
Encounter
with a torrid past
by Rajdeep Bains
The Wages of Life
by Vikram Kapur. Srishti. Pages 239. Rs 250.
One thing all of us are sure of
is our own past. What if we are suddenly faced with a past we never knew
existed? What if it changed history, as we know it? Ravi Malhotra,
computer engineer from Seattle and hero of Vikram Kapur’s latest
novel, is faced with just the same dilemma. Being part of national
history is not always a pleasant experience.
Ageing
gracefully
by R. L. Singal
The Greying of India
by Rajgopal Dhar Chakraborti. Sage Publications, New Delhi. Pages 470.
Rs 880.
This
book on population ageing is useful for students and researchers in the
field of demography (study of statistics of births, deaths, diseases etc
as illustrating conditions of life in communities) as well as for the
general reader, keen to know the problems and status of the aged in the
world, particularly in Asia and further specifically in India.
Excesses
of the last Vasco
by Aditi Garg
Goa, and the Blue Mountains Or
Six Months of Sick Leave
by Richard F. Burton. Penguin Books. Pages 240. Rs 250.
The
allure of Goa is such that it draws local and foreign travellers in
droves. It has long been the centre for merry making and the hub of
Anglo-Indian cultural activities. Its Portuguese colonial past has lent
it a distinct flavour that sets it apart from the other holiday spots.
Short
takes
by Randeep Wadehra
Look, the Moon!
by Sandhya Rao. Tulika, Chennai. Rs. 70.
Right from infancy wonderment
becomes a factor in one’s growing up process. The many-splendoured
nature — birds, animals, plants, snowcapped mountains, flowing
streams, germination of seeds — never ceases to amaze children. Among
all these the moon holds a special place.
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Kolaba
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What plagues the
police
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