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Fruit
of passion
Shastri Ramachandaran
The Alchemy of Desire.
by Tarun J. Tejpal. HarperCollins, India. Pages 518. Rs 500
I
was tempted to dump it (unread) in Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake, like the
nameless protagonist in Tarun Tejpal’s novel who drowns his second
manuscript. For two reasons: One, V. S. Naipaul commends it as "a
new and brilliantly original novel from India". If that was not
provocation enough, Tejpal himself was not actually extending an
invitation when he declared publicly, "I don’t care at all about
what journalists say about my book. The best reviewers have drifted out
of mass media anyway".
OFF THE SHELF
Knight before
the split
Partition was around, and only
he could thwart it
V. N. Datta
Punjab Politics, 1936-1939:
The Start of Provincial Autonomy: Governors’ Fortnightly Reports and
Other Key Documents
Compiled and edited by Lionel Carter. Manohar, New Delhi. Pages. 443. Rs
995.
IN
addition to the editor’s short introduction, the volume contains in
full the fortnightly reports of the Governor of Punjab to the Viceroy
(with copies to the Secretary of State to India) from October 1936 to
the end of 1939. Some enclosures relating to the points raised in the
reports are also included with few additional documents. Death
of a prophet
M. S. Unnikrishnan
THE
legend of O. V. Vijayan, like his classic, The Legend of Khazak, will
survive time and tide. His first novel, Khazakkinte Ithihasam (The
Legend of Khazak), earned him iconoclastic status. That the novel has
gone into a 39th edition of reprint affirms the fable associated with
this allegorical tale. Generations of readers have got hooked to Khazak
as its mystic flavour never gets dated.
Yet
another brick in the wall
Aritra Mukhopadhyay
European Calcutta: Images and
Recollections of a Bygone Era
by Dr Dhrubajyoti Banerjea. UBSPD Publishers. Pages 339. Rs 595.
Cities,
they say, have certain chemistry, a charm, of possessing you. Especially
so when the city happens to be Calcutta. The charm of the city grows on
you and you don’t even realise. It is this charm of Calcutta that the
author, Dr Dhrubajyoti Banerjea, has tried to capture through a
photographic documentation in his book, European Calcutta: Images and
Recollections of a Bygone Era.
Signs
and signatures
The
First Lady of American Fiction
Darshan Singh Maini
Edith
Wharton, an aristocrat, loved the ambience of orchids, champagne and
chandeliers which lingered as a matter of taste and sentiment.
Tribute
Prose
writer with poetic flair
Jitendar Awasthi
Aliterary
giant, Dr Vidya Niwas Mishra imbued the world of Hindi letters with a
new sensibility. Be it teaching or his literary and journalistic
pursuits, Mishra left a mark in every field. A man of many parts, he was
an astute astrologer too. His death in a road accident on February 14
has left a vacuum in the literary world.
Short
Takes
Rights,
lifestyle and technology
Randeep Wadehra
Human Rights in India and
Pakistan
by Indu Singh & Ajay Saksena Deep & Deep. Pages: viii + 219. Rs
350
Human
rights go hand in hand with the march of civilisation. A dignified life
free of fear and want forms the bedrock of a civil society. The authors
of this volume tell you that not all is well with India’s human rights
record. Be it Kashmir, the North-east, Gujarat or even places not
considered communal hotspots, police brutality and excesses by other
security forces have been documented by our media.
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