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Sculpted for a lasting
impact
S. L. Parasher set up the School of Art
and Crafts in Simla in 1951. It shifted to Chandigarh in 1962 and is now
known as the Government College of Art. Archana
Shastri reviews two new books on the painter, sculptor and his
life
S. L. Parasher 1904-1990, Time.
Space. Light. Consciousness
SarNir Foundation, New Delhi. Pages 135. Rs1,000.
Kalaa: Field Notes from the Interior
by S.L. Parasher Ed. Sandy Sterner et al SarNir Foundation. Pages 132.
Rs1,500.
Today is PremChand’s 125th Birth Anniversary
India’s most
acclaimed writer
by Dhananjaya Bhat
Premchand, the father of the modern Hindi novel, lived in an era of
social turmoil. He saw traditional village independence being destroyed
by colonisers. He also noted the fallout of large-scale urbanisation and
the materialistic tendencies it triggered off. His stories and novels
faithfully record and analyse these changes. He made it a point not to
use Sanskritised Hindi but wrote in Hindustani — the dialect of the
common people.
On leadership &
reforms
by V. Eshwar Anand
Soul and Structure of Governance in India
by Jagmohan, Allied, New Delhi
Pages 516, Rs 475
INDIA'S
polity is of its own making. However, the British designed its structure
of governance, i.e. the public administration, which is the avowed
instrument of implementation of the government’s goals and objectives.
The colonial rulers designed it to suit their immediate requirements of
law and order administration and the attendant tasks.
Well-crafted tsunami
musing
by Arun Gaur
Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami
Eds: Judith R. Robinson, Joan E. Bauer and Sankar Roy.
Rupa & Co. Pages 184. Rs 195.
COMING
of the tsunami was a big event—Lucifer would certainly call it so. If
it was not an event, it was at least an interlude in the terrestrial
drama. But was it outrageous? And if it was so, how outrageous? Can
nature or nature-god be outrageous at all? If it is so, does it cause a
sea change in our metaphysical notions? And what about our conditions of
living and the idea of living—the existence itself? Cast
in a different mould
by Shalini Rawat
Caste in Question: Identity or Hierarchy?
Ed: Dipankar Gupta. Sage Publications Pages 255. Rs 480.
"For O son of Pritha!
Even those who are of sinful birth, women, Vaishyas and Sudras likewise,
resorting to me, attain the supreme goal" (The Bhagvad Gita,
Chapter IX)
Nuggets of wisdom
by Kamaldeep Kaur
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Virago London. Pages 282. £ 314.99.
THIS
2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is set in America roughly from the
1880s to the 1950s. The narrator is the pastor of a small,
poverty-stricken village that is peopled with devout Christians. The
narrator (who is in his sunset years) vividly describes the people and
the events that have occurred in the village, in his lifetime, to
treasure the memories for his son.
Get
drenched with words
by Rajnish Wattas
Curling up with a book seems to
be the most natural pursuit on a rainy day. It’s nice to be on
literary cloud nine. Pick up your favourite – the current bestseller
or a vintage classic — from the shelf to revisit. And if you’re in a
clouded state of affairs, perhaps an inspirational book showering some
sunshine would do.
Handy tool kit for
parents
by Gitanjali Sharma
Happy Children through Positive Parenting
by Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer. Vermilion. Pages 228. £ 4.75
Are you often at the end of your tether
while handling your child? Are you plagued by doubt and guilt that you
are not a good enough parent? Do you fear that you have lost all
parental control over your child? Do you think that your child is
undisciplined and is always answering you back?
Short
Takes
A novel treat
Randeep Wadehra
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Beyond The Call of
Voice
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Nationalism
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Poverty
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