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Story of the Guru’s life
Roopinder Singh
Guru Nanak
by Harish Dhillon. Indus Source Books, Mumbai. Pages 228. Rs 195.
THE
story of Guru Nanak Dev’s life is so fascinating and inspiring that it
has been retold by writers and bards for centuries. Here we have a
contemporary storyteller visiting the same territory with a fresh
perspective. Harish Dhillon likes to tell stories. He has been writing
books for over 30 years now and his published works are largely novels,
biographies or collections of short stories.
Community
way to conserve
Dinoo Anna Mathew
Traditional Wisdom in Natural Resource Management: The Only Way to
Conserve
by Rural Litigation & Entitlement
Kendra, Dehra Dun. Pages
229. Rs 395.
It’s
not a new concept that to preserve and sustain life in its fullness, man
has to honour his relationship with the natural world. Living under
environmentally fragile conditions, the indigenous societies in our
country have over the centuries, through trial and error, struck a
delicate balance with the environment.
Man
and the unknown
Arun Gaur
Rupa’s Supernatural Omnibus edited by Ruskin Bond. Rupa & Co.
Pages 303. Rs 95.
Ruskin Bond has, in this anthology,
categorised 25 stories under five thematic sections: sorcery,
apparitions, transmigration, haunted houses, and vampires. They come
from many countries: Greece, England, Ireland, Japan, China, Germany,
India, Hawaii, and Spain.
Basically
good
Priyanka Singh
Puffin has released a series of four books for children, each distinct
in content but similar in their rich Indian flavour. The authors are
either associated with the NGOs or have closely worked with artisans and
craftspeople from time to time.
The
price of Osama
Amarinder Sandhu
The Final Option
by Baqir Shameem. Frog Books. Pages 126. Rs 200.
Sought by the Americans, Osama
bin Laden and his aides are captured by a Pakistan army patrol. Did that
get your attention? Well it did catch mine. The Final Option has
a captivating beginning. The Wakham corridor, at the border of
Afghanistan, China and Tajikstan is the strategic venue of this
operation. An innocent mute child fond of chocolates leads the army to
the most wanted man in the world.
Maintain
the fine balance
V. Eshwar Anand
The Supreme Court versus the Constitution — A Challenge to Federalism
Pran Chopra (ed), Sage Publications, New Delhi. Pages
287. Rs 360.
The Indian Constitution
is one of the finest in the world. It is neither highly flexible like
its English counterpart nor is highly rigid like the US Constitution. It
presents a curious blending of the two.
Gallery
of memories
Himmat Singh Gill
Counting My Blessings by B.K.Karanjia. Penguin-Viking. Rs 495. Pages 297.
Way back in 1943 he passes the Indian
Civil Service examination but refuses the job and joins up as a literary
assistant in the National War Front organisation in India. He then
switches to film journalism, abandons that too after some time and joins
Godrej, which is setting up a factory in Malaysia, as their publicity
manager.
Oprah’s
grand delusion
Richard Cohen
Because she has led countless billions and billions of people to the
promised land of books, because she preaches self-help and
self-sufficiency and not least because she has shown that even a
middle-aged person can keep weight off, I must tiptoe up to the amazing
Oprah and merely whisper to her that in the case of James Frey, the liar
whose memoir turns out to have a good deal of fiction alongside fact,
she is not only wrong but deluded.
SHORTTAKES
Of critiques
and Karnad
Randeep Wadehra
Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana
by L.S. Gill
The much-acclaimed Jnanpith Award winner
Girish Karnad is a multi-faceted personality with accomplishments in the
fields of literature, cinema and theatre. He is quite adept at
amalgamating ideas from traditional folklore, contemporary literature,
mythology and history in his creations, with results that leave
aficionados of literature and performing arts enraptured.
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