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Socialist to the core
M. Rajivlochan
Crusader Extraordinary: Krishna
Menon and the India League 1932-1936
by Suhash Chakravarty. India Research Press, New Delhi. Pages. 816.
THE
Raj, Krishna Menon had learnt over the years, was a romantic sentiment,
an enormously profitable material concern, an amoral attitude, a
particularly provocative perception, a weighty counterpoise in
international politics, an applause-seeking vanity a diabolical policy
and a terse reality. This quote effectively sums up the story that
Suhash Chakravarty tells us in this book.
‘I
have a sense of time passing, and that’s my urge to write’
His early life encompassed Sri
Lanka, Manila, and Liverpool. Judith Palmer
talks to Romesh Gunesekera about culture clashes, collecting and cricket
LIFE
has hereby delivered an able exposition of the themes of Romesh
Gunesekera's new novel: the significance of good timing, the frailty of
verbal communication, the ramifications of cutting yourself off, and the
importance of knowing what to hang on to and what to let go.
Indomitable
visionary
R.L. Singal
Sardar Vallabhbhal Patel:
India’s Iron Man
by B. Krishna. Rupa, New Delhi. Pages 567. Rs 295.
Sardar
Patel’s forbidding image as the Iron Man of India: bold, blunt and
shrewd, at the same time, principled and benign but uncompromising on
national issues, is true. The author rightly states: "Princes,
politicians and administrators called upon him with certain trepidation,
fearing the scorn of his eyes; much worse the rap of his caustic
tongue."
young
fare
Playful
mischief
Gaurav Kanthwal
Lord Ganesha’s Feast of
Laughter
by Meera Uberoi. Puffin Books, New Delhi. Pages 112. Rs 160.
Lord
Ganesha’s Feast
of Laughter contributes short
stories and anecdotes of Hindu Lord Ganesha to the genre of children’s
literature. This book comes in the domain of imaginative literature
yielding pleasure particularly to the children of 8-12 years of age. It
introduces various details of Lord Ganesha’s life, like how he got his
elephant head, his mount, his brides, how he created tabla and other
interesting anecdotes to its young readers.
End
of the rule of law
Shelley Walia
Guantanamo: What the World
Should Know
by Michael Ratner and Ellen Ray. Arris Books. Gloucestershire. Pages
166. £ 9.
SINCE
the Magna Carta in 1215, the world has followed the fundamental
principle of judicial process that is made available to any human being
kept in confinement. The recent underpinnings of the outrageous
"neo-militarism" of the American foreign policy and its
fallout in the unilateral abrogation of fundamental law in the
Guantanamo Bay or the prison at Abu Gharib is an unambiguous antithesis
of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the ideals of the
American Constitution.
Lending
voice to the meek
Priyanka Singh
They Hang
by Syeda S. Hameed. Women Unlimited. Pages 183. Rs 275.
Believing
that women empowerment and emancipation has been set into this enormous
motion that would liberate the lot of women in our country, would be
taking a naiveté’s view. This book offers a harsh reality check,
whereby with each story, an unshakable fear grows in strength that
nothing has changed.
Spirit
of running
Kavita Soni-Sharma
The Longest Race
by Tom Alter. India Ink, New Delhi. Pages 181. Rs 250.
THIS
is the story of a sportsman Bahadur, of emotions, moments and events in
his life and his passion for running. Son of a watchman at a colonel’s
bungalow on Rajpur road, just beyond Dehra Dun, Bahadur’s journey
begins when he wins a race in school. This prompts him to discover the
joy of running.
Look
East, see Japan
Syed Nooruzzaman
Changing Security Dynamic in
Eastern Asia Focus on Japan
Edited by N. S. Sisodia and G. V. C. Naidu, pages 648, Rs 1350.
THE
Indo-US nuclear deal for peaceful purposes must have caused considerable
relief in Japan, though Tokyo has nothing to do with it directly. The
reason is the belief that the development will lessen the significance
of China in the US scheme of things in the region.
Ghalib’s
goes Polish
Surender Bhutani
URDU
poetry is making inroads into Poland, with the ghazals of renowned 19th
century poet Mirza Ghalib being translated into Polish. Anil Wadhwa,
India’s ambassador to Poland, released a collection of Ghalib’s
poems, translated by Polish intellectual Janusz Krzyzowski and Surender
Zahid, an Indian poet based here.
SHORT TAKES
Fishmonger as corporate
guru
Randeep Wadehra
-
Catch! by Cyndi Crother
& The Crew of World Famous Pike Place
Fish
Tata McGraw-Hill, N.
Delhi. Pages:xiv + 150. Price not mentioned.
-
Story of EDUSAT by Marmar
Mukhopadhyay
Shipra Publications,
Delhi. Pages 112. Rs 250
-
Experiencing the Soul by
Eliot Jay Rosen
Motilal Banarsidass,
Delhi. Pages: xix + 280. Rs 250.
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