Touchy issues of caste
M. Rajivlochan
Untouchable Saints: An Indian Phenomenon
ed. Eleanor Zelliott and Rohini Mokashi-Punekar.
Manohar, Delhi. Pages 285. Rs 750.
Saints in India do not have a jati. They attract followers from all castes and backgrounds. Yet, in seemingly mysterious ways, some of them become more popular with certain jatis, while others acquire followings with a greater spread. Their popularity too waxes and wanes with time.

The man and his mission
Ash Narain Roy
Wisdom Song: The Life of Baba Amte
by Neesha Mirchandani
Roli Books. Pages 280. Rs 395
There are two kinds of books. There are the books you actually read and there are the books you want to be seen reading. The latter have all the literary cachet and win the big prizes, but one suspects, are more often bought than read. Wisdom Song: The Life of Baba Amte by Neesha Mirchandani falls in the former category. There are at least a dozen biographical books on Baba Amte including some in Marathi. In fact, few of the living legends of India have been written about as much as Baba Amte. Then why this book?

Notes from a believer
M.P.K Kutty
Understanding Jesus
by Rajendra Prabhu,
Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore. Pages 239. Rs 150.
The popularity of The Da Vinci Code, currently the craze of the reading public everywhere, reveals the ignorance that prevails about the 2000-year-old Gospel and its central figure, Jesus Christ. That people are willing to listen to fables rather than the truth of the scriptures is again an indication of the inclination of the human mind of which the Bible speaks repeatedly to all who are willing to believe.

Health in traditional and modern wisdom
Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal
Health and Society in Bengal
ed. Pradeep Kumar Bose. Sage.
Pages 293. Rs 680.
The book discusses the nature of interaction between the Western medical science and the local knowledge and practices in the late 19^th century through citing abstracts from some of the Bengali medical and scientific journals published during 1850-1901. Quoting extensively from Bengali journals Anubikshan, Bibidhartha Sangraha, Chikitsa Sammilani, Chikitsak-O-Samalochak, Swasthya and Vigyan Darpan, it highlights the status of health, medicine, indigenous medical system, public health, diseases and sexuality.

Challenges of global environment
D. S. Cheema
Rethinking Progress
by Harinder S. Lamba.
Daanish Books. Pages 348. Rs 595.
It is often seen that major challenges having far-reaching impact on our lives are put under the carpet, as we may not feel their heat during our lifetime. It is human folly to think of only the self and of the present alone, ignoring the all-pervasive problems that are bound to affect adversely the lives of billons around the world. The simultaneous presence of natural resources with richness and poverty in different regions of the globe for the past more than five decades of the so-called progress is one such problem, which demonstrates the inadequacy of the strategies of development pursued so far.

Dangerous liaisons make for lonely lives
Manju Joshi
A Bowstring Winter
Dhruba Hazarika.
Penguin. Pages 343. Rs 295.
Dhruba Hazarika’s realistic novel is set against the lush-green hills and the mist-laden mountains of Shillong. The pristine silence of the valley suspended in time and space stands in direct contract with violence and bloodshed in the work. The story deals with one winter, the book itself being divided under the headings November, December and January.

Fight the evil
Jyoti Singh
A Shadow in Eternity
by Payal Dhar.
Penguin, New Delhi. Pages 329. Rs 295.
Payal Dhar’s fictional debut, A Shadow in Eternity, is just not an addition to the cult of children’s fantasy fiction in a Harry Potter mode, but has more to offer. It can be related to the stream of consciousness novel that conjures a dreamlike situation, simultaneously engaging a veiled commentary on the contemporary social and political world.

On Beauty scores
When Zadie Smith won the Orange Prize at third attempt, it was a triumph of her craft.
Louise Jury reports
There were many who were stunned that her audacious debut White Teeth did not win the Orange Prize for Fiction six years ago. But at her third attempt, Zadie Smith, 30, won the £30,000 award with On Beauty at a ceremony in London last night, a triumphant victory in the most hotly contested year in the history of the prize for women novelists.

SHORT TAKES
Manual for managers
Randeep Wadehra
Corporate transformation without tears
by L.R. Chary
The Institute of Marine
Engineers, Mumbai.
Pages: x + 96. Rs 150.
In a dynamic business environment changes due to inventions and innovations in production, distribution and other related concepts, precepts and practices are inevitable. The changes at macro levels, comprising an industry or the economy as a whole, present challenges to the CEOs of individual business units at the micro level. Should the tried and tested techniques and processes be replaced with the latest but unproven ones? To what extent should new technological developments be allowed to influence the in-with-the-bricks techniques and traditions?

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