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Nationalistic
uprising
Vijay Saihgal
The Untold Story of 1857: A War of
Civilisations
Rupa. Pages 2057(2 volumes). Rs 2,500.
Some
may call it a civil rebellion or ‘sepoy mutiny’, the eventful
year of 1857 was no less than First War of Independence. History speaks
for itself. The recently concluded 150th anniversary of 1857
has seen a spate of researched articles and books on the subject. Till
now, very few books were available on the topic by Indian authors,
especially those which depicted the Indian point of view or put the
events in right perspective. Some British authors have tried to explain
1857 ethos through their writings.
How
they became icons
Himmat Singh Gill
Trailblazers of Gujarat
Kamlendra Kanwar, Harmony Publishers, Pages 270. Rs 495.
Some
were originally from Gujarat while others like Verghese Kurien,
who hailed from Kerala and who made India the largest producer of milk
in the world, never went back and made the state their permanent
home—all big names in their own right and considered role models and
icons not only in Gujarat but the entire country.
Gripping
exploits
Aradhika Sharma
The Conch Bearer
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Roli. Pages 265. Rs 295.
It
was two different wishes led Divakaruni into writing The Conch
Bearer. One was to create a story for her two sons two boys to enjoy
and brag about. The other was, "in post 9/11 America, to give the
children of this country a book with Indian characters—foreign,
strange, brown skinned characters—a boy and a girl that seem very
different from them but turn out, in their hopes and fears, not to be
that different after all`85.
Salim
Ali’s mark
Lt Gen (retd) Baljit Singh
IN
the Headquarters Western Command Library at Chandimandir recently, I
chanced upon a book, A Company of Birds, by Loke Wan Tho,
published in January 1958. It was the kind which you quickly want to
take home, drop down on your favourite reading chair and then open one
page at a time, deliberately.
Harry
Potter prequel fetches £ 25,000
An
800-word hand-written story by bestselling author J.K. Rowling,
which she describes as a prequel to the Harry Potter boy wizard books,
sold for 25,000 pounds ($ 49,000) at a charity auction recently. Thirteen
writers and illustrators donated original short stories on
notebook-sized pieces of card to Waterstone’s book store chain which
sold them to benefit English PEN, which champions freedom of expression,
and Dyslexia Action.
Threats
& opportunities
Sridhar K. Chari
India’s National Security —
Annual Review 2007
Ed. Satish Kumar. KW Publishers. Pages 654. Rs 1395
Any
broad-based review of national security would be a fairly
sobering exercise, given the security environment that India finds
herself in. And so it is with this volume, India’s National
Security, Annual Review 2007, released earlier this year. The book
is invaluable in helping both specialist and lay reader gain an
appreciation of the issues that are shaping India’s destiny.
Cops,
corruption and chaos
Aditi Garg
Families at home
by Reeti Gadekar. Harper Collins. Pages 266. Rs. 295
Power
comes with the privilege of rising above the mundane. One can
easily choose to select what affects them and what doesn’t. A diligent
person could direct that power towards supporting the less worthy, but
the choice between self-augmentation and helping others is not always
that simple. Working in a system based on rigid hierarchy it starts
seeming a better idea to flow with the system and its corruptions, than
try and change it and be a sore in everyone’s backs.
Remembering
Prof Harbans Singh
Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh
There
surely is a close bond between a reader and author, and reading,
as we all know, is much more than just a cerebral process. But when the
writer happens to be one’s own father, the text becomes a more
powerful medium, and the author-reader relationship acquires a greater
intimacy.
SHORT TAKES
Different hues
of poetry
Randeep Wadehra
Hues of Sienna
by Partho Sengupta. Writers Workshop, Kolkata. Pages 73. Rs 100
A
poet creates his own world, ensconces himself in its folds while
taking a look at life in the real world. Thus, in the poem, A Jungle
Journal, Sengupta says, "Over the waves of pain that pierce the
heart/The notes take over and I am a part/Of that which is the universe;
it is mine/I am; and there is life, there is day, the sun will
shine".
100
books for boys
Ministers
in the UK have recommended a list of spy books, comics, thrillers
and ghost stories for primary schools to encourage more boys to take up
reading for fun. The recommended selection is aimed at five to
11-year-olds who spend more time playing computer games than reading a
book.
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