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Love,
longing and Land
Roopinder Singh
The Tale of the Phoenix
by Dalip Kaur Tiwana. Tr. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh. Unistar Books.
Pages 104. Rs 195.
London
is where Nirmal, the protagonist, lives with his family and Punjab is
where his heart is. "I wonder about these desires that have led us
so far from our homeland. Like birds, we have landed in alien countries,
on alien soil. To make money? What our earnings, will we ever be able to
return to our country? Will we ever return home," Nirmal asks.
Tales
of ordinary people
Harbans Singh
Street Singers of Lucknow and
Other Stories
by Qurratulain Hyder. Women Unlimited an Associate of Kali for Women.
Pages 228. Rs 350.
FOR
many among us who have come to associate with Urdu story writing, what
came to be known as ‘progressive’ writing, Qurratulain Hyder’s Street
Singers of Lucknow represent a genre that refuses to be defined by
clich`E9s and the need to serve the purpose of class conflicts. In fact,
Hyder’s choice of subjects are likely to interest successive
generations for, free as they are of the burden to serve a greater
cause, they unfold human drama that is both gripping as well as
disturbing.
Dalit
life and beyond
Pankaj K. Singh
Amma and Other Stories
by Omprakash Valmiki. Translation and Introduction by Naresh K. Jain.
Manohar, New Delhi. Pages 243. Rs 595.
IN
the Preface to his autobiography Joothan, Omprakash
Valmiki, eminent Hindi poet, theatre artist and political activist,
states, "Dalit life is excruciatingly painful, charred by
experiences. Experiences that did not manage to find room in literary
creations." The 15 short stories in this collection, poignantly and
graphically present Dalit life "charred by experiences" and
document "the acute pain of the world around me" as Valmiki
puts it, who himself was born in a Dalit family in village Barla
in western Uttar Pradesh.
Taboos
explored
Aradhika Sharma
Good Times for Everyone:
Sexuality Questions, Feminist Answers
by Radhika Chandiramani. Women Unlimited. Pages 224. Rs 200.
A
clinical psychologist who works with a Delhi-based NGO, TARSHI, Radhika
Chandiramani was also a columnist for the Asian Age newspaper.
The book is a collection of selected letters that her column, Midlife
Crisis, received, which Radhika answered. She has put the queries
into sections, and given the lay reader questions (and answers) about
sex, health, love relationships and all the bird and bees, and what not.
Religion
and art along the Silk Route
Indian & Central Asian
Art: Narrative Interpretations of Unique Fragments
by P. Banerjee and Radha Banerjee-Sarkar. Abha Prakashan. Pages 164. Rs
4,000.
HINDU
god Shiva’s consort — Shakti or Durga — was worshipped in the
ancient Khotan region of China in the seventh century AD, reveals a new
book that traces how Buddhism and Hinduism flourished together in China,
India and Central Asia along the ancient Silk Route.
Library
of secrets
John Lichfield in Paris
Everyone’s
life is a novel, which has not yet been written. Or in some In a small
town in eastern France, there is a library, or archive, of intimate
secrets: a collection of 2,500 unpublished and mostly unpublishable
autobiographies, diaries, scrapbooks, bundles of letters and collections
of emails dating from the early 19th century to last month.
Whitbread winner loses
battle for life
David McKittrick
Christopher
Nolan, the Irish writer who despite being almost entirely immobilised by
cerebral palsy produced works which brought him awards and international
acclaim, has died at the age of 43. With no real control over the
movement of his body, Nolan, 43, could write only by directing a pointer
attached to his head at a keyboard, with the aid of his family.
SHORT TAKES
Matter of mind
and spirit
Randeep Wadehra
-
The Midnight
Awakening
by Rajeev M. Kaushik. Rupa
& Co. Pages: XIV+247. Rs 295.
-
Splendid Mirror of
Life
by N.S Tasneem. Jaswant
Printers. Pages 144. Rs 200.
-
The Ghost in Hamlet
by Syed Rifaquat Ali. Phulkian
Press. Pages: VIII+158. Rs 300.
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