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Seeking identity, faith
Roopinder Singh
Stranger to
History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands
by Aatish Taseer.
Picador India.
Pages 323. Rs 495.
Faith
defines relationships. It is often explained as complete trust,
confidence, or reliance and we seek it in close family affiliations,
especially those between parents and siblings. Since long, faith and
religion have been used as synonyms, though there are subtle variances
in emphasis, and their meaning. Aatish Taseer explores Islam, the
faith of his father, even as he seeks a connection with the parent who
had abandoned him soon after conception. The book chronicles this
difficult journey.
Gory tale of survival
Ravia Gupta
Fear and
Forgiveness
by Harsh Mander. Penguin.
Pages 219. Rs 299.
FEAR
continues to haunt the lives of those who resisted the storms of
"hate and divide" with compassion and courage in Gujarat.
Even a firecracker sends people scurrying in terror. A cricket match
between India and Pakistan creates only dread, as it raises for them
the spectre of a possible riot.
Vignettes of contemporary life
Nonika Singh
Études
Aseem Kaul.
Tranquebar.
Pages 264. Rs 250.
TAKE
my word for it; these are no ordinary stories. The collection of short
stories Études by Aseem Kaul is strange (post-modernist or
whatever), often wacky, even downright ludicrous and eerie, too. Still
the narrative is imbued with a haunting poignant quality. The stories
despite their open provocation, "daring" the reader
"take it or leave it", almost cocking a snook at them,
manage to tug at one’s heartstrings. So, there you have a man buying
a "perfect" house only to commit suicide, a man falling in
love while another one is dying, a lover seeing his beloved’s body
in nude for the first time at, God forbid, a mortuary.
How
media shapes opinions
Kanwalpreet
Audience-Citizens: The Media,
Public Knowledge and Interpretive Practice
by Ramaswami Harindranath
Sage. Pages 271. Rs.495.
Technology has gained
accessibility in every sphere of our lives. The result—we are more
attuned to the daily happenings around us and are capable of forming
an opinion on issues that may or may not pertain to us. We, the
audience have a voice and it matters. This is what the author of the
work in question wants to convey.
Resurrecting
the fantasies of ’70s
Richard Vinen
When the Lights Went Out
by Andy Beckett.
Faber & Faber.
Pages 550. £20.
IN the lexicon of British
political abuse, "the Seventies" has become shorthand for
"failure". This was the era of strikes, power cuts and the
three-day week. Weak governments struggled to stay in office with
small majorities. Three successive Prime Ministers—Edward Heath,
Harold Wilson and James Callaghan—came to be hated by many in their
own parties.
Forthight and fearless
Humra Quraishi
Why I supported the
Emergency — Essays and profiles
by Khuswant Singh.
Penguin Viking.
Pages 296. Rs 450.
Perhaps,
in the very introduction to this volume, journo Sheela Reddy best sums
up that very special characteristic to Khushwant Singh — "Khushwant
isn’t afraid to be himself. His writing is very much like him. Just
as it is a matter of honour for him to stay uncompromisingly himself,
no matter where or with whom, he refuses to dress up his writing —
or his thoughts, even — to suit the occasion.
SHORT TAKES
Medicine and the mind
The Path To Good
Health And Inner Peace
by David Vennells. Full Circle.
Pages 286. Rs 195.
With
increasing tensions in everyday life health and peace of mind have
become vital. There are different ways in which one can achieve this
— leisure activities, yoga and meditation. But when one is struck
down with an illness the response is almost Pavlovian — visit an
allopath. However, allopathy’s sideeffects can be deadlier than the
original ailment.
Big time for non-fiction writers
Author Ramachandra Guha,
who has clinched a Rs 9.7 million (Rs 97 lakh) deal with Penguin India
for seven books, feels it would encourage young authors to take to
writing non-fiction. "It (the deal) is a
welcome acknowledgement of the imbalance between fiction and
non-fiction. Fictional genres like poetry, prose and novels always had
a great place in literature, but non-fiction is also important. This
would encourage young authors to write non-fiction," Guha said.
Taste of Bhatt’s pen
Subhash K. Jha
Filmmaker
Mahesh Bhatt has managed to surprise his fans by showing slices of his
life in his narratives like Arth that was about his
relationship with late actress Parveen Babi and Zakhm, about
him and his mother. Now he is ready to shock everyone with his book A
Taste Of Life and says it will outlive all his movies.
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