Sunday, March 3, 2002		Literature

Analysing a modernity gone haywire
Vikramdeep Johal
A Hundred Encounters
by Sham Lal. Rupa & Co., New Delhi. Pages 536+xiv. Rs 395.
‘‘OH, East is East, West is West and never the twain shall meet’’, proclaimed Kipling. Much before satellite television invaded our homes. Much before Sham Lal became a columnist. However, while television — that chewing gum for the eyes and sleeping pill for the intellect— has brought the West closer by bombarding us with inane, feel-good images, Sham Lal has done the job creatively by presenting profound, even disturbing ideas.

Making a sacred experience come alive with words
Vinaya Katoch
Sacred Waters a pilgrimage to the many sources of the Ganga
by Stephen Alter.
THE waters of the sky or those that flow,Those that are dug out or those that arise by themselves, Those pure and clear waters that seek the ocean As their goal-let the waters, who are goddesses, help me here and now— Rig Veda.

A gripping tale well told
Aradhika Sekhon
Circles of Silence, An Indian Love Story,
by Preeti Singh, published by Hodder and Stoughton, pages 503, pounds 6.99
ONCE you finish doing double-takes over the cover of the book, which could easily mislead you into thinking that it’s a Gulshan Nanda novel rather than a book written by an editor of the Oxford University Press, New Delhi, and get your teeth into the book, you find that its not bad at all.

OFF THE SHELF
Annie Besant: a sensitive reappraisal
V.N. Datta
AT the Indian History Congress session held recently in Bhopal on December 28-30 last, knowing that I do a bit of reviewing books for The Tribune quite a number of young teachers offered to present to me their research publications understandably with a desire to extract some compliment for their contribution to historical knowledge.

PUNJABI LITERATURE
Standardising basic Punjabi teaching
Jaspal Singh
IN last five decades or so since the formal teaching of Punjabi started in the schools of Punjab, almost the entire literate population of the state has learnt reading and writing of Punjabi. At present we have about 70 per cent literacy rate in Punjab that means nearly 17 million people can read and write Punjabi.

WRITE VIEW
Effectively tackling terrorism
Randeep Wadehra
Terror and Containment
edited by K.P.S. Gill & Ajai Sahni. Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi. Pages 368. Price: Rs. 540/-.
EVER since Independence, India has experienced various facets of terror–ideological conflicts, class and caste wars, ethnicity based violence etc. Yet, the terror perpetrated by separatists over the years has posed the most daunting challenge to our polity.

BOOK EXTRACT
All the world was his classroom
AS he grew older, members of his inner circle began to question him as to how he intended ‘the work’ to be continued after his death, and when that event might come about. He claimed at times to have a good idea about when he would die, but gave vague and contradictory indications to different people.