Sunday, November 24, 2002		Books

Ageless spirit’s golden hues
Roopinder Singh
Ageless Mind and Spirit: Faces and Voices from the World of India’s Elderly
by Samar and Vijay S. Jodha. Neovision Publishers Pvt Ltd. New Delhi.
Pages 324. Rs 2,500.
AMRITA Pritam puts it so well: "What does it mean to be aged? Can you ask the flower what is the meaning of its blossoming? Why does it sweeten the air with its scent?" The celebrated author is one of the 130 elders featured in this book, which took eight years to fructify.

A journey within and without
Arun Gaur
Reaching Bombay central
by Shama, Futehally. Penguin Viking. Pages 154. Rs 225
AYESHA’S bureaucrat husband — Aarif Jamal — is suspended for doing "an almost flawless favour, one urged by an impeccable human being" — the treacherous Shiv Prasad Nath and she undertakes a train journey from Delhi to Bombay to seek the help of her Zahid Mamoo, an influential police commissioner, in the matter.

The West and the rest
Rumina Sethi
The Colonizer’s Model of the World
J. M. Blaut. The Guilford Press, New York. Pages 246. £16.99
CENTURIES ago, a ‘reality’ was constructed: that there was a centre and thus a periphery. The Centre was propped up by its innovativeness, advancement, adulthood and scientific temper whereas its other, by default, acquired connotations of imitativeness, sluggishness, childhood and sorcery. The Centre led and the Periphery lagged. Unfortunately, this view has endured. Needless to say, the West is the centre to the rest of the world because the belief systems it engendered during the Enlightenment phase created permanent divisions between the West and the rest.

Combating the pitfalls of Indian electoral system
V. Eshwar Anand
National Resurgence Through Electoral Reforms
edited by Subhash C. Kashyap. Shipra Publications, Delhi. Pages 298. Rs 550.
ELECTIONS can be defined as a process, politischer willensbildung, i.e. as a means through which the political opinion of the people is shaped. They play a vital role in helping the people to crystallise their interest and to give expression to them. An election is the contrivance through which a modern state creates amongst its citizens a sense of involvement and participation in public affairs.

Army life through rose-tinted glasses
Aradhika Sekhon
Arms and the Woman
by Deepti Menon Rupa & Co. Pages 275. Rs. 195.
THE book should have been called ‘The Many Reasons To Marry An Army Officer’ or ‘The Clichés Of Army Life’. Everything that an Army officer or his wife have ever said or done — all the jokes, all the-tough-times-taken-with-a-smile, the one-liners, the fun and nostalgic times — forms the subject matter of Arms and the Woman.

Need for Air Force and Army to work together
Rakesh Datta
Air Land Battle—the Indian Dichotomy
by Lt Col Thakur Kuldip S. Ludra (retd). Published privately. Pages 131. Rs 650.
EVER since India attained freedom, it has fought nearly five wars. However, there has been lack of cooperation between the Army and the Air Force during such wars. The Air Force was conspicuous by its absence in support to troops on the frontline. The Battle of Longewal proves the contention.

Solutions to Kashmir
Parshotam Mehra
Conflict Unending: India-Pakistan Tensions Since 1947
by Sumit Ganguly. Oxford University Press. Pages 187. Rs 3951
WHETHER or not one accepts the Pakistani formulation about Kashmir being the "core" issue between the two far-from-friendly neighbours, the fact remains that it has all these 50-odd years and more so since Independence been in the forefront. A way out of the imbroglio—by no means an easy or simple proposition—may not end all our disputes with Pakistan but would certainly go a long way in easing tensions.