Sunday, December 8, 2002		Books

US self-righteousness and the flip side
Shelley Walia
Granta 77: What We Think of America
edited by Ian Jack Spring. Granta Books, London. Pages 258. £8.99
ARIEL Dorfman, the playwright from Chile, watches a three-year-old American brat ruining a languid Chilean afternoon by the side of a pool in Jahuel. While the son shrieks and laughs, the mother sleeps in her bikini under a eucalyptus tree. The writer watches the sun set slowly on the slopes of the Andes while his girlfriend lies besides him, the promise of a quiet time shattered by this boy.

Response to crimes against women calls for greater sensitivity
Aruti Nayar
Justice For Women, Concerns and Expressions
by Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Compiled by Munisha Gandhi. Universal Law Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. Pages 271. Rs 350.
IN a 1980 UN Report, it was reported that women constitute half the world’s population, perform nearly two-thirds of its work, receive one-tenth of the world’s income and less than one-hundredth of the world’s property. Women also comprise 66 per cent of the world’s illiterate and 70 per cent of the world’s poor.

Meet the author
“If I didn’t write I would feel incomplete”
MANDEEP Rai, a 1973 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service, is now achieving recognition for his writings. He has already made a mark as a novelist, having written In the Shadow of the Pines, No Friends, No Enemies and now the latest When The Vulture Descends (all three published by UBS).

The rishi from Germany
Kuldip Dhiman
Arthur Schopenhauer
by Thomas Mann. Rupa. Pages 162. Rs 150.
THIS might look like a translation of a Vedic or Buddhist verse, but these are the words of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), the German philosopher who took off from where the other great system builder Emanuel Kant left. Although some of Schopenhauer’s philosophy is similar to Indian philosophy, he discovered the latter after he had more or less formulated his own worldview.

Parenting no child’s play
Priyanka Singh
Make Your Child a Winner
by Pradeep Kapoor. Rupa. Pages 258. Rs 195
AN American wit once said: "When I had no child, I had six theories on how to bring up children. Now I have six children and no theory." Truly, parenting is not the easiest thing in the world and doesn’t come naturally. There are no thumb rules here, only instincts. The concerns of a parent are as valid as these are varied and the fears are not exaggerated as the experiences of childhood often have a direct bearing on how a child’s personality shapes up later in life.

Individuals can make a difference
Manisha Gangahar
Pervez
by Meher Pestonji. Harper Collins, India. Pages 318. Rs 295.
"ALL I want is everything" — this seems to encapsulate the yearnings and aspirations of the present-day individual. This craving is never-ending, especially when it comes to ‘power’, and there could be no better example of this than the politicians. In India politics goes beyond dealing with the affairs of the state and trickles into the spheres of culture and religion.

Write view
Ancient dance for the Divine now delights mortals
Randeep Wadehra
Bharatnatyam
by Ashish Mohan Khokar, Rupa & Co., New Delhi. Pages: 80. Rs 395.
DANCE is a multi-layered activity – physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural and spiritual. The rhythmic body movements express different feelings ranging from ecstasy and agony to anger and romance. The various mudras articulate different rasas. The variety, ranging from the simple folk dance to the more sophisticated classical forms, points to the profound evolution that has taken place in our socio-cultural milieu.