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The health scene in
colonial India
Randeep Wadehra
Old Potions, New Bottles
by Kavita Sivaramakrishnan.
Orient Longman. Pages xiv
+ 280. Rs 795.
Expunging Variola
by Sanjoy Bhattacharya
Orient Longman. Pages xv +
327. Rs 750.
Reproductive Health in India
edited by Sarah Hodges
Orient Longman. Pages ix +
264. Price Rs 620.
Literature
on health scene
in India is not exactly abundant. Empirical studies – both at macro
and micro levels – have been less than adequate, and are certainly not
systemised. Public discourse has been lacking too. The scenario
pertaining to pre-Independence India is equally dismal in this regard.
Rainbow of dreams realised
Roopinder Singh
California Dreams: India
Shining in the Land of Hollywood
by Gurmukh Singh. British
Columbia Books, BC, Canada.
Pages 208. Rs 999.
THE four Sikhs who landed
in San Francisco on April 5, 1899, were the precursors of a wave that
reached near its crest a century later. Indians were considered white,
but suffered the same discrimination as blacks in the US a century ago.
At one point, they were good enough to serve in the US army, but not to
be citizens, as Bhagat Singh Thind found out.
War for oil supremacy
Himmat Singh Gill
Global Rivalries from the
Cold War to Iraq
by Kees Van Der Pijl Vistaar Publications.
Pages 459. Rs 650
AFTER his best-selling
book "The Making of an Atlantic Ruling Class" (Verso, 1984)
had set the English-speaking western world a notch apart from the rest,
Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, Kees
Pijl, in this book dexterously makes the point that western expansionism
has led to rivalries and strife around the globe, and that today a
"Lockean heartland" finds itself challenged by contender
states that will stop at nothing in their fight for political and
economic supremacy.
Brilliant tale of growing
up
Deepika Gurdev
Black Swan Green
David Mitchell. Sceptre. Pages 304. Rs 622.
EVEN
if you are not into
coming of age tales, you would do well to pick this up. It is a literary
master piece, handled so much differently from David Mitchell’s
earlier works, Ghostwritten, number9dream and the spell-binding Cloud
Atlas.
Clairvoyant commentator
M. S. Unnikrishnan
Tragic Idiom—O. V.
Vijayan’s Cartoons and Notes on India
Editors Sundar Ramanathaiyer, Nancy Hudson-Rodd. D C Books, Kottayam (Kerala). Pages
261. Rs 1150
THERE has always been this
debate about O.V. Vijayan’s standing as a cartoonist and writer.
Though Vijayan straddled both worlds effortlessly, one school of thought
firmly believed that he was a better cartoonist than a writer (at least
in his Malayalam fiction).
Difficult
daughters
Shalini Rawat
Whither Justice: Stories of women in prison
By Nandini Oza. Rupa. Rs 195. Pages:188
A
UN representative in Turkey observed a strange phenomenon—that of
forced suicides of women. Women who are supposed to have brought ‘shame’
to the family name are locked alone in a room—with a rope or a loaded
gun at their disposal. The end is quiet. The dispute resolved. Honour
restored.
Through the biotech lens
Jayanti Roy
Science, Agriculture and
the Politics of Policy: The Case of Biotechnology in India
by Ian Scoones. Orient
Longman. Pages 417. Rs. 795.
THIS book is the outcome
of a project coordinated by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS),
University of Sussex (UK) one of the world’s leading organisation to
explain real-world challenges through application of academic skills.
Voice of a subaltern
subject
Gaurav Kanthwal
Collected Poems (1970-2005)
by Keki N Daruwala. Penguin. Rs 350. Pages 355
A major contribution
towards the consolidation of Indian literature in English. Besides
consolidation, the anthology traces the development and the maturity of
the poet. Many leading publishers have already come up with anthologies
of major poets like A.K. Ramanujan, Nissim Ezekiel, Dom Moraes and
others. It is a welcome step to turn the public perception towards the
marginalisation of Indian English poetry.
US library battles bigotry
Gwinnett County, Georgia,
is not the first place to debate public library services for immigrants.
Last summer, opponents of illegal immigration gathered outside Denver
Public Library to call for the resignation of the city librarian, who
they said was providing services for illegal immigrants at taxpayers’
expense.
Back of the book
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