Uses and abuses of free trade
V.Krishna Ananth
Anti-Dumping: Global Abuse of a Trade Policy Instrument
Eds Bibek Debroy and Debashis Chakraborty
Academic Foundation, New Delhi
Pages 207. Rs 595
The birth of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was held, by a section of economists and planners, as an event that marked the end to all the bad things about the GATT regime. A view was peddled that the unfair practice of non-trade barriers would no longer hinder commerce between nations and that the signing of the treaty at Marakesh in March 1993 marked the beginning, in the true sense, of a global free trade regime. But then, it did not take too long to realise that non-trade barriers did not vanish. And that the WTO regime too could be derailed.

The great Urdu poets
Amar Nath Wadehra
Bahadur Shah Zafar and his Contemporaries
by KC Kanda. Sterling, New Delhi.
Pages 425. Rs 350.
Ghazal can be legitimately described as the essence of Urdu poesy although other forms like qasida, rubai, qita, etc., too were popular with poets and patrons alike. Its moods vary from romantic to melancholy, to profundity; its flow and cadence seldom fail to bewitch even those who are not conversant with the parlance. It has adorned many a royal court recitals even as it metamorphosed into a vehicle of social protest and political jest with the passage of time.

War sufferers Stolen Voices
Himmat Singh Gill
Ed Zlata Filipovic and Melanie Challenger.
Arvind Kumar Publishers, Gurgaon.
Pages 272. Rs 250.
Resigned to their fate, desperate, and surprisingly still content with their bleak future, these are the stories left behind by the cream of youth who mostly perished in wars, from World War I to Iraq, now made available to us through the diaries that they left behind. Consisting of diaries that have already been published and some that have not yet seen print, and ranging from the age of 11 to a maximum of 21 at the time of occurrence, these accounts were written in the hope that someone out there at some moment of time then or decades later would chance upon them and read what these individuals went through whether on the battlefield, a ghetto or a senseless insurrection in some part of the world.

Literature in flux
Gaurav Kanthwal
Anandamath by Bankim Chandra Chatterji.
Translated by Basanta Koomar Roy.
Orient Paperbacks.
Pages 167. Rs 175.
Rabindranath Tagore once described Anandamath as a “legend of the struggle for freedom and the passion behind it seems to reflect Bankim’s vision of free India.” Published in book form in 1882 after appearing in a monthly journal, Vangadarshan, it has come to be known as much more than a seminal text of the Indian freedom struggle.

Shades of human nature
Aditi Garg
Chowringhee by Sankar. Translated by Arunava Sinha.
Penguin Books India.
Pages 403. Rs 295.
Although hotels aspire to be a home away from home, they can hardly ever come close. At the same time the pleasure of staying in a good hotel can make memories of a lifetime. It is not just about boarding and lodging, it the whole experience from the food, the booze, the right amount of being fussed over and just the right ambiance. A lot goes into creating the whole effect, keeping things moving with clockwork precision and making the dream-stay exactly that for each and every customer.

From insipid to inspired
Shalini Rawat
Inspired: How to Create a Formula for Success in Life to Work
Ganesh Natarajan Manjiri Gokhale
East West Books.
Pages 190. Rs 250.
If you thought there could never be a formula for success or a method for achieving greatness, think again. If you thought the great and the successful had some esoteric qualities that put them on the pedestal (or their bust in the park centre), think again. Thereby hangs a tale. Rather a bunch of them.

A legend in his own words
M.S. Unnikrishnan
Rio — My Story by Rio Ferdinand with Shaun Custis Headline
Pages 374. £12.99
The book evocatively encapsulates the roller-coaster ride of a football megastar who battled heavy odds to hit the big league. Rio Ferdinand enjoyed unprecedented fame and fortune — and infamy too — before steadying himself to pen his life story to clear his name from a slew of charges, most of which he claims were concocted to scuttle a promising career.

HINDI REVIEW
Relevance of the near past
Ashok Malik
Itihas ki Sachchai 1949-1997
by Ram Swarop Bachan Singh Chahal.
Published by the author. Pages 162. Rs 60
Recent history is generally not taught in schools and colleges. However it is events of the recent past from which we need to take lessons. It is important to avoid repeating mistakes and the pitfalls of the process. Recording facts and impressions of an era as sensitive as the days of Partition is a difficult task.

Back of the book
Hema Malini – The authorised biography
by Bhawna Somaaya
Roli books. Pages 218. Rs 495
Hema Malini, the quintessential ‘Dream Girl’ of Hindi cinema has truly nurtured a dream, and followed it to its realisation. After being unceremoniously dropped from her first Tamil film as the director felt that she didn’t have ‘star quality’, Hema signed the Hindi film she was offered opposite Raj Kapoor. Just eighteen, she soon conquered the hearts of all moviegoers with her beauty, grace and charisma. From Johnny Mera Naam to Sholay, from Meera to Baghbaan, she has portrayed a diverse range of characters that will always remain a part of the film legend.

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