The tasks ahead
S. S. Johl
Agriculture Cannot Wait: New Horizons in India Agriculture
Ed. M.S. Swaminathan. Academic Foundation.
Pages 550. Rs 995.
If the rural agricultural economy has to leapfrog on an eco-friendly sustainable growth path to ensure economic well-being and nutritional security of rural families that will dovetail interests of consumers and producers (who are consumers as well), a three-pronged strategy is the real challenge faced by agricultural policy makers and programme administrators in India.

The how and why of jehadi politics
The Islamist
by Ed Husain. Penguin. £8.99. Pages304
Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalisation
by Akbar Ahmed. Brookings Institution. £17.99. Pages 300
The Islamist seems to have been drafted by a Whitehall mandarin as a PR job for the Blair government, while Journey into Islam is quite insightful and reads in places like an anthropological text,
says Ziauddin Sardar

Reflections of exiled existence
Jyoti Singh
Perspectives on Diaspora: Indian Fiction in English
Eds Tejinder Kaur and N.K. Neb. Nirman Publications, Jalandhar. Pages 198. Rs 300.
Initially used in relation to the displacement of Jews from their homeland, the term ‘diaspora’ has come to describe the uprootment-forced or willed-of people from their native land. In the post-colonial situation with people from the Third World countries leaving their homelands in search of greener pastures for the developed countries has added another dimension to the life in exile.

A fair connection across borders
Archana K Sudheer
THE anthology is an attempt to understand how women from diverse cultures, languages and varying thought processes portray their bodies and lives through fiction. The writers are from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. They portray one thing in common – an urge to liberate themselves from the norms they are yoked to.

Memories of a rustic life
Shalini Rawat
Whom to Tell My Tale: An Autobiography
by K. S. Duggal.
National Book Trust.
Pages 222. Rs 65.
Tohmatein chand apne zimme dhar chale, jis liye aye the, so hum kar chale/ Zindagi hai ya koi toofan hai, hum toh is jeene ke hathon mar chale... (I have borne all accusations with grace, Summoned, I contested and won the race/Living’s been nothing but all strife, I have met death at the threshold of life — Mir Dard)

Films and feminism
Kanchan Mehta
Gender Relations and Cultural Ideology in Indian Cinema
by Indubala Singh. Deep and Deep Publications.
Page 236. Rs 880.
Indubala, a college lecturer, introduces the reader to the complex subject of her informative and entertaining book on Indian cinema: "The manner in which the culture ethos of Indian society with its myriad manifestations influence the making and presentation of Indian cinema and the extent to which Indian film makers have been able to evoke man-woman relationship based on fiction by Indian writers is the subject of my book."

A great page-turner
Deepika Gurdev
The Blood of Flowers
by Anita Amirrezvani.
Headline. Pages 369. £12.99.
An unnamed protagonist, Iran in the 1620s, the art of knotting carpets, transition of a young girl’s life as she journeys from the village to the city. All of these combine to make Anita Amirrezvani’s debut novel a stunning read. It follows the Iranian story telling tradition where the narrator is not given a name. The experience is a bit unsettling at first. After all, you want a name to associate with, but the story pulls you way beyond the fixation of naming the central character.

Back of the book
Between Identity and Location: The Cultural Politics of Theory
Pages 249. Rs 395.
by R. Radhakrishnan, Orient Longman.
What is thinking and what is theory? What is theoretical thinking and how does such a thought find its balance between specialist erudition and commonsensical intention? How is the relationship of theory to itself mediated by its practical commitment to instrumental Reason?

Bush has read Indira's biography
President of the US George W Bush prefers to read books, rather than watch television, and a biography on former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has acquired pride of place. According to Arnaud de Borchgrave, Bush reads two to three books a week and does not watch television. Most of the books he reads are history and biographies of famous statesmen and three stateswomen who took their countries to war.

HOME