FOR A FOREIGN AUDIENCE
G. S. Bhargava
The Second Partition: Fault-lines in India's Democracy
by Patwant Singh.
Hay House India, New Delhi.
Pages 318. Price not stated.
PATWANT Singh, a celebrated author, better known abroad than at home, has a penchant for foreign —international—sources than domestic publications and television channels. Foreign publishers like it that way. Thus, even B.G.Verghese's widely quoted warnings against neglecting water supply and distribution are picked from Diane Raines Ward's 'remarkable book,' Water Wars. The author highlights 'effective harnessing ' of water sources as 'the critical element' in agricultural production, to shield food production from 'the vagaries of the country's capricious monsoons.' Accordingly, he lauds the construction by the (Nehru) Government of 'more than 1,500 dams along with canals and irrigation networks, many able to generate hydropower ' as well.' That giant reservoirs on the mighty rivers uproot tens of thousands of inhabitants, tribals and plains people did not worry Patwant Singh.

In search of identity
Arun Gaur
A Girl and a River
by Usha K.R. Penguin Books. Pages 324. Rs 295.
It is a tradition in my family to name its girls after rivers. My mother is named after a lost river, of which no traces can be found now, the narrator tells us in the novel. In the world of men, where the women lead an anonymous, at the most, a secondary existence, the narrator refuses to take the things for granted. She is a modern educated girl and she must clearly know more about her pre-independence ancestral roots; particularly, about her versatile grandmother, Kaveri. This knowledge is crucially needed for filling the gaps in her own psychic life.

Thoughts of a great martyr
Kanwalpreet
Bhagat Singh: The Jail Notebook and Other Writings compiled, with an introduction by Chaman Lal. Left Word Books. Pages 191. Rs 350.
Tales of heroism anywhere in the world continue to inspire people, especially the youth, for higher action. But when a man from amidst us surpasses all fears and rises to the challenge, his feats fascinate us. Bhagat Singh, the legendry figure is one such character in India's struggle for freedom. In the recent past, Bhagat Singh's life became a fascinating subject for filmmakers. Rang de Basanti, an award-winning movie, reflected him in a new light, showing that action and not mere words can cure the society of all its ills even today.

Focus on women’s issues
Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal
Urban Women in Contemporary India
Ed. Rehana Ghadially. Sage Publications. Pages 372. Rs 595.
This book offers a package of 23 papers divided into six main sections namely 'Re-constructing gender in the globalisation and culture', 'Violence which includes dowry-murders, domestic violence, sexual harassment at workplaces, and empowerment approaches to such violence', 'Media and the women's concerns', 'Non-liberal globalisation and its influence on women', 'Information and communication technologies and women empowerment, politics and political participation' along with an introduction by the editor. Nineteen out of 23 papers included in this volume are reproduced from different journals.

BEYOND UTOPIA
Harsh A Desai
The Parliamentary System: What we have made of it, What we can make of it by Arun Shourie. ASA Publications/Rupa. Pages 254. Rs 495
Arun Shourie is a disenchanted man. He is disenchanted with politicians. He is disenchanted with Parliament and has devoted one-third of the book to point out why he is disenchanted with it. He is disenchanted with voters who he portrays as gullible and trusts them not. He says: "The only titbits of information for which the voter spares a moment are ones that are salacious — a scandal: money pilfered, sex, murder — or when he sees an exceptional gain from knowing some inside dope about what is going to happen in the stock market."

Chandrasekaran wins Samuel Johnson prize
Sherna Noah
Imperial Life In The Emerald City, an account of Baghdad's Green Zone, has won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the former Baghdad bureau chief for The Washington Post, wowed judges with his book on the home of the US headquarters in Iraq, which he describes as an enclave of luxury villas and sparkling swimming pools.

The secret world of E. M. Forster
He is famous for stories that feature clashes between class and culture. But, says Zareer Masani, there is another theme to one of his most famous works: his own, unrequited, homosexual passions
When I was growing up in the Bombay of the 1960s, we thought EM Forster’s A Passage to India was the greatest novel ever written about the subcontinent. Later, as a student demonstrating against the Vietnam War, I reread the book as a more timeless and universal critique of imperial arrogance. I often wondered what had made a shy and retiring Edwardian Englishman into such a perceptive observer. Only recently I discovered that his sexuality was the key to his creative leap across racial and cultural borders.

Back of the book
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way
by Laurie Maguire. Nicholas Brealey. Pages 214. £ 6.99.
If you’ve ever fallen in love with the wrong person, been held by your insecurities, endured the pressures of family, dealt with the loss of a loved one, or fought to overcome obsessive behaviours in yourself or in others, then you’ve participated in the folly of life. In other words, you’ve undertaken a role in the high drama — and comedy — of a Shakespeare play.

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