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The Eternal Bond
Charanjeet falls in love with an ethereal beauty named Nissar, who has a child from her current husband who has deserted her for another woman. Chahal himself is married and a father of two but finds himself inexorably drawn towards Nissar. Thence the story takes an eerie turn. A statue at the nearby Neora resembles Nissar. Neora, after whom the place has been named, was a Hindu woman married to a Muslim, and was murdered. Her ghost haunts the area. Not unexpectedly the Chahal-Nissar affair ends in the latter’s death. A heartbroken Chahal returns to his family. Years later, on a visit to Izzatgarh, he meets another girl, Neera, who resembles Nissar. The plot is original and interesting. Burma to Japan With
Azad Hind
He was barely 16 when he was captured by the Japanese in Burma and, later on, recruited in the INA. Thence started a roller-coaster existence that saw Benegal being inducted into the Imperial Japanese Air Force Officers Academy. The thrilling narrative describes, apart from his own experiences as a trainee pilot, the amazing Kamikaze pilots’ qualities and, sadly but inevitably the nuclear bombing and its after-effects. There are some incidents described here that are worth pondering over. While retreating from Burma the British soldiers blew up all the bridges behind them knowing fully well that Burma’s Governor was following them some distance behind. When the VIP could not reach the airport in time, the waiting pilot took in ordinary folks and took off to save their lives. The pilot was none other than the legendary Biju Patnaik, who later on became Orissa’s Chief Minister! A thrilling, thought provoking read. Sonia Gandhi:
Trails Of Triumph
Therefore, precision of language and authenticity are the hallmarks of a good biography. Sood claims familiarity with the Gandhi family and has written such books as Towards New horizons: India after Emergency, Politics of Socio-Economic Change in India, Re-emergence of Indira Gandhi: India’s Great Age Begins Anew and Indira Gandhi and the Constitution: Modernization and Development. Here, he has tried to present Sonia Gandhi’s life story, quoting various political and non-political persons as well as other resources like books etc. One gets a vivid picture of Sonia Gandhi’s striking transformation from a rather introvert and shy housewife to a confident political leader whose decisions, viz., the choice of Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, restructuring of the Youth Congress and emphasis on aam aadmi etc indicate her arrival as a seasoned politician of great potential.
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THE
semi-educated, youthful Charanjeet Chahal is a talented farmer in
Fazilka. His scheming stepmother forces him to look for a farm manager’s
job in the distant Izzatgarh in UP. Although his proficiency and
progressive methods impress his employers he makes quite a few enemies
too. But the story is not about traditional versus modern ideologies.
It’s about love.
Benegal,
who expired in 2003, has had an amazingly eventful life. He was born
in Burma, took combat pilot’s training in Japan during the Second
World War days and became a decorated IAF pilot in a free India. A
rare breed indeed. More importantly, despite all the hype about the
INA soldiers, the Indian authorities weren’t enthusiastic about
absorbing them in the regular armed forces.
Biography
is a creative work that presents irrefutable facts about an individual’s
life in a systematic and lucid manner. Creativity, however, does not
extend to fictionalising the narrative.