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Challenges ahead
Reviewed by B. G. Verghese
Comprehensive Security for an
Emerging India
Ed. Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak.
Knowledge World.
Pages 394. Rs 780.
THERE
are many more aspects to a nation’s security than the threat of war.
Battles can be won and lost even without armies moving, which is now
better understood. And the danger of armed conflict escalating to a
nuclear exchange induces sobriety and restraint in military responses,
though many have speculated on what could still happen below a certain
threshold.
Journey
worth taking
Reviewed by Puneetinder Kaur
Sidhu
Leaving India: My Family’s
Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents
By Minal Hajratwala.
Tranquebar.
Pages 430. Rs 595.
THE
first thought to enter my mind when handed Minal Hajratwala’s debut
book for reviewing purposes was: not another angst-ridden diaspora
story, please.
Identities
redefined
Reviewed by Amarinder Sandhu
Sikhism and Women: History,
Texts and Experience
Ed. Doris R. Jakobsh.
Oxford University Press.
Pages 383. Rs 395.
THE
question of Sikh identity has intrigued many scholars. The issue of
"Who is a Sikh?" becomes all the more complex when it is
woven into the intricate tapestry of religion, culture or ethnicity.
Judging
the judges
Reviewed by Ram Varma
Wake up Call for Indian
Republic
By Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer.
Gyan Publishing House.
Pages 220. Rs 540.
IN
Plato’s Republic, Socrates asks the overwhelming question,
"Who’ll guard the guardians?" In our republic, Justice V.
R. Krishna Iyer, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, comes nearest
to donning the Socrates’ mantle, and he appropriately asks,
"Who’ll judge the judges?"
Of
culinary delights and heartbreaks
Reviewed by Sukhpreet Singh Giani
Chef: A Novel
By Jaspreet Singh.
Penguin Books.
Pages 248. Rs 450.
JASPREET
Singh’s Chef takes a gripping look at the India-Pakistan
conflict and presents the edginess from an angle which is primarily
linked to the Army, but it also tries to capture the lives of some
individuals who play minor yet important roles in the Army and
obviously have many emotions attached to their work.
Valley’s
verse
Humra Quraishi
The prose and poetry of young Kashmiris carry an undercurrent of
sorrow and stress
OnCE
upon a time, the Kashmir Valley was a hub of poetry and prose in this
part of the world. And even in these troubled, tension-ridden times,
there is writing and more of it, but it carries sadness and sorrow
together with streaks laden with the stress that the young face in
their daily lives
Tête-à-tête
Creative
purist
Nonika Singh
I
don’t sing to
entertain..." In the commerce-driven world where everything, even
talent, is for sale these words may sound archaic. But for the man who
proclaims so, this is no hyperbole but the cornerstone of his musical,
nay, life’s philosophy.
Back of the book
Variegated reads
Reviewed by Randeep Wadehra
Man of Glass
by Tabish Khair
Harper Collins.
Pages: xiii+82. Rs 199
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Of Wooing, Woes
& Wanderings
by Amitabha Chatterjee
Gyaana Books.
Pages 258. Rs 250.
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Of Love and Politics
by Tuhin A.Sinha.
Hachette.
Pages 301. Rs 250.
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