The fire of life
Reviewed by Rumina Sethi
The Sunset Club
Khushwant Singh. Penguin, New Delhi.
Pages 218. Rs. 399.
Few authors would have men in their mid-eighties as heroes. Trust Khushwant Singh to be among those few to choose three men—Pandit Preetam Sharma, a Punjabi Brahmin they call "sabjantawala" or know-all, Nawab Barkatullah Baig, a Muslim as his name reveals, and Boota Singh or ‘Rangeela Sardar’ as Baig’s wife calls him—as the octogenarian grandfathers-next-door. All three have one occupation in common—taking a walk in Delhi’s Lodhi Gardens every evening.

Looking at a troubled land
Reviewed by Navjit Singh Johal
Role of Media in Kashmir Crisis
By Dr Deepa Viswam. Kalpaz Publications. Pages 371. Rs. 880.
The Kashmir Valley has been in the news for a long time now. The problem in the Valley is a multi dimensional one and it requires deep understanding and analysis to interpret various events and incidents that have affected the Kashmiri society. The media, including print, radio, television and the Internet is known as the bridge that connect the events with the vast, heterogeneous and anonymous audiences that are not scattered only in a large country like India, but all over the globe.

Art of advice
Reviewed by Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu
Dear Agony Aunt
By Aradhika Sharma
Rupa & Co
Pages 147 Price Rs 95
Till about a month ago, my responses to those requiring a willing-shoulder-to-cry-on consisted mainly of a forceful ‘dump him/her’, whip him/her’, and ‘get another’. Irrespective of whether it was annoying partners or spouses, bratty kids or hard-to-like bosses; not necessarily in that order. But definitely with nary a thought to the repercussions, were those peeved, snivelling, murderous avatars of usually decent sorts to heed my thoughtless advice. Then, I read Dear Agony Aunt.

Do we end with death?
Reviewed by Kuldip Dhiman
Science and the Near-Death Experience
How Consciousness Survives Death
By Chris Carter
Inner Traditions
Pages 304, Price: Not stated
In the present volume Science and the Near-Death Experience: How Consciousness Survives Death, philosopher Chris Carter (not to be confused with the creator of The X-Files) mentions the strange case of A. S. Wiltse, a physician suffering from typhoid, who was declared ‘dead’ by his doctors. It later emerged that he had actually gone into a coma. After regaining consciousness he told the doctors that he had had the strange experience of leaving his body during the comatose state. ‘As I turned, my elbow came into contact with the arm of one of two gentlemen who were standing in the door. To my surprise his arm passed right through mine without apparent resistance . . . I directed my gaze in the direction of his and saw my own dead body.’

We the poor
Reviewed by Shalini Rawat
The Story that must not be Told
Kavery Nambisan.
Penguin Books. Pages 272. Rs 499.
Day after day, we replenish ourselves with stale gossip, glossy news items, titbits of music and some such vocation and avocation that may help carry on the business of living. Often we blot out the poverty-stricken from our everyday existence, who like unpleasant memories continue to bother us at every traffic signal.

Bonding with bar girls
Humra Quraishi
Sonia Faleiro is an award-winning reporter and the author of Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars (published by Hamish Hamilton — an imprint of Penguin), which was launched in New Delhi sometime back. Excerpts from an interview:

Devoted to dance
Nonika Singh
In a world that thrives on artifice and pretentiousness, she stands apart, almost as an anachronism. Shimla-based kathak dancer Iela Pandey, humility personified, steadfastly refuses to trump up her achievements. Even though she has been a member of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Audition Committee of AIR, Shimla, and the Academy of Art Culture and Languages, HP, and has been feted with awards like the Kala Samman and had the privilege of solo performances before the late Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajendra Prasad. Yet, she would rather talk about the beauty of kathak and the way it has changed her life.

Shelf life
If Diana had lived ...
British author of Bangladeshi origin Monica Ali has written a new novel that reportedly imagines the life of Princess Diana if she had not died in a car accident in 1997.
... How Benazir died
Pakistan's ruling PPP should try to unmask the killers of Benazir Bhutto while the party is in power or else the masterminds of her gruesome assassination are unlikely to be brought to justice, feels journalist-writer Amir Mir, who has come up with a new book about the murder of the charismatic former prime minister.

Short Takes
Slum child and the Mahatma
Reviewed by Randeep Wadehra
Slum Child
by Bina Shah
Tranquebar. Pages: 288. Rs. 295

Reading and Reappraising Gandhi
by Ram Chandra Pradhan
Macmillan. Pages: xiv+290. Rs. 210

My Life My Times
by Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri
Unistar. Pages: 270. Rs. 300

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