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King of the lost kingdom
Reviewed by Pushpesh Pant
Maharaja Hari Singh: The
Troubled Years
By Harbans Singh.
Brahaspati Publications, New Delhi. Pages 333+xx. Rs 895
AS
Dr. Karan Singh has
mentioned his brief but moving forward to this work, that Maharaja Hari
Singh has received a very negative press. He has been depicted mostly as
a playboy who was indifferent to the plight of his people. In contrast,
Sheikh Abdullah is portrayed as a valiant freedom fighter—the Lion of
Kashmir—who took on the might of self-indulgent royalty in the valley
to liberate his people.
Many takes on Tagore
Reviewed by Shelley Walia
Tagore and the West:
Essays
in Appreciation
Ed by Anand Prakash and
Ujjwal Sharma. Shanti Prakashan, Rohtak 2012. Rs 500
IN today’s world of
deepening contentions, we shall do well to remember, as Yeats
maintained, that "We write long books where no page perhaps has any
quality to make writing a pleasure `85 just as we fight and make money
and fill our heads with politics – all dull things in the doing –
while Mr. Tagore, like the Indian civilization itself, has been content
to discover the soul and surrender himself to its spontaneity."
Af-Pak: The challenges
ahead
Reviewed by Parshotam Mehra
Afghanistan and Pakistan:
Conflict, Extremism and Resistance to Modernity
By Riaz Mohammed Khan. Oxford University Press.
Rs 895.
A major nerve centre of
disquiet and turbulence that threatens peace in this part of the world—and
not only there—is the Af-Pak fault line. At the crossroads of history
and essentially an artificial construct of tribes often troubled by
internal strife—and unremitting pressure from outside—Afghanistan
has known little peace since the day it was born (1747) under its first
ruler, Ahmed Shah Durrani (Abdali).
Epic with a dynamic view
of life
Reviewed by Nirbhai Singh
The Great Golden Sacrifice
of the Mahabharata
By Maggi Lidchi Grassi. Random House. Pages
xxiv+960. Rs 999.
THIS book is a retold
simplified story of the Mahabharata. The epic has been reduced to
many regional languages with variant readings because of it mingling it
with regional traditions and creative interpretations of writers. One
point is clear that the spirit of the epic has been kept true to the
conflict between the good and the evil, and the final victory is of the
good.
Insights on the ‘steel
frame’
Reviewed by B B Goel
The Service of the State:
The IAS Reconstituted
By Bhaskar Ghose, Penguin
Books. Pages 306. Rs 499
CIVIL Service as a
re-invention of ICS is inevitable to ensure stability, continuity and
assuring extraordinary results in Indian administrative system. The
transition of Government elected by adult franchise, initiation of
planned efforts to develop the country economically and socially and in
the wake of market led economy, civil services have to strive for a
built-in adaptability to meet emerging demands of governance.
From Argentina with
devotion
Classical dancer Myrta
Barvie, inspired by Rukmini Devi Arundale, has dedicated five decades to
Indian dance
AN Argentine woman who
started as a ballet dancer and later learnt Bharatnatyam, Odissi and
Kuchipudi from great masters has not only dedicated 50 years of her life
to Indian classical dance but has also become an Indian in form and
spirit. Myrta Barvie is an icon in South America. She has had an
illustrious career as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and writer.
Music for the soul
Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans
talks to SD Sharma about his life and music
OVER the years, the
definitive concept of Punjabi folk music had lost its vitality, as a
consequence to falling prey to alien musical influences, the debasing
power of money, glamour-struck performing artistes, all caused by
commercialisation of the realm of art. Caught between the filmy, pop
background and native notions, many of the Punjabi artists who claim to
be Sufi singers know little about Sufi spiritual culture.
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