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Taking the road
less travelled
Reviewed by Roopinder Singh
Sikhs in Latin America: Travels
among the Sikh Diaspora
By Swarn Singh Kahlon. Manohar. Pages 361. Rs 1,100.
Is
it a scholarly work, or is it a travelogue? It’s a bit of both,
with historical, ethnographical and geographical strains thrown in for
good measure. This is one book that cannot be slotted easily. But then,
it is difficult to classify the author too. He is a Punjabi who spent
most of his working life in Bombay and Calcutta, studied in the US, and
now makes Chandigarh his home. This is his first book, and he has been
working on this subject for a long time.
Old
wine in a new bottle
Reviewed by Rachna Singh
Bollywood’s Top 20:
Superstars of Indian Cinema
Ed. Bhaichand Patel. Penguin. Pages 279. Rs 499.
The
theme for the World Book Fair held recently in Delhi was ‘100
years of Indian Cinema’. Madhuri Dixit has been given pride of place
in Madam Tussauds Bollywood pantheon which now includes wax statues of
six celebrated Indian cine stars. This without a doubt indicates the
growing global interest in the cinema of India be it parallel cinema or
the more typical song and dance genre. This interest is not limited to
understanding the cinematography or the social mores encapsulated in
Indian films but veers more towards an almost voyeuristic desire to peek
into the lives of film stars. Such an interest has marked the advent of
biographies, autobiographies and varied collections detailing the life
and times of Bollywood stars. Bollywood’s Top 20: Superstars of Indian
Cinema edited by Bhaichand Patel is one such collection.
Titanic
still connects its descendants
British writer Andrew Wilson
authors a new book on the story of the survivors
Madhusree Chatterjee
Disaster
brings people together with the spectre of shared horror and
memories. The sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 still connects
the descendants of victims and survivors 100 years on, says British
journalist, researcher and writer Andrew Wilson. "I think the
families and friends of the survivors are still moved by the disaster.
During my research, I came across a survivor, Jack Thayer's grandson
Robert Macguire, who was working in London. It was extraordinary to
discover that he had married a descendant of a Titanic survivor,"
said Andrew Wilson in an interview.
Rural
entrepreneurs as achievers
Reviewed by B.B Goel
Empowering Rural Women
(Micro-enterprise through Achievement Motivation)
By Kiron Wadhera and George Koreth. Sage. Pages 191. Rs 395
In
management jargon, the period of the 1950s was a golden era in
the development of motivation concepts by Maslow (hierarchy of needs),
McGregor ( X & Y theory), Herzberg (two-factor theory), David
McClelland and his associates (contemporary theories). McClelland, while
examining the relationship between achievement and productivity made use
of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). It is a tool to identify and
assess inner drives of an individual(s). It consists of showing
individuals a series of pictures and asking them to give a brief of what
was happening there.
William
Boyd to write Bond novel
William
Boyd, the celebrated author and James Bond enthusiast, is to step
into Ian Fleming’s shoes and send Britain’s most famous fictional
spy out on a new mission.
Veterans
push English fiction in India
The
growing English language publishing industry in India has taken a
step north with three veteran publishers — David Davidar, Ravi Singh
and Kapish G. Mehra — joining ranks to push high-end literary fiction
from the subcontinent to a wider cross section of readers in the
country.
Eat
your way to beauty
Reviewed by Aradhika Sharma
The Beauty Diet
By Shonali Sabharwal. Random House Rs 250. Pages 324.
The
picture of Bollywood Diva, Hema Malini and her daughter, looking
lean and fit on the cover of the book, is attractive enough for the
reader to reach out for it to at least look at it. A few pages into the
book, one realises that it’s a well written self -help book, though a
bit tough in its recommendations. The regimen that Shonali Sabbharwal
recommends in The Beauty Diet — Eat Your Way To A Fab New You promise
to make any ordinary woman ‘into Katrina Kaif’, provided of course,
the person is as dedicated and tough as the star herself.
A
century of Dracula
Fangs
for the memory
A hundred years after its
creator’s death, Dracula continues to terrify and inspire. Arifa
Akbar looks at our fascination with fiction’s first vampire
Persons
of small courage and weak nerves should confine their reading of
these gruesome pages strictly to the hours between dawn and
sunset." So wrote The Daily Mail on the original publication of
Dracula, on 1 June 1897, which sent a wave of shocked awe across the
world’s book critics for its farrago of devilish horrors.
short
takes
Buddha,
longevity and clash of values
Reviewed by Randeep Wadehra
Sanatan Kriya: The Ageless
Dimension
By Yogi Ashwini. Dhyan Foundation. Pages 228. Rs 1200
Quest
for immortality, eternal youthfulness or lifelong good health
leads individuals, institutions and governments into investing billions
on various research projects dedicated to discovering the ever-elusive
formula for agelessness. Our ancient scriptures talk of rishis who had
lived for thousands of years. The introduction to this book asserts that
vedic rishis were masters of the temporal as well as the spiritual and
were capable of controlling prakriti (Nature) and all its
manifestations; they had mastered the five elements – mahabhutas –
which go into the making of the physical body. In fact, various sages
and scientists have been coming up with assorted theories on eternal
youthfulness. However, there is a consensus of sorts that yoga helps in
achieving good health, which is so essential for an active and long
life.
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A Cup of Buddha
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The Winner’s
Price
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