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Rebel without a pause
Reviewed by Rumina Sethi
The Scattered Leaves of My Life: An
Indian Nationalist Remembers
by Saraladebi Chaudhurani. Trans. and ed. Sikanta Banerjee.
Women Unlimited, New Delhi and Stree, Kolkota. Pages 195. Rs 500
In the "muscular
nationalism" of the Indian freedom struggle, there was usually no
place for ordinary mortals; as for women, only those who qualified as
extraordinary could be part of the otherwise male-centric accounts of
history. One name that stands apart is that of Saraladebi Chaudhurani.
Saraladebi’s lineage was impeccable: she was the daughter of
Swarnakumaridebi, sister of Rabindranath Tagore. Unlike other women of
her time, she became a revolutionary and is remembered today as the
fierce freedom fighter from Bengal who broke many stereotypes at a
time when women’s liberation was unheard of.
Young & the restless
Reviewed by Balwinder Kaur
Taklu and Shroom
By Ranjit Lal. Harper.
Pages 248. Rs 250
Gaurav Roy is a 17-year-old who dreams of a life less ordinary but suddenly his very existence turns into a nightmare. During a simple walk in the park with his baby sister Mihika and his dog Rani, he ignores the warning of an imperious policeman and gets mistaken for a security threat to the Prime Minister’s cavalcade. An overenthusiastic cop shoots Rani; killing her and making Gaurav the prime suspect in a terrorism plot. Gaurav’s life is made a living hell; his father is fired, their house is ransacked, their acquaintances are harassed and the media paints a bull’s-eye on Gaurav’s head.
Mahabharata
reinvented
Reviewed by Aradhika
Sekhon
Do you remember Bharat Ek
Khoj, the tele-serial based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous book The
Discovery of India? The serial was directed by Shyam Benegal and
it was catagorised as a historical drama. In its portrayal of the Mahabharata
and the Ramayana, it did not reflect the glitter, opulence and
grandeur that Bollywood films tend to do, but tried to place the
narration of the epics in a historical perspective.
As melancholy flows
Reviewed by Arun Gaur
As the river flows
Translated and Ed Ranjita Biswas. Harper Collins.
Pages 248. Rs 299
It is a collection of 15 stories by some of the well-known story writers of Assam: Mohim Bora, Homen Borgohain, Bhabendra Saikia, Mamoni Goswami, Bhupendra Bhattacharya, Harekrishna Deka, Apurba Sarma, Arupa Kalita, Purabi Bormudoi, Manorama Medhi, Phul Goswami, Manoj Goswami, Jyotish Sikdar, Navanita Gogoi, Jayanta Chakraborty. All of them have won some of the most prestigious literary awards like the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith award, Katha award and Sanskriti award.
No party time for political parties
Reviewed by Nirbhai Singh
Dynamics of Party System and Coalition Governments in India
By Ranpal Singh and Tejvir Singh. Alfa Publications.
Pages xvii+143. Rs 700
The book under review is on the
current Indian political scenario that has shifted from one-party rule
in the Centre and states to multi-party rule, based on caste,
religion, linguistic, economic and other foreign materialistic
ideologies and capitalistic modes of globalisation. Spiritual culture
and unity eroded. In the "Introduction," Ranpal Singh
explains the theme of the seminar "Dynamics of Party System"
held at Sadhaura College in October, 2007. The edited work consists of
16 revised articles presents by the seminarians.
Platter of stories
Reviewed by Pooja Dadwal
Sorry Secrets
By Aditya
S.Pendalya
Frog Books
Pages 262. Rs 195
Part-realistic
and part-pure imaginational, Sorry Secrets brings forth a bunch
of tales that deal with emotions that are macabre, fantastical and
heart-rending. The stories, which have sprung from the mind of an
observant and curious 17-year-old, have a freshness. The 11 stories
and two poems that have been penned by Aditya S. Pendalya, are
descriptively written but poorly edited. Once you take away your
attention from the badly edited stories and inexcusable proof reading,
you will appreciate them.
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