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Recreating Kashmir’s
blood-soaked history
Reviewed by B. L. Chakoo
Kashmir: Its Aborigines
and their Exodus
by Colonel Tej K Tikoo.
Lancer. Pages 680. Rs
895
IN Bharistan-i-Shahi,
a chronicle of medieval Kashmir, we read that Kashmiri people died
like "insects in fire," as a Mongol warrior and adventurer,
Zulqadar Khan and his soldiers who hailed from Turkistan, killed
everyone "they could lay hands on." Those who fled to the
near forests and mountains were passionately pursued, captured and
brutally killed.
Decoding unfathomable
mysteries
Reviewed by Balwinder Kaur
The Lost Fragrance
by Amit Dasgupta.
Wisdom Tree. Pages 216. Rs 195
Fearful of the
unfathomable horrors that could befall them; no one even dares to talk
out loud about the dangerous far-off place which is shrouded in
mystery. But an old schoolmaster is forced to acknowledge that this
dark place is neither myth nor legend but actually exists.
Insightful
look at the Indian political scene
Reviewed by Nirbhai Singh
The Indian Ideology
by Perry Anderson.
Three Essays Collective, Gurgaon. Pages 190. Rs 350
Indian
democracy suffers from claims of the politicians that it doesn’t
correspond to stark visible realities. The roots of the current ills
of the Indian Republic go deeper into history of feudalism, despotism,
alien invasions, and internal schisms. Anderson pinpoints serious
structural flaws and the deep-rooted social prejudices of those who
have administered the state in the decades since Independence.
A player & a
gentleman
Reviewed by Harbans Singh
Pataudi: Nawab of
Cricket
Ed by Suresh Menon
Harper Sport. Pages 186.
Rs 499
FOR Midnight's Children,
Pataudi Nawab of Cricket is a journey through a nostalgic past.
It chronicles the life and times of a man who was to cricket what
Nehru was to India; not achieving much but laying the foundations of a
successful cricketing culture. Suresh Menon has edited one of those
rare books about a departed cricketer with the potential of bringing
an ageing and young generation together.
Smiles and tears in City
of Joy
Reviewed by Aradhika Sharma
Calcutta: Two Years in
the City
by Amit Chaudhuri
Hamish Hamilton. Pages 309. Rs 599
WHAT is common between
Suketu Mehta's Maximum City, William Dalrymple's City of
Djinns, Altaf Tyrewala's Mumbai Noir and Amit Chaudhuri's Calcutta?
All these books belong
to the increasingly popular genre of metro literature, which deals
with the life in major cities, trying to explore their
social-cultural-political fabric — and get into the bloodstream of
the city to explore the ebbs and flows of its metaphorical body.
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