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"I am not
interested in being a brand"
Vibha Sharma
Ashok K. Banker needs no
introduction. He is an acclaimed author of mixed race and
mixedcultural background. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays,
literary criticism, fiction and mythological retellings. Epic India
Library is his brain child and through this, he plans to retell all
the major myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian subcontinent
in an interlinked cycle of over 100 volumes.
Pithy accounts of
spiritual text and power play
Reviewed by Roopinder Singh
Sri Guru Granth Sahib:
Historical-socio
economic
perspective
by Kirpal Singh.
Publication Bureau, Punjabi University Patiala. Pages 124. Rs 240.
WHAT happens when a
historian looks at what others see primarily as a spiritual text? He
finds references which give him a different perspective. Dr Kirpal
Singh is a well-know historian of the Sikhs. He delivered two
lectures, which were published in 1997-1998 on the historical
perspectives of Guru Granth Sahib.
Bollywood’s iconic bad
men
Reviewed by Manmeet Sodhi
Bollywood Baddies:
Villains, Vamps and Henchmen in Hindi Cinema"
By Tapan Ghosh Sage Publication. Pages
213. Rs 395
Tapan Ghosh’s Bollywood
Baddies is a comprehensive account of the overlooked dimensions of
villainy in Indian cinema. The book crafts an ode to the talented
actors who set new trends with their on-screen wickedness, the
menacing looks, the evil grins and the venomous one-liners, in a
productive study of villains’ school.
Zeroing in on distance
education
Reviewed by B. B Goel
Quality Assurance in
Distance Education and E-learning: Challenges & Solutions from
Asia
Ed Insung Jung, Tat Meng
Wong & Tian Belawati Sage. Pages 307. Rs 795
Distance education &
e-Learning has made a strong dent in revolutionising education
landscape. The establishment of UK Open University, advent of
internet, web/ICT services not only spawned new ways of delivering
education, but also surged for export/import of user friendly Open
& Distance Learning (ODL) model.
Archiving
Punjabi’s pioneering magazine
As Preetlari
steps into its 80th year, the National Archives at New Delhi acquires
the back issues
Nirupama Dutt
"Readers
would
stand on their terraces looking for the postman who would bring their
copy of Preetlari," says Punjabi writer Gulzar Singh
Sandhu commenting on the great yesteryear popularity of the monthly
magazine. "To be published in Preetlari meant that you had
made it as a writer," adds short fiction writer Mohan Bhandari.
Late Ram Sarup Ankhi, novelist, confessed to stealing Preetlari
from the letterbox of a neighbour in Barnala. Such was its pull.
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