|
Testimony
to the undying spirit
Reviewed by Rumina
Sethi
Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian Writing on Exile and Home
Edited by Penny Johnson & Raja Shehadeh.
Women Unlimited. Pages
202. Rs 395.
Gassan
Kanafani, the young Palestinian poet, writes: "The only
thing that we know is that tomorrow will be no better than today, and
that we are waiting on the banks, yearning for a boat that will not
come. We’re sentenced to be separated from everything except for our
own destruction." Barriers remain rigid and decisive, social
distance between the Palestinians and the Israelis continues unabated.
It is often asked: Which was more painful, to be a refugee in someone
else’s country or a refugee in your own? And the great poet Mahmoud
Darwish would answer: "A place is not a geographical area; it’s
also a state of mind; and trees are not just trees; they are the ribs
of childhood."
Demystifying
the life of a diplomat
Reviewed by Ashok
Tuteja
Beyond Diplomatic Dilemmas’
by Amb. Surendra Kumar
Diplomacy
is a complex business, more so for an Indian diplomat since the
country is faced with a plethora of problems. However, the general
impression is that a career with the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is
highly glamorous: worldwide travel, government-paid housing, generous
pay and benefits. Former Ambassador Surendra Kumar’s book Beyond
Diplomatic Dilemmas demolishes that myth.
Insight
into Gandhi’s approach to multiculturalism
Reviewed by B. L.
Chakoo
Gandhi and the Ali Brothers
by Rakhahari Chatterji.
Sage. Pages 229. Rs 695.
The
Khilafat Movement — as it began, unfolded and ended — was a
highly complicated event in shaping Hindu-Muslim unity in the early
20th century India. Though it was thought to be basically concerned
with the fate of the Caliph in the faraway Ottoman Empire, it
gradually assumed tremendous significance in the history of
contemporary India as it got "entwined with the emerging
mass-based struggle" for freedom against British rule.
Reliving
dreams, nightmares and memories
Reviewed by Balwinder
Kaur
The Fault In Our Stars
by John Green. Penguin.
Pages 316. £7.99.
Everyone’s
worst nightmare is seventeen year old Hazel’s daily reality. She
lives each day with the chilling knowledge that death is imminent
because she has terminal lung cancer. Her ever- shrinking Cancer Kid
Support Group also consists of similarly fated teenagers. Startlingly
relatable, she has moments of near-normalcy but her teen angst is
overshadowed by mortal terror. But everything changes when Augustus
comes to the support group; an amputee himself in remission he is a
beacon of affable cheer.
Degree Coffee by the
Yard
A Short Biography of Madras
by Nirmala Lakshman. Aleph.
Pages 158. Rs 295.
Scandal Point
by Fahad Samar.
HarperCollins. Pages 289. Rs 250.
|
