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Shimla
on a page
Some of the finest town histories
have been written on this summer capital
Raaja Bhasin
The
connection with literature, fiction, history and Shimla has always
been strong – even if much of the writing was done away from the
hill. Perhaps the best known connection is that with Rudyard Kipling
who drew inspiration from the town and its residents long after he had
left
Varied perspectives on social change
Reviewed by D S Cheema
Inside-Outside, Two Views of Social Changes in Rural India
by B S Baviskar and D W Attwood
Sage. Pages 451. Rs 950
The
book is about two points of views, that of an "insider", a
sociologist from a village background of Maharashtra, who had been
Professor and Head of Department of Sociology, University of Delhi and
the other that of an "outsider," an American emeritus
professor who was a Chair of the Department of Anthropology McGill
University of Montreal, Canada. It is about the system and processes
of bringing about social changes in rural parts of Maharashtra. A
hybrid view that strengthens the personal approaches of both the
authors reflects on the pros and cons of social research by
"insiders" versus "outsiders".
India through Nehru’s eyes
Reviewed by M Rajiv Lochan
Jawaharlal Nehru, A Biography, Vol 1 1889-1947
by S. Gopal, Oxford University Press,
New Delhi.
In
this monumental biography of Nehru his biographer, Gopal, shows us the
story of India through Nehru’s eyes as it were. Gopal begins by
telling about the strategies of the British to win allies in India so
that there was always someone who was willing to support the unbroken
monopoly over power established by the East India Company. In the
process, grandees with loud-sounding titles were created.
Shadow & substance
Reviewed by Suresh Kohli
Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow: An Autobiography
As narrated to Udayatara Nayar
Hay House India. Pages 456. Rs 699
Not
wholly unexpected, it is I, me, myself all the way through 282 pages
of delightfully elegant prose. It removes the dust off many prevalent
myths about the actor’s distinguished though not controversial
career beginning with how exactly he came in touch with Devika Rani
and how Bombay Talkies "was the best thing that happened to me at
that juncture in my life." His early involvement with Kamini
Kaushal: not entirely sure, in retrospect, "if that was
love." His infamous affair with "vivacious artiste"
Madhubala and the actual reasons behind the break realising "it
was all very well to be working together as artistes but in marriage
it is important for a woman to be ready to give more than
receive."
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