|
Insight into a unique group
Reviewed by Hugh & Colleen Gantzer
The Anglo-Indians
by S. Muthiah and Harry MacLure,with inputs from Richard O’Connor.
Niyogi Books. Pages 228. $15
Even though the Constitution calls our community Anglo-Indian, it actually began with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498. As historian Muthiah points out, Euro-Indians would have been a more appropriate description.
Stories behind numbers
Reviewed by Kuldip Singh Dhir
Rogerson's Book of Numbers
by Barnaby Rogerson
Profile Books Ltd. London.
Pages 278.Rs 350
Folklore, music, myths, poetry, gods, devils, prophets, prayers, virtues, religious beliefs, spiritual attributes all have certain typical numbers associated with them, all over the world. Separate cultures seem to be magnificiently interlinked and interrelated by a shared belief in the magical significance of numbers. Rogerson's book delves deep into the mystery of numbers to assemble, arrange and analyse quite a large amount of information about their mythical, symbolic, religious and iconic use across the globe.
Lessons
learnt by a teacher
Reviewed by B.S. Thaur
The Journey of a School Teacher
by Chander Parkash Rahi
Chetna Parkashan, Ludhiana. Pages 240. Rs 300
School education
in government schools in India, particularly in the cow belt, has gone
from bad to worse. It has given way to private schools, institutes and
coaching centres run purely on commercial lines. They say, there are
institutes which are manufacturing certificates or degrees etc. which,
of course, ultimately prove to be fake and the holders get into
trouble.
Mystery,
murder, myth & more
Reviewed by Vikrant Parmar
The Butcher Of Benares
by Mahendra Jakhar Westland. Pages 314, Rs
350
Line
by line, the narrative gains momentum, and so does the heartbeat, as
author Mahendra Jakhar's novel The Butcher Of Benares reaches its
climax after meandering through the blood-splattered lanes of Banaras.
A la Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, Jakhar weaves a mystery wrapped in an
enigma, which leaves the reader gasping for breath as the plot surges
ahead.
The
world was Nehru’s stage
Reviewed by M. Rajivlochan
Jawaharlal Nehru: A biography. Vol. two; 1947-1956
by Sarvepalli Gopal, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Pages 346. Rs
1200
Volume
II of Gopal's biography of Nehru is mostly about Nehru's foreign
policy, with a little bit of contesting elections and dealing with
linguistic chauvinism thrown in. Which is a good thing for it was in
foreign affairs that Nehru can be projected as a winner and a great
man by an adoring biographer. Kashmir and Hyderabad, Panchsheel,
Korea, Tibet, Suez and Hungary: Each get a chapter each.
|
