On a personal note
Reviewed by Neeti Nair
Strictly Personal: Manmohan & Gursharan
by Daman Singh. Harper Collins.
Pages 451 Rs 699
Strictly Personal is not only a deeply evocative biography of Daman Singh’s parents; it is, equally, an important contribution to the historiography of 20th century India. From the trauma and displacement of partition that were, in part, reflected in the nature of Dr Singh’s nomadic undergraduate education, to the college student Gursharan’s anxious preparation for a cultural program to welcome Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev to the Bhakra Dam, the life histories of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur straddled several major moments in India’s history.

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Health issues in British India
Reviewed by Jayanti Roy
Colonial Medical Care in North India. Gender State and Society 1840-1920
by Samiksha Seherawat.
Oxford University Press. Pages 292. Rs 895
Health care existed in India since ancient times and there are references of hospitals even in the era of Ashoka the Great. However, state-sponsored institutional medical care, as we see it today, was introduced, expanded and funded by the colonial state. This book chronicles the history of medical care and hospitals from 1840-1920. And in the process, paints a picture of the Indian society of that time, its dilemmas, evolution, ideologies, anti-colonial nationalism and several other dimensions, which dominated life in that period of 80 years. History can be written in many ways and each way makes us look back in time with a different perspective, enriching our knowledge and understanding. This is true for the book in hand.

Old text, modern relevance
Reviewed by Madan Mohan Goel
Anu-Gita In The Mahabharata
by Satya P. Agarwal & Urmila Agarwal.
New Age Books. Pages 161. Rs 250
Anu-Gita is a little known part of the Mahabharata. It occurs towards the end of the great epic. After the Mahabharata war, when peace ensued, Lord Krishna told Arjuna that he would like to go to Dwarka. Arjuna replied, "Before you go, please teach me the Gita once more, because I have forgotten a large part of what you taught me in the battlefield of Kurukshetra." Krishna's this lesson to Arjuna is called Anu-Gita. The prefix Anu means after. To carryout studies for business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) by professionals in corporate world and to internationalise Indianisation, Anu Gita is the primary source of information in English.

Concerns of a wildlife lover
Reviewed by Ashima S Batish
My Life with Tigers Ranthambhore and Beyond
by Valmik Thapar.
Oxford. Pages 191. Rs 550
The book takes you on a journey through the jungles of Ranthambore to the conference rooms of the Ministry of Environment and Forest. En route, it introduces people, who cared for the wildlife and the contradicting set of callous beings. And accordingly, you love and hate them.





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