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Epistles from the
Great War
Reviewed by Atamjit Singh
Indian Voices of the Great
War: Soldiers' Letters, 1914-18
Ed by David Omissi.
Penguin/Viking.Pages 382. Rs 599
About
11 lakh army men left India for different destinations in 1914 to
fight the Great War; more than 60,000 of them lost their lives. David
Omissi has compiled 657 letters by soldiers who fought in France,
thereby opening a window that enables us to peep into their psyche and
acquaint ourselves with the social, psychological and economic
pressures that they faced. The letters chronicle the first-hand valour,
gloom and, of course, the blood and gore of the battlefield. The
source of these letters is the India Office Record that held
the censors' reports along with the extracts; now a part of Oriental
and India Office collections at the British Library.
A
roller-coaster ride that is life
Reviewed by Aradhika Sharma
Dubey Ji Bounces Back
by Vivek Atray. Wisdom Tree. Pages 219. Rs 195
we
meet poor Dubey ji at the time when he is full of trepidation about
meeting a difficult client — the redoubtable Mrs Koppikar. His fears
are completely founded because by the end of the meeting, he’s
walloped on the head with a vase by the fearsome and irate lady; has a
near-death experience and lands in the hospital. Finally, when he
comes back to his senses, he finds himself with a heavily-bandaged
head and teary relatives surrounding his bedside.
Unthreading
the mystery
Reviewed by M. Rajivlochan
Gulab
by Annie Zaidi.
Harper Collins. Pages 184. Rs 350
A great
love story. A man in search of the love that he left behind. The
search is initiated by a stray message. Takes him to a graveyard.
There he finds himself amidst confusion. He could have walked away on
not finding the grave where his love of long time ago was buried. He
does not. Rather, he follows up various leads that come up, trying to
resolve the mystery of the woman who might never have been buried and
whose grave is being claimed by so many.
Will
the Golden Bird shine again?
Reviewed by B. B. Goel
Turn Around India
by R.P. Gupta.
Himalaya. Pages 345
Core
value of democratic governance is inclusiveness, wherein government
institutions and policies can accelerate development. India faces an
uphill task of creating an environment to bridge the gap between rich
and poor. The book provides testimony to the government’s failure on
the economic front. Arguing that business alone drives economic
growth, optimism surfaces given political and administrative will and
empowerment is the byproduct of responsibility, India can turn around
to be the world’s best bet in the growth market.
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