The poems, short stories, extracts from magazines, statements in courts, and novels in The Other Side of Terror (‘What does it mean?’ an exasperated reader asked about the title) are grouped under ‘Freedom and Terror’, ‘Revolution and Terror’, and ‘Identity and Terror’.
Return to the village—they advise We aren’t far from the countryside not to be able to return you don’t see the ebony flowers you see the flesh of trees. (Flesh of Trees)
What does Hungarian poetry translated into Hindi signify? Is it just a random selection of a language and a bunch of poets—finding a way through the translator into another language? Or is it much more than a simple language transaction?
2009
This is an elegantly written book about life in upper-crust Adyar, (Chennai) where the jasmine flowers flourish, and ritual, dance and music go hand-in-hand with the routine chores of bringing up children, and running a house.
Halting of voice and limb, flattering the mighty, I have been made an actor in a farce. I know not what new comedy old age will have me dance with these white hairs for grease paint. Murâri (From Anargharâghava, trans. DHH Ingalls)
The fact that some sixty years after Independence the dalits continue to be marginalized in our country cannot be disputed.
2009
This collection of essays according to the author, ‘convey the author’s concerns on a wide range of issues, from the Brahmaputra and river waters to the peace talks in Nagaland,
At the outset, the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) has to be applauded for bringing out a volume in honour of A.Vaidyanathan who served several years both in the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) and the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS).
Implementing any technology essentially has two parts: the theoretical knowledge about the system as well as knowledge about the way to practically implement the system.
The book edited by Paramita Dasgupta is a valuable contribution to the growing literature on WTO related studies. It has not only provided a conceptual framework of contemporary issues but also brought up lot of relevant aspects for India.
2009
Blanche D’Souza’s book Harnessing the Trade Winds—The Story of the Centuries Old Indian Trade with East Africa Using the Monsoon Winds, challenges the prevailing viewpoint that ‘the first Indians came to Africa as railway construction workers,
Images of India going to the polls in recent years have invariably tended to underscore the cynical lack of ideology and idealism on the part of leaders and opponents. The very real business of horse-trading and post-poll arithmetic has virtually obscured the possibility of ethico-moral politics—a potential that until the 1950s was a real one.
Annette Gordon-Reed won the 2009 Pulitzer history prize for this remarkable book, surely one of the most deserving recipients of that high honour.
Nayantara Sahgal, a prolific writer, has ben awarded the Sahitya Academy Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for other works of fiction. Two books have recently been reissued by Penguin—Storm in Chandigarh and A Situation in Delhi.
Chatura Rao’s Meanwhile, Upriver strikes us with its cryptic and yet engaging book cover. An expansive blue backdrop with a suggestive landscape, a monkey man crouching at one end, a fat woman clad in red, floating in the air at the other and both facing each other as if awaiting their meeting, duly summarizes the book.
2009
The movie begins with a regurgitation of not just a half digested Bengali breakfast but also a foreboding of tragedy. Did I just say movie? Indrajit Hazra’s The Bioscope Man may well be a movie, which has been cinematographed in words, for such is the dexterity with which he casts his characters and rolls out his scenes.
2009
Abha Dawesar’s Family Values is written from a perspective of the young boy ‘narrator’ whose unwitting existentialist narrative questions the essence of Indian family values.
2009
This is the second work of fiction by Azhar Abidi. His first work of fiction, Passarola Rising, was ostensibly a work of science fiction set around an imaginary event that occurred in the year 1731.
2009
I must begin with a double disclaimer: I am not familiar with the entire body of Girish Karnad’s dramatic work, and I have not yet seen a stage performance of Wedding Album, Girish Karnad’s newest play. Having gotten that out of the way, here’s getting down to the business of reviewing a new, unusual offering from one of the best known dramatists in the country. In a word, I was surprised.
When E.M.S. Namboodiripad came to Mumbai in the 1950s as the Chief Minister of Kerala, a large number of people received him at the airport and several government vehicles waited to take him to the government rest house. But he sent them all away saying he was in the city for party work.