Although Cunningham, Fergusson and Marshall had drawn the world’s attention to the tradition of’ great architecture in the Indian subcontinent, it was left to Havell to identify the concepts which constituted the basis of the architectural plans.
The debate about whether human behaviour is innately warlike and violent or peaceful and gentle is centuries old. It is no nearer resolution today than it was decades ago when far less was known about genetic influences on human behaviour. And it is unlikely to be resolved soon; partly because it is embedded…
Diplomats, particularly those who have been in the spotlight, write memoirs once they have removed the mask of their profession and hung them up for good. Retired Indian diplomats are no exception.
This compilation of essays endeavours to look beyond documented history to reveal the facets which have been remained ignored by mainstream historians and literatteurs of the time. The authors focus on the collective memory, which has remained alive in folk songs, country music, rural arts and local literature…
Though of recent origin, political pornography is a well-established literary genre in India today thriving on what Yunus rightly describes as the ‘prevailing mood of our high-minded intellectuals to read gossip.’ What began as a mild stimulant following the news-starved years of Emergency became in the permissive milieu of Janata rule full scale pandering to political prurience.
Vishakha is a rebel questioning her familys attitude towards child abuse, medicare, day to day functioning of the household, education of the girlchild, marriage and childbirth. She is in daily conflict with tradition and backwardness, modernism appears logical to her, she is also a brilliant and studious student…
Sudha Aroras Aam Aurat: Zinda Sawal provides an authentic saga of the sufferings of women each stratum in society. The book consists of five parts including a long biographical piece about her writing from a very young age. Her progress, surprising achievements in a row, inspired her to go ahead. Gradually a day arrived in 1992…
Cutting into the heart of a corpus of travel narratives Gagan Gill’s Awaak(Speechless) is a striking account of her pilgrimage to KailashManasarovara phantasmagoric chimera for most of us. Merging fable, myth and history with theology, Gagan Gill whisks us off along her peregrinationundertaken as a proxy for her husband…
During last few decades the areas of Hindi Criticism have expanded and Manager Pandey is one of the critics in the decades after Independence who defined that literature is not separate form society and hence growth of literature cannot be disassociated from the growth of society. The tools of Manager Pandeys…
Vimal Kumars third poetry collection, published by Vaani Prakashan in 2009,the litany of woes of water becomes a metaphor for the woes of the modern man with his surroundings, with the world at large.There is nothing new or revolutionary in a poet talking about the deterioration of values, erosion of trust or corruption in practically every sphere of life but in Kumars hands…
The world depicted is not real; at least not in the eyes of people who perceive mundane things with little sensitivity. In Sharmas world youll find towns, trees, and objects conversing, raising a point, debating it and sorting it out. Everything has life; life that people have forgotten to live. And even if they live it, they rarely celebrate it…
This long narrative poem is a brave attempt to chronicle the searing landscape of the dispossessed, deprived and destitute forgotten by the official recorders of history in an attempt to make visible what is essentially considered irrelevant and as a consequence undocumented. Srivastava writes with evident sincerity…
There is much talk about the recent accomplishment of Hindi literature through Dalit writngsand women writings. This superficial understanding emanates from slogan-mongering social activism. Dalit writings and women writings are not literary accomplishments as they are being made out to be but social achievements…
Uday Prakash, the man, is something of a maverickpoet, filmmaker, shortstory writer, translator, journalist, critic, and with the publication of this book, Ek Bhasha Hua Karti Thi, a chronicler of our times.When you pick up the book, its the cover that strikes you for its simplicity. A glass of steaming hot tea. Cutting Chai. Just what you need on a rainy Sunday afternoon. But this is not a book of poems…
Marta Tikkanens Swedish epic The Love Story of the Century has been translated into Hindi by Harish Narang as Iss Sadi Ki Prem Kahani. The poetic story is a first person narrative of a womans life who is married to an alcoholic. This strong, feminist text written in flashbacks, dialogues and a confessional mode is a written document…
Kumar Ambuj has carved a niche for himself by relating his life experiences through his stories. Ambuj is basically a poet. Ichhayen (Desires) is his first collection of stories that makes it clear that he has been able to break new ground in this form as well. The collection consists of 15 stories, most of which are short stories…
2011
Chandrakiran Sonrexas autobiography, Pinjre Ki Maina, time and again flashes Jainendras Mrinal on to the mind screen. A rebellious nature notwithstanding, the life paths chosen because of humiliation, rejection or mistrust finally lead back to the same destinations, after all. And then, Mrinal, rebelling against…
For the first time ever in a decade and more, the NCERT, the apex body advising the Government of India on educational matters, has woken up from its hibernation and brought out a book that is something worthwhile possessing or presenting to the younger generation.
Shanta Acharya’s evolution as a poet shows three distinct phases, as William Blake has put it, of innocence, experience and higher innocence. She starts out in a restrained manner, goes through certain experiences, and then goes on to fully articulate her emotional experiences.
Not self-expression but expressiveness: The languageways of Heart’s Beast.
Apoet’s selected poems from multiple books and a lifetime’s work, implies an intense self-consciousness and a special focus on future readers. Selected poems are not really for one’s existing readership.