Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

The function of communication to shape the dialectics of the time provides it with a rare power. Defined as the interplay of various, often conflicting, images and symbolizations, the process of communication as well as the import of that process hold within them the innate will to move thought-processes in a particular direction…

The book under review is a comprehen-sive picture of the developmental trajectory followed by the ICT industry in India. It underscores the historical role played by the state in promoting the industry. Primarily focusing on the institutions responsible for laying the foundation of IT, the author adopts…

Once upon a time, and not very long ago either, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi where several large and small newspapers have their offices didnt used to be as horribly crowded with cars as it is now. From 1982, when I first went to work there at the Express Group, until 1987 when George…

Acollection in honour of distinguished philosopher Mrinal Miri, this volume is held together less by any thematic unity, despite its title, than by the personal closeness the authors and editors (two of his former students), feel towards an undoubtedly remarkable thinker and institution builder…

The blurb of Celebrating Delhi appropri-ately mentions that the book takes us on a journey varied and unexpected. We may add that it also infuses and inspires a deep sense of involvement and enchantment with the city through the passionate and committed writings of each author. The themes cut across pre-colonial…

If one were to write a history of Namdev and trace the traditions that bear his name, how would one set about doing it? There is no historical record of his life and composition, either in court documents or in inscriptionsa fate he shares with most great bhaktas or devotional poetsaints of medieval and early modern India…

Max Weber spoke of man as a meaning making animalspinning constantly and being suspended in webs of meaning to make sense and give an orientation to the world that he lived in and wished to order. Such a formulation seems to lie at the basis of Heinrich Von Stietencrons study of the iconography of the Ganga and Yamuna on temple doors…

The Harappan or Indus civilization is a subject where the amount of new data and analysis are constantly growing, and it is difficult to keep pace with both. That is why a new book on the subject excites interest. Rita P. Wrights The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society is part of a series that aims at introducing students…

The book under review written by an eminent artist with emotional appeal has twelve hapters with impressive photographs and lay-out and is not too unwieldy for capturing the salient features of the life of a colossus that Rukmini Devi was. In the preface the author says that she started her research in 1992 collecting data regarding years…

This slim book seems to be the outcome of a well-meaning attempt to understand thoroughly the communicative aspect of Gandhiji’s personality and politics. Much energy has obviously gone into the enterprise; the many tables, appendix, the pages of endnotes at the end of each chapter as well as the long bibliography…

Crooked Stalks is a powerful reminder, especially to those who believe otherwisedespite mounting evidence to the contrary, that development is not a codewritten computer programme. In this wellresearched study of the Piramalai Kallar community of southern Tamil Nadu, Anand Pandian blends precolonial past and colonial history…

A slim volume, you pick up the book imagining that it is contains short chicken-soup-ish love stories. It is however, an unfortunate compilation of unanchored thoughts.

Cynicism and hopelessness often tint our view of the political situation in our country and with news channels painting bleak pictures for us twenty-four hours a day, an almost existential sort of hopelessness tends to grip us from time to time.

Our bhasha oral traditions are replete with stories which have no purpose except to make children have a hearty laugh, be it about an old woman who scares away a tiger with loud farts or a daughter-in-law who outwits her mother-in-law in cunning but entertaining ways.

The Peacock in the Chicken Run is part of the four novellas in the short fiction series launched by Tranquebar Press. Aimed at frequent commuters who travel light and love nothing more than a story while they wait to board, the protagonists of these series are often those who find themselves in transit.

If you are in the mood for an intergalactic adventure, the eleventh adventure in the Aditi series, Siril and The Spaceflower is a good read. When one of Jupiter’s moons, Eu, goes off orbit, it’s up to Siril the ant to convince his friends that she needs help! Siril is known for being rational, of course, but Beautiful Ele has her doubts.

Small noses catch small colds. Big noses catch big colds.’ Such is the indisputable, childlike logic of Ashok Rajagopalan’s latest from Tulika—Gajapati Kulapati.

A translation of Bangla children’s stories? My first reaction was one of excitement at the authors featured— Sukumar Ray, Lila Majumdar, Shibram Chakrabarty, Ashapurna Debi…a child’s staple diet when we were growing up in Calcutta.

Beginning with nine-year-old Keshav’s desire to go to a place that is cold, triggered by his mother’s sweating in the heat as she works, The Snow King’s Daughter translates that desire into an exploration of exile and the loss of a home.

Leila Seth’s We, The Children of India is a beautiful window that opens to the basics of the Indian Constitution. The book explores what a citizen should know about his/her country and the most important book of the nation.