Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

The latest offering from the indefatigable Joep Bor and his learned colleagues, this modestly titled volume should really have been called Companion to Hindustani Music. There are 25 essays cove-ring eight centuries from the thirteenth to the twentieth.

In 1988, I had just been appointed the Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and had finished chairing the first meeting of my Governing Council, when I was approached by a frail figure, grey-haired and bearded, clad, if I remember correctly, in saffron.

The recent exhibitions in Delhi and Mumbai of the works of painters Amrit and Rabindra, popularly known as the Singh Twins, drew in many accolades especially for ‘taking Indian miniatures to a completely new level’ because of their ‘reflec-tions on contemporary life.

This is a provocative and refreshing book on the condition of the working class under globalization with special reference to India. If there is one thing that comes to mind after reading this book it is the last few words of the Communist Manifesto: ‘Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains’.

As the world struggles to emerge from the economic crisis, the links between business and government are increa-singly relevant. Political analysts from the United States and Britain to India and China are increasingly focusing on the ways that corporate interests influence, even control, public policy.

The book written by Kaushik Roy offers an interesting take on the development of the Armed Forces as an institution, its nature and purposes and the formulation of theories as regards its functions.

We have seen Bengalis assembled on various occasions of danger, distress and sorrow, such as that of the Partition – Mohun Bagan has infused a new life intro the lifeless and cheerless Bengali – By your victory sport has been turned into a unifying force -(Basumati, 5 August 1911)

The eminent historian Irfan Habib’s The National Movement: Studies in Ideology and History, seeks to grapple again with the classic question of the rela-tionship of socialist thought and nationalism.

North East India is mostly written about in connection with the politics of space and identity. Here is another one dealing with the same subject. But Sanghamitra Misra’s work is a book with a difference.