Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

After a long ship and plane ride to the other end of the world, Breezy with his sisters, mother and Rama, now his stepfather, arrives in new Bombay that is developing new professions and industries much like the film industry. Rama steps up a motion picture colour processing lab for what was already emerging as the primary form of entertainment, the cinema.

This brings us to John’s fourth issue in the book, that of caste; in discussing the Indian caste system in the fourth chapter, John contrasts the sociological and sacral conceptions of caste. He refers to Marc Galanter’s framework, which had put forward three models of caste—the sacral, sectarian, and associational models. Whereas the sacral conception of caste sees the different castes in India ‘as constituent parts of a unified Hindu religious order’

Beginning with a well-analysed nineteen-page Introduction, raising and underlining several issues and processes relating to the office of the Prime Minister, she quotes Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying, ‘The higher you go, the more lonely you are.’ This sets the tone of the analysis that shows a Prime Minister as a human, who attempts to survive amidst competing pressures, aiming to triumph politically. In the process, a VP Singh ends up changing the politics of the country for all time to come despite a short tenure.

The author has attempted to provide a general theory of nasty politics across contexts. He contends that despite the differences in the three aforementioned contexts, the rationale behind employing nasty politics is essentially the same. In all of these contexts, name-calling and insults are usually more acceptable than provocation and intimidation.

The ‘unity talks’ between these political groups envisioned the Hyderabad State as a single political unit within the Commonwealth of India. However, as Mantena explores the frictions between regional autonomy and national freedom further, the Hyderabad State administration saw these assertions by the political groups as attacks on its ‘historical identity as an inheritor of Mughal legacy in South Asia’. Along with overtly political groups asserting their political ambitions

The writing moves you. It leaves you seething at the indignity and injustice inflicted on the last heroes and countless others by a system seeped in colonial bureaucratic rigmaroles/bureaucracy. Sainath highlights the irony of how independent India chose to recognize its freedom fighters and framed the eligibility criterion for pensions such as the Swatantra Sainik Samman.

The author cautions against using the words ‘natives’ or ‘whites’ or ‘Anglo-Indians’ among others, as these are politically contested terms in themselves. While they are loaded terms, the colonial archives’ understanding them became a way to address non-European locals, thus staying away from their identity or parentage.

Raghavan’s reflections, as a seasoned diplomat, on the problems that Asaf Ali had to face as India’s Ambassador to the United States (appointed by the Interim Government a few months before Independence), allow us to appreciate the adverse conditions under which the first set of envoys had to function. They were ridiculed if they were ostentatious

The present volume, going ahead, narrates Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay’s friendship and interactions with a host of political leaders across ideologies. Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan were some of such leaders.

This research monograph based on fresh, unknown and by that token unutilized sources of the political history of Varanasi offers insights and presents incisive analysis of many known and unknown events. The historians’ gaze has largely remained oblivious to the sources, scattered as they are, not only in many regional repositories, various State Archives

The numbers that Feldhaus has used to illustrate her argument are fascinating. There are the 12 jyotirlingas, the twelve major sites of pilgrimage of Siva worshippers, and while most do not explain the multiplicity of such sites

A book on wildlife conservation would not be complete without a look at women’s relationships with trees—recall the Chipko movement —and that’s what Neha Sinha and Shweta Taneja do by introducing the reader to Ghazala Shahabuddin (`The Oaks call Her Home’)

Very few Indian scholars have looked into these processes or, in general, the politics of conservation, which makes Tigers are our Brothers a rich resource and a persuasive invite to further inquiry and writing. Anyone in the field of conservation knows that the killing of wild animals is a highly sensitive topic. Ambika Aiyadurai engages with it courageously and does what is needed to break the silence.

In Rajasthan and in Gujarat the Bajara Khichdi dispenses with both the rice and the lentils. In Bengal Bhuni Khichdi is a celebratory dish and during the Pujo season, various pandals compete in serving rich, spicy, fried khichdi to visitors. In Maharashtra

A no-fuss collection of diverse cuisines and palettes—the book contains vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes that can be tried for casual meals as well as also for well curated formal occasions. The diversity is praise worthy—the getting into friends’ kitchens is palpable—the sheer number and variety including starters, mains, rice, breads, one-pot meals

The author provides a detailed account of her field-work methodology and the challenges faced by her while traversing across borders. Her analysis is divided into ‘two geographic comparisons of contiguous regions in specific time periods’

Given the power asymmetry between English and Indian languages, a fair and equitable dialogue between them is difficult to imagine. On the rare occasions when Indian language books are discussed in an English context, they are treated as free-floating objects devoid of cultural and critical milieus of their own and are used merely as fodder for the western critical canon.

Like Moni in ‘The Blight’, there is Mahadeb, a coolie in the story, ‘A Day’s Work’. An ailing son, an unemployed wife, how can he provide the basic nutrition required to heal the youngster? Is a piece of fish and a handful of rice beyond his dream of possibilities?

Yama’s story, ‘The Funerary Palm’ refers to the coconut palm saplings planted on the last remains of Amma who dearly held on to her only valuable possession: a gold necklace, ‘its beads shaped like grains of rice’ (p. 9), which is sold to pay for her funeral ceremony.

It is in Guwahati that Samar meets two of his closest friends—Rizu Kalita and Rana Singh Choudhury. Through this adolescent friendship the story moves forward. Samar’s friends carry their own baggage. Rizu was admitted to St. Joseph because his father, the much-loved Madhob Kalita did not want to lose both his sons to a revolution whose cause he was not sure of.