By Sharmila Purkayastha

he pivotal chapters, ‘The Turning Point’ and ‘Behind High Walls: Naxalite Narratives’, mark a significant shift as the author delves into the Naxalbari uprising and the ensuing political mobilization in the twin cities of Naxalbari and Srikakulam during the 1970s. Through in-depth testimonies and case studies, the author brings to the forefront the lived experiences of women political prisoners like Kalpana Bose, Joya Mitra, Rita Banerjee, Rajashri Dasgupta and women guerillas such as Shanti Munda.


Reviewed by: Sabah Hussain
By Iqbal S. Hasnain

The author seems to be too obsessed with Iran and Shias, he looks suspiciously at anything which is associated with Saudi Arabia and Wahhabi Sunnis and this he seems to be doing without caring for facts. His assertion that ‘a message had gone across to global Sunni and Arab communities that the US had snatched Iraq from the hands of true Islam and delivered it to the heretic Shias’


Reviewed by: Mirza Asmer Beg
By Kazi Nazrul Islam. Translated from the original Bengali by Radha Chakravarty

It is unfortunate, but not totally surprising, therefore that some jealous people strove to create a rift between Islam and Tagore. In the poem ‘Kandari Hushiar’, which we have mentioned earlier, Islam used the word ‘khoon’ for blood. This was objected to by a number of writers associated with the magazine Shanibarer Chithi. In this context Tagore also critiqued Islam’s frequent use of Arabic and Persian words in Bengali poetry. He was deeply hurt and reacting to this controversy, wrote the essay, ‘Borar Piriti Balir Bandh’.


Reviewed by: Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee
By Gurcharan Das

Parents influence our thoughts and reactions—and actions—to a very large extent, perhaps much more than we realize, and their respective beliefs of what constitutes life which sometimes may be in conflict with each other, often define our life and enclose it in a figurative pair of parentheses. Although there can be no doubt as to their good intentions regarding their desire to see their child succeed in life, they may both not necessarily envisage the same sort of success. And neither of them might subscribe to the ideas that their child has about getting on in life, of embarking on their own quest,


Reviewed by: Malati Mathur
By Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’. Translated from the original Hindi by Gautam Choubey

The book begins with ‘Sukul’s Wife’, a story of vidrohi tevar (revolutionary zeal). While celebrating the idea of a choice marriage between an inter-faith couple, it is traversed by organized orthodoxy—there is much discussion on choti­—the tuft of hair epitomizing exalted caste, female autonomy, gastronomical preferences, the psyche of man-woman relationship, and so on.


Reviewed by: Umesh Kumar
By Vinod Bhardwaj. Translated from the original Hindi by Brij Sharma

The book reads like a collection of salacious and malicious gossip hung from the washline of a drab and nuanceless narrative voice to look like a novella and seductively titled as a ‘diary’. It is neither literary, nor anti-literary. The characters—artists, curators, gallery owners, critics, art dealers, models and maids—are cardboard figures. Only dogs and mice have some life and seem interesting.


Reviewed by: Rajesh Sharma