By Hans Sande. Translated from the original Norwegian by Marietta Taralrud Maddrell. Series Editor: Teji Grover. Illustrations by Per Dylovig

The email communication begins with the calf escaping from the farm and declaring:‘Sinister things are happening here on the farm, but nobody talks about them. I dare not stay here any longer. Dare not wait and see what is going to happen to me. I don’t want to disappear suddenly. Love from me


Reviewed by: Anita Singh
By Mallika Ravikumar

Does the M4 remind us of the Five Found-Outers and others of the kind inspired by Enid Blyton? The additional nuance here is that of the social angle. As mentioned, Shimplya is a fisherman’s son. Mirchi is the local scrap-collecting boy, and it is he who leads to the exposure of the kingpin of the wildlife mafia in Maulsari and the release of 1280 endangered turtles (minus the 110 which had suffocated in captivity)(p. 224).


Reviewed by: Dipavali Debroy
By A.R. Venkatachalapathy

Before long, Chidambaram Pillai became drawn into the scheme initiated by a few Tuticorin traders to charter a steamer from a Bombay-based firm called Shah Line Company. He successfully exerted himself on behalf of this syndicate. By April 1906, the first chartered steamers arrived in Tuticorin; two months later there commenced a regular ‘Swadeshi’ service to Colombo. Soon, though, there was discord between the Swadeshi syndicate and the Shah Line Company. In an audacious move, Chidambaram Pillai now set about to create an indigenous shipping company with its own steamers. The first prospectus appeared in August 1906, and by October SSNCo was registered as a limited liability joint-stock firm. We learn, too,


Reviewed by: Prashant Kidambi
By Radha Kumar

A lengthy discussion on the importance of the Constitution in the making of the Indian Republic is found in the chapter titled, ‘Citizen and Community’. The section provides critical insights into the complexities associated with the drafting of the Indian Constitution. The process of its drafting has been delineated in detail by the author. Along with underlining the important role that Ambedkar and other members of the Constituent Assembly played in the making of the Indian Constitution,


Reviewed by: Amol Saghar
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