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.