By Sopan Joshi

The book is a repository of information of the numerous varieties that are cultivated in the country. Thanks to poor shelf-life most varieties do not make it beyond their area of cultivation. There are varieties restricted to specific orchards and trees. Melodious names like Kohitoor, Mankurad, Imam Pasand and Neelum are still common, but Ratna and Sindhu are niche varieties of specific areas of Maharashtra. Rani Pasand in Murshidabad, Bengal and Champa in Champaran Bihar rarely make it beyond their territory.


Reviewed by: Sohail Akbar
By Tabinda Jalil-Burney

The intimate style of Jalil-Burney’s writing is like walking through the several rooms of her house from within which one can hear Ruqaiyya Khala’s hearty laughs in one corner to Abba’s serious recitation of Urdu poems in another, as each chapter narrates a life story about a family member, seamlessly tied to a culinary memory or a dietary choice peculiar to that incident.


Reviewed by: Suman Bhagchandani
By Swadesh Singh

Needless to say, Modian Consensus: The Rediscovery of Bharat remains an appropriate intervention in the growing plethora of relevant analyses of current politics in India. The recently concluded general elections and the results thereof, however, appear to have put a spanner in the works of the developing Modian Consensus! Not only has the BJP suffered quite a noteworthy electoral setback, the role of coalition partners—and therefore, coalition politics in general—has emerged stronger and more robust


Reviewed by: Roshni Sengupta
By Ruby Lal

Ruby Lal, immersed in the themes of oblivion and erasure to understand the past, and particularly to investigate why certain persons, including women, could not take centre stage in Mughal history, dwells on the practice of erasure of the extraordinary literary prose work of Gulbadan, the only woman Mughal memoirist.


Reviewed by: Meena Bhargava
Edited by M. Gobalakichenane

However, one feature that is common in both diaries is that both Ananda Ranga Pillai and Viranaicker considered themselves loyal subjects of the French. In spite of articulating his criticism of the French so clearly, Pillai did not ever exhibit any nationalist consciousness or preference for being under indigenous rule.


Reviewed by: Kanakalatha Mukund
By Bhaswati Mukherjee

Those lured (or even blackmailed or kidnapped) to join, faced a tough journey which was under inhumane conditions, and often led to death, which of course was not expected. However, the author points out that for the westerners, the offer of indenture was considered as a relief, offering a better life for the famine-stricken poor in the country.


Reviewed by: Sunanda Sen