OFf the shelf
The British Rule in India: Tale of Loot and plunder
V. N. Datta
The Scandal of Empire: India and the Creation of Imperial Britain Nicholas B. Dirks. Permanent Black, New Delhi. Pages XVIII + 389. Rs 650.
This is an unusual book. It is not only a severe indictment of the rise, foundation and total condemnation of the concept of Empire itself, but also shows that Empire-making is essentially exploitation and oppression by using devious means of seizing authority and sovereignty over millions of people, alien in race, nationality, customs and manners. The essence of the study is that Empire-making and scandals go together, and that Europe and Britain could not have emerged without scandals.

The road down South
Shalini Rawat
That Man on the Road:
Contemporary Telugu Short Fictioned. Ranga Rao. Penguin Books India. Pages 244. Rs 250.
The short story and the novel are two popular forms of literary expression in Telugu in the 21st century. These have replaced poetry, which was the traditional vehicle for literary expression in the previous nine centuries of literary activity in Telugu. Since the output the editor had to deal with was prolific, Ranga Rao’s choices were as myriad and confusing. Apart from editing the volume, he has also translated many of the stories, which makes his effort all the more praiseworthy.

Violence behind closed doors
Arun Gaur
Domestic Violence against Women: Legal Control and Judicial Response
by Preeti Misra.
Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi. Pages 606. Rs 1,150.
"Chhore pe baje thali, chhori pe theekre phoren." Our son is born, let us beat the drums; ah, our daughter is born—ruin everywhere. Why is the story of an Indian woman or that of an Indian womanhood so devastating or shocking?

Eclectic selection
Arvind Mehan
Know your customer
Designed to Win
Hiroaki Yoshihara and Mary Pat McCarthy. McGraw-Hill. Pages 272. Rs 399.
Want know how successful trans-national businesses overcome global competition? The book gives an inside view. Technology, trade and liberalisation have combined to influence average multinational. Free market policies, formerly the purview of developed nations, have now touched the shores of the developing world. Fading protectionism, innovation, better sourcing of raw material, distribution and marketing services have altered the manner in which products and services have become affordable, faster and better.

From TV serial to an online graphic novel
Diane Werts
A character thriller, aired by the American TV broadcaster NBC, Heroes, got great reviews recently, some of which speculated that its everyday people suddenly discovering superpowers could make a great comic book. The show already had that idea-its makers launched an online graphic novel that reveals chapters each week alongside Monday night's episode airings.

In memory of the Malgudi Man
Had he lived, R.K. Narayan would have turned 100 on October 10. Rajnish Wattas on the writer who created Malgudi and put it on the world literary map
Some stories never fade away. Malgudi, the fictional ‘home’ of R.K. Narayan’s stories is universal and eternal. Yet it’s nowhere besides in one’s imagination. Geographically defined by Kabir Street, Lawley Extension, Mempi forests etc, and peopled by Swami the school boy, Sampath the printer, Jagan the vendor of sweets or Vasu the taxidermist villain, it’s the quintessential small town India.

SHORTTAKES
Of history and literary criticism
Randeep Wadehra
Prime Ministers Under the Mughals
by Gauri Sharma
Kanishka, New Delhi. Pages: xii+ 227. Rs 550.
Call him vakil, wazir or diwan, the highest-ranked noble in the Mughal court performed several tasks, viz., administrative, advisory and such other as entrusted to him. By no means an equivalent of the present-day Prime Minister this term has been used by the author to identify the institution as it had evolved under the Mughals.

Long live Chandamama
Chandamama, the eminently readable magazine that has enthralled kids and adults for decades in many languages, is seeking an entry in the Limca Book of Records for its long life.

Food love and ‘boy-searching’
Aparna M Sridhar
The Dance of The Bhuleshwar Brush
by Daksha Hathi
Unison Publications, Bangalore.
Pages 305. Rs 250.
Having read Daksha Hathi’s routine news reportage in the pages of the Deccan Herald on several occasions, one was curious as to how successfully she had made the transition from reporter of the frequently banal, to writer of romantic fiction. It is a transition that many have attempted, with mixed success. But The Dance of the Bhuleshwar Brush is spot on.

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