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Their home
abroad
Roopinder Singh
The Encyclopedia of Indian Diaspora
ed. Brij V. Lal. Oxford. Pages 416. Rs 2,500
THE
global Indian is now a clich`E9. What we often forget is that it is not
a new phenomenon, and there is an enormous diversity among the Indians
who have settled in practically every part of the world. There is a
tendency to think in euro-centric terms about the Indian diaspora, but
we ignore that more than 50 lakh Indians migrated to Burma, Ceylon and
Malaya (as they were known then) when the British ruled India.
To
the rescue of small holders
S. S. Johl
Agricultural Diversification
and Small Holders in South Asia
Ed P. K. Joshi, Ashok Gulati and Ralph Cummings Jr Academic foundation.
Rs 995. Pages 626
Agricultural
diversification has come to be considered as panacea for the
small-farmer economy, not only in India, but in almost all developing
countries. It is out of this mindset that International Food Policy
Research Institute in collaboration with National Centre for
Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, International Crop Research
Institute for Semi-arid Tropics, Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry and the Royal Government of Bhutan organised two
workshops on topics related to agricultural diversification and small
holders in South Asia.
Pull
of memories & home
Gitanjali Sharma
The Silence of Time and Other Stories
by Kripa Nidhi. Rupa. Pages 189. Rs 195
"Time
conceals the answers to all questions – inconvenience or otherwise –
in its bosom". Almost all the 10 stories in the collection reflect
this truism mentioned in Kripa Nidhi’s short story The Silence of
Time. This Calicut-born writer-cum-engineer, at present living in
Houston, has placed adeptly images of his home state onto the larger
canvas painted from across the shores.
A
way of life, with words
Aruti Nayar
WHEN
Dr Sansar Chandra completed 89 and entered the 90th year, it was with a
resolve to complete the unfinished work in the last decade. Sitting in
his study, the litterateur who writes in six languages (English, Hindi,
Punjabi, Dogri, Urdu and Sanskrit) talks animatedly about life,
literature and the role of the writer.
City
of legends
Harbans Singh
The Last Bungalow: Writings
on Allahabad
ed. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. Penguin. Pages 331. Rs 395.
EVEN
though the anthology begins with Hsiuan Tsang’s account of the Prayag
mela and the giving away of alms by the king of Kannauj, Harshvardhan,
the design of the editor is abundantly clear from the title of the book.
Essentially, it is the story of the making and the unmaking of the
colonial Allahabad; the rise and fall of a culture and lifestyle
cultivated by those whose lives revolved around the bungalows.
A
sure-fire winner
M.S. Unnikrishnan
Sky Sports Football Yearbook
2006-2007
Ed Glenda Rollin and Jack Rollin Headline Publishing Group Pages 1056.
£ 12
THE
2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany stood out not only for France’s
captain Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt of Italian player Marco Materazzi
in the title clash, but also for many other notable feats, which have
been meticulously chronicled in the Sky Sports Football Yearbook
2006-2007. This football Bible has comprehensively covered not only the
World Cup, but also other soccer events such as the UEFA Champions
League and UEFA Cup.
Of
hapless women
Kanchan Mehta
The Betrayal and Other Stories
by Sivanskari. Transcreated in English by Aneeta Agnihotri and Geeta
Radhakrishnan. East West Books, Madras.
Pages 250. Rs 150.
THE
proud recipient of the Woman of the Year 2000 award by the International
Woman's Association, Sivanskari portrays true-to-life domestic scenes
and situations in her book, which is an anthology of simple, sharp and
conclusive short stories. Irony is her sine quo non. She seems to have a
great predilection for insects and animals, the downtrodden, helpless
and hapless womenfolk.
In
the heat of war, a literary refuge
IT
is difficult to find books in the Somali capital these days, but one
place with a dozen shelves of them is the Mogadishu Public Library,
which amounts to a single room behind a solid steel gate. The manager,
Hirsie Mohamed Hirui, had the place open one recent Sunday, even as the
occasional AK-47 assault rifle popped off in the distance.
SHORT TAKES
Struggle for a normal life
Randeep Wadehra
-
One Full One Half
by Neela Satyanarayana Rupa and Co. Pages:
xv+113. Rs 195.
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I am fully awake
by Suganchand Muktesh
(Translator: Puran Mudgal) Shilalekh, Delhi. Pages
70. Rs 100)
-
Removal of turban
in France
by MS Rahi Singh Legal
Foundation, Chandigarh. Pages: viii+105. Rs 245.
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