Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist

IN his 125th birth anniversary year, Subhas Chandra Bose continues to intrigue. While the chief contours of his life are well known, ‘Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist’, a new book by author Chandrachur Ghose, attempts to discover the flavours of the real Bose by “transcending the typecast created by his previous biographies”. It draws upon new information throwing light on Bose’s intense political activities surrounding the revolutionary groups across the country; his efforts to bridge the increasing communal divide; his penchant for covert operations and his efforts to engineer a rebellion among the Indian armed forces that accelerated the end of British rule in India — the latter, the author says, still officially unacknowledged.

FOR two years, as the world shrunk and travel became a distant dream, memories came calling, and Shreya Sen-Handley found herself nudged by the many travels the family had been undertaking from time to time. The result is a book of unlikely travelogues — from Kolkata’s Durga Puja to Amsterdam, from Kerala to Las Vegas. The journeys are described in vivid detail, seasoned with humour, and sprinkled with wise trip-tips. Accompanying her on these adventures is her ‘quirky clan’ comprising her British husband, their two children, and their dog. Shreya’s ‘Memoirs of My Body’ (2017) won the Best Nonfiction Book of the year at the NWS Writing Awards 2018.

LIFE and bereavement are not the dead-ends of life. If anything, grief can and does spur growth. Having lost her 22-year-old son to an undetected cardiac condition suddenly one day, Neena Verma has been on the other side of the spectrum. She found herself drowning in insurmountable grief, under the guilt of not having cooked his desired breakfast that day. But she realised she had to resurrect her devastated self. In the book, she explores the complex phenomena of loss, trauma and grief through her own life story and that of other people. She shows evocative and practical ways to accept loss, affirm grief, adapt and reconstruct life with meaning and grace through stories of several people.

PHYSICIAN Kadambini Ganguly, botanist Janaki Ammal, mathematician Raman Parimala, meteorologist Anna Mani and so many more. Women in science may be few, but they are shining stars in their own spheres. A student of Class XI, Ilina Singh profiles 11 trailblazing Indian women in her book, ‘The Gutsy Girls of Science’. Supported by Unesco, this book for young girls gives an overview of their lives, the challenges along the way and the horizons they soared. Beginning with a poem celebrating the achiever and ending with a lowdown on what her field entails and how to follow in her footsteps, the book makes for a colourful and quick read. Interestingly, the book is rich in illustrations, also made by Ilina.

THERE are beginnings and there are ends. In a world cast down by the pandemic, this delightful book of anthology and random quotes holds out hope — the hope of new beginnings and the end of despondency. The book draws wisdom from the masters — the likes of Rumi, Rabi’ah, Tukaram, Emily Dickinson, Tagore, Muktabai, the Dalai Lama, and Faiz Ahmad Faiz, and everyday unsung people — and underscores the eternal truth that life goes on, as it must. In that is the miracle of life. Human travails are but temporary reversals. Nature comforts and assures. In the blossoming of a bud and the turning of the soil, there is a compassionate promise of a better time coming. All one needs is patience and faith, in oneself and others.