Mahabharata: The Epic And The Nation

TWO millennia after it was written, the ‘Mahabharata’ has been igniting Indian imagination. What gives the epic its magic? Its multilayered characters or the philosophical and metaphysical ideas in it? Linguist and scholar GN Devy too was fascinated with the text since his childhood, longed to pursue it in university, and was delighted to come face to face with newer versions of it when working with the Adivasis. However, it is only during the lockdown that he could engage with the text. In this book, he attempts to shine a light on why the ‘Mahabharata’ remains one of India’s national epics.

WRITTEN 20 years apart, ‘Life and Political Reality’ (‘Jibon O Rajnaitik Bastobota) and ‘Abu Ibrahim’s Death’ (‘Abu Ibrahimer Mirtu’)’ aim to introduce readers to a shining star from the literary firmament of Bangladesh: Shahidul Zahir. The two books are a glimpse into his own blend of surrealism, folklore, oral storytelling traditions, magic realism and a searing understanding of the social and political reality. While the former, a treatise on liberation, shot him into immediate fame, the second is a quieter companion novella, both placing idealism at the centre.

WHAT’S in the life of a cop, asks former IPS officer Onkar Thakur. And then he answers himself: grit, glamour and gloom. In this narration of his life, he shares enough stories to give a glimpse into each of these facets. The book is full of accounts of trials and tribulations he faced during his career in Himachal Pradesh. It takes us through the wide ambit of the adrenaline pumping job of a cop — from a mysterious terrorist encounter to a brush with gangsters, from a CBI raid on a politician to hunting down a maneater… Primarily about crime, these tell the humane side of the story.