Price: ` 2 Volume 4, Issue 3, JulySeptember 2012 RNI NO.

DELENG/2008/26953

HISTORY

LITERATURE

ART

CULTURE

HERITAGE

BIOGRAPHY

TRAVELOGUE

WILDLIFE

RELIGION

SELF-HELP

FICTION

TRANSLATION

Sarojini Naidu: Her Way With Words takes a look at the fascinating personality of this poet, freedom fighter and woman with great oratorical skills

Reprints of three historical books from the National Archives of India present, in great detail and depth, a look at an era long gone by

Author Ruskin Bond recently received yet another honour the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Delhi Government

The Quest
Goutam Ghoses film The Quest (Moner Manush) has won many prestigious awards including the Golden Peacock for the Best Film at the 41st International Film Festival in India and the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration at the 58th National Film Awards

The film script of The Quest (Moner Manush), based on a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay, is much more than a biography of Lalon Fakir. It reveals the stages of a simple young mans emergence as Lalon Fakir, the prevailing social

confines of communal faith they had found a large expanse under the sky, which had served as a bountiful meeting place for many religions. In Lalons words, they were like a rudderless raft in a shore-less river; a hidden current where those who wanted to get lost can get lost. Goutam Ghose has produced several documentaries on prominent personalities such as Ustad Bismillah Khan, Satyajit Ray and HH Dalai Lama, in addition to ten feature films and a number of advertisement, corporate and short films. He has won fifteen National Awards and is the only Indian to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award. He was awarded the Knighthood of the Star of Italian Solidarity in 2008. In addition to his own collections of poems in English and Bengali and short stories in English, Shankar Sen has translated into English Tarapada Santras Folk Arts of West Bengal and the Artist Community and the Bengali bestseller Madhukari. Both these books have been published by Niyogi Books.

scenario, a disciples faith in his Guru and a mans endless journey in quest of the single entity that his heart craved for. Lalons songs were devotional lyricspoetic and passionate, carrying deep philosophical annotationsin tune with the music of the Baul community of rural Bengal. The Baul community renounced all recognised institutional religions and revolted against long-established rites, customs and faiths. Breaking down the barriers of the narrow

Volume 4, Issue 3, JulySeptember 2012

Intriguing India
The Historic South
The third book in this fascinating series, Hugh and Colleen Gantzer invite the reader to join them as they let their intuitions roam freely to unravel the mysteries of the southern parts of the country
In their travels around southern India, Hugh and Colleen Gantzer look beyond history. What is the link between Daroji in tropical Karnataka and the mysterious beast that prowls the snowy wastes of the High Himalayas? Why were boulders carved as temples

Gupp and Gossip from the Hills

There is not such a place as these hills for the tongue of false report to wag about. Everybody thinks everybody elses affairs to be more worth looking after than their own. If you have a friend or two to lunch, tea or dinner, the whole town is sure to know before noon next day what was on your table and who said or ate what. Ganesh Saili reveals his very personal collection of stories from the foothills of the Himalayas in his latest book, which has delightful illustrations by TK Manoj Kumar.

of varied architectural styles in an ancient port? Did an extreme rural sport in Tamil Nadu originate thousands of years ago in the Mediterranean lands? Did supermen walk the earth in the sixth century BC and has the image of one been captured in stone? This is not a book about history or archaeology or anthropology or any of the other very specialised sciences concerned with delving into the past, weighing and measuring it all, and presenting it as the mind of the historian sees it. History is, too often, his-story: the view of a specialist conforming to the rigours of his profession. Let the Gantzers help you discover the incredible south.

Says Ruskin Bond: Spicy and saucy, this survey of a hill station, past and present, is full of lively anecdotes about its history, people, eccentrics, scandalseverything that makes the place unique. The book is both informative and entertaining. Never a dull moment. Never a dull page!

Sarojini Naidu
Her Way With Words
A look at some aspects of Sarojini Naidus fascinating personalitythe romantic poet, the fervent patriot and the skilful writer
Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) was one of the most outstanding women of her time. A poet, a freedom fighter and a woman with great oratorical skills, she was also known for her progressive thinking, her acerbic wit and her compassion. In a world where politics was dominated by men, she held her own, and kept company with the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose. In a collection of writings about her, an essay by her as well as selections of poems, folk songs and letters sourced from the National Archives of India, the reader is given an insight into the life and times of this fascinating woman and her rich legacy.

Freedom and freshness of outlook gave Sarojini Naidu the astonishing insight to see the significance of compositeness in Indian history. In 1906, at the age of 27, she introduced an amendment at the Indian National Conference substituting India for Hindu. It was carried. Progressively, she became more and more involved in the freedom struggle, and, as a woman of special talent, became the prized trophy of the Congress. She projected the modern face of Indian womanhoodconfident, assertive and politically motivated. This book is edited and introduced by Professor Mushirul Hasan, an internationally renowned historian, prolific author and former Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi. He is presently the Director General of the National Archives of India.

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In Search of a New Afghanistan
Do we have the right balance of development and security assistance towards the reconstruction of Afghanistan? Is the strategy behind pushing the military into both combatant and development roles yielding any dividends in Afghanistan? This well-researched book by Sujeet Sarkar raises many questions about the situation in Afghanistan and the challenges the country faces.

Volume 4, Issue 3, JulySeptember 2012

Recreating History
Archives in India Reprints
Three historical books have been recently reprintedThe NorthWestern Provinces of India, which traces the history, ethnology and administration of the area; Things Indian, an alphabetical listing of things Indian and The Native Races of the British Empire: Northern India. These books were written by William Crooke (Bengal Civil Service, retired) and present, in detail and great depth, a look at an era long gone by.

Wit and Wisdom: Pickings from the Parsee Punch by Mushirul Hasan makes headlines

Words of the Master

A set of twelve books by Rabindranath Tagore, consisting of five plays, five poetry collections and two books of essays, available in a beautiful gift pack.

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Clockwise from left: Crafts Atlas of India released at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi; at the launch of In the Absence of Jagannatha, Bhubaneswar; Mapping India, released at Taj Coromandel, Chennai; It Happened Along the Kaveri, released at the Raj Bhavan, Bengaluru and Wit and Wisdom: Pickings from the Parsee Punch launched at the India International Centre, New Delhi.

Volume 4, Issue 3, JulySeptember 2012

FORTHCOMING TITLES

Mandra
Mandra, the Saraswati Samman winner for 2010, is one of the most acclaimed epic novels of SL Bhyrappa. It has already been successfully translated into Hindi and Marathi. Though it takes its theme from the classical question of art versus morality, many more subtler and complex issues haunting human life are marvellously interwoven. Rooted deeply in the harsh realities of the world, the governing theme evolves like a banyan tree in all directions and pictures many home truths that are inseparable with art, artist, art tradition, art criticism and the world of connoisseurs.

NEWSMAkERS
Another tribute to the deserving authorthe Delhi Government recently bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ruskin Bond. Ruskin received the award from the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit.

Ruskin Bond:
The Mussoorie Years
A tribute to a friend of forty years. Ganesh Saili captures memorable moments in the life of Ruskin Bond, right from infancy to the present day. Presented in this book, interspersed with photographs and writings, is a unique offering that provides an insight into the life and times of Ruskin Bond. It makes interesting reading for all ages and is a visual delight as well.

PERSONAL VIEW

By Gopalkrishna Gandhi

World of Crafts
Jaya Jaitly and her publishers, Niyogi Books, and all itself is the sole those who have contributed maps and illustrations to this justification, are astonishing book need more than our congratulations. wrong. Here I am They deserve our thanks, the thanks of the age of not pleading for plastics and of cement to the living vestiges of an earlier some middle-ofage. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay brought Jaya Jaitly to the-road line. I am urging the propagation of the crafts my awareness. I owe my presence here to that link. I of India not as the expression of a niche of Indian life have no credentials for launching this remarkable work, but, in fact, of the whole of the Peoplehood of India. this monument of a publication, this atlas, other than The time has come for us not to overthrow but that Jaya associates me with that remarkable woman. to overlay onto our political map a cartography that The atlas of maps prepared by artists with invaluable recognises us for what we, in our basic being, are, text by Jaya Jaitly is of a map of promise spread namely, a highly advanced form of life abjectly on a table of adversity. It is a map of survival on a dependent on a highly unpredictable ambience. field of capitulation, and of brave perseverance amidst I will conclude with two subversive suggestions. the call for abject abdication. This atlas is therefore Plastics have a lobby, a huge and powerful lobby. the cartography of a miracle. It is also a road map for Crafts have a constituency. Jaya Jaitly has shown how that very miracle to go forwarda very Indian thing re-cycled plastic waste are used by craftspersons to to attempt. create new objects of beauty. That is good, but I am Craftsmanship and artisanship reside among the not thinking of that. I suggest that we ask for a levy poorest of the poor. It is amazing how talent can or a cess to be imposed on plastic manufacture to reside and thrive in the underprivileged. compensate for the extinction of those We need to turn to the hand-crafted objects that plastics have Everyone knows who buildings are named after. But do we know the names human beings behind replaced. This cannot be done in a our crafts, to the of the craftspersons, the artisans, who hurry. A study will have to be made of peoplehood of India made them? Like those great workers, what has been affected, and who the todays artisans and craftspersons are affected parties are and how they can largely unknown. And like those workers, todays be assisted by the new fund. But this should be done. artisans are also hugely talented. What they need Plastics cannot be allowed to stomp the land as if they is a great engagement, a great enlisting for a great own it to make what they like, sell what they like, and self-articulation. create non-destructible litter which then occupies our Thanks to Jaya Jaitlys album we now have in a space and hurts us irretrievably. book, this atlas, details of their work across the length Likewise, with cement. Now I have never lived in a and breadth of India. How are todays artisans to be house that has no cement in it. We all use and depend given a sense of purpose, a sense of sunrise rather than on cement. But there have to be some restrictions. I a sunset. We will be wrong if we think that artisanship suggest a similar cess or levy be imposed on cement and craftsmanship are about aesthetic judgment manufacture and use whereby any new building above and sentiment being on one side and commercial a certain dimension, or above a high-line, must pay judgment and reason being on the other. If that is the something towards the conservation of fragile listed understanding then, I am sorry to say, the game is lost. heritage buildings, which are repositories of the craftIf we think that this atlas is about some ineffable spirit skills of India where carpenters, masons, artisans have of beauty and the rest is all philistine or is a gigantic worked hand in hand with labour. juggernaut of shallow economics and hollow statistics, Far from being in the sunset, the crafts of India must the case is over and the cause is lost. be made to feel, and must become, part of a sunrise of Those concerned with the future of artisans will be Indias great and creative interface with the substances making an error if they think that way. Those who believe of its earth. that crafts are only about beauty and aesthetics are in error, just as those who believe in the other argument, On the occasion of the release of Crafts Atlas of India the economic argument, and think that paying for by Jaya Jaitly

Walking Through Fire

Randhir Khares gripping story of Sean Varma, who, while lying critically wounded in hospital, tries desperately to decipher how he has come to be there, but his trauma prevents clarity and pushes him instead to recollect his fragmented life. A child of grandparents from four different culturesSpanish, Irish, English and Indianhe survives an abusive childhood and goes on to experience the trauma of Kolkata at war with itself. The best years of his childhood are spent dealing with a violent, alcoholic and womanising father who cant keep down a job. Left to fend on his own, Sean has to come to terms with the person he has become. His journey leads him across the subcontinent to the apocalyptic moment that will change him forever, and help him make peace with his life.

E-books Available

A Darker Dawn, Middle Time, Kayakalpa: The Elixer of Everlasting Youth, The Tenth Unknown, The Girmitiya Saga, Uttara Yogi, Well Met in Cyprus and Soiled Clothes are available in digitised versions in Kindle, Apple and Nook. More titles to follow soon.

Economist, civil servant and diplomat, Dr Abid Hussain passed away on 21 June in London. Dr Hussain was presented the Padma Bhushan in 1988. He has chaired several important committees set up by the Government of India. We at Niyogi Books value our association with him and convey our heartfelt condolences to his family.

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