Tag Archives: History

Padmavat

09 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by in Non-Fiction

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image001Author – Purushottam Agarwal

Illustrator – Devdutt Pattanaik

Rating – 4/5 stars

Number of Pages – 202

Publisher – Rupa Publications

Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s epic tale of love recently sparked interests for the scholars and historians. In this recent one year, a number of books have been published on the Rani Padmavati and her tale of love with her lover and husband Raja Ratansen and turbulence in the hands of Alauddin Khilji who wanted to possess her for her beauty.

The reason to turn the old pages of books and understand the epic tale of love by Jayasi ‘Padmavat’ is that the movie recently made based on his poem. The poem was originally written in Awadhi not widely used now. The book Padmavat is an attempt to understand the truth and myth behind the tale. The author Purushottam Agrawal has been successful in narrating and translating the Awadhi poem into English for the readers and making it simple. This also gives a fair chance to the readers to decide right and wrong of the claim and protest by the Rajput Samaj on the dignity and pride of Rani Padmavati.

Jayasi’s Padmavat was a tale of timeless love and beauty and is fictionally born out of an imaginative mind. I think the protestors misunderstood the poem and that it is fictional and nothing to do with the history. I think they were lazy and quick to come to a conclusion. They might not have created such a havoc if took time to understand and read Jayasi’s Padmavat. A much-needed book after the recent controversy over the movie. A must read for every reader. The book has beautiful illustrations making reading a pleasure.

Bio

Purushottam Agrawal is a New Delhi based writer and literary historian. He works on Bhakti, spirituality without religion, and India’s organic early modernity which, he argues, was halted in its tracks by colonization. His works draws upon sources in Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Urdu, Braj and Awadhi.

His books on Kabir, Akath Kahani Prem Ki: Kabir ki Kavita aur Unka Samay (2009) is considered a contemporary classic and won the first Rajkamal Kriti Samman. He is well-known public intellectual, lending his voice to newspaper and television debates. He is a contributing editor at The Quint.

Devdutt Pattanaik writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. He is the author of My Gita and My Hanuman Chalisa. He is also an illustrator, something that is often overlooked.

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‘I received a copy from Publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

Restless Waters of Ichhamati

15 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Fiction

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image003 (1)Author – Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Translator – Rimli Bhattacharya

Rating – 5/5 stars

Number of Pages – 370

Publisher – Rupa Publications

It is a privilege to read a book so well written and acquaint with the time we have left behind. A time more than one-fifty years before. I do not know many Bengali writers and thankful to Rupa publications and Rimli Bhattacharya for bringing this translation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay to us. This is my first book by the author and I absolutely loved it. This is a great read. One you will love to fall in love with. This book is a gem.

This is a story of a small town near the banks of river Ichhamati in Bengal. This small town remained secluded and unaffected by the struggle of rest of India and carried on with its lives and people. The story tells the lives of the period and struggle and oppression of the farmers on Indigo plantation.

The book has many stories. All the stories are well sorted and do not create confusion. The story runs at an easy pace. There are many, not one lovable character. I like the way the author explored every character and give space.

The translation is simply brilliant. I have read translated versions of the books before and this one stands out and one of the best. Rimli has done a great job without killing the soul that is the Bengali connection of the story. The style remained the same.

If you are someone like to read a good book and not in a hurry to complete a goal of a certain number of books in a limited period, then take my words, and pick this book. You will not regret. Read it on a comforting pace, do not haste. This book will be best when read at a comfortable pace.

Have a happy reading!

Bio

Rimli Bhattacharya trained in Comparative Literature and works on literature, performance history, and the arts. Her translations from Bengali to English include the autobiographies of Binodini Dasi My Story & My Life as an Actress (1998), Rabindranath Tagore’s Four Chapters (Char Addhyay) and two other novels of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay.

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay was born in Ghoshpara-Muratipur village in Bengal on 12 September 1894. His ancestral home was in Barakpur (formerly in Jessore District) on the banks of the river Ichhamati. He moved to Calcutta for higher studies.

Bibhutibhushan spent his time writing and traveling intensively, particularly in the forests of Bihar, participating in literary meets and conferences, until his sudden death in Ghatshila on 1 November 1950. Besides numerous unpublished manuscripts, his oeuvre comprises seventeen novels, seven diaries-travelogue, and over two hundred short stories. He was posthumously awarded the Rabindra Puruskar in 1951 for Ichhamati, his last novel.

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‘I received a copy from Publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

Durand’s Curse

21 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by in Non-Fiction

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91pPr7rpIyL.jpgAuthor – Rajiv Dogra

Rating – 5/5 stars

Number of Pages – 264

Publisher – Rupa Publications

Durand’s Curse as the name suggest is a book on the history of Afghanistan. The tale comes from the heartland of Pathans and tells a riveting story of a line drawn across the Pathan heart. The land that painted blood and witnessed many wars.

Durand line is the line dividing Afghanistan and Pakistan drawn more than a century ago. On the morning of 12 November 1893, ‘the strongest man from Europe’, the then foreign secretary of India and ‘Iron Amir of Afghanistan’, a cruel ruler wrote history. It was to be believed that British officer Sir Mortimer Durand fooled Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman or he believed British too much that he gifted away much of southern Afghanistan to the British Empire, he was finding tiresome.

Rajiv Dogra, bestselling author of Where Borders Bleed, written on India-Pakistan relationships brings you an untold story of the Durand line long buried in a fascinating book telling the truth to the world has not known so far. The lucidly written book is a result of deep research. The book is not only a good read for the readers of history but also for the students. It is a detailed account of the land. I appreciate the efforts; the author has made to bring such a comprehensive book for the readers.

The book accounts the life, trouble, wars, tragedies and injustice on the face of the people and the country that give way to the Afghan anger to fight for the land belonged to them and was taken away forcibly. Read to know the history of misfortunes of Afghanistan and the cursed line drawn on sand.

Author Bio

Rajiv Dogra is a writer, television commentator and artist. A career foreign service officer, he was India’s Ambassador to Italy and Romania, the permanent representative to the United Nations Agencies in Rome and the last Consul General in Karachi.

An active public speaker, Rajiv Dogra is one of India’s foremost commentators on foreign policy and strategic affairs and is noted for his considered and assertive views. He is the bestselling author of Where Borders Bleed, regarded as one of the most authoritative books on India-Pakistan relations.

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‘I received a copy from Publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

 

Mahatma on the Pitch

14 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by in Non-Fiction

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51QJIAgy3ZL.jpgAuthor – Kausik Bandyopadhyay

Rating – 5/5 stars

Number of pages – 160

Publisher – Rupa Publishers

Gandhi, the man who created history. The greatest Indian icon and flag bearer of the Indian national movement of freedom. The world has known him as a man who forced British Raj with a weapon of non-violence to leave the country was new to the world. His principles are still alive and followed around the world. Many foundations have been working in this area of spreading his messages of non-violence to teach the people of the united world to live in peace and harmony on our shared planet.

‘Too many people are experimenting with war and violence. We need more people experimenting with peace and non-violence.’

Margaret Hepworth, May 2014

Founder/Director of The Gandhi Experiment

Mahatma on the Pitch is a book shows a different side of the Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The game of cricket is a religion in India. Can anyone think that Gandhi had any relationship with cricket? The game ruling the hearts of the twenty-first-century India. Did Gandhi or his ideas make any impact on the game at the high tide of the national movement? The book tries to find the answers to these quirky questions.

Why should you read this book? The subject is not new. You will find hundreds of books written on Gandhi by best biographers around the world. This book tries to explore a different side of a man whose connection with cricket seems as remote as Gandhi’s tryst with cricket. It is hard to cross in mind of any relationship between the two. The author is one of that curious mind tried to find the answer to the same. Read to know more about the relation between cricket and the Gandhi. It is one of its kinds you do not get to read every day.

Author Bio

Kausik Bandyopadhyay teaches History at West Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata. Formerly a fellow of the International Olympic Museum, Lausanne (2010), and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata (2006-2009 and 2013-2015), he is also the Editor of Soccer and Society.

Bandyopadhyay has authored and edited several books. His most recent works include Sport, Culture and Nation (2012), Perspective from Indian Football and South Asian Cricket (2015); Bangladesh Playing: Sport, Culture, Nation (2012); and Scoring Off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911-80 (2011).

Here is a book on Gandhian Principles The Gandhi Experiment

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‘I received a copy from Publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

Extraordinary Indians

07 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by in Non-Fiction

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71Rsid0n2RL.jpgAuthor – Khushwant Singh

Edited By – Mala Dayal

Rating – 5/5 stars

Number of Pages – 210

Publisher – Aleph Book Company

Extraordinary Indians is a book of profiles of fifty extraordinary people who were politicians, writers, freedom fighters, spiritual leaders and others. These people are stands apart from rest of the being. The book can also categorize as a part memoir. The author started his career as a journalist. His profession gives him a chance to meet some of the most famous people and he included the anecdotes and incidents of his personal encounter with the people in this book. The book is edited by Mala Dayal; his daughter, who is also happened to be a writer herself.

The book of fifty profiles also includes one Pakistani, the author’s closest and most-admired friend. Over the course of his life and prolific career, Khushwant Singh met and wrote about hundreds of people. The people in this book are those he admired deeply including politicians like Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Giani Zail Singh; writers and artists like Mulk Raj Anand, Ali Sardar Jafri, R.K. Narayan; industrialists like J.R.D. Tata, G.D. Birla and few from his family and circle of friends.

A book of profiles of no ordinary people who made the country great. This book is to remind who our countries true heroes and heroines are. Their life inspires us and will show us the right path whenever one would divert. Their principles help us grounded. This book is for every Indian who loves his/her motherland and proud be born on this land of Gandhi.

Author Bio

Born in the village of Hadali in Punjab (now in Pakistan) in 1915, Khushwant Singh over the years had acquired an iconic stature. He was the founder-editor of Yojana and editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, National Herald and Hindustan Times. Over the past six decades, he has published several best-selling nonfiction and fiction titles, including Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, his autobiography, Truth, Love and Little Malice; and the two-volume history of the Sikhs. Khushwant Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1986. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 which he returned in 1984 to protest the siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army. In 2007, he was awarded India’s second-highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan.

Singh died in 2014.

Buy this Book Here: Amazon

‘I received a copy from Publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’