Society » Books
This section, a bonus for reading buffs, lists out the latest books released, and also includes expert reviews of some of them.
Slivers of a mirror: Glimpses of the ghazal
A collection of ghazals or love-lyrics: what better accompaniment could there be to an evening of wine-swilling and contemplating beautiful but doomed love? Novelist and writer Shama Futehally's collection of ghazals offer a wide representation of lyric and theme; be it Deccan mysticism in Siraj Aurangabadi's verse, physical longing in those of Momin Khan Momin, or the legendary Ghalib's powerful chronicling of the human condition, and the stirring revolutionary spirit of Faiz. Though the translation is contemporary in spirit, the presentation of the verse in original Urdu script and the inclusion of a simple, informative introduction to Persian poetry and poets positions the verse within the wider context of a rich, historical tradition.
By Shama Futehally
Mapin Lit, price not stated
Touch Play: The Prakash Padukone story
''When the Chinese threatened to take over the world,'' goes the blurb, ''one man led the resistance.'' Except, instead of a political thriller, this is the biography of Prakash Padukone, and it is none the less thrilling for it. For long, Padukone was the only name worth mentioning in Indian badminton, and Dev Sukumar, with his intimate knowledge of the sport, brings alive Padukone's journey into the highest echelons of world badminton. This is sports writing in the finest tradition - minute tracking of Padukone's earliest achievements, meticulous cataloguing of the lessons he learned on the way, the pitfalls and the praise, all the way to the famous title triumph at the All England Championships in 1980. Touch Play is a well researched, well narrated book, a deserving tribute to India's first truly international star in badminton.
By Dev S Sukumar
Badminton Inc., Rs 300
That man on the road: Contemporary Telugu short fiction
This collection of 18 translated Telugu short stories is one that the editor, a trifle apologetically, describes as one man's ''well-intentioned representation of modern Telugu short fiction''. It tackles a variety of themes, ranging from injustice meted out to Dalits, religious fanaticism, Communism, Naxalism, and personal familial relationships. It's a feminist awakening for the protagonist of ''What is my name?'', a housewife who only found pleasure in her dedicated swabbing the floors of her house (which her husband praised with an occasional ''Sabash!''), until the day she realised that she had forgotten her own name and identity. There's personal tragedy in the hard lot of a young boy with an ailing mother in ''Ice Palanquin'' and wry humour in a husband's ineffectual bid to resist his wife's pestering him to throw in their lot with that most whimsical of goddesses, ''Stock Market Lakshmi''. This is the Andhra Pradesh of sheep herders, rickshaw pullers, untouchables, carpenters.and one proud, Oxford-educated Indian suffering from a post-colonial hangover, sharply brought down to earth by his first encounter with racism.
Ed. by Ranga Rao
Penguin, Rs 250
Mundakopanishad 1 and 2
As one of the foremost teachers of Vedanta, Swami Dayananda Saraswati's abilities to communicate lucidly have helped people to open themselves to the vision of Vedanta as the most profound truth of universal existence. Some of his public talks and writings have now been thoughtfully edited and elegantly collated by Arsha Vidya Centre for Research and Publication. Two volumes on the Mundaka Upanishad, have been prepared from transcripts of his lectures and show great scholarship in the editing and overall control over the vastness of the material.
The mantras from the Mundaka Upanishad are among the most quoted in discussions of Vedanta. Mundaka 1 and Mundaka 2 provide the text in Sanskrit, together with verbatim meanings in English, as well as fairly elaborate references from Sankara Bhasya. Swamiji speaks with great clarity, so the text becomes accessible not only to the informed seeker but to the sensitised lay reader as well.
The teacher's role is strongly underpinned in both the introduction as well as in the explanatory text: to unfold Brahman in its true nature - svarupa - and reveal that there is nothing other than Brahman. ''It is a highly sophisticated method because the sastra is trying to reveal the infinite from a collection of finite words that one has!'' Swamiji does not lack either for words or vision in presenting Vedanta as an intellectual discipline.
''Knowledge of the identity of the self with Brahman takes place on hearing the words of the Upanishads. But mere words are not enough. One has to make the effort to go to a teacher and ask for this vidya.'' Mundaka 1 and 2, as taught by Swamiji, are exemplary works of clarity and erudition.
By Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Arsha Vidya Centre, price not stated
Public Talks 1 and 2
Two volumes of Swami Dayananda Saraswati's public talks - Living Intelligently, The Need for Cognitive Change, Discovering Love and Successful Living - are an attempt to reinforce the Vedantic teaching that problems and solutions begin and end with the self. This is something that Swamiji is fond of emphasising: ''You are the problem, you are the solution.''
"Here our sastras come to our help. They categorically state that happiness is your nature. The happiness that you experience is exactly what you are. It does not exclude the world, your body, mind or senses."
Swamiji has an interesting aside on the true definition of Hinduism, something that is particularly relevant in today's befuddled context of acrimonious religious debate. ''It is a way of life and the way is to accomplish that view. The view is that you are the whole. You are not a sinner. You are not born of any imperfection. You are not born of somebody's criminal action of going against God. You are born with the order of Isvara. This means that you can see that you are whole. This is the last and ultimate message (of Hinduism).''
By Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Arsha Vidya Centre, price not stated
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