Book Warm

As the heat turns days into nightmares,and the polls take over the television,a book possibly remains as the only way to survive afternoons to come. And this summer,it seems,it’s time to put on your thinking caps and indulge in some sensible reading. With a spate of non-fiction books hitting the shelves,non-fiction seems to be the flavour of this summer.

Topping the list could be Infosys chief whip Narayana Murthy’s A Better India: A Better World (Penguin Books) which is slated to hit the stands some time in April this year. As the economic meltdown takes the youth of the country down a trip of disillusionment,Murthy’s views on models of public and corporate governance,development,education and of course entrepreneurship,might just turn out to be a moral booster of sorts. Following the same train of thoughts is Sanjeev Sanyal’s The Indian Renaissance that talks about the resurgence of the Indian economy. Porus Munshi’s Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen: How 11 Indians Pulled Off The Impossible (HarperCollins India) slated to release this year,also treads a similar path as it talks about how a handful of Indians chose to give the beaten track of organizing things a miss and broke all rules in their field of work.

Several authors too,seem to have revisited India and discovered facets of the country and its people,which make for interesting reads. M G Vassanji’s A Place Within: Rediscovering India,promises to be a poignant tale of self discovery. A tale that narrates how Vassanji,who was born in Africa,relates to roots and his identity. Stephen P Huyler’s Daughters of India profiles twenty Indian women who have outsmarted odds and found their bearings in this dog-eat-dog world through their art. “My book attempts to debunk all stereotypes associated with India and its women,” says Huyler. Rita Banerji’s Sex and Power tries tracing how power structures have dictated perceptions about sexual morality down the ages in India. “What implications do the current socio-political structure have on morality in India is of prime concern to me,” explains Banerji. Journalist Basharat Peer’s account of a strife torn Kashmir,its realities and its aborted dreams in Curfewed Night (Random House) can make for an unsettling read. Peer was a teenager when Kashmir started getting ripped apart by the separatist movement. His account might act as a reality check on claims that all’s quite in the Kashmir front. On the other hand Don’t Ask Any Old Bloke for Directions: A Biker’s Whimsical Journey Across India by P G Tenzing,a bureaucrat brings alive an India we know— quirky,funny,warm and weird at times — through anecdotes as he travelled across the country in a bike.