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Tuesday, September 17, 2024
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Book Excerpts

Great Nicobar Project threatens local macaques. They’re revered as monkeys from Ramayana

In ‘The Great Nicobar Betrayal’, Pankaj Sekhsaria looks at the ecological implications brought on by mega development project that’s planned for the island.

Bollywood villain Pran sold wife’s bangles to survive in Bombay—then landed 4 films in 3 days

Gulshan Grover, Danny Denzongpa to Pran, Roshmila Bhattacharya's 'Bad Men' reveals the human beings behind Bollywood's most iconic villains.

This Indian artist painted Madonna in a sari and angels in dhotis. It outraged Christians

In ‘The Big Book of Indian Art’, Bina Sarkar Ellias gives the reader an illustrated history of the country’s art movements and influential artists.

Haseenain-e-Lucknow—a photographic record of tawaifs and what it tells us about Awadh

The album was produced as a luxury item, with no more than a few copies, and suggests an aesthetic link to the Mughal 'muraqqa' tradition of illustrated albums.

Lord Curzon didn’t support Jamsetji Tata’s vision for IISc, so he took the case to London

In 'Jamsetji Tata', R Gopalakrishnan and Harish Bhat monumentalise the business philosophy of the visionary that has been retained by Tata leaders for over a century.

No contradiction between Christ, Bhakti, Tulsidas—a missionary’s cultural campaign for Hindi

In 'Camille Bulcke: The Jesuit Exponent of Ramkatha', Ravi Dutt Bajpai and Swati Parashar recall the fascinating life of a Christian missionary in India.

India has wisely avoided committing a folly by not joining the West against Russia

In ‘Global Tumult: India As A Pole Star’, Sujan Chinoy delves into India’s foreign and defence policies, and its achievements, from his vantage point as Director General of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

‘Strategic realism’ with ‘economic pragmatism’ — a former diplomat on ‘creative’ economic diplomacy

'Economic Diplomacy', edited by Pradeep S Mehta, Anil Wadhwa and Advaiyot Sharma, brings out the experiences of practitioners of Indian economic diplomacy with essays and case studies.

JD Vance’s adventure with ‘real’ Christianity—‘I felt like a persecuted minority’

'Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis' is a memoir by JD Vance about his upbringing, family values, and the issues of his hometown in Ohio.

Insurgency blurred the line between protester and militant in Kashmir. Both met the same bullet

In her book 'City as Memory', Sadaf Wani explores Srinagar through personal remembrance, examining questions of the Kashmiri identity.

On Camera

IAS, IPS reshuffle won’t do. Mamata Banerjee must change advisors, improve MLA connect

The RG Kar incident became the nucleus around which public angst against years of rot coalesced; as a former street fighter, the CM needs to worry about her MLAs’ lack of ground connect.

Five debt defaults, two NPAs & 100% value erosion. MTNL barrels towards a major financial crisis

Since 2019, govt has pumped Rs 3.22 lakh crore into MTNL & BSNL. Both remain in losses. MTNL has begun to default on loans & bond payments, possibly the first large PSU to become NPA.

Did Captain & fiancée ‘attack’ cops or were they ‘manhandled’? Army to take up case with Odisha authorities

While police are quoted as saying that officer & fiancée created fracas & injured four police personnel, Army’s situational reports and his statement present a different picture.

BJP’s Northeast policy has lit new fires & reopened old wounds. And it still won’t blink

Manipur represents BJP’s unique ideological approach to governing Northeast by playing identity politics jiu-jitsu. It hasn’t gone well yet, is getting worse, but the party insists on continuing.