Simply Fly By Captain Gopinath Collins Business; Rs 495; 380 pages When Air Deccan was launched as India’s first low-cost air carrier, it elicited delight from the common man and sniggers from the haughty set. However, much like the runt who outruns the bully on the school playground, within two years of its launch Air Deccan left many airlines seething in the clouds. For Captain Gorur Ramaswamy Gopinath, the airline is not the first or last of his feats. The title might lead one to presume that the book would be dedicated to the challenges that he conquered on his way to starting the airline, but it’s a rollercoaster read about the delightful enterprises that he launched before he aimed for the skies. Simply Fly pulls you in from the very beginning where Gopinath talks about his humble childhood in remote village in Karnataka; his life as a cadet in the National Defence Academy; and his observations as a soldier during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Made restless by the suffocating discipline and protocol of the forces, Gopinath quit the Army to bike around India and backpack around the world, before finally returning to his village to shape an award-winning silk-rearing farm out of neglected ancestral land. And it’s this role of a farmer that presides over all his subsequent others: a bike dealer; agricultural consultant; stockbroker, restaurateur; owner of a helicopter service; and finally the chairman of an aviation company. Through rise and fall and rise, the author returns frequently to his farm to draw solace from the diligent munching of termites on dead leaves, the scent of wet earth and cow dung, and the soothing taste of tender coconut mixed with rum. Gopinath’s story is fascinating — not because he touched the skies but because he did it while being firmly rooted to the earth. — Rajashree Balaram Featured in Harmony magazine July 2010

Hajra's Recipes of Life, for Life Enter the kitchens of a tribe where the aromatic air is rarefied…,” writes octogenarian Hajra Mohammed in the introduction to her book Hajra’s Recipes of Life, for Life (Westland; Rs 350; 113 pages). Admitting that Cutchi Memon recipes “are considered sacred and guarded zealously”, she generously proceeds to share the culinary secrets of her family in an attractive volume. Cutchi Memon food is Muslim food — a generic term to describe rich food — with a difference. A fervent believer that no restaurant can reproduce the perfectly harmonised chemistry of spices in the korma or sukha gosht prepared in a Cutchi Memon home, she details recipes that are a lesson in how delicious meals can be served without an overdose of oil and spices — from biryani and teatime snacks to one-dish wonders, powders, pastes and pickles. Space for personal notes after every recipe allows readers to jot down their observations. Most of these recipes will ring familiar: shami kabab, kofté ka salan, khatti dal gosht, sukha khekda. However, each of the 65-odd recipes has a special ingredient or touch that adds to its unique flavour like khichda, the Cutchi Memon version of haleem — just one delicious little secret from a book that overflows with them. KHICHDA Meat, lentil and broken wheat broth Ingredients: 500 gm dalia; ½ cup chana dal; ½ cup arhar dal; ½ cup moong dal; ½ cup masoor dal; 1 kg onion, finely sliced; 2½ tbsp ginger paste; 2½ tbsp garlic paste; 2 kg mutton, cut in 2” pieces; 4 tbsp red chilli powder; 2 tbsp cumin powder; 1 tbsp coriander powder; 1 tsp turmeric powder; 1 tsp garam masala powder; 2 tbsp salt; 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped; 2 cups yoghurt; 10 green chillies, slit lengthwise; juice of 4 limes Seasoning: 1 cup oil; 3 one-inch cinnamon sticks; 6 green cardamom pods; 6 cloves Garnish: ½ cup coriander leaves, finely chopped; 12-15 mint leaves, finely chopped Method: Soak dalia in 1½ litre water for 12-15 hrs; pressure-cook with its soaking liquid for 10 min; when cool, grind dalia till grainy; set aside. Wash chana and arhar dal and soak in water for 15 min; drain; pressure-cook dal in 3 cups water for 10 min; when cool, grind with remaining liquid till grainy; set aside. Soak moong and masoor dal for 15 min; drain; pressure-cook the dal in 3 cups water for 5 min; when cool, grind with remaining liquid till grainy; set aside. Heat oil in pressure cooker and season with whole spices; add onions and fry to a golden brown; remove half and set aside for garnish. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 10 min, sprinkling water as required. Introduce the meat and fry for about 7 min. Mix spice powders and salt and fry till spices mature. Add tomatoes and cook on high heat, stirring vigorously. Stir in yoghurt and green chillies and fry till oil separates. Pour 2 cups water and pressure-cook the meat for 15 min. Transfer contents to heavy-based pan. Add dalia and dal and cook on moderate heat for 10-15 min, stirring constantly. Simmer for 10 min. Add lime juice before serving. Garnish with reserved fried onions and coriander and mint leaves. — Anjana Jha Featured in Harmony magazine July 2010

Memories of Malabar An extract from the English translation of Relation D’un Voyage Fait au Levant (Paris; L Billaine, 1665), an account of writer Jean de Thevenot’s travels Calecut was the first place of the Indies, which the Portuguese discovered in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety eight, under the conduct of Vasco de Gama. The King of Calecut, who at first received them friendly, would at length have destroyed them, at the instigation of Arabian merchants, and the greatest wars they had in the Indies was against that King. The King of Cochin made alliance with them, and the Kings of Cananor and Coulam invited them to come and trade with them. Malabar (which is the Countrey of all these Kings) begins at Cananor, and ends at the Cape Comory; the most powerful of all these Princes was the King of Calecut, who took the Quality of Samorin or Emperour. The Port of Calecut, lying in the latitude of 110 and 22 minutes, is at some distance from the town; before the coming of the Portuguese, it was the most considerable port of the Indies for commerce, and ships came thither from all parts. The town has no walls, because there is no ground for laying a foundation upon, for water appears as soon as they begin to dig. There are no good buildings in Calecut, but the King's palace and some pagodas; the houses joyn not, they have lovely gardens, and of all things necessary for life, there is aplenty in that town. The King of Cochin was a most faithful friend to the Portuguese; for, for their sake he was deprived of his Kingdom by the King of Calecut; but they restored him, and gained so much up on him, that he gave them leave to build a fort in that part of the Town, which is called Lower Cochin upon the Seaside, to distinguish it from the Higher Cochin where the King resides, and from which it is distant a quarter of a league. The Portuguese have held fort a long time; but three or four years since, it was taken from them by the Dutch. The Port of Cochin is very good; there is six fathom water close by the shoar, and upon a plane one may easily come from on board the vessels. The town of Cochin is about thirty six leagues from Calecut; it is watered by a river, and there is plenty of pepper in the Countrey about it, which is fruitful in nothing else. There are people in that Countrey who have legs like an Elephant, and I saw a man at Cochin with such a Leg; the son inherits not after his Father, because a woman is allowed by the custom to lye with several men, so that it cannot be known who is the father of the child she brings forth; and for successions, the child of the sister is preferred, because there is no doubt of the line by the female. The sisters have liberty to chuse such Naires or gentlemen as they please to lye with; and when a Naire is in a ladies' chamber, he leaves his stick or sword at the door, that others (who have a mind to come) should know that the place is taken up, nobody offers to come in then. And this custom is established all over Malabar. Heretofore the King of Cochin was crowned upon the coast, though it was possessed by the Portuguese; but he who ought now to be King, would not be crowned there, because it is in the power of the Dutch: And he made them answer, when they invited him to follow the custom, that he would have nothing to do with them; and that when the Portuguese were restored to the possession of that coast, he would be crowned there. In the meantime the Dutch have crowned another Prince, who is the King’s Kinsman, and have given him the title of Samorin or Emperour, which the King of Calecut pretends to. The true King of Cochin is retired to Tanor, which is the first principality of his house, to the Prince of Tanor, his uncle, eight leagues from Cochin. They sail from one town to the other in little barks, upon a pretty pleasant river. Featured in Harmony magazine July 2010

The Forty Rules of Love By Elif Shafak Penguin Viking; Rs 499; 350 pages With The Forty Rules of Love, Elif Shafak steps into a different land (Baghdad) and style of narrative after her much-acclaimed Bastard of Istanbul. This effortless book-within-a-book further establishes her as a writer of distinguished skill and prose. Ella is happy with her life as homemaker, refusing to admit that she might have fallen out of love with her husband David. It is only when Aziz Z Zahara comes into her life as a manuscript that she realises, “No matter who we are or where we live, deep inside we all feel incomplete. It’s like we have lost something and need to get it back. Just what that something is, most of us never find out. And of those who do, even fewer manage to go out and look for it.” And Ella does, through Aziz’s book on wandering dervish Shams-i-Tabrizi, who sets out to fill his incompleteness with an intellectual companion and finds Rumi — the saint of love, the one who turned poet after Shams was killed by the loveless. As Ella turns 40 and battles with indecisiveness, Shams enlightens her with his 40 rules, on reading which forgiveness, love, selflessness and sacrifice become first instincts. How and when did we all change? And when did we change the world around us, making it seem a dangerous place to be? The questions come and go as Shams walks the streets of his beloved Rumi’s land. Forty, “the symbol of (in mystic thought) ascent from one level to higher one and spiritual awakening… when we mourn we mourn for forty days; when a baby is born it takes forty days for him to get ready to start life on earth…; in Islamic mysticism there are forty degrees between man and God; Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days and nights; Buddha meditated under a linden tree for forty days.” Read this to soak in Shams’s 40 rules to live (and love) by. — Meeta Bhatti Featured in Harmony magazine July 2010

Maria's Room Novelist-poet-playwright-journalist Shreekumar Varma, 55, may not want to trumpet his lineage from the rooftops but the cultural legacy of his great-great grandfather Raja Ravi Varma is evident in his book Maria’s Room (HarperCollins: Rs 299; 324 pages) — he doesn’t just write words, he paints scenarios that settle themselves snugly around you, holding you firm in the tortured world of his protagonist Raja Prasad. Raja is in a gritty, distinctly unglamorous Goa trying to write his next book while putting to rest the ghosts of his first unsuccessful literary venture and a deep personal tragedy. Even while he strikes up a liaison with a local girl, he becomes mesmerised by the story of another from a long time ago. It isn’t long before past and present blur with the effects becoming manifest in Raja’s book — and life. As much a thriller and mystery as lament of love and loss, Maria’s Room explores the relationship between man and mind, as Varma tells Arati Rajan Menon…. How is Maria's Room different from Lament of Mohini (Penguin), your earlier book? It is quite a departure. Lament depicts the way of life among the Namboodiris and the royal family in Kerala. It showcases a unique idiom and things about that way of life that have not been written about in English. Maria’s Room is set in Goa. Like the protagonist Raja Prasad, I too went to Goa after the release of Lament to write my next book. That time was the trigger for this book. There are lots of elements blended in — a German I once encountered in Mahabalipuram inspired the pivotal character of Fritz; even actors like Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni provided me cues. Maria’s Room is a very dark book. Yes, it differs from Lament, which is lighter, even humorous in parts. It’s also a book about the mind and how we can lose ourselves in it. There’s so much going on inside our heads; on one level, we are aware of it, on another it remains in our subconscious although it influences us tremendously. The wonderful thing about the mind is that you can inhabit a parallel universe inside. It is not available to you yet you can derive happiness and solace from it. You write books, plays, poetry — which hat fits you best? The hat is irrelevant; it’s the story that matters. I always have two windows open on my computer and often jump from one to another. I don’t plot my career; I do whatever interests me. You maintain your own website: www.shreevarma.homestead.com. How can an author use the medium to connect with the reader? For instance, some authors publish work in progress on the Net …. The medium is a wonderful way to interact directly with the audience. But I don’t see myself opening my work out in that way — I would hate to lose control of the creative process! It’s different if you do a play because you have to cede to the director but one is more possessive about a book. You have also written many books for children, like Pazhassi Raja: The Royal Rebel (Macmillan), and Devil's Garden (Puffin). Do you have to gear yourself up differently for this audience? I teach creative writing to youngsters and it keeps me connected with the next generation. Having watched my two sons grow up has also helped. You are a descendant of Raja Ravi Varma. Can such a legacy be an encumbrance? It was hard when I was younger because sometimes the name ends up defining you. When I was introduced to people, the last line used to hold the most applause; it was disconcerting. Now, it is a source of pride. I believe I have been truly enriched by the creative aspect of the legacy and I don’t shy away from it. Of course, we’ve never been ostentatious as a family. Or my name would be a lot longer! As you grow older, do you see your age as a negative or positive? When people dwell on your chronological age, one does feel old. But it is of no consequence if the mind is open, happy and positive. One positive of ageing is a bank of memory to draw upon. That can be useful for a writer. What’s next? A thriller; a fast-paced read called The Gayatri Club. Featured in Harmony magazine June 2010

Made in India An excerpt from Aryatarangini: The Saga of the Indo-Aryans by A Kalyanaraman (Asia publishing house; 1969) Ancient Indian chemistry developed from two sources, medicine and industry. The manufacture of copper and bronze utensils and weapons in the age of the Rig Veda (5000-4000 BC) makes Aryavarta the pioneer in this industry. As we have seen earlier, the metallic weaponry of the ancient Aryans was numerous, and highly efficient. Even during Rig Vedic times, the Aryans had passed on from the Copper to the Iron Age. In the later Veda, there is unmistakable evidence of the mining of iron ore (described as syama-ayas) and the gradual replacement of copper, brass and bronze by steel, for the finer types of weapons, the tyres of chariots, the shoeing of oxen and horse, and some kind of domestic utensils. By the time of the later Vedic literature, the manufacture of fine steel had become a widely distributed industry, whose reputation had, as we had seen elsewhere, travelled abroad to Persia and the Near East, during the early centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. (The so-called Syrian steel, named Damascus in historical times, was in fact either imported steel made in India or steel made by Indian artisans settled in Syria, under the Mithrani Kings.) The ore was smelted in furnaces, the flames being blown by bellows, made of skin, or occasionally of bird’s wing. The ‘steeling’ process was probably centralised as a royal monopoly down to historical times, and closely guarded as a secret both in our own country and abroad, wherever the Aryan peoples had carved out a home for themselves. The chemical excellence of the wrought iron of ancient India has become an object of wonder to all those archaeologists who had seen the Guptan and other pillars, which have remained rustless even after being in the open for over 1,500 years. (The iron pillar of Dhar (1200 AD) is even larger than the Delhi pillar.) The Delhi iron pillar is described, by an English historian, as the product of great skill and labour and superb technical efficiency in preparing the metal, which, because of its purity, has been preserved so long. The Atharvan shows acquaintance with the extraction of chemical essence and inorganic medicines. This knowledge continued to make progress in post-Vedic times, till a comparatively high degree of proficiency was reached in the age of Charka and Susruta (7th and 6th centuries BC). The great grammarian Patanjali, in his treatise on metallurgy, gives elaborate instructions on metallurgical and chemical processes, especially the preparation of salts, alloys, amalgams and the extraction, purification, and the assaying of mineral products. It is very likely that Patanjali was aware of the use of mixtures, called vida, which contained aqua regia and other mineral acids in potential. Unfortunately, the magnum opus of Patanjali is no longer available, although it is quoted freely in medical textbooks of a later time. That the Rasayana Sastra was very well understood in the century before Christ is evident from the writings of Nagarjuna (1st century BC/AD), who specialised in the preparation of mercurial compounds, and devoted an entire book to the subject. Early in 6th century AD, Varahamihira (the well-known astronomer) gave several recipes for the preparation of cement (a powder he calls Vajralepa, or a binder as strong as diamond), which was used extensively in the temple and palace architecture of the period.... In fact, by the Gupta period, India had achieved preeminence as an industrial nation and even Imperial Rome looked up to India as the most skilled nation in the world in such arts as dyeing, tanning, soap-making, glass and cement manufacture. “By the 6th century AD,” says Will Durant, “the Hindus were far ahead of Europe in industrial chemistry: they were masters of calcinations, distillation, sublimation, steaming and fixation, the production of light without heat, the making of anaesthetics and soporific powers and in the preparation of metallic salts, compounds and alloys.” The tempering of steel was brought to a state of perfection in ancient India, unknown in Europe till our own times. King Porus is said to have selected, as a specially valuable gift for Alexander, not gold or silver, but 30 pounds of steel! Featured in Harmony Magazine June 2010

The Vaishnava 72-square gyan chaupar (also gyan chausar, "Chess of Knowledge", Snakes and Ladders) board on cloth — from 19th century Nepal, it found its way to a private collection in Germany (photograph by Joachim Bautze) Gaming zone A new book throws light on a colourful yet grey area in our cultural history. Harmony presents an excerpt from The Art of Play-Board and Card Games of India by Marg Publications In the last five millennia, the Indian subcontinent has shown greater creativity than probably any other part of the world in the range and quality of its games, whether of chance or skill, and of its games-related artefacts. A natural flair for gaming, allied to brilliant aptitudes for artistic design, mathematics, numerology and intellectual or metaphysical inquiry, have all played their part in this. In daily life, at all levels of society from village to court, the playing of traditional games and contests constituted for both sexes a continuous experiential link between childhood and adulthood. Playing games of increasing complexity from youth into maturity served not only as a diversion or pastime but as, in some sense, a mode of learning. At the most overt level, games themselves could mirror aspects of human life in an instructive way. Chess is indeed one of India's most far-reaching and enduring contributions to world culture. Other traditional Indian games were overly religious and didactic in conception or made prominent use of religious symbolism in their decoration. The versatile race game of gyan chaupar (Snakes and Ladders), the spiral race game of ganj (closely related to the 16th-century European Game of Goose) and Hindu ganjifa cards (based on the ten avatars of Vishnu, or less often the Ramayana story and other themes) are some examples. In the Indian subcontinent as elsewhere, people have no doubt always played games mainly for fun or for money. But from early times, when gaming was associated with divination, such play also had a significant role in religious ritual and the mystique of kingship. (From the introduction by Andrew Topsfield) The Vaishnava 72-square gyan chaupar from 19th century Rajasthan is now at Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford Rosewood with ivory and brass inlay folding board for the karmic game of Shivasayujyam from mid-19th century Mysore Ganjifa cards on paper from 19th century Maharashtra; sideview of a painted lacquered wood Ganjifa card box showing a British official shooting a tiger and a dark-skinned tribal hunter Dashavatara (ten avatar of Lord Vishnu) ganjifa with its original box Another version of Pachisi (a 'race game' exemplifying the triumph of the 'fastest' with a strong reliance on chance) on chaupar board made with velvet and gold wire from 18th century North India Rajputs playing the game of Pucheesee (also Pachisi), one of the earliest versions of chaupar Two ivory pieces from a Sheep Against Tiger set — the tiger is one of the two and the sheep one of the seven from the 19th century Rajasthan hunting game set A bird's eye view of an eternal struggle from 20th century hunting games with their various pieces Featured in Harmony magazine May 2010

Of faith and longing Excerpt from “Bara Mah” in the Hymns of Guru Nanak, translated by Khushwant Singh. First published by Orient Longman in 1969 SAVAN (July-August) Savan saras mana ghan varsai rut de O my heart, rejoice! It’s Savan The season of nimbus cloud and rain, My body and soul yearn for my Lord, But my Lord is gone to foreign lands If He return not, I shall die pining for Him. The lightning strikes terror in my heart, I stand all alone in my courtyard, In solitude and in sorrow. O Mother of mine, I stand on the brink of death, Without the Lord I have neither hunger nor sleet I cannot suffer the clothes on my body. Nanak says, she alone is the true wife Who loses herself in the Lord. BHADON (August-September) Bhadon bharam bhuli bhar joban Pachtani In the month of Bhadon I lose myself in a maze of falsehood I waste my wanton you, River and land are one endless expanse of water For it is the monsoon the season of merry-making. It rains, The nights are dark, What comfort is it to the wife left alone? Frogs croak Peacocks scream The papeeha calls ‘peeoh, peeoh.’ The fangs of serpents that crawl, The stings of mosquitoes that fly Are full of venom, The seas have burst their bounds in the ecstasy Of fulfilment. Without the Lord I alone am bereft of joy, Whither shall I go? Says Nanak, ask the guru the way He knoweth the path which leads to the Lord. ASAN (September-October) Asan au pira sadhan jhur mui It’s the month of Asan O Master come to me I waste and shall die. If the Master wills, I shall meet Him. If He wills not, In a deep well shall I be lost. I strayed on to the paths of falsehood And the Master forsook me, Age hath greyed my locks I have left many winters behind. But the fires of hell still lie ahead. Whither shall I turn? The bough remained ever green For the sap that moveth within day and night. Night and day, reneweth life. If the name of the Lord courseth in the veins Life and hope will forever be green. That which cooketh slowly cooketh best. It is Asan, says Nanak, It is trysting time, O Lord, And we have waited long. Featured in Harmony magazine May 2010

The Taj’s forerunner An extract from History of Indian and Eastern Architecture by James Fergusson, first published in 1876, on I’timadu-ddaulah’s tomb in Agra There is one building — the tomb known as that of I’timadu-d-daulah — at Agra, however, which belongs to this reign, and though not erected by the monarch [Jahangir] himself, cannot be passed over, not only from its own beauty of design, but also because it marks an epoch in the style to which it belongs. It was erected by Nur-Jahan, in memory of her father, who died in 1621, and was completed in 1628. It is situated on the left bank of the river, in the midst of a garden surrounded by a wall measuring 540 ft on each side. In the centre of this, on a raised platform stands the tomb itself, a square measuring 69 ft on each side. It is two storeys in height, and at each angle is an octagonal tower, surmounted by an open pavilion. The towers, however, are rather squat in proportion, and the general design very far from pleasing as that of many less pretentious tombs in the neighbourhood. Had it, indeed, been built in red sandstone, or even with an inlay of white marble, it would not have attracted attention. Its real merit consists in being wholly in white marble and being covered throughout with a mosaic in pietra dura — the first, apparently, and certainly one of the most splendid examples of that class of ornamentation in India. It seems that in the early part of the 17th century, Italian artists, apparently from Florence, were introduced into India, and, it has been said they taught the Indians the art of inlaying marble with precious stones. In the time of Shah Jahan it became the leading characteristic of the style, and both his palaces and his tombs owe their principle distinction to the beauty of the mode employed. It has been doubted whether this art was really a foreign introduction, or whether it had been invented in India. The question never, probably, would have arisen had one of the fundamental principles of architecture been better understood. When we, for instance, having no art of our own, copy a Grecian or Roman pillar, or an Italian mediaeval arch in detail, we do so literally, without any attempt to adapt it to our uses or climate; but when a people having a style of their own wish to adopt any feature or process belonging to any other style, they do not copy but adapt it to their uses; and it is this distinction between adopting and adapting that makes all the difference. We would have allowed Italians to introduce with their mosaics all the details of their Cinque-cento architecture. The Indians set about reproducing, with the new materials and processes the patterns which the architects of Akbar had been in the habit of carving in stone or inlaying in marble. The style remained the same, so did all the details. As one of the first, the tomb of I’timadu-d-daulah was certainly one of the least successful specimens. The patterns do not quite fit the places where they are put, and the paces are not always those best suited for this style. But, on the other hand, the beautiful tracery of the pierced marble slabs of its windows, which resemble those of Salim Chishti’s tomb at Fatehpur-Sikri, the beauty of its white marble walls, and the rich colour of its decorations, make up so beautiful a whole, that it is only on comparing it with the works of Shah Jahan that we are justified in finding fault. Featured in Harmony magazine April 2010

Secret Son By Laila Lalami Penguin Viking; Rs 599; 291 pages “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition”, Laila Lalami quotes legendary writer James Baldwin from Giovanni’s Room. In Secret Son, both home and identity are immutable conditions. Youssef El Mekki’s life is hopeless in the slum alleyways of Hay An Najat in Casablanca. On discovering that he isn’t fatherless after all, and that he is the son of industrialist Nabil Amrani, he decides to leave his past behind and give in to his newly found parent’s aspirations. Hostile over his daughter Amal’s love life in America, Nabil contemplates handing over the reins to Youssef, but he would rather have his daughter back. Rachida Ouchak, Youssef’s mother, had left her tribal life and mother tongue (Tamazight) behind to bring up Youssef speaking impeccable French, but now he was not hers as well. She finds life slipping away when he returns home fatherless yet again. With no friends, no degree and no job, Youssef is vulnerable when Islamic radicals veer him away. Amal comes looking for her brother but Rachida wouldn’t let her. There’s a certain rootlessness to all their lives — Youssef’s, Nabil’s, Rachida’s, Amal’s and Youssef’s friend Amin’s. In blogger Lalami’s tale of social ladders and injustices, one finds there’s more to Morocco than wintering heavens for European tourists enjoying the un-Islamic, sanitised version of a country running away from its own reality. There’s greed, intolerance, narrow-mindedness, social biases and the filth and muck we all want to run away from. And we wondered if only life here was different! — Meeta Bhatti Featured in Harmony magazine April 2010

Star & style! For over 50 years, Bhanu Athaiya’s creations adorned the bold and the beautiful of Indian cinema. Arati Rajan Menon leafs through her incredible portfolio American costume designer Edith Head, an eight-time Oscar winner, once described her work as “a cross between magic and camouflage”. Bhanu Rajopadhye Athaiya, herself the winner of an Academy Award for costume design — for Gandhi (1982) — would no doubt agree, only adding the word ‘fashion’ to the description. For, in a country where cinema is akin to religion, millions have slavishly copied the trends set by their screen idols. And many of these trends emerged from the fertile imagination and prolific sketchpad of Athaiya over a career that has spanned half a century, from Shahenshah in 1953 to Swades in 2004. That remarkable career is chronicled in The Art of Costume Design (Collins; Rs 2,995; 188 pages), which is not just a portfolio of her work but a collection of Athaiya’s experiences in cinema; a tribute to the directors that inspired her; and a paean to the artistic family that nurtured her own nascent talent in the bosom of their 300 year-old sprawling ancestral home in Kolhapur. Her future was sewn up once she arrived in Mumbai to study art—while she was good enough to exhibit along with the Progressive Artists’ Group, she also began to work as ‘fashion illustrator’ for women’s magazine Fashion and Beauty and then Eve’s Weekly. Fashion won out and how; clothes both avant garde and impossibly rustic, adorning the bold and the beautiful. In this book, you see them all; from Nadira’s slinky dress with its snake-like border in Shri 420 (1955) and Mumtaz wound tight and sexy in an orange sari in Brahmachari (1968) to the ethereal Dimple as a Rajasthani village belle in Lekin (1990). Iconic images, vintage Athaiya. Bhanu Athaiya speaks to Harmony… Inspirations: I’m always bubbling with ideas. As soon as I get an assignment, the ideas start spinning. My best work: Gandhi. The protagonist’s costumes change through the different stages of his life from a westernised look to a basic loincloth and shawl. Star moments: In Reshma aur Shera, Sunil Dutt and Waheeda Rehman did complete justice to my designs. The book: As I have worked for over 50 years and done some outstanding films, I felt it was time to put my work on paper to serve as inspiration for future designers. Global pick: I admire the work of Emi Wada, who won an Academy Award for Costume Design for her work on Akira Kurosawa’s Ran. Great escapes: I love to travel the world. I visit museums and get the taste of every country I visit. What next? A book that covers work produced for theatre and exquisite calendars. I have a huge collection of reference material and sketches. I couldn’t include all my work in the first book and want to put it all down. Celebrating age: Every morning, I wake up feeling like a 16 year-old, ready to explore the beauty all around me. I am always on the go. I work with young people and gel with them. I feel part of the gang. Support system: Me and myself. Featured in Harmony magazine April 2010

Lessons in Forgetting By Anita Nair HarperCollins; Rs 399; 329 pages The cyclone is a hell of a metaphor — a deceptive calm that is shattered by the storm only to be replaced by calm again, this time, though, tinged with an acute awareness of what has come before. Author of acclaimed books like Ladies Coupe and Mistress, Anita Nair uses the vagaries of nature to great effect to portray the cyclical nature of life and, yes, happiness in Lessons in Forgetting. Two separate lives, Meera and Jak, undergo tumult: while one is a corporate trophy wife and cookbook author abandoned by her husband in her crumbling family home, the other is a cyclone expert who returns from the US to investigate why his 19 year-old daughter is lying comatose and catatonic, her body and spirit crushed. Their worlds not so much collide as come shoulder to shoulder as Nair finds solace from her pain in aiding Jak’s quest. As they discover a shocking trail that underscores the shame of female foeticide — and the cottage industry that abets it in our country — they come to terms with their own yesterdays. Nair weaves her tale of love and pain with skill, blending the darkness with just enough strands of light to offer readers, and her protagonists, the hope of redemption. Indeed, Meera’s favourite fruit is the pomegranate — the symbol of Greek goddess Hera, something of a leitmotif for Nair — which represents death and the promise of resurrection. “She savours it best when it is eaten seed by seed rather than as a handful thrown into her mouth. She will take a cue from that. Of how resurrection is to be fashioned one day at a time.” That’s worth remembering. — Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony magazine April 2010

It happens only in India! Two books that combine anecdotes, observations and heaps of humour to reflect a nation in evolution Raised stock indexes and hemlines, new languages like COBOL and Java, TRP-competing sitcoms and mushrooming dotcoms contributed to a sweeping change in India in the liberal 1990s. Providing “a different, radically alternative, hatke perspective — a perspective through the lens of popular culture”, Arnab Ray grabs your attention right at the title. MAY I HEBB YOUR ATTENTION PLISS! (HarperCollins; Rs 199; 237 pages) is a humorous, politically incorrect and irreverent look at a selection of random topics ranging from politics, Bollywood C-grade masala movies and implausible reality shows to a socio-cultural study of sexual frustration, pretentious nonresident Indians and temperamental toilet flushes. Generously interspersed with desi terminology, the imagery and observations flowing through the book activate recall switches and ring familiar echoes. With research playing a marginal role, the author admits “the pages are in general bereft of numbers, statistics and the other inscrutable artifices of pedantry”. In the introductory chapter “The ‘Nut’ Shell”, Ray tells readers “straight up” what the book is all about. Written in a conversational style with generous dollops of personal trivia, the 14 chapters before the epilogue are a rollercoaster ride of hilarity. For instance, discussing the conundrum of arranged-cum-love-marriage in “An Indian Wedding”, readers get a ringside view of Ray’s own marriage — from wardrobe malfunction worries about the dhoti to retakes of different rituals for the benefit of the photographers. Another highlight: a tongue-in-cheek analysis of celluloid classics like Clerk (1989), Tahalka (1992), Aatish (1994) Mohra (1996) and Gupt (1997) in “How Bollywood Made Me What I Am”. Ray not only gets our attention, but holds it. Santosh Desai has India on his mind too. MOTHER PIOUS LADY: MAKING SENSE OF EVERYDAY INDIA (HarperCollins; Rs 399; 380 pages) knits individual essays together to focus on the changing urban middle class. Desai confesses to in-built biases creeping in as the narration is filtered through personal experiences. Making “no bones about the fact that it is composed of little scraps of observations that are sewn together” to provide a larger picture held together as a single piece, the author examines middle class India from within. “The essence of growing up as Indian… is really in understanding what it takes to actually experience India in all its trivial everydayness.” The symbols of the past are being replaced with a totally new genre — remixes brought alive by undulating “well-ventilated women”; bikes that hug the curves of roads making scooters passé; family ties “loosening into discretionary affiliations”. Fundamental clichés imply a new energy — a tiger has been uncaged, a sleeping giant has risen — and acknowledge an evolution in the essential character of the Indian view of itself. Organised in three sections — ‘Where Do We Come From?’, ‘New Adventures in Modernity’ and ‘Dilemmas of Change’ — introductory paragraphs in each chapter succinctly encapsulate randomly arrayed themes. This gives the reader freedom to read the crisp pieces in a non-linear fashion. From housewives who sneak additional value to their transactions with free dhaniya and hari mirch (“The Dhaniya Factor”) to the inimitable language and culture invented by matrimonial ads where just 25 words can abbreviate a person into marketability (“Mother Pious Lady”), Desai’s India is all too familiar — and incredibly entertaining. — Anjana Jha Featured in Harmony magazine April 2010

Museum of Innocence By Orhan Pamuk Faber and Faber; Rs 599; 532 pages “When we lose people we love, we should never disturb their souls, whether living or dead. Instead, we should find consolation in an object that reminds you of them, something… I don’t know… even an earring.” And as if on cue from his lover Fusun’s words, begins Kemal’s obsession with all things and memories that remind him of her years after she leaves him to be happy with, and marry, his fiancée Sibel. Fusun’s earring that came free during one of their passionate rendezvous only to be found much later, the cup she drinks from at Merhamet Apartments where they meet afternoons, the things she has touched and looked at, adding to it remembrances of an Istanbul in transition they both knew, form Kemal’s museum of love. On the way, a novel becomes a social study of a city that Pamuk so loves, it's part of almost each of his work of fiction and non-fiction. The city’s old money, its fixation with European brands, the preoccupation with virginity defining class, the weddings, funerals, the rift between tradition and modernism, its journalism, and military coups come alive in Eastman Colour, though camouflaged in tears and jealousy, and stories of cousins and distant cousins. And at the centre of an evolving cityscape (and its throbbing museum) are Kemal and his playboy fancies. The younger son of one of the wealthiest businessmen in Istanbul, he can’t choose between Sibel and Fusun. By the time he does, it’s too late. And it takes him years of supper visits to his now-married sweetheart to trace his life back to the days at Merhamet Apartments. A sweet love story told with artistry and technique like only a bard can. — Meeta Bhatti Featured in Harmony magazine March 2010

The Quarantine Papers By Kalpish Ratna HarperCollins; Rs 499; 404 pages Duality is a concept that ‘Kalpish Ratna’ is uniquely qualified to explore — it’s not one author but two surgeons, Kalpana Swaminathan and Ishrat Syed, writing under a pseudonym that melds their names in a rather fetching way. The Quarantine Papers is also a reflection of duality on many levels; it flits between two Bombays at two different times of tumult and two men who inhabit these times; their tale told in two different fonts so you can tell them apart. So you go back and forth from the churn in the city following the demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992 to a Bombay stricken by bubonic plague — and communal hatred — in 1896. Our protagonist in 1992 is microbiologist Ratan Oak; the man living through the plague is his great-grandfather Ramratan Oak, a mortician. And if that doesn’t sound confusing enough, Ratan soon realises that he’s not just himself but Ramratan too and his mission is to stamp out hate from his city. Thrown into the mix are forbidden love, betrayal, cruelty and violence. Eventually, though, it all starts to make sense. Truth be told, Ratan and Ramratan are the only fictional devices in a book that draws heavily from archival material and newspaper reports to chronicle the development of medicine in India as well as the march of religious fanaticism, the bubonic plague of the past juxtaposed with the modern-day communal plague. The authors’ worry for their Bombay is palpable — they rue its physical transformation without mental adjustment. Another dichotomy in a book that intrigues even as it informs. — Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony magazine March 2010

The Essential Marathi Cookbook By Kaumudi Marathe Penguin; Rs 350; 398 pages “Change is inevitable and often welcome. However, remembering the past is to honour it and to learn from it,” says Kaumudi Marathe in the preface to her sumptuous book on Maharashtrian cuisine. This must-have book brings alive longforgotten sounds and secrets from the kitchens of our childhood: the staccato pounding of pestle and mortar; the rhythmic heave of rice on the winnowing fan; the hierarchy of spices sitting in rustic teakwood shelves; and the delicate equations between vegetables and pulses that were once monitored with fastidious concern. Marathe, who lives in the US, has dedicated her book to her daughter for she fears she will not learn cooking by ‘osmosis’ the way she did while watching her mother and grandmother cook back home in India. The recipes are contributed by her father, mother, aunts, grandaunts and family friends. Reading the book is like being in the kitchen with all of them surrounded by friendly banter, amazing tips and, above all, delightful food. Recipes, both elaborate and simple, come with history, regional nuances and wonderful advice. We bump into the oft-quoted Marathi delicacies, like mugachi usal or green gram stew, masale bhat (spicy rice served at weddings), sabudanyache vade (sago cakes), and the downright unusual — sheng sola (winter solstice stew), shengola (indigenous pasta), pandra rassa (white chicken curry), and kharvas (a rich dessert made from cow’s colostrum). The recipes in the book knock over our onedimensional assumption of the mysteriously low profile Maharashtrian cuisine. We learn to discern the differences in food served by Maharashtrians in Kolhapur, Pune, and Nagpur from that served in Goa, Mumbai and Beed. So many worlds living in one state. Just like the rest of India. — Rajashree Balaram Featured in Harmony magazine March 2010

The Hymn to the Earth Extracts from the Hymn to the Earth, Atharva Veda XII.I Truth, External Order that is great and stern, Consecration, Austerity, Prayer and Ritual — these uphold the Earth. May she, Queen of what has been and will be, make a wide world for us. Earth which has many heights, and slopes and the unconfined plain that bind men together, Earth that bears plants of various healing powers, may she spread wide for us and thrive. Earth, in which lie the sea, the river and other waters, in which food and cornfields have come to be, in which live all that breathes and that moves, may she confer on us the finest of her yield. Mistress of four quarters, in whom food and cornfields have come to be, who bears in many forms the breathing and moving life, may she give us cattle and crops. Earth, in which men of old before us performed their various work, where Devas overwhelmed the Asuras, Earth, the home of kine, horses, birds, may she give us magnificence and lustre. All-sustaining, treasure-bearing, firm staying-place, gold-breasted, home of all moving life, Earth bears the sacred universal fire. May Indra and Rishava give us wealth. Earth, whom unsleeping Devas protect for ever without erring, may she pour on us delicious sweets, and endow us with lustre. Earth, which at first was in the water of the ocean, and which sages sought with wondrous powers, Earth whose heart was in Eternal Heaven, wrapped in Truth, immortal, may she give us lustre and strength in a most exalted State. Earth, in which the waters common to all, moving on all sides, flow unfailing, day and night, may she pour on us milk in many streams, and endow us with lustre. Earth, in which the Asvins measured out and Vishnu strode, which Indra, Lord of might, made free from foes for himself, may she pour out milk for me — a mother to her son. Pleasant be thy hills, O Earth, the snow-clad mountains and thy woods! On Earth — the brown, black, ruddy and multicoloured — the firm Earth protected by Indra, on this Earth I stand, unvanquished, unslain, unhurt. Set me, O Earth, amidst what is thy centre and thy naval, and vitalising forces that emanated from thy body. Purify us from all sides. Earth is my mother, her son am I; and Parjanya my father: may he fill us with plenty…. Earth in which Night and Day — the black and the bright in union — are settled, which is covered and canopied over by rain: may she establish us with bliss in every dear home. Heaven, Earth and Mid-Air have given me this wide space, and Agni, Surya, Apas and All-Gods have together endowed me with the intellect. I am victorious, I am called the most exalted on the earth, a conqueror everywhere, a conqueror over everything, I am a victor on every side. When, O Goddess, proceeding forward, and extolled by Devas, thou hadst spread thy renown, then a great glory entered into thee, and made for thyself the four quarters. In villages, in the forest, and in the assemblies on the earth, in congregations and in councils, we shall speak of thee in lovely terms. As a horse scatters dust, so did Earth, since she was born, scatter the people who dwelt on the land, and she joyously sped on, the world’s protectress, supporter of forest trees and plants. Featured in Harmony magazine March 2010 The Suriani Kitchen By Lathika George Westland; Rs 450; 240 pages For food lovers the world over, Isabel Allende’s Aphrodite will remain a landmark; a sensual odyssey that blends recipe, memory, intimacy and emotion. Landscape designer Lathika George’s paean to Kerala’s traditional Syrian Christian — or Suriani — cuisine is redolent of the same delightful flavours. Like the beloved Malabar parotta, this book has many delicate layers waiting to be savoured. The history of the Syrian Christian community, believed to be established by Saint Thomas the Apostle in AD 52. Their customs; births, weddings, deaths; rites and rituals. And of course their food: the myriad techniques of cooking, each one with vessel to match; from oliathiathu (sautéed preparation) in a cheena chatti (round-bottomed ‘Chinese pot’) to pollichathu (broiled or roasted) in an urali (a wide-mouthed, squat vessel of bell metal), a smorgasbord of seafood and spices, meats and leaves, vegetables and herbs laid out in clear and uncomplicated recipes. The kuromolagu chertha kozhi (pepper chicken) roast, kallumekka olathiathu (spicy mussel fry), olan (red beans and pumpkin in coconut milk) and kaalen (mango and yogurt curry) are just some of the stand-outs that will vie for your attention. Interspersed with the food are tales of George’s family. Their adventures are aplenty, duck-shoots and action-packed holidays. So are their secrets, from the aunt who died of a broken heart to Missy, the travelling cook who lived at convents and had all the nuns fooled — to say any more would be telling! A delicious pot-boiler in every sense of the word. — Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony magazine February 2010 Open By Andre Agassi HarperCollins; Rs 599; 388 pages “I hate tennis.” That reiteration is perhaps the biggest gobsmacker in Andre Agassi’s autobiography. Not the confession of drug use or even the fact that he wore an artificial hairpiece for years, the malfunction of which possibly cost him his first Grand Slam final, the 1990 French Open. The biggie is that the tennis legend hates his sport. Yet, tennis is what defines him, a contradiction he struggles with for most of his career, never more so than when he contemplates his penultimate professional game in the 2006 US Open: “Please let this be over. I don’t want this to be over.” Pushed by a driven, emotionally abusive father into the “prison” that was celebrity coach Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Florida, the lad from Las Vegas played and rebelled in equal measure; a boy with neon pink lava shorts and a leonine, streaked mane growing up in the klieg lights who rues his lack of education enough to set up his own school. Agassi bares his soul to ghost-writer JR Moehringer, a Pulitzer prize-winning author who refused to take a cover credit despite Agassi’s insistence. Moehringer just supplies the words; they are uncomplicated and real, allowing Agassi’s emotion to shine through. Boundless gratitude for his trainer and Man Friday Gil Reyes and coach Brad Gilbert. Heartbreak over failed relationships with hometown girlfriend Wendi Stewart and ex-wife Brooke Shields. And love at last with fellow tennis icon ‘Stefanie’ Graf (never Steffi because Stefanie was the way she saw herself), a kindred soul with a dominating father. In a hilarious anecdote, Agassi tells us how the two alpha dads almost came to blows during their first meeting. From the courtship that began with a practice session — “every forehand felt like foreplay” — to a marriage solemnised barefoot in jeans and the birth of two children, Agassi’s adoration of his wife is fulsome, sometimes bordering on the twee. But all this gooiness is punctuated with enough grit to make this book sing. The insider view of the game will thrill not just tennis enthusiasts but those who are moved by accounts of guts and glory. Indeed, the finest moments come during the tennis matches, not necessarily the big ones but the games that mattered; epic duels with Pete Sampras and grudge-fests with Boris Becker where you can smell the sweat and hear the cheers. These set pieces of drama underscore a truism that Agassi repeats: “A win never feels as good as a loss feels bad.” Open gives you the best seat on Centre Court to experience this. — Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony Magazine February 2010 Hypnotizing Maria: The Secret of a Meaningful Life Hypnotizing Maria: The Secret of a Meaningful Life By Richard Bach JAICO BOOKS; Rs 175; 274 pages As Maria Ochoa’s pilot husband passes out in the middle of a flight, she panics and sends out a distress signal. At the receiver, Jamie Forbes, flying his Beech T-34 from Washington to Florida, dons the hat of a trainer and helps Maria fly a plane for the first time. “Believe that you are a trained pilot,” Forbes suggests and leads her on. Maria lands safely and tells the media that her saviour had hypnotised her. That takes Forbes back in time when several years ago he had volunteered to be a hypnotist’s puppet and got trapped in a rock-solid room in the middle of a stage. By chance or coincidence, a day after rescuing Maria, Forbes meets a hitchhiker-hypnotist Dee Hallock and asks at the risk of sounding stupid: “What is hypnotism?” “Hypnotism is suggestion accepted,” she says. That’s the underlying force of Richard Bach’s latest motivation-rouser. Don’t underestimate the force of your own belief; the walls are in your mind and you can walk through them if you believe you can. New thoughts could affirm and confirm hope; new options reveal opportunities. “Suggestions, Affirmations, Confirmations. Spirals they used to put in movies to show someone’s hypnotised,” says Bach of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame. Suggesting that all of us are hypnotists and hypnotise the world day in and day out with action words (I can, I will, I want…) and value judgments (better, good, best…), Bach takes the reader on a never-before trail of self-discovery. — Meeta Bhatti Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2010 On in Four: One Day of Magic and Mayhem on the Golf Course By P Surendra Prasad EASTWEST BOOKS; Rs 195; 149 Pages Golfers understand two categories of people: golf lovers and others. “Golfers are… prone to their private mythologies, stories that bind them, sustain them through bad times when the swing deserts them and pars seem far, far away,” writes the author, a former corporate executive, in his debut novel. The book covers a day in the lives of four enthusiastic septuagenarians — Kapoor, Ahmed, Mathur and Sharma — who tee off in single-minded pursuit of the perfect birdie. On a day when an unexpectedly remarkable shot by Kapoor surprises the player as much as it does his friends, the buddies share unbelievable tales of their own heroism, titbits of highly spiced gossip, and absurdly exalted philosophy. Their stomping ground is the Delhi Golf Club — a popular landmark in the capital — where other stories are simultaneously being played out. As you follow the protagonists from one hole to the next through the 18-hole golf course, you learn about the lovely Susan who is the club sweetheart; Mr Scout’s dalliance with the young caddies; Ansari Junior’s fondness for alcohol; and Patnaik’s second marriage predicted by the astrologer. Mixing humour with the miscues and mishits that routinely occur on the course, the book is an entertaining read for golf lovers. And for others — it offers a glimpse into a world where nothing is more magical than a hole in one. — Anjana Jha Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2010 Speeches by Lord Curzon of Kedleston An excerpt from Speeches by Lord Curzon of Kedleston-Viceroy and Governor General of India, published in 1901 Simla is in a peculiar sense not merely the official residence of the Viceroy during the hot weather, but his country home. For there he divests himself — if not of the cares of office; that is I fear never possible in India — at least of some of the trappings of State and amid your beautiful mountains he may almost succeed in mistaking himself for an Anglo-Indian Horace retiring from the noise and smoke of Rome to the peace of the Tiburtine hills. But there is one criticism not uncommonly passed upon the summer migration to Simla of the Viceroy and Government of India which I should like to meet. It is sometimes supposed that after three or four months of more or less serious official labour at Calcutta they stampede at the first touch of the sun to Simla, and that there, like the weary mariners in the Lotus Eaters, they …‘live and lie reclined on the hills like gods together, careless of mankind’. In other words Simla is spoken of as though it were the holiday resort, or suburban retreat, of an epicurean Viceroy and a pampered Government. At Calcutta during the winter months there are so many calls upon the Viceroy’s time arising both from the session of the Legislative Council, from the visits of Native Princes or important personages, from the large number of persons whom he is anxious to see, or who have a claim to see him, from the ordinary stress of office work, and from the heavy, though agreeable, social obligations that are inevitable in the crowded Capital of the Indian Empire, that he has barely time to get through the work of each day as it comes round, and never has time to think. It is in order that he may have time to think, time to enquire exhaustively into the many questions calling for solution, time to mature his policy and programme for the forthcoming year, that he comes up to Simla to find here the larger leisure which is denied to him either at Calcutta, or when on tour, and an atmosphere which is more conducive than that of the plains both to mental and to physical energy. Simla is in fact the workshop in which during the summer months are fashioned the materials of the fabric, be it well constructed or badly constructed, of each Viceroy’s Indian Administration. If it be objected that while these considerations are valid enough in their application to him, they are less valid in relation to the large subordinate staffs of the Departments who twice yearly are called upon to perform the same migration, I would reply so far as I am at present competent to form an opinion, that the head of the Administration, must have the officers and the staff of the various Departments in close proximity to himself, so that they may be the immediate instruments of the policy of Government. Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2010 You have the power The solution to every problem lies within us. This is something most of us know deep down inside. But that knowledge is often obscured by a miasma of self-doubt, guilt, blame and regret. These books help us dispel the fog and get to the kernel of truth that lies within; to recognise our potential — and our power over our own destinies. “Questioning the mind… will result in the magic of awakening…” Questions that don’t merely endeavour to get information but lead to the end of ignorance and give birth to the spirit of inquiry. In THE MAGIC OF AWAKENING – 111 ANSWERS ON LIFE AND LIVING (Penguin; 165 pages; Rs 199), Sirshree, who has written over 40 books on spirituality and self-help, offers readers the key to awakening. The 111 questions have been divided into seven sections — essential spirituality, existential dilemmas, demystifying divinity, the ultimate goal, professional and personal, paths to truth, and self inquiry with understanding. “The purpose of the book is not to impart intellectual knowledge” but to help reconnect with our real self, understand our hidden potential, prepare ourselves to deal with emerging situations, and more. Explaining how spirituality helps by attaching a context to the various occurrences in our everyday life, the author tells us how to awaken and feel the magic within. Introducing the technique to first-time users and those recently acquainted with the subject, EMOTIONAL FREE DOM TECHNIQUES (Wisdom Tree; 134 pages; Rs 145) is based on Sangeeta Bhagwat’s personal experience. “A constant exposure to the consequences of negative emotions can be expected to lead to physical issues.” And EFT — tried on a variety of physical ailments — is frequently found to work. Based on the belief that a set of energy meridians govern the wellbeing of mind and body, the technique involves tapping certain energy points in the body with the fingertips. The stimulation accompanied with awareness and positive affirmations unblocked the inner creative force, encouraging acceptance of a particular situation or problem and a move towards its resolution. The author explains that though EFT helps to enhance positive traits and arrive at a state of perfect health, it is not intended as a substitute for any medical treatment. Written in an easy conversational style, the book attempts to facilitate personal improvement in performance, health and overall well-being. The secret to happiness, according to Tammy Kling and John Spencer Ellis in THE COMPASS (HarperCollins; Rs 475; 256 pages), is that there is no secret. Too simplistic? Well, perhaps we’re all trying too hard to do too many complicated things rather than listening to our hearts, argue Kling and Ellis — Kling is an author and literary coach; and Ellis, a personal development coach. Their message is illustrated through the tale of Jonathan, an American man frozen by grief after his family experiences a serious car accident. His escape from pain is transformed into a voyage of self-discovery as he chances upon a terminally ill woman who offers him spiritual nourishment. The sliver of hope she imbues him with urges him on to navigate variegated terrain, new experiences and people. His inner compass is his guide: it takes him through his travels, helps him shake off all grudges and, finally, offers him (and his heart) safe passage home. A powerful lesson for those who find it hard to let go of the past and brave the future. Are you your own worst enemy? Shivi Dua helps you befriend yourself in LET THE POWER BE WITH YOU (Wisdom Tree; Rs 145; 107 pages). A software professional turned healer, Dua believes unconditional love — for ourselves — is the key to happiness. To grasp that elusive key, you have to fulfil five tasks: know that you are responsible for everything you experience; use that power to overcome inner conflicts; shed the negative emotions that mar your relationships; restore your physical health; and having done all this, use the power thus gained to achieve what gives you most satisfaction. This could be whatever you want — you don’t need to experience an ounce of guilt if your goals are money and fame rather than inner harmony or world peace! It’s your dream; you just have to go out and live it. Motivational speaker and author of much inspirational text Zig Ziglar speaks simply in BETTER THAN GOOD: CREATING A LIFE YOU CAN’T WAIT TO LIVE (Jaico Books; Rs 250; 250 pages). Ziglar proves you don’t need to absorb complicated jargon to simplify life. The book has heaps of examples of people who have overcome fear and failure to lead the life they dreamt of. The author borrows quite a bit from the Bible to help us shed our inner complexes and fears. But it’s the delightful fables and anecdotes along the way that keep you hooked. Ziglar's nuggets of wisdom include how to keep passion alive; overcome criticism; alter perceptions; strategise intelligently; and — in a chapter that may be especially meaningful to silvers looking for a new purpose in their post-retirement years — change the world one act at a time. Though the paths mentioned in the book may not seem drastically different from those in other books of the same genre, the author's advice gains more credence when we acknowledge that he motivates by example. At 79, Ziglar is still finding new ways to tackle old problems. Featured in Harmony Magazine December 2009 Immortal India An extract from Immortal India, Vol IV, by J H Dave, published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1961 Narmada has been described as the best among the rivers, she having issued from the body of Rudra. It is said she is capable of purifying all creatures and even immovables. River Ganga is said to be holy at Kanakhala, river Saraswati is similarly holy at Kurukshetra; while Narmada, whether she is flowing from a village or a forest, is said to be holy at all places. The water of river Saraswati is said to purify a person immediately; but in the case of river Narmada a mere sight of the river even without a bath or a sip of her water is said to be purifying…. Narmada is also called the daughter of the pitris, and shraddha performed on her banks is said to yield inexhaustible results. River Narmada is specially invoked for the cure of serpent bites. The source of river Narmada on the Amarakantaka hill is also known for religious suicide. Those who voluntarily enter fire or water or fast unto death at this place are said to have liberated themselves. The tank from which the river issues at Amarakantaka is surrounded by several temples. The rivers Narmada, Sone and Mahanadi, all the three of them, have their source on the plateau of Amarakantaka, which has been a place of pilgrimage since time immemorial. Narmada is called Namedos by Ptolemy and Narmnados by the Periplus. Between Amarakantaka and Broach, the Agni, Kurma and Skanda Purana state that there are 60 crore and 60,000 tirtha but Skanda adds that in this Kali Yuga, there are few pratyaksha tirtha as men in this age are losing their spiritual strength. It is said that Siva was once practicing penance along with Uma on their Riksha mountain. Strenuous penance caused perspiration in the body of Siva from the moisture of which arose this river overflowing from this hill. The stream assumed the form of a lady and propitiated Siva. Siva blessed her by stating that she would be holy and inexhaustible. It is for this reason that river Narmada is known by the name of Rudrakanya and Ayonija. Another reason is that this river born of the moisture of the perspiration of Siva assumed the form of a virgin and she deluded and ensnared by her excessively good looks gods and demons alike. Siva stated that only the strong and the lustrous among them would be able to have her. The gods and the demons were moving after this virgin and the moment they came near her she used to disappear. Her movements gave delight to Siva and it is said that she was called Narmada for this reason. Finally she came near Siva and those who were after her had to retire. GLOSSARY Ptolemy: Greek astronomer Pitris: Fathers; the actual progenitors of our lower principles Periplus: Greek text describing navigation and trade opportunities Pratyaksha tirtha: A tirtha of perception Featured in Harmony Magazine December 2009 Word power Arati Rajan Menon recommends five books that can help you steal a march on destiny HAPPINESS AT HAND The Fine Print of Life: How Panna Lal Found Happiness, Wisdom and Mishri Devi By P S Wasu Harper Collins; Rs 195; 177 pages 'Life skills facilitator', P S Wasu's job descriptor, doesn't quite capture the joy he brings to people - he shows his clients how beautiful life is and then gives them the tools to celebrate it. The Fine Print of Life brings his workshop home to you. 'Minding It', 'Finding It', 'Seeing It', 'Being It', 'Walking It' and 'Playing It' are Wasu's 5 ½ wheels - with 'It' being 'life' - each a cyclical train of thought that can turn out to be our "wheel of fortune, triggering our creativity, releasing our passion and setting our life on a roll". We explore these wheels with the help of characters like Panna Lal, Mishri Devi, Hira Lal and Jalebi Devi. In them, we see our own struggles and successes; through them, we see the possibilities inherent in our paths. If life is indeed an ecstatic journey of self-discovery as Wasu insists, he's just handed us the keys to a Porsche to travel it in style. Silver takeaway: Explore your mind; live on surprises; find your Shangri-la Excerpt To all appearances, Panna Lal is doing well for himself. He has a good job, a beautiful apartment and a loving family. But deep down in his heart, he has a nagging feeling that something is missing in his life. There is a vague longing to bloom, to be creative, to be playful, to let go of inhibitions, to connect, to experience joy and to have a sense of fulfilment. Come to think of it, there is a kind of nostalgia in this longing. What Panna Lal longs for is actually the Shangri-la he lost in the process of growing up. So perhaps it is a longing to become a child again! Of course, he can't become a child at the physical level, but certainly he can be one at the psychological level. He can do so by removing the debris from his Shangri-la and nurturing it back to its original lushness. Once he does that, he will be ready to play in his Shangri-la. He will be ready to bloom, to be creative, to be playful, to let go of inhibitions, to connect, to experience joy and to have a sense of fulfilment. There is a Panna Lal in all of us. Whether we are 'successful' or 'not so successful' in life, we all have an unexpressed longing to become children again and play in our own Shangri-la. It is possible for us to be full-time children while we continue to do what we normally do as grown-ups. Far from being a hindrance, it will make us more efficient and effective in what we do. When we have the openness of a child, we will have fresh perceptions. As a result, we will have new ideas that will bring us better solutions to problems. We will be more creative. When we cultivate the enthusiasm of a child, we will pursue our goals with greater passion. As a result we will have greater chances of being successful. When we immerse ourselves into a task fully the way children do, we will do it better and faster. When we develop the keenness and sensitivity of a child's mind, we will be more responsive to what needs doing in our life. Living as full-time children will not only satisfy our inner longing to play in our Shangrila, it is the only way to live optimally and to have a fulfilling life. SEIZE THE DAY The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch Hodder; Rs 295; 206 pages There's a tradition in Western academe known as the 'last lecture'. Eminent professors are often called upon to imagine that this was the last time they would speak: What wisdom would they confer upon the world? When 47 year-old computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of his audience at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to deliver his last lecture in 2007, he didn't have to pretend - he was dying of pancreatic cancer. But his lecture, titled 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams' was no dirge but a celebration of life, a clarion call to seize every moment. (You can watch it on www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo) Its incredible resonance prompted this book, released just weeks before Pausch succumbed to his illness in late July 2008. Expanding on the theme of his lecture, he takes us through what he's seen, what he's learnt, with stories, aphorisms and anecdotes, displaying a wicked sense of humour and keen insight. Challenges, for him, are to be relished ("brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something") and risks taken. For this lesson in positive psychology, the professor gets an A+. Silver takeaway: Seize every moment; savour challenges; enable the dreams of others Be the 'First Penguin' Failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential, insists Pausch. For the 'Building Virtual Worlds' course he taught at Carnegie Mellon, he created a 'First Penguin Award' that went to the team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas or new technology, while failing to achieve their stated goals. "In essence, it was an award for 'glorious failure' and it celebrated out-of-the-box thinking and using imagination in a daring way. The other students came to understand that First Penguin winners were losers who were definitely going somewhere. The title of the award came from the notion that where penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin." STOP THE SEARCH Doing Nothing By Steven Harrison Wisdom Tree; Rs 195; 132 pages Do you want a glimpse of daybreak after a dark night of the soul? If you still haven't found what you're looking for after years of spiritual searching, listen to Steven Harrison. He studied the world's philosophies, sought out every mystic, seer and yogi he could find, and subjected himself to severe austerities and meditation but his questions continued to plague him. Then he decided to do nothing - "as it turns out, nothing is a surprisingly active place, but it is here that we discover who and what we are." The simple act of stopping the search, he argues, can help you discover your true nature. "Thought constricts or limits but consciousness is limitless." Harrison urges readers to let this consciousness lead us through the collapse of the self, making us truly free. We then become a force field of energy that freely communicates with those around us, without any distortion from preconceived notion, ideology or religion. This contact with others, in Harrison's view, will transform us, and life as we think we know it. Silver takeaway: Discard dogma; communicate without language; set your consciousness free An evolutionary leap? According to Harrison, we age because we remember to do so as an expression of our genetic code. But do we have to accept it as a finite conclusion? Not in his view. "Many life-forms regenerate," he argues. "Some simple life-forms are virtually immortal. What is the effect of consciousness on the ageing process, on the encoded memory of the genetic material? Death itself becomes a question in the face of consciousness." He insists that the "quantum/mystical/magical universe" we inhabit has the potential for eradication of disease, ageing, and death. We just have to lose thousands of years of conditioning and let our consciousness imbibe an unconditioned energy, free from thought or memory. "This energy entered into the psychosomatic conditioning, thereby transforming it, may be the next evolutionary leap." TAP YOUR ENERGY The Only Way Out is Within By Rohini Singh Hay House; Rs 195; 258 pages Right off the bat, alternative healer and personal growth teacher Rohini Singh tells you that this book isn't for casual 'browsers' but serious 'seekers' - people who are looking to explore the self. Social conditioning that begins in childhood, which tells us how to feel, behave and conform, lets our outer world dominate our inner one, she insists. The key to health, happiness and self-actualisation, then, is to put your inner self back on top. For this, the key is your 'invisible energy system'. In lucid language, she helps the reader gauge the efficiency of this system; identify energy guzzlers and emotional traps; use the mind (rather than letting it use you); choose the physical, mental and emotional states you want to dwell in; and co-create your reality. A journey of empowerment, where the stops include insights from diverse sources (the Bhagavad-Gita, the Buddha, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, even Anais Nin) and the terminus is true self-awareness. Silver takeaway: Release negativity; boost your energy; happiness is a choice What are 'energy thieves'? How does our life force dwindle? Singh blames 'energy thieves' or emotions that drag you down. Here's her list of the bad guys: Worry: "an imaginary screen onto which we can project images of the future" Holding on to hurt: "keeps you chained to the past" Guilt: "wears you out as you continue to carry it" Regret: "taunts us - or haunts us" Fear: "a game of simulation where you forget it's only a game" Grief: "precludes you from acknowledging the gift of life" Self-pity: "a deliciously sharp well - one small slip and you're in" Jealousy: "colludes with suspicion to tie you up in a web of misery" Anger: "the symptom, not the cause, of the underlying malaise" DECODING SUCCESS Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell Penguin; Rs 399; 309 pages Here's a reality check in a world obsessed with the 'individual': achievement comes not just from extraordinary talents but extraordinary opportunities. That's the refrain of Outliers - a scientific term to describe phenomena that lie outside normal experience - Malcolm Gladwell's attempt to explain why some people achieve dizzying heights of success. While he recognises the innate talents of certain individuals, he effectively argues that we are so blinded by the myth of "the best, the brightest and the self-made", that we often ignore the "accumulative advantage" that helped them hone these talents, such as strong cultural legacies; the chance to practise their skills (10,000 hours, he says, is the ticket to greatness); their "practical intelligence" as opposed to just IQ that tells them what to say, to whom, and for maximum effect; and even plain old fashioned luck that enabled them to be at the right place at the right time. To prove his theories, Gladwell uses a variety of examples, from the Beatles and Bill Gates to paddy farmers and math whiz-kids in Asia. While the tone of the book remains conversational, the underlying message is a compelling one: success is within our grasp if we make the effort to understand the factors that drive our world, and our own place in it. Silver takeaway: Know your potential; understand your cultural legacy; control success Authorspeak "Outliers are men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August. My wish with Outliers, the book, is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances - and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds - and how many of us succeed - than we think. That's an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea." (www.gladwell.com) Featured in Harmony Magazine June 2009 My Guru in Disguise By Priya Mookerjee Wisdom Tree; Rs 245; 209 pages At the best of times, the relationship between a mother and daughter is complicated; a coil of emotions and memories that binds two women irrevocably. And when one more strand insinuates itself into the skein - the mother's all-consuming quest for God - it all becomes very tangled. On 16 July 1990, Sudha Mookerjee died at the age of 67 from severe burns - in the throes of a deep trance, she stood too close to the oil lamp at her altar and failed to react when her clothes caught fire. It marked the end of a tumultuous life in which the artistic and creative woman, who hailed from the family of Rabindranath Tagore, was perpetually torn between her need to explore the reaches of her spiritual being and the demands of her husband (renowned anthropologist Ajit Mookerjee) and two daughters. Now, almost two decades after her death, 61 year-old Priya, a graphic designer who lives in up-state New York, tells us what it was like to be her elder daughter - the agonies of her mother's absence and the delights of her presence that cast a spiritual glow that seeped into her life and ultimately impelled her to seek her own path to a higher consciousness. So we travel from Calcutta to New Delhi, London to Hamburg and New York City living this family's life with them - the first blush of love, the arrival of the children, the degeneration of a marriage amid the pull of the divine, relationships redefined and re-forged. Mookerjee is unflinchingly honest in her remembrances with a candour that embraces not just the abiding joys and deep-rooted attachment but also the lost hopes, broken dreams and bitter conflicts. And it is this honesty that draws the reader in and elevates what is in essence a family chronicle to a book that is both moving and empowering. - Arati Rajan Menon AUTHORSPEAK What prompted you to write this book? I wrote this book for myself, as part of the healing process. It was a cathartic experience. Did it help let go of some of the anger you felt towards your mother for having neglected you? Yes, writing did help my own feelings of anger. Perhaps the process of forgiveness began a long time ago. But if it did, I was not aware of it. How have your own spiritual journeys been informed by your mother's experiences? As I grew older I realised that we are on this planet for a short time. So what we do with our lives and how we do it are important. Without a spiritual aspect - and by that I don't mean 'religious' - my life would not have any meaning. In what ways does your spiritual nature pervade your life in the 'real world'? My spiritual life is a deeply internal matter and it affects everything I do. However, it is not something I do by not participating in regular life. It is something that includes everything. What lessons have you learnt from your mother that you'd like the readers of this book to absorb? It is very simple, our connection to something greater that links us to the rest of humanity and everything that surrounds us. It is not just about being religious, but knowing that we are all part of something greater that is very close to our own heart. How do you view the process of ageing? Very naturally. I know that we are more than just our bodies; we are also spirit. Featured in Harmony Magazine February 2009 Delhi: India in One City By Malvika Singh Photo Editor: Uday Sahay Academic Foundation; Rs 3,750; 246 pages There’s no sitting on the fence when it comes to Delhi. Most Indians who have lived in the capital — or even visited it — are unambiguous in their feelings: they love it or hate it. For their part, writer Malvika Singh and photo editor Uday Sahay are proud to wear their heart on their sleeve; the result is Delhi: India in One City, a lavish pictorial tribute to India’s capital. Calling it “the heart of India…that has, without hesitation, embraced the diverse, multilayered and dynamic reality of all Indians”, Singh walks you through her “Dilli”, its marriage of the old and new — its river, the Jamuna; the changing seasons; myriad places of worship; the shopping, food and fashion; arts and culture; luxury and hospitality; and a new urbanscape, heralded by flyovers, malls and, of course, a spanking, state-of-the-art metro rail system. The publisher-editor-columnist writes with palpable pride about a city she calls her own, a sentiment echoed by chief minister Sheila Dikshit in “First City”, her wistful introduction to the book. Other guest pieces include “Delhi: Flowing with Time”, where diplomat and author Pavan K Varma takes us on a historical tour from 8th century AD to New Delhi, which “has emerged from the discarded chrysalis of the past, indeed in rebellion against its confining limits”. And author William Dalrymple’s short and stunning “The Jewel in the Crown” — his view of the silhouette of domes, towers and cupolas on Raisina Hill. “In the dusk, as the sun sank behind the great dome of the Viceroy’s House, the whole vista would turn the colour of attar of roses.” Such evocative writing, though, is a mere foil to the breathtaking pictures that jump off the pages. Every image tells a story; from haunting, surreal silhouettes of Delhi’s magnificent monuments to images that crackle with activity — a cocky young lad in a metro train, a qawalli taking place at a dargah, two silvers sharing a snack in front of a billboard. IPS officer turned communications analyst Sahay, who doubles up as photographer and photo-editor, outdoes himself in composing a visual symphony on all that is remarkable about the city. All that is not so special — the seamy underbelly of Delhi, the menace and dark edges that no metropolis is immune from — is ignored. Though it could have added more nuance and texture, the omission is understandable considering the feel-good nature of the book. Less justifiable is the steep price tag, which would limit ownership to libraries and avid Indophiles. Pity, because this jewel would do any bookshelf proud. - Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2009 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

Pride without prejudice An extract from Gita Rahasya (1911) by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak When this principle of the Karma-Yoga in the Gita has been accepted, one can properly account for and justify the pride of one’s family, the pride of one’s country, or other similar duties on the basis of that principle. Although the ultimate doctrine of this philosophy is that, that is to be called Religion which leads to the benefit of the entire human race, nay of all living beings, yet as pride of one’s family, pride of one’s religion and pride of one’s country are the ascending steps which lead to that highest of all states, they never become unnecessary. Just as the worship of the qualityful (saguna) Brahman is necessary in order to attain to the qualityless (nirguna) Brahma, so also is the ladder of pride of one’s family, pride of one’s community, pride of one’s religion, pride of one’s country. Necessary in order to acquire the feeling of vasudhaiva kuttumbakam (‘the whole universe is the family’); and as every generation of society climbs up this ladder, it is always necessary to keep this ladder intact. In the same way, if persons around one, or the other countries around one’s country are on a lower rung of this ladder, it is not possible for a man to say that he will always remain alone on a higher rung of the ladder; because, as has been stated above, those persons who are on the higher step of that ladder, have occasionally to follow the principle of ‘measure for measure’, in order to counteract the injustice of those who are on the lower steps. There is no doubt that the state of every human being in the world will improve gradually and reach the stage when everyone realises the identity of the Atman in every created being. At any rate, it is not improper to entertain the hope of creating such a frame of mind in every human being. But, it naturally follows that so long as every one has not reached this ultimate state of development of the Atman, saints must, having regard to the state of other countries or other societies, preach the creed of pride of one’s country, which will for the time being be beneficial to their own societies. Besides, another thing, which must also be borne in mind, is that as it is not possible to do away with the lower floors of a building, when the higher floors are built; or as the pickaxe does not cease to be necessary because one has got a sword in one’s hand; or as fire does not cease to become necessary, because one has also got the Sun, so also does patriotism, or the pride of one’s family, not become unnecessary, although one has reached the topmost stage of the welfare of all created things. Because, considering the matter from the point of view of the reform of society, that specific function, which is performed by the pride of one’s country, is not achieved by the realisation of the identity of the Atman in all created beings. In short, even in the highest state or society, patriotism and pride of one’s family and other creeds are always necessary to the same extent as equability of reason. But, as one nation is prepared to cause any amount of harm to another nation for its own benefit, on the basis that the pride of one’s own country is the only and the highest ideal, such a state of things is not possible if the benefit of all created beings is looked upon as such ideal. If there is a conflict between the pride of one’s family, the pride of one’s country, and ultimately the benefit of the entire humankind, then according to the important and special preaching of the ethics, which is replete with equability of reason, duties of a lower order should be sacrificed for duties of a higher order. Featured in Harmony magazine February 2010 Open By Andre Agassi HarperCollins; Rs 599; 388 pages “I hate tennis.” That reiteration is perhaps the biggest gobsmacker in Andre Agassi’s autobiography. Not the confession of drug use or even the fact that he wore an artificial hairpiece for years, the malfunction of which possibly cost him his first Grand Slam final, the 1990 French Open. The biggie is that the tennis legend hates his sport. Yet, tennis is what defines him, a contradiction he struggles with for most of his career, never more so than when he contemplates his penultimate professional game in the 2006 US Open: “Please let this be over. I don’t want this to be over.” Pushed by a driven, emotionally abusive father into the “prison” that was celebrity coach Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Florida, the lad from Las Vegas played and rebelled in equal measure; a boy with neon pink lava shorts and a leonine, streaked mane growing up in the klieg lights who rues his lack of education enough to set up his own school. Agassi bares his soul to ghost-writer JR Moehringer, a Pulitzer prize-winning author who refused to take a cover credit despite Agassi’s insistence. Moehringer just supplies the words; they are uncomplicated and real, allowing Agassi’s emotion to shine through. Boundless gratitude for his trainer and Man Friday Gil Reyes and coach Brad Gilbert. Heartbreak over failed relationships with hometown girlfriend Wendi Stewart and ex-wife Brooke Shields. And love at last with fellow tennis icon ‘Stefanie’ Graf (never Steffi because Stefanie was the way she saw herself), a kindred soul with a dominating father. In a hilarious anecdote, Agassi tells us how the two alpha dads almost came to blows during their first meeting. From the courtship that began with a practice session — “every forehand felt like foreplay” — to a marriage solemnised barefoot in jeans and the birth of two children, Agassi’s adoration of his wife is fulsome, sometimes bordering on the twee. But all this gooiness is punctuated with enough grit to make this book sing. The insider view of the game will thrill not just tennis enthusiasts but those who are moved by accounts of guts and glory. Indeed, the finest moments come during the tennis matches, not necessarily the big ones but the games that mattered; epic duels with Pete Sampras and grudge-fests with Boris Becker where you can smell the sweat and hear the cheers. These set pieces of drama underscore a truism that Agassi repeats: “A win never feels as good as a loss feels bad.” Open gives you the best seat on Centre Court to experience this. — Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony Magazine February 2010 Hypnotizing Maria: The Secret of a Meaningful Life Hypnotizing Maria: The Secret of a Meaningful Life By Richard Bach JAICO BOOKS; Rs 175; 274 pages As Maria Ochoa’s pilot husband passes out in the middle of a flight, she panics and sends out a distress signal. At the receiver, Jamie Forbes, flying his Beech T-34 from Washington to Florida, dons the hat of a trainer and helps Maria fly a plane for the first time. “Believe that you are a trained pilot,” Forbes suggests and leads her on. Maria lands safely and tells the media that her saviour had hypnotised her. That takes Forbes back in time when several years ago he had volunteered to be a hypnotist’s puppet and got trapped in a rock-solid room in the middle of a stage. By chance or coincidence, a day after rescuing Maria, Forbes meets a hitchhiker-hypnotist Dee Hallock and asks at the risk of sounding stupid: “What is hypnotism?” “Hypnotism is suggestion accepted,” she says. That’s the underlying force of Richard Bach’s latest motivation-rouser. Don’t underestimate the force of your own belief; the walls are in your mind and you can walk through them if you believe you can. New thoughts could affirm and confirm hope; new options reveal opportunities. “Suggestions, Affirmations, Confirmations. Spirals they used to put in movies to show someone’s hypnotised,” says Bach of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame. Suggesting that all of us are hypnotists and hypnotise the world day in and day out with action words (I can, I will, I want…) and value judgments (better, good, best…), Bach takes the reader on a never-before trail of self-discovery. — Meeta Bhatti Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2010 On in Four: One Day of Magic and Mayhem on the Golf Course By P Surendra Prasad EASTWEST BOOKS; Rs 195; 149 Pages Golfers understand two categories of people: golf lovers and others. “Golfers are… prone to their private mythologies, stories that bind them, sustain them through bad times when the swing deserts them and pars seem far, far away,” writes the author, a former corporate executive, in his debut novel. The book covers a day in the lives of four enthusiastic septuagenarians — Kapoor, Ahmed, Mathur and Sharma — who tee off in single-minded pursuit of the perfect birdie. On a day when an unexpectedly remarkable shot by Kapoor surprises the player as much as it does his friends, the buddies share unbelievable tales of their own heroism, titbits of highly spiced gossip, and absurdly exalted philosophy. Their stomping ground is the Delhi Golf Club — a popular landmark in the capital — where other stories are simultaneously being played out. As you follow the protagonists from one hole to the next through the 18-hole golf course, you learn about the lovely Susan who is the club sweetheart; Mr Scout’s dalliance with the young caddies; Ansari Junior’s fondness for alcohol; and Patnaik’s second marriage predicted by the astrologer. Mixing humour with the miscues and mishits that routinely occur on the course, the book is an entertaining read for golf lovers. And for others — it offers a glimpse into a world where nothing is more magical than a hole in one. — Anjana Jha Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2010 Speeches by Lord Curzon of Kedleston An excerpt from Speeches by Lord Curzon of Kedleston-Viceroy and Governor General of India, published in 1901 Simla is in a peculiar sense not merely the official residence of the Viceroy during the hot weather, but his country home. For there he divests himself — if not of the cares of office; that is I fear never possible in India — at least of some of the trappings of State and amid your beautiful mountains he may almost succeed in mistaking himself for an Anglo-Indian Horace retiring from the noise and smoke of Rome to the peace of the Tiburtine hills. But there is one criticism not uncommonly passed upon the summer migration to Simla of the Viceroy and Government of India which I should like to meet. It is sometimes supposed that after three or four months of more or less serious official labour at Calcutta they stampede at the first touch of the sun to Simla, and that there, like the weary mariners in the Lotus Eaters, they …‘live and lie reclined on the hills like gods together, careless of mankind’. In other words Simla is spoken of as though it were the holiday resort, or suburban retreat, of an epicurean Viceroy and a pampered Government. At Calcutta during the winter months there are so many calls upon the Viceroy’s time arising both from the session of the Legislative Council, from the visits of Native Princes or important personages, from the large number of persons whom he is anxious to see, or who have a claim to see him, from the ordinary stress of office work, and from the heavy, though agreeable, social obligations that are inevitable in the crowded Capital of the Indian Empire, that he has barely time to get through the work of each day as it comes round, and never has time to think. It is in order that he may have time to think, time to enquire exhaustively into the many questions calling for solution, time to mature his policy and programme for the forthcoming year, that he comes up to Simla to find here the larger leisure which is denied to him either at Calcutta, or when on tour, and an atmosphere which is more conducive than that of the plains both to mental and to physical energy. Simla is in fact the workshop in which during the summer months are fashioned the materials of the fabric, be it well constructed or badly constructed, of each Viceroy’s Indian Administration. If it be objected that while these considerations are valid enough in their application to him, they are less valid in relation to the large subordinate staffs of the Departments who twice yearly are called upon to perform the same migration, I would reply so far as I am at present competent to form an opinion, that the head of the Administration, must have the officers and the staff of the various Departments in close proximity to himself, so that they may be the immediate instruments of the policy of Government. Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2010 You have the power The solution to every problem lies within us. This is something most of us know deep down inside. But that knowledge is often obscured by a miasma of self-doubt, guilt, blame and regret. These books help us dispel the fog and get to the kernel of truth that lies within; to recognise our potential — and our power over our own destinies. “Questioning the mind… will result in the magic of awakening…” Questions that don’t merely endeavour to get information but lead to the end of ignorance and give birth to the spirit of inquiry. In THE MAGIC OF AWAKENING – 111 ANSWERS ON LIFE AND LIVING (Penguin; 165 pages; Rs 199), Sirshree, who has written over 40 books on spirituality and self-help, offers readers the key to awakening. The 111 questions have been divided into seven sections — essential spirituality, existential dilemmas, demystifying divinity, the ultimate goal, professional and personal, paths to truth, and self inquiry with understanding. “The purpose of the book is not to impart intellectual knowledge” but to help reconnect with our real self, understand our hidden potential, prepare ourselves to deal with emerging situations, and more. Explaining how spirituality helps by attaching a context to the various occurrences in our everyday life, the author tells us how to awaken and feel the magic within. Introducing the technique to first-time users and those recently acquainted with the subject, EMOTIONAL FREE DOM TECHNIQUES (Wisdom Tree; 134 pages; Rs 145) is based on Sangeeta Bhagwat’s personal experience. “A constant exposure to the consequences of negative emotions can be expected to lead to physical issues.” And EFT — tried on a variety of physical ailments — is frequently found to work. Based on the belief that a set of energy meridians govern the wellbeing of mind and body, the technique involves tapping certain energy points in the body with the fingertips. The stimulation accompanied with awareness and positive affirmations unblocked the inner creative force, encouraging acceptance of a particular situation or problem and a move towards its resolution. The author explains that though EFT helps to enhance positive traits and arrive at a state of perfect health, it is not intended as a substitute for any medical treatment. Written in an easy conversational style, the book attempts to facilitate personal improvement in performance, health and overall well-being. The secret to happiness, according to Tammy Kling and John Spencer Ellis in THE COMPASS (HarperCollins; Rs 475; 256 pages), is that there is no secret. Too simplistic? Well, perhaps we’re all trying too hard to do too many complicated things rather than listening to our hearts, argue Kling and Ellis — Kling is an author and literary coach; and Ellis, a personal development coach. Their message is illustrated through the tale of Jonathan, an American man frozen by grief after his family experiences a serious car accident. His escape from pain is transformed into a voyage of self-discovery as he chances upon a terminally ill woman who offers him spiritual nourishment. The sliver of hope she imbues him with urges him on to navigate variegated terrain, new experiences and people. His inner compass is his guide: it takes him through his travels, helps him shake off all grudges and, finally, offers him (and his heart) safe passage home. A powerful lesson for those who find it hard to let go of the past and brave the future. Are you your own worst enemy? Shivi Dua helps you befriend yourself in LET THE POWER BE WITH YOU (Wisdom Tree; Rs 145; 107 pages). A software professional turned healer, Dua believes unconditional love — for ourselves — is the key to happiness. To grasp that elusive key, you have to fulfil five tasks: know that you are responsible for everything you experience; use that power to overcome inner conflicts; shed the negative emotions that mar your relationships; restore your physical health; and having done all this, use the power thus gained to achieve what gives you most satisfaction. This could be whatever you want — you don’t need to experience an ounce of guilt if your goals are money and fame rather than inner harmony or world peace! It’s your dream; you just have to go out and live it. Motivational speaker and author of much inspirational text Zig Ziglar speaks simply in BETTER THAN GOOD: CREATING A LIFE YOU CAN’T WAIT TO LIVE (Jaico Books; Rs 250; 250 pages). Ziglar proves you don’t need to absorb complicated jargon to simplify life. The book has heaps of examples of people who have overcome fear and failure to lead the life they dreamt of. The author borrows quite a bit from the Bible to help us shed our inner complexes and fears. But it’s the delightful fables and anecdotes along the way that keep you hooked. Ziglar's nuggets of wisdom include how to keep passion alive; overcome criticism; alter perceptions; strategise intelligently; and — in a chapter that may be especially meaningful to silvers looking for a new purpose in their post-retirement years — change the world one act at a time. Though the paths mentioned in the book may not seem drastically different from those in other books of the same genre, the author's advice gains more credence when we acknowledge that he motivates by example. At 79, Ziglar is still finding new ways to tackle old problems. Featured in Harmony Magazine December 2009 Immortal India An extract from Immortal India, Vol IV, by J H Dave, published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1961 Narmada has been described as the best among the rivers, she having issued from the body of Rudra. It is said she is capable of purifying all creatures and even immovables. River Ganga is said to be holy at Kanakhala, river Saraswati is similarly holy at Kurukshetra; while Narmada, whether she is flowing from a village or a forest, is said to be holy at all places. The water of river Saraswati is said to purify a person immediately; but in the case of river Narmada a mere sight of the river even without a bath or a sip of her water is said to be purifying…. Narmada is also called the daughter of the pitris, and shraddha performed on her banks is said to yield inexhaustible results. River Narmada is specially invoked for the cure of serpent bites. The source of river Narmada on the Amarakantaka hill is also known for religious suicide. Those who voluntarily enter fire or water or fast unto death at this place are said to have liberated themselves. The tank from which the river issues at Amarakantaka is surrounded by several temples. The rivers Narmada, Sone and Mahanadi, all the three of them, have their source on the plateau of Amarakantaka, which has been a place of pilgrimage since time immemorial. Narmada is called Namedos by Ptolemy and Narmnados by the Periplus. Between Amarakantaka and Broach, the Agni, Kurma and Skanda Purana state that there are 60 crore and 60,000 tirtha but Skanda adds that in this Kali Yuga, there are few pratyaksha tirtha as men in this age are losing their spiritual strength. It is said that Siva was once practicing penance along with Uma on their Riksha mountain. Strenuous penance caused perspiration in the body of Siva from the moisture of which arose this river overflowing from this hill. The stream assumed the form of a lady and propitiated Siva. Siva blessed her by stating that she would be holy and inexhaustible. It is for this reason that river Narmada is known by the name of Rudrakanya and Ayonija. Another reason is that this river born of the moisture of the perspiration of Siva assumed the form of a virgin and she deluded and ensnared by her excessively good looks gods and demons alike. Siva stated that only the strong and the lustrous among them would be able to have her. The gods and the demons were moving after this virgin and the moment they came near her she used to disappear. Her movements gave delight to Siva and it is said that she was called Narmada for this reason. Finally she came near Siva and those who were after her had to retire. GLOSSARY Ptolemy: Greek astronomer Pitris: Fathers; the actual progenitors of our lower principles Periplus: Greek text describing navigation and trade opportunities Pratyaksha tirtha: A tirtha of perception Featured in Harmony Magazine December 2009 Word power Arati Rajan Menon recommends five books that can help you steal a march on destiny HAPPINESS AT HAND The Fine Print of Life: How Panna Lal Found Happiness, Wisdom and Mishri Devi By P S Wasu Harper Collins; Rs 195; 177 pages 'Life skills facilitator', P S Wasu's job descriptor, doesn't quite capture the joy he brings to people - he shows his clients how beautiful life is and then gives them the tools to celebrate it. The Fine Print of Life brings his workshop home to you. 'Minding It', 'Finding It', 'Seeing It', 'Being It', 'Walking It' and 'Playing It' are Wasu's 5 ½ wheels - with 'It' being 'life' - each a cyclical train of thought that can turn out to be our "wheel of fortune, triggering our creativity, releasing our passion and setting our life on a roll". We explore these wheels with the help of characters like Panna Lal, Mishri Devi, Hira Lal and Jalebi Devi. In them, we see our own struggles and successes; through them, we see the possibilities inherent in our paths. If life is indeed an ecstatic journey of self-discovery as Wasu insists, he's just handed us the keys to a Porsche to travel it in style. Silver takeaway: Explore your mind; live on surprises; find your Shangri-la Excerpt To all appearances, Panna Lal is doing well for himself. He has a good job, a beautiful apartment and a loving family. But deep down in his heart, he has a nagging feeling that something is missing in his life. There is a vague longing to bloom, to be creative, to be playful, to let go of inhibitions, to connect, to experience joy and to have a sense of fulfilment. Come to think of it, there is a kind of nostalgia in this longing. What Panna Lal longs for is actually the Shangri-la he lost in the process of growing up. So perhaps it is a longing to become a child again! Of course, he can't become a child at the physical level, but certainly he can be one at the psychological level. He can do so by removing the debris from his Shangri-la and nurturing it back to its original lushness. Once he does that, he will be ready to play in his Shangri-la. He will be ready to bloom, to be creative, to be playful, to let go of inhibitions, to connect, to experience joy and to have a sense of fulfilment. There is a Panna Lal in all of us. Whether we are 'successful' or 'not so successful' in life, we all have an unexpressed longing to become children again and play in our own Shangri-la. It is possible for us to be full-time children while we continue to do what we normally do as grown-ups. Far from being a hindrance, it will make us more efficient and effective in what we do. When we have the openness of a child, we will have fresh perceptions. As a result, we will have new ideas that will bring us better solutions to problems. We will be more creative. When we cultivate the enthusiasm of a child, we will pursue our goals with greater passion. As a result we will have greater chances of being successful. When we immerse ourselves into a task fully the way children do, we will do it better and faster. When we develop the keenness and sensitivity of a child's mind, we will be more responsive to what needs doing in our life. Living as full-time children will not only satisfy our inner longing to play in our Shangrila, it is the only way to live optimally and to have a fulfilling life. SEIZE THE DAY The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch Hodder; Rs 295; 206 pages There's a tradition in Western academe known as the 'last lecture'. Eminent professors are often called upon to imagine that this was the last time they would speak: What wisdom would they confer upon the world? When 47 year-old computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of his audience at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to deliver his last lecture in 2007, he didn't have to pretend - he was dying of pancreatic cancer. But his lecture, titled 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams' was no dirge but a celebration of life, a clarion call to seize every moment. (You can watch it on www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo) Its incredible resonance prompted this book, released just weeks before Pausch succumbed to his illness in late July 2008. Expanding on the theme of his lecture, he takes us through what he's seen, what he's learnt, with stories, aphorisms and anecdotes, displaying a wicked sense of humour and keen insight. Challenges, for him, are to be relished ("brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something") and risks taken. For this lesson in positive psychology, the professor gets an A+. Silver takeaway: Seize every moment; savour challenges; enable the dreams of others Be the 'First Penguin' Failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential, insists Pausch. For the 'Building Virtual Worlds' course he taught at Carnegie Mellon, he created a 'First Penguin Award' that went to the team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas or new technology, while failing to achieve their stated goals. "In essence, it was an award for 'glorious failure' and it celebrated out-of-the-box thinking and using imagination in a daring way. The other students came to understand that First Penguin winners were losers who were definitely going somewhere. The title of the award came from the notion that where penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin." STOP THE SEARCH Doing Nothing By Steven Harrison Wisdom Tree; Rs 195; 132 pages Do you want a glimpse of daybreak after a dark night of the soul? If you still haven't found what you're looking for after years of spiritual searching, listen to Steven Harrison. He studied the world's philosophies, sought out every mystic, seer and yogi he could find, and subjected himself to severe austerities and meditation but his questions continued to plague him. Then he decided to do nothing - "as it turns out, nothing is a surprisingly active place, but it is here that we discover who and what we are." The simple act of stopping the search, he argues, can help you discover your true nature. "Thought constricts or limits but consciousness is limitless." Harrison urges readers to let this consciousness lead us through the collapse of the self, making us truly free. We then become a force field of energy that freely communicates with those around us, without any distortion from preconceived notion, ideology or religion. This contact with others, in Harrison's view, will transform us, and life as we think we know it. Silver takeaway: Discard dogma; communicate without language; set your consciousness free An evolutionary leap? According to Harrison, we age because we remember to do so as an expression of our genetic code. But do we have to accept it as a finite conclusion? Not in his view. "Many life-forms regenerate," he argues. "Some simple life-forms are virtually immortal. What is the effect of consciousness on the ageing process, on the encoded memory of the genetic material? Death itself becomes a question in the face of consciousness." He insists that the "quantum/mystical/magical universe" we inhabit has the potential for eradication of disease, ageing, and death. We just have to lose thousands of years of conditioning and let our consciousness imbibe an unconditioned energy, free from thought or memory. "This energy entered into the psychosomatic conditioning, thereby transforming it, may be the next evolutionary leap." TAP YOUR ENERGY The Only Way Out is Within By Rohini Singh Hay House; Rs 195; 258 pages Right off the bat, alternative healer and personal growth teacher Rohini Singh tells you that this book isn't for casual 'browsers' but serious 'seekers' - people who are looking to explore the self. Social conditioning that begins in childhood, which tells us how to feel, behave and conform, lets our outer world dominate our inner one, she insists. The key to health, happiness and self-actualisation, then, is to put your inner self back on top. For this, the key is your 'invisible energy system'. In lucid language, she helps the reader gauge the efficiency of this system; identify energy guzzlers and emotional traps; use the mind (rather than letting it use you); choose the physical, mental and emotional states you want to dwell in; and co-create your reality. A journey of empowerment, where the stops include insights from diverse sources (the Bhagavad-Gita, the Buddha, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, even Anais Nin) and the terminus is true self-awareness. Silver takeaway: Release negativity; boost your energy; happiness is a choice What are 'energy thieves'? How does our life force dwindle? Singh blames 'energy thieves' or emotions that drag you down. Here's her list of the bad guys: Worry: "an imaginary screen onto which we can project images of the future" Holding on to hurt: "keeps you chained to the past" Guilt: "wears you out as you continue to carry it" Regret: "taunts us - or haunts us" Fear: "a game of simulation where you forget it's only a game" Grief: "precludes you from acknowledging the gift of life" Self-pity: "a deliciously sharp well - one small slip and you're in" Jealousy: "colludes with suspicion to tie you up in a web of misery" Anger: "the symptom, not the cause, of the underlying malaise" DECODING SUCCESS Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell Penguin; Rs 399; 309 pages Here's a reality check in a world obsessed with the 'individual': achievement comes not just from extraordinary talents but extraordinary opportunities. That's the refrain of Outliers - a scientific term to describe phenomena that lie outside normal experience - Malcolm Gladwell's attempt to explain why some people achieve dizzying heights of success. While he recognises the innate talents of certain individuals, he effectively argues that we are so blinded by the myth of "the best, the brightest and the self-made", that we often ignore the "accumulative advantage" that helped them hone these talents, such as strong cultural legacies; the chance to practise their skills (10,000 hours, he says, is the ticket to greatness); their "practical intelligence" as opposed to just IQ that tells them what to say, to whom, and for maximum effect; and even plain old fashioned luck that enabled them to be at the right place at the right time. To prove his theories, Gladwell uses a variety of examples, from the Beatles and Bill Gates to paddy farmers and math whiz-kids in Asia. While the tone of the book remains conversational, the underlying message is a compelling one: success is within our grasp if we make the effort to understand the factors that drive our world, and our own place in it. Silver takeaway: Know your potential; understand your cultural legacy; control success Authorspeak "Outliers are men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August. My wish with Outliers, the book, is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances - and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds - and how many of us succeed - than we think. That's an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea." (www.gladwell.com) Featured in Harmony Magazine June 2009 My Guru in Disguise By Priya Mookerjee Wisdom Tree; Rs 245; 209 pages At the best of times, the relationship between a mother and daughter is complicated; a coil of emotions and memories that binds two women irrevocably. And when one more strand insinuates itself into the skein - the mother's all-consuming quest for God - it all becomes very tangled. On 16 July 1990, Sudha Mookerjee died at the age of 67 from severe burns - in the throes of a deep trance, she stood too close to the oil lamp at her altar and failed to react when her clothes caught fire. It marked the end of a tumultuous life in which the artistic and creative woman, who hailed from the family of Rabindranath Tagore, was perpetually torn between her need to explore the reaches of her spiritual being and the demands of her husband (renowned anthropologist Ajit Mookerjee) and two daughters. Now, almost two decades after her death, 61 year-old Priya, a graphic designer who lives in up-state New York, tells us what it was like to be her elder daughter - the agonies of her mother's absence and the delights of her presence that cast a spiritual glow that seeped into her life and ultimately impelled her to seek her own path to a higher consciousness. So we travel from Calcutta to New Delhi, London to Hamburg and New York City living this family's life with them - the first blush of love, the arrival of the children, the degeneration of a marriage amid the pull of the divine, relationships redefined and re-forged. Mookerjee is unflinchingly honest in her remembrances with a candour that embraces not just the abiding joys and deep-rooted attachment but also the lost hopes, broken dreams and bitter conflicts. And it is this honesty that draws the reader in and elevates what is in essence a family chronicle to a book that is both moving and empowering. - Arati Rajan Menon AUTHORSPEAK What prompted you to write this book? I wrote this book for myself, as part of the healing process. It was a cathartic experience. Did it help let go of some of the anger you felt towards your mother for having neglected you? Yes, writing did help my own feelings of anger. Perhaps the process of forgiveness began a long time ago. But if it did, I was not aware of it. How have your own spiritual journeys been informed by your mother's experiences? As I grew older I realised that we are on this planet for a short time. So what we do with our lives and how we do it are important. Without a spiritual aspect - and by that I don't mean 'religious' - my life would not have any meaning. In what ways does your spiritual nature pervade your life in the 'real world'? My spiritual life is a deeply internal matter and it affects everything I do. However, it is not something I do by not participating in regular life. It is something that includes everything. What lessons have you learnt from your mother that you'd like the readers of this book to absorb? It is very simple, our connection to something greater that links us to the rest of humanity and everything that surrounds us. It is not just about being religious, but knowing that we are all part of something greater that is very close to our own heart. How do you view the process of ageing? Very naturally. I know that we are more than just our bodies; we are also spirit. Featured in Harmony Magazine February 2009 Delhi: India in One City By Malvika Singh Photo Editor: Uday Sahay Academic Foundation; Rs 3,750; 246 pages There’s no sitting on the fence when it comes to Delhi. Most Indians who have lived in the capital — or even visited it — are unambiguous in their feelings: they love it or hate it. For their part, writer Malvika Singh and photo editor Uday Sahay are proud to wear their heart on their sleeve; the result is Delhi: India in One City, a lavish pictorial tribute to India’s capital. Calling it “the heart of India…that has, without hesitation, embraced the diverse, multilayered and dynamic reality of all Indians”, Singh walks you through her “Dilli”, its marriage of the old and new — its river, the Jamuna; the changing seasons; myriad places of worship; the shopping, food and fashion; arts and culture; luxury and hospitality; and a new urbanscape, heralded by flyovers, malls and, of course, a spanking, state-of-the-art metro rail system. The publisher-editor-columnist writes with palpable pride about a city she calls her own, a sentiment echoed by chief minister Sheila Dikshit in “First City”, her wistful introduction to the book. Other guest pieces include “Delhi: Flowing with Time”, where diplomat and author Pavan K Varma takes us on a historical tour from 8th century AD to New Delhi, which “has emerged from the discarded chrysalis of the past, indeed in rebellion against its confining limits”. And author William Dalrymple’s short and stunning “The Jewel in the Crown” — his view of the silhouette of domes, towers and cupolas on Raisina Hill. “In the dusk, as the sun sank behind the great dome of the Viceroy’s House, the whole vista would turn the colour of attar of roses.” Such evocative writing, though, is a mere foil to the breathtaking pictures that jump off the pages. Every image tells a story; from haunting, surreal silhouettes of Delhi’s magnificent monuments to images that crackle with activity — a cocky young lad in a metro train, a qawalli taking place at a dargah, two silvers sharing a snack in front of a billboard. IPS officer turned communications analyst Sahay, who doubles up as photographer and photo-editor, outdoes himself in composing a visual symphony on all that is remarkable about the city. All that is not so special — the seamy underbelly of Delhi, the menace and dark edges that no metropolis is immune from — is ignored. Though it could have added more nuance and texture, the omission is understandable considering the feel-good nature of the book. Less justifiable is the steep price tag, which would limit ownership to libraries and avid Indophiles. Pity, because this jewel would do any bookshelf proud. - Arati Rajan Menon Featured in Harmony Magazine January 2009 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004