The first Volume of Savarkar had already left me cogitabund and intrigued about what happened next. It was in 2020 that I read the first volume (reviewed here) and was eagerly waiting for Volume 2 ever since. And now when I finished it, I was again left with several thoughts stirring in my mind, some of which I am going to share today along with what I think about this book, Savarkar: A contested Legacy 1924 -1966 by Vikram Sampath.
We all did read and hear the stories in brief of the soldiers who fought bravely and laid their lives protecting the sovereignty of our country, but there were still some stories that we missed out on. Or at least the parts of it. I realised this when I read this book – Kargil : Untold Stories from the War by Rachna Bisht Rawat. I picked this book randomly from a book store intrigued by its title.
! As life unfolds all the mysteries and events, his path sways away from that girl, Estella and turns towards something drastically opposite but meaningful.
Picked this book up at random from a store at Delhi Book Fair. I had no idea about the author or about this book, bought it totally on a hunch and a mention that it was shortlisted for Booker Prize 1997. Of course, the title The Underground Man and it’s cover looked interesting enough to me to give this book a shot.
So I picked up this book at random from a bookstore because the title “The Catcher in the Rye” was interesting and I was told that it was a good book. I like classics and old books, a lot. I like the way they transport you in an era you could never see in real. …
My first assumption after reading the title of the book Reason and Reform authored by Bibek Debroy and Diwakar Jhurani, was, that it probably discusses about the reforms happened in India since Independence and the reasons behind them. We all know what “Reform” means. Reform by definition means Change that is made to a social system, an organization, etc. in order to improve or correct it. My assumption wasn’t wrong, however, this book is certainly not about, just that.
The book The Epic of Mount Everest, authored by Sir Francis Younghusband, who himself was the promoter and instigator of the first four assaults (as they called it) on the mountain, wrote this book on behalf of the Mount Everest Committee as a condensed volume of the three books previously written and published – Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance, 1921; The Assault on Mount Everest, 1922; and The Fight for Everest, 1924.
History needs to be documented or it is lost. But what if, those who document this history or in this case ancient scriptures and texts, themselves are lost? They are forgotten and remain unknown to general public unless someone digs them out. Manmath Nath Dutt was such an author and Bibek Debroy is that “someone” who dug him out. It needed revisiting history, removing of the dust of time settled on it, to dig deeper by going through complex, sometimes incomplete layers and to make sense out of it which Mr. Debroy has done so perfectly in this book.
An unplanned visit to a bookstore, that happens with me most of the times, leads me to pick up books by gut feeling. During one such visit I happened to pick one such book that I had been attracted towards for some time. I had almost bought it during the last couple of visits but dropped it at the last moment. The book was Jeffery Archer’s “Mightier than Sword”.
Interestingly and honestly, I had neither heard of this book nor I would have picked it up randomly from a book store. However, I now firmly believe that books that you are meant to read, will come to you, no matter the channel. It was my husband who ordered this book for himself. He told …