In search of lost glory

Going the bounteousness of her ancient educational traditions India should have been the most advanced country in terms of education today, but reality is completely different. Despite its rich tradition, education in our country is in a mess. What went wrong and where? And most importantly, what can we do about it and how?

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 Understanding India

An intriguing title for a book. Coming as it does from a columnist, advertising and marketing professional, you know this is just a teaser. The book is a collection of articles by the author carried in the column 'City City, Bang Bang' of the Times of India and in the Brand Equity supplement of the Economic Times.

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 Climbing the pyramid to recovery

Corporate bosses often resort to turnaround strategies through restructuring the company’s business methods and culture among other things. There have been many success stories regarding turnarounds in the corporate world...

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 Demystifying William Shakespeare

Dr. Dahiya has systematically presented the persona and life of William Shakespeare in a lucid language, providing contexts from the poet’s life as well as political, economic and social conditions and/or incidents of those times. We get glimpses of the England of those times...

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 Leela Naidu: an ethereal beauty

Written in a light-hearted, but not frivolous, tone Leela reveals the obverse sides of various celebrities who have been painted in glowing hues by the media.

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 Media's role in chronicling India's Partition

Could the tragedy have been averted? Tanwar appears to think so. He points out, how, several thinking people including the then editor of The Tribune, appealed to Nehru to go in for systematic exchange of populations spread over a period of about three years. Nehru not only dismissed the suggestion airily but also...

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 Bimal Roy: He gave new sensibility to Indian Cinema

Bimal Roy sometimes has an almost Dickensian touch, using pathos directly and unaffectedly, finding humour and kindliness amongst pickpockets and street urchins and mocking the pomposity and thoughtlessness of the wealthy

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 Khushwant Singh: A haloed visage with warts and all

He changed the face of journalism in India

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 Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Ambivalent, silent endings are his forte

He changed the language of cinema, nay, the cinematic paradigms...

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 Understanding Guru Dutt through Abrar Alvi's Eyes

When a cinematic genius teams up with a talented writer and ideator a series of masterpieces is created.

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 A review of Noam Chomsky's Hopes and Prospects

A trenchant critique of Uncle Sam’s duplicity

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 A role model for wannabe winners

Bhawani Cheerath reviews a "Splendid Biography" which can inspire the eannabes and impress them with the author's remarkable candour.

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 Straddling Identities

Bhawani, a Trivandrum based freelance journalist and book critic, has provided an insightful and comprehensive review of Aatish Taseer's "A Stranger to History". Her conclusions are thought provoking.

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 Fashioning the healthcare superstructure

India records the largest number of oral cancer patients and diabetics in the world. With 5.1 million HIV/AIDS cases (likely to increase threefold by 2015) it is second only to South Africa. With a world population share of 16.5% it contributes 20% of the diseases. It fares no better when compared to Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh. Against Sri Lanka's infant mortality rate of only 8 per thousand India's is 68! The under-5 mortality rate in India is 87 per thousand compared to Bangladesh's 69. The WHO attributes 60% of all deaths in India to chronic diseases.

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 Of Media, violence and prejudice

Thukral has attempted to study the media’s role and impact on various issues that have had an enduring influence in the evolution of the global village with specific reference to India. He points out how Americans have used this powerful opinion making tool for demonizing its opponents in the international arena - be it Khrushchev or Saddam Hussein. In fact, media has also been used by Americans in manipulating public opinion on such issues as its war against Islamic terrorism even as it uses the same media to camouflage its geo-strategic and economic agendas for carrying out mindless violence against smaller nations. In India, too, the state has successfully used media to manipulate public opinion ...

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 The history of the evolution of Indian electronic media

Satellite television is one of the most obvious manifestations of globalization. Its technological capabilities have been adapted in unforeseen ways but debates on globalization, media and cultural impact have struggled to keep up with the pace of innovation.

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 Resurrecting the ‘geography of hope’

"Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed... For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope." This warning from conservationist Wallace Stegner is timely considering the fact that 78 million acres of forest land and 50,000 species of life forms are destroyed annually. Apart from countless species of flora, insects and microbes there are only 26,000 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians known to science. And what a precious wealth it is!

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 Developing political brands

India is a country of breathtaking complexities – ethnic, linguistic, cultural and geographical. Socio-economically too there are humongous disparities – the stages of development range from pre-historic to ultra-modern, with a significant size of population wallowing in medievalism. This creates a situation where political marketing becomes a problem

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 Examining the function of Indian Constitution

This book not only traces the history of modern India’s democratic functioning but also provides us with the details of the Constitution and its evolution over a period of time – elucidating the nature and functioning of its various institutions like the executive, the judiciary, the Planning Commission etc in text book format. It also briefly touches upon such topics as the Panchayati Raj, the evolution of Indian Administration etc and such burning issues like religion and politics, social justice, economic reforms, gender and environment.

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 Understanding Hinduism and its complexities

This narrative is devoid of the usual USPs of a chronicle. No grand gestures of megalomaniac potentates, no spectacular achievements of conquerors, no spine chilling intrigues and other such ingredients that make a narrative so spicy. Yet this book keeps you absorbed for days together as you go through the making of Hindu civilization as it exists today.

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