MPs not frequenting their constituencies have rough time: Tharoor

(New Delhi, Jul 12, 2019) Parliamentarians who have a slightly different relationship with their constituencies and are less frequently seen there have a rough time, according to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

Speaking at a conclave here Thursday, Tharoor, who has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala thrice in a row since 2009, said he believes he has done his job properly and that is the reason why people have reposed faith in him.

After the recent Lok Sabha elections results, critics attributed the loss of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from his family’s pocket borough Amethi to his disconnect with the voters of that constituency.

Tharoor, though, pointed towards only MPs from the BJP and those from northern India in support of his contention.

“MPs, particularly those from the north, who have a slightly different relationship with their constituencies and are less frequently seen there have a rough time,” he said.

“They are the ones who can perhaps win only in Narendra Modi’s name and they do, like this time. But for most of us what differentiates us is precisely the work we do in our constituencies,” he said.

He said people re-elected him as they believe that he has done his job properly.

“People have seen me, seen me attending to their needs and that’s why they have trusted and voted for me.”

Tharoor was speaking on the topic “Clients and Constituents: Political Responsiveness in Patronage Democracies” which is also the title of a book by academician Jennifer Bussell.

The third edition of the South Asia Conclave organised by Oxford University Press witnessed researchers, policymakers, bureaucrats, academicians, and journalists from debating contemporary ideas that define modern South Asia.

The conclave closely examined the key issues impacting the region, such as political challenges related to ethnic and religious diversity, identity politics, ethnic violence, terrorism, separatism, governance, economic growth, gender consciousness, national security, changes in culture and social structure as well as the significance of diaspora.

When Rajesh Pilot’s ideas on dispersing crowd at Ayodhya remained stillborn!

(New Delhi, Jul 11, 2019) Rajesh Pilot, who was in-charge of internal security when the Babri mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992, had gone to meet the then prime minister Narasimha Rao on disperse the crowd at Ayodhya on that fateful day but his “ideas remained stillborn” as the latter was asleep, says a new book.

Salman Khurshid, who was a junior minister in the Rao cabinet that time, mentions this in his book “Visible Muslim, Invisible Citizen: Understanding Islam in Indian Democracy”.

The immediate aftermath of the demolition of the mosque saw communal riots rage in many parts of the country.

Khurshid also says that the demolition appeared to have put a question mark on the rule of law.

“Late on December 6, I visited Rajesh Pilot to urge him to do something as the crowds had continued to mill around the site. He agreed that he should fly to Faizabad if some of the younger ministers could prevail on the prime minister,” Khurshid recalls.

“I rushed to (C K) Jaffer Sharief to get him to call the PM. He did and the PM suggested we get in touch with the principal secretary, A N Verma, or the home secretary, who was expected to fly to UP shortly,” he writes in the book, scheduled to be released Friday.

Verma had some queries and was not clear if the trip could be made right away.

“So we rushed back to Pilot to confer on what our response ought to be. As the clock was ticking, a final round at Sharief’s residence got us answers, but when he called the PM again, the latter was asleep,” Khurshid says.

Fortunately, he says, by the next day, the paramilitary was able to push most of the crowd away once it became apparent that there were plans of putting a roof over the idol.

“The demolition appeared to have put a question mark on the rule of law, or at least on institutional capacity, if not intention, to preserve constitutional guarantees. Different people reacted in different ways, some desperate and others philosophical. Neither attitude seems to have achieved its objective,” the Congress leader says.

The book, brought out by Rupa Publications, seeks to explain Islam to non-Muslims, place the identity of the Indian Muslim in the context of Indian democracy, and decipher the Muslim mind in social and political contexts, beyond theology.

“This book is about Islam as well as about Muslims, particularly Indian Muslims. In a sense, the two need not always be equated in a book, because it is quite possible to write about the two separately,” says Khurshid.

“The title of this book is in a sense about cause and effect, just as it implies a strategy and a purpose. It is also about the difficulty of being a Muslim coping with notions of ‘good Muslim’ and ‘bad Muslim’, arising from the advent of what is inaccurately called jihadist Islam,” he says.

Indian cookbooks strike it rich at Gourmand Awards

(New Delhi, Jul 14, 2019) Cookbooks from India bagged several prizes at this year’s Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, with Sonal Ved’s “Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes” winning in three categories.

The 24th edition of the awards was recently hosted in Macao.

“Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes Celebrating India’s Regional Cuisine” was named the “Best Indian Cookbook – Globally”, the second best “Book of the Year” in all categories, and the third in “Best Design – Asia”.

Nandita Haksar’s “The Flavours of Nationalism: Recipes for Love, Hate and Friendship” won in two categories – cookbook for peace and food writing.

Two books by Kiranmayi Bhushi also won awards – “Farm to Fingers” (sustainable food) and “Culture & Politics of Food in Contemporary India” (food security & nutrition).

HarperCollins was named food book publisher of the year.

“The Goa Portuguesa Cookbook” by Deepa Sohas Awchat won in the ‘Woman Chef’ category, “Diary of a Domestic Diva” by Shilpa Shetty Kundra in ‘Celebrity Chef’, Reishu Sharma’s “From India with Love” ‘First Book; award and “Spices & Rhapsodies & Foot Tapping Chefs” by Viji Varadarajan in the digital book for sale category.

Among the other winners are “Recipes on Ripples” by Soju Philip (Asian region), Padma Vijay’s “101 Dishes that Enhance Mood & Reduce Stress (Diet), “The Flavour of Spice” by Marryam Reshii (Spices and herbs), “Chutneys, Adding Spice to your Life!” by Aparna Mudiganti Parinam (single subject), Nandita Iyer’s “The Everyday Healthy Vegetarian” (Vegetarian) and “Masala Mamas” by Elana Sztokman (Fund raising).

Elated over the win, Ved said, “From fashion, art, architecture to food – the world is increasingly putting an emphasis on regionality, diversity and the immigrant voice. So, ‘Tiffin’ was bound to get noticed on this global platform.”

Kapil Kapoor, director at Roli Books, publisher of “Tiffin”, remarked, “This award is unique because it focuses only on the culinary world. The fact that ‘Tiffin’ was ranked second in the ‘Best Book of the Year’ in all categories is truly remarkable.”

Founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, the awards recognise excellence in food writing across print, digital and television.

The objectives of the awards are honouring those who cook with words; giving an overview of world food and drink culture in all its rich diversity and trends; finding reliable quality sources for the public, professionals and the media; helping promote the best authors and publishers; and helping authors and publishers in copyright foreign rights trade.

Awards to promote, revivify school libraries

(New Delhi, Jul 14, 2019) A new award aims to motivate and promote the library as a space for nurturing young students’ imagination and critical thinking abilities and develop collaborative spirit and innovation.

The Bandana Sen Library Awards will be given to librarians and heads from schools across the country for excellence in best practices in nurturing learning environments.

Constituted by One Up Library, Bookstudio and Learning Lab in the memory of Bandana Sen, who was a leading figure in the field of children’s libraries and reading programs in India, the awards envision the ‘library’ at the heart of school communities.

Entries for the awards start from July 15 and close by September 15.

The force behind the initiative is Dalbir Kaur Madan, who also runs OneUp: Library, Bookstudio and Learning Lab, a unique entrepreneurial venture that aims to revitalise the idea of libraries from a traditional, quiet, cobwebbed repository of knowledge to a dynamic, inviting and learning space designed for the 21st century child.

The awards will be judged by a panel comprising Abha Adams, Shabbi Luthra, Ruchira Ghosh, Peggy Sood, Shalini Advani and Donavon Reinsmoen.

An advisory committee drawn from the worlds of literature, the arts and publishing that include Paro Anand, Sanjna Kapoor, Usha Pandit, Mahesh Rao, Hemali Sodhi, Himani Dalmia, Kirandeep Kaur, Preeti Gill and Heeru Bhojwani is associated with the initiative.

According to Madan, “For the first time in the education world, we celebrate the unsung champions: our librarians, along with our school heads, who open a world of possibilities for our children through books. Through these awards; we hope to create a road map to invigorate futuristic libraries, which can set out to become role models for others.”

The awards will be presented here on November 9.

Be ready for economic backlash, Vajpayee told me before nuke tests: Yaswant

(New Delhi, Jul 14, 2019) A few days before India conducted nuclear tests on May 11, 1998, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked his finance minister Yaswant Sinha to remain prepared to deal with backlash from the world powers, especially in the economic field.

Sinha was summoned to Vajpayee’s residence one morning in early May 1998. When he reached there, he was taken to the prime minister’s bedroom.

“I guessed immediately that what he was about to tell me was not only important but also highly confidential,” Sinha recalls, adding Vajpayee then broke a piece of stunning news that left him feeling both proud and shaken.

“I have decided to go for nuclear tests in the next few days. It is a highly secret operation because the world powers are not going to like it. They may take punitive action against us, especially in the economic field.

“So, we must be prepared to meet any challenge the move would throw up on the economic front. I thought I should warn you in advance, so that you are not taken by surprise when it happens,” Vajpayee told Sinha.

It took Sinha some time to absorb the full import of what Vajpayee had told him so calmly.

Sinha recollects this incident in his autobiography “Relentless”, which is scheduled to be launched on Monday.

“As expected, all hell broke loose after the world realised what India had done. Almost every major country in the world condemned India for the tests and imposed various forms of sanctions,” he writes.

The Vajpayee government was determined to meet the challenge of sanctions head on.

“There was no question of succumbing to them or surrendering. When the sanctions started hurting the imposing countries themselves, more than India, and after our compulsion was explained to the sanctioning nations, they started withdrawing them one by one,” the book, published by Bloomsbury, says.

Sinha also mentions how Vajpayee reacted when Bush Administration, in the wake of the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, was very keen that India send a large contingent of troops to Iraq and was putting tremendous pressure to do so.

“Some respected columnists in the media were also clamouring for it. There were some in the government as well, mainly L K Advani and Jaswant Singh, who also thought that we should accept the US request as it would dramatically upgrade our bilateral relationship,” he says.

However, Vajpayee kept his own counsel and refused to be pressured.

“Sonia Gandhi had written a letter to Vajpayee opposing any such move, and he promptly called her for a meeting. She came, accompanied by Pranab Mukherjee, Manmohan Singh and Natwar Singh, and Vajpayee listened to them with great interest. He also consulted the BJP’s NDA partners on this issue, besides having a discussion in a meeting of the Union Cabinet,” Sinha writes.

Thus, the US request was not acceded to, based precisely on such a consensus, he says.

Sinha chronicles his journey from modest beginnings to the highest corridors of power. He also mentions about his early days, his stints as an IAS officer in various capacities and his role in state and national politics.

From JP and Chandra Shekhar to VP Singh, Vajpayee and Narendra Modi, the book gives an insight into the rise and fall of leaders and ideologies that have charted a unique course for the country’s democracy amid fierce personal and political strife.

Sudha Murty to come up with trilogy on her dog

(New Delhi, Jul 13, 2019) Sudha Murty will come up with a three-book series of simple stories told from a dog’s perspective that talk of basic values.

HarperCollins India has acquired the rights to publish “The Gopi Diaries”.

Told in Gopi’s voice, the first book begins with Gopi coming home, and tells the story of how he settles down with his loving, human family.

How Gopi sees the world around him and what he thinks of the people in his life give the story a truly unique flavour, the publishers said.

Talking about the series, Murty says, “This is my first book with HarperCollins. It is also my first book for youngsters, particularly those kids who love animals. It is about my dog Gopi, who is the joy of my life.”

The first book tells the story of Gopi coming home.

Tina Narang, children’s publisher at HarperCollins, who acquired the series says, “Children will love the ‘Gopi Diaries’. Mrs. Murty writes from her heart, and when the subject is as close to her heart as Gopi is, the stories are bound to be as charming as it gets.”

Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, Murty has been a prolific writer in English and Kannada and has penned novels, technical books, travelogues, collections of short stories and non-fiction pieces, and eight bestselling books for children.

Penguin joins hands with Wattpad on content, promotions

(New Delhi, Jul 9, 2019) Penguin Random House India has joined hands with social storytelling platform Wattpad which will enable its authors to interact with a global community of an estimated 70 million readers and writers, the publishing house announced Tuesday.

Wattpad’s community of story-lovers will now be able to preview exclusive content from Penguin authors about their upcoming books.

The publishing house will also bring their authors and editors for ‘ask me anything’ sessions on Wattpad, where they will interact and answer questions posed by Wattpad followers.

Penguin Random House India termed this as a “symbiotic relationship where we join forces to inspire, inform and entertain”.

“Wattpad is an excellent platform for our authors and editors to connect with a large and relevant audience base. We are looking forward to engaging with readers and writers; sharing exciting content and helping people discover new books,” a spokesperson for the publishing house said.

According to Devashish Sharma, India country manager of Wattpad, the social platform is working everyday to create opportunities for Indian writers.

“So it’s amazing to see prestigious names like star fantasy fiction writer Krishna Udayasankar, bestselling authors Durjoy Datta and Sudeep Nagarkar and debut writer Roshan Ali joining the Wattpad community,” he said.

Viral Jani, senior vice president (operations) at Times Bridge, said, “By joining Wattpad, Penguin’s roster of literary trailblazers will be able to inspire and encourage published authors, budding writers and enthusiastic readers to interact and create a more vibrant literary community.”

Investment firm Times Bridge recently invested in Wattpad.

Book explores censorship in pre and post-colonial India

(New Delhi, Jul 7, 2019) A new book looks at state censorship in India in the transition period from colonial to national rule, when “historical actors behaved in unpredictable ways”.

“War over Words: Censorship in India, 1930-1960” by Devika Sethi, who teaches modern Indian history at IIT-Mandi, explores the diverse mechanisms and motivations for censorship and its role in the shaping of the modern Indian republic.

The author says that a study of censorship in any historical context that restricts itself to the rarefied level of law, policy making and implementation alone tells only half the story. So it is important to examine the issue from the viewpoint of not the state alone but of that abstract yet vitally important constituency, the public.

Using a varied palette of official and non-official sources, the book seeks to provide a three-dimensional model of how censorship of publications was envisaged, implemented and received in India over three crucial decades in her history.

The book, published by Cambridge University Press, examines state censorship beyond the conventional boundaries that circumscribe it in the existing literature.

This has been attempted in two directions.

First, the boundary of race is complicated in a colonial context by focusing on works by non-Indian authors. Second, Indian independence is treated not as a dead-end but as an open door that permits comparison of both policies and people’s reactions to them.

The book draws upon a range of sources as diverse as the banned material itself, legal judgments, legislative debates, memoirs and biographies, contemporary newspaper reports and letters to editors, government papers and reports, first-person accounts, and empirical and theoretical works by scholars of censorship across the world.

The book is divided into four parts – Guarding the State, Protecting the Public: Censorship Policies and Practices in the 1930s; Protests and Publicity: Banning Non-Indian Authors; Political or Military? Censorship in India during the Second World War; and The Censored Turn Censors: Freedom and Free Speech.

According to Sethi, the overwhelming concern of the colonial state with public opinion meant that censorship was carried out not only to proscribe or ban publications but also as a means of exercising surveillance over what was being written and debated in the public sphere.

She says, the drive to censor, or to bring about censorship is a powerful one.

“In contemporary newspaper articles in the Indian press lamenting or railing against bans from the colonial period that were not lifted by the post-colonial state, the names of certain books appear with regularity,” she says.

“Ironically, most of these books were banned by the colonial state not because there were critical of colonial rule, but because they were critical of Indian society, and the demand for the original ban was in fact made vociferously by Indian nationalists themselves,” she writes.

Censorship in colonial India, Sethi says, was not entirely colonial.

“In other words, there was nothing peculiarly colonial about the desire to censor publications. The censored of one generation are often the censors of the next.”

Writers using creativity to double as skill coaches

(New Delhi, Jul 7, 2019) Skill coaches, who have authored books, are gradually gaining popularity in helping improve personal and professional lives, be it in life, sports or business.

According to these writers, coaching is a natural extension to the expression of their ideas, stories and beliefs.

“Seeing your coachee reach his or her goal, makes it all worthwhile”, says Jaykumar Hariharan, author of “Rewire: How to be the Leader of your own Life” (Leadstart) and an internationally certified professional coach who has been coaching senior leaders in organisations across India, South East Asia and the US for many years.

“I have had the privilege of working with more than 100 CXO’s and logging more than 2,000 hours of coaching across industry spaces such as information technology, automobiles, banking and financial services, consulting, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, venture capital etc,” he adds.

Runjhun Noopur, another coach who wrote “Nirvana in a Corporate Suit” (TreeShade Books), a hilarious take on corporate life, says, “Being an ex-corporate lawyer and having a spiritual bent of mind inspired me to take up training and coaching as a means to facilitate and identify ways we could be happier in our personal and professional spaces.”

Noopur, who is out with her debut book and has written articles in various newspapers and magazines, says, “Even before I took to training and coaching as a career, I was writing for spiritual and wellness columns like the ‘Speaking Tree’ (the Times of India). In a way, my writing allowed me to explore my ideas and develop them into something profound and conscious, but at the same time practical and applicable.”

Writing, she says, is a kind of meditation that has connected her with her consciousness which in turn gave her the tools and the confidence to take up training and coaching.

For Hariharan, on the other hand, writing was a natural extension of the creative process of putting ideas and frameworks down. His book “Rewire” touches upon key subjects of corporate culture and how leaders can sail through conflicts keeping this healthy culture intact, highlighting the need to laugh to lead better, with the help of interesting anecdotes and case studies.

Vocalist, writer and trainer Rashmi Joshi, whose book “Here and Beyond” (Bloomsbury) deals with handling depression and fighting abuse, decided to quit her corporate career as a human resource professional early in life.

She has been coaching corporates, institutes and groups since, on the potential and ability of the human brain to rewire and reboot at will with some practical exercises followed by a ‘self-awareness meditation’ that help recognise the afflictions and do away with them.

There are also many writers who take up professional coaching of groups and corporates on skills they excel in, as a parallel profession.

S Venkatesh, a business leader, investor, entrepreneur and author of “Kaalkoot: The Lost Himalayan Secret” (TreeShade Books) shares that in his over two decades-long career, he pursued a parallel inner journey of mindfulness and unlocking his creativity.

“My inner journey in unlocking creativity helps me inspire others to embark on a fascinating journey of personal growth and transformation. Through workshops and coaching sessions, I help CXOs, business leaders and entrepreneurs unlock their creativity, achieve personal growth and transformation, and become more effective leaders.”

Young adult and children’s writer and advertising professional Neera Maini Srivastav says coaching is more a predisposition than a formal career.
Her most recent book “150 Brilliant Ideas to Keep Young Minds Fit and Fine” (Pustak Mahal) talks about holistic wellness to fight increasing issues of obesity and depression in young.

On her module on writing and its therapeutic benefits, Srivastav says, “Writing apart from being an artistic activity is also therapeutic. And it works irrespective of whether you are conscious of it or not. Every time I write, I express some emotion or feeling and it is cathartic.”

Noopur, who also conducts sessions for academic institutions including undergraduate colleges and schools apart from corporate, resonates with Srivastav.

“One cannot become a coach unless they have spent time with themselves and explored their own consciousness, values and spiritual contours. And for me, writing was a tool to do all that and more.”

For Venkatesh, storytelling is a very powerful medium of communication, and is a great tool for inspiring people to grow and transform.

Hariharan too has an entire chapter dedicated to the art and importance of storytelling especially for leaders, in “Rewire”. He feels writing a book enables him to set a sense of his coaching voice among his coachees.

For a writer coaching also provides for more content. “Each time I coach, I learn a new facet of human behaviour, which in turn, is like fodder for my ‘forever hungry’ brain,” says Joshi.

Many years ago, celebrated writer and speaker Devdutt Pattanaik had brought together mythology and governance in his writing and public and corporate talks on the relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance and leadership.

Today this has taken shape of a full-fledged profession for many writers where some charge as high as Rs 75,000 per session, given the emerging need for being able to provide a new meaning to the professional and personal lives of thousands of Indians and help them achieve success in what they do with both.

Rakhshanda Jalil talks about being Muslim in new book

(New Delhi, Jul 6, 2019) Does being a Muslim makes her different from others, to the extent of constituting a threat to the idea of bring Indian? Critic and literary historian Rakhshanda Jalil seeks to answer this in her new book.

In “But You Don’t Look Like a Muslim: Essays on Identity and Culture”, she writes on vastly differing topics to “excavate memories, interrogate dilemmas, and rediscover and celebrate a nation and its syncretic culture”.

Jalil says far from camouflaging her identity, she wants to celebrate being an Indian and being a Muslim. “And I wish to do so in the only way I know – through my writings.”

She calls herself as the voice of the Muslim middle class.

She argues that though a great many of the community are practicing Muslims or even devoutly religious, they are “far, far removed from the wild-eyed Islamists dreaming of a pan-Islamic umma”.

Jalil says that in her considered opinion, given that the Muslim population is roughly 172 million, “save for the stray IS sympathisers, the overwhelming majority does not show any propensity towards terrorism. Also, the idea of converting India from a ‘Dar-ul Harb’ (land of unbelievers) to a ‘Dar-ul Islam’ (land of Islam) through whatever means available to them lies more in the minds of right-wing Hindu extremists than Muslims”.

She feels “demonization” of Muslims, be it films or popular culture, has only increased their sense of isolation and victimhood.

“While the entire Muslim community has suffered because of this steady infiltration of misconceptions and piling up of images and ideas – each more offensive and alienating than the other – a culture and way of life too has suffered due to this stereotyping,” she writes in the book, published by HarperCollins India.

According to Jalil, the Indian Muslim is scared and silent, “cowed down by the scale and strength of the violence” around him.

“He is waiting for his Hindu brethren to speak up,” she writes.

Jalil has published over 20 books. Her most recent works include: the translations “The Sea Lies Ahead”, Intizar Husain’s seminal novel on Karachi, and “Traitor”, Krishan Chander’s Partition novel; an edited volume of critical writings on Ismat Chughtai called “An Uncivil Woman”; and a literary biography of the Urdu poet Shahryar.

The book is divided into four parts – politics of identity, matrix of culture, mosaic of literature and rubric of religion – and each have 10 essays.