The Last Jews of Kerala - Edna Fernandes

'The last Jews of Kerala' successfully captures the melancholy, despair and fear that envelops the last less than a score of Jews left in Kerala - the living remnants of around two millennia old Jewish settlement in Cochin.

Edna Fernandes walks the lanes of Jew Town , Cochin ,to capture the sad story of the two Jewish communities- the blank and the white- their histories, the fatal colour based caste discrimination and rise and fall of this once glorious community.She also goes to Jerusalem to study the life of the re-settled Cochini Jews of the now Israel to learn that while few of them successfully resettled in 'The Promised land' , others yearn for the peaceful and glamorous life that they left in Kerala.

It was not plague or war that led to the destruction of this community in Kerala but bitter feud and apartheid between the black and the whites.

A touching investigative account of a dying community in 'countdown mode' that has no more marriages but only funerals to attend ...

No full stops in India - Mark Tully

Mark Tully:
One of India's favorite Briton, who loves India and has been living, traveling and writing about India. Born in Calcutta of preindependent India, Tully spent early years of his first decade in India, later moved to England for schooling. He joined BBC in 1964 and became the Chief of the Bureau in Delhi where he still lives and works.

No Full stops in India:
As chief of BBC, Mark Tully traveled the length and breadth of India and this book on India is a collection of ten well studied essays. All the essays whether on 'Ram Chander' - his cook and private help- or on Operation Blue thunder, his simple and candid writing style does not let you put it down till the end.

Critic's view:
Being written by a non-indian about India , I was feeling a lack of depth in Tully's understanding of Poverty in India. In Ram Chander's story, the first essay in the book, the description of the conduct of marriage, the dowry system in India seemed very peripheral.

' New Imperialism ', the essay which talks of Cultural imperialism where every Indian in conditioned to believe that everything non-indian or western is superior is a true observation. Other essays in the book are first hand accounts of events that Tully happened to report as part of his job as the chief editor of BBC.

Borrowing Piers Brendon’s words in the ‘Mail on Sunday’ ( from the cover page of the book ) : this book is essential reading for anyone interested in a civilization mainly punctuated by Question Marks.

City of Joy- Dominique Lapierre

Is a book on Calcutta, a city on the banks of river Hoogly in West Bengal, India. Lapierre successfully captures the spirit of Calcutta in descriptive yet pleasing language. Written in little more than 500 pages, the book tries to answer the mystery of happiness that overflows the lives of ordinary people living in severely deplorable conditions in the slums of Calcutta.

The City is presented as seen through the lives of Stephen Kovalski, the polish priest who dedicated his life to the service of lepers and other dwellers of ‘Anathnager’ as Calcutta is otherwise known. Other important characters in the book are Hasari Pal and Max Leob. Hasari Pal, is a peasant who migrated to the streets of Calcutta with his wife and kids to earn a living for his family awaiting the amount that he sends back home every month. The hardships that follows Hasari who manages his livelihood pulling rickshaws is heart rending. Max Leob , is an American doctor that Kovalski gets to treat the slum dwellers. Leob’s perception of life and happiness undergoes a dramatic change after his life in the slums .

Hats off to the effort, dedication and research that has gone into creating such a masterpiece…!!!

Discovery Of India - Jawaharlal Nehru

( Here is the review of a book ....which I've not yet completed. Shall add on to it once I complete )

With passionate and erudite narration of the rich and diverse cultural heritage and stabilised civilisation of India, Discovery Of India , by Jawaharlal Nehru , stands out as a must read for anyone who is genuinely interested in India. The book gives a clear picture of the cultural,religious and philosophical tradition of India.With the description of Hinduism more as a culture , than a religion and how it absorbed other religions ;history of India's relationship with China ,Iran and Europe the book elucidates the glorious past of Indian art, architecture,sculpture mathematics,trade and a lot more.

Background
The book was written in five months in 1944 , while Nehru was imprisoned in Ahmednagar Fort for participating in the Quit India movement.First published in 1946 , a year before independence, the book is widely regarded as a Classic by most historians. As Nehru says in the Preface to the first edition of the book , his stay in the prison brought him close to people speaking different languages from the length and breadth of India , like Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad . The contents of book took shape largely from the long discussions that he had with them and was spell checked and reviewed by his daughter Indira .

Riot -Shashi Tharoor

Written in the form of diary pages , newspaper articles , letters and transcripts of conversations , Shashi Tharoor's 'Riot' qualifies for a good one time read.The book through it's interwoven narration of the riot that rocks the Zalilgarh district of UP , through the eyes of different people like the dutiful district magistrate , the Sikh Superintendent of police, a local Hindu fanatic and a Muslim professor throws light on the social structure, family life and diversity in India. It is a novel about the ownership of history, love outside marriage, religious fanaticism, life of women in India and the impossibility of knowing the truth.

Storyline :
The novel begins with the newspaper article reporting the death of Priscilla Hart , a 24 year old American volunteer with a Non governmental organisation , that works for 'population control awareness' among the women of India, in a riot between the Hindu and Muslim community.Her divorced parents travel together to India accompanied by a journalist of a New York journal, to gather information on their daughter's work, life and finally death in India.
It proceeds with the excerpts from Priscilla's scrapbook and letters that she writes to her friend back in her country about her life and work in India.Interspersed are the transcripts of conversations that the journalist has with different people which gives the reader an insight into the diversity in India and how people of different religions and faiths own as their own the rich cultural heritage of India.In Lakshman , the District Magistrate of Zalilgarh , the author portrays an unsatisfied and confused husband, a responsible father and a dutiful officer.In Geeta, Lakshman's wife , we see a typical Indian wife.
The author chooses to let the Question of 'who killed Priscilla' unanswered .It may be the Muslim mob that took refuge in the abandoned cottage after they attacked the procession which included the enraged husband of a Muslim woman, whom Priscilla had taken to a clinic to get her eighth child aborted , as part of her work.Or It may be the Hindu fanatics who wanted to take revenge on Lakshman for having let the Muslims go unscathed after the riot ...Or may be it was just Geeta's prayer answered....