National Statistics Day

A recent book from Hindustan Book Agency in their very successful TRIM series (Texts and Readings in Mathematics) is Lectures on Insurance Models by S Ramasubramanian of the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore. A fitting book to post about today, June 29, on the occasion of National Statistics Day.

"Insurance has become a necessary aspect of modern society. The mathematical basis of insurance modelling is best expressed in terms of continuous time stochastic processes.

This introductory text on actuarial risk theory deals with the Cramer-Lundberg model and the renewal risk model. Their basic structure and properties including the renewal theorems, as well as the corresponding ruin problems are studied. As heavy tailed distributions have become increasingly relevant, there is a detailed discussion on such distributions. The Lundberg risk process with investment in risky asset is also considered.

The book will be useful to practitioners in the field and to graduate students interested in this important branch of applied probability."

In our Mathematics section, Rs 280, Hardcover. 206 pages. ISBN: 9788185931937

Viva McQuarrie!

One can bemoan the lack of good Indian textbooks in almost any subject, but there is simply no getting away from it that for whatever reason, most- and I know there are exceptions- attempts by "Indian authors" to write a good textbook are severely compromised. One common tendency is to cut and paste- plagiarism, far from being punished, is actually rewarded by students preferring to buy a 'well plagiarised' book rather than the more expensive original! Then there are the books that are written with a captive audience in mind- either students who will be told to buy the book in question, or books that are written with a particular syllabus in mind!!

The more pernicious reason, I believe, is that pedagogy for its own sake is neither appreciated nor encouraged, and with the teaching versus research approach to academic practice that is endemic in our country, there is no incentive for the more original among our scholars to sit down and write a good textbook.

And for whatever reason, that problem is not quite so evident in the west where the number of good textbooks (written mainly by competent practitioners in the field!) is actually growing with the years. Having misspent a youth in studying chemistry, I can recall the pleasure with which my classmates and I devoured Morrison and Boyd, available in an Indian reprint for Rs 12. Thirty some years later, regrettably there is still no substitute for the reprint it seems...

Be that as it may, this post is about Donald McQuarrie's latest book, Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers. Students of chemistry will be familiar with the name- McQuarrie is justly "famous for his clear writing, careful pedagogy, and wonderful problems and examples", with many books to his credit. These include a classic text on Statistical Mechanics, and a Physical Chemistry to rival- or complement- Atkins.

And Viva Books, New Delhi have done us all a service by bringing the book out in a reasonably priced reprint for the region. The book as well as McQuarrie's Statistical Mechanics can be ordered here, as can other books from Viva. Write in if you want a title not explicitly listed!

Pride and Joy

"400 years ago, the word "queer" meant odd or unusual. 100 years ago the word was used as an insult for anyone who was different from society's norm of gender and sexually "correct" behaviour. It was used to demean and marginalize people. Today, people across the world have reclaimed that word to empower, celebrate and unite people of diverse genders and sexualities. With the rainbow as our symbol of beauty in diversity, we celebrate Queer Pride in solidarity with queer people across the world."- Delhi Queer Pride

Tomorrow, this 28th of June 2009, Delhi will celebrate its second ever Queer Pride. Hundreds of queer people; lesbians, gay men, bisexual, transgender and intersexed people and their friends and families will come together to celebrate with pride, the dignity and rights of sexually marginalized people all across India and the world.

To speak of sexuality, and of same-sex love in particular, in India today is simultaneously an act of political assertion, celebration, defiance and fear. Indeed, in times when the issue of queer sexuality is beginning to find more space in popular representation, it is important to give voice to a concept, an identity and politics that is only now, and slowly at that, beginning to enter the consciousness of the nation.

Arvind Narrain and Gautam Bhan bring together Because I Have A Voice, a groundbreaking collection of writings that states boldly and clearly that queer lives and politics are inextricably linked with each other. The words of this anthology are those of the queer community itself, spoken in their own voice, as one and yet as individuals, each of whom has a story to tell, and a view to share.

The two editors of the anthology and its twenty-seven contributors discuss the queer mo(ve)ment in terms of its definition and composition; the legal challenges which face the community, particularly the activism against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code; queer protests and demonstrations which have played a strong role in building wider public consciousness about the issue; a burgeoning queer culture; and the everyday lives of queer people which become in themselves creative sites of resistance. This volume is in many ways an unprecedented effort, as the voice of a community that refuses to be silenced, and the words on these pages are, perhaps, the beginning of its own moment of assertion.

Available here on our website, the paperback is priced at Rs. 295, with 288 pages.

The Queer Pride March starts at 5:30 pm on Sunday, June 28th, 2009, at the corner of Barakhamba Road, continuing along Tolstoy Marg to end at Jantar Mantar. More information here.

WE, THE PEOPLE...

...OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

Sixty years later, these words still provide a worthy framework for the idea of India. Along with Dr B R Ambedkar, one of the prime architects of the constitution was Dr Alladi Krishnaswamy. (The constitution can be downloaded from the NIC site, by the way.)

The Alladi Memorial Trust was founded in 1983 by a scion of the family, Alladi Kuppuswami. This commemorates the birth centenary of Dr Alladi Krishnaswamy and has, among its objectives, the aim of "holding lectures and seminars on issues relating to the Indian Constitution, which are intended to apprise the general public of the various debates concerning constitutional law."

Tulika's new publication of the Alladi Memorial Lectures brings together fourteen lectures delivered over the years for the Alladi Memorial Trust and the Umamaheswaram Memorial lectures – and some seminar papers.

"The essays included here, dating back to 1989, are by eminent jurists, academicians, and social/ human rights activists. They include distinguished members of the Bench like Justice M Hidayatullah, Justice S Ranganathan, Justice V R Krishna Iyer, Justice P C Rao, Justice B P Jeevan Reddy and Justice M N Rao, leading members of the Bar like K G Kannabiran (also a well-known human rights activist), P P Rao and Prashant Bhushan, eminent academicians like Professors R V R Chandrasekhara Rao, K Seshadri and Javeed Alam, and committed activist–academicians like Professor Kalpana Kannabiran and Dr Asghar Ali Engineer.

The topics covered by these essays are very relevant in today’s context. They include basic features of, and the use and abuse of the Constitution; the judicial process; uniform civil code; right to conversion; secularism and minority rights; formation of the Hindu religious consciousness; failure of laws to contain communalism; need for jurisprudence of women’s rights; intellectual property rights; and parliamentary democracy."

Alladi Memorial Lectures is now listed in our Law Section, xii + 296 pages, Hardcover. Rs 595.

Dr. Dev D.

Devdutt Pattnaik writes extensively on Indian mythology, and given the scores of gods and goddesses we have, plus all the other players, demons, and so on, there is a lot to explore and interpret. His new book, featured in today's Hindu is a 177 page analysis: 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art.

Describing the book on his website, Dr Pattnaik says "Hindu Calendar Art maybe gaudy and kitsch, but it is the most modern and democratic expression of a mythic imagery that once adorned temple walls and palm leaf manuscripts. They speak a language that is indifferent to rationality. It is the language of a people’s faith."

And as described in the Hindu article by Rana Siddiqui Zaman, the book- which despite its glossy colour cover, has only black and white reproductions inside- "replete with pictures and chapter-wise explanations on seven gods — Ganesha, Narayan, Ardhanari, Shiva, Devi, Vishnu and Brahma — is penned in a simple, narrative style. According to the book, for instance, the popular god Ganesha, who is worshipped by Hindus before beginning a project, has all logical bearings. His elephant head is symbolic of power. The elephant is a strong animal with no natural enemy in the forest. No animal dares to cross his path, making it a creature that is unstoppable. His fat body and belly imply availability of abundant food and possibility of less work, suggesting affluence and prosperity."

Dr Pattnaik practised medicine for several years before he discovered this avocation, namely that of dissecting myths and explaining them to others.

In our Art and Religion Sections, 177 pages, softcover. Rs 295, ISBN: 9788189975678

Art and visual culture since 1857

Gayatri Sinha is an independent critic and curator who has written extensively on Indian art, particularly the contemporary scene.

Her new book from Marg is titled Art and Visual Culture in India: 1857-2007, and "brings together 19 seminal essays on India's visual culture and its leading manifestations during the period 1857-2007. It traces the shifting role of the artist and art institution through cataclysmic changes in India's history. With Contributions from the foremost art writers, critics, and curators, this volume seeks to contextualize Indian art within the dynamic shifts of Indian social history, Over 200 illustrations provide a selective panorama of the visual arts in the last 150 years.

In our Art section, Rs 3500. Oversize, 335 pages, with over 200 illustrations. ISBN: 9788185026923

Telling, and Retelling

Scholastic India has some interesting titles out for young readers which they popularize through very innovative strategies such as having book clubs, book fairs, special readings, and so on...

One author of theirs who has a special touch when it comes to interacting with children is Devika Rangachari, who runs the Habitat Children's Book Club (in New Delhi). Each month she guides an enthusiastic group of (mainly) pre-teens through one or the other of the several contemporary children's books that are available, and from personal experience, I can certify that this greatly enhances the reading experience (and eventually, the writing experience) of children. She has won 19 national awards in competitions for writer’s of children’s books and stories. Her book Growing up was nominated to the honour list of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in 2002 as the most outstanding Indian entry.

Scholastic's Book of this month is her telling of the Harsha Vardhana story, a historical fiction for the young adult. "History remembers Harsha as the powerful king who ruled almost the whole of north India for over forty years. The younger son of the king of Thanesar, Harsha was the ruler of both Thanesar and Kanauj, by the age of sixteen. But at what price did he ascend the throne?" The book allows the reader to explore the various shades of Harsha Vardhana’s character in this vividly imagined novel.

In paperback, 104 pages, Rs 100. ISBN: 9788184772579

Soma Guha (1962-2006) was a journalist of wide experience who worked for The Telegraph and The Pioneer. Passionate about writing, and especially for children, she had completed a retelling of the Mahabharata in two volumes, and was working on a historical novel on Dara Shukhoh when she passed away. The latter effort has not seen the light of day yet, but the two volumes of the Mahabharata are available as The Game and The War.

“The contemporary, lucid writing truly brings the epic alive…"

In paperback. The Game, 262 pages, Rs 250, ISBN: 9788176558167, The War, 334 pages, Rs 250, ISBN: 9788176558280

Spacetime, Gravity, and all that.

Pankaj Sharan has been teaching physics at the Jamia Milia Islamia for several years now, and has built a formidable reputation for himself as a teacher who cares... for the details. It is therefore welcome news that the latest book in the TRiPS (Texts and Readings in the Physical Sciences) Series of Hindustan Book Agency is a text that he has authored, on Spacetime, Geometry, and Gravitation.

"This textbook introduces a student to the physical as well as the mathematical foundations of general relativity. Following an introduction to the general theory of relativity, the required geometrical and mathematical background is presented in detail. The third part of the book includes a range of topics such as the action principle, weak fields, gravitational waves, the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions, the Friedman equation, the Gauss-Codacci equations and the Raychaudhuri equation.

The book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Established researchers will find the presentation of many topics novel, and thus the text can also serve as a reference book. A special feature of the book is the inclusion of many exercises (provided with solutions) so as to help the student acquire a better understanding of the material. A student who has followed the book should be able to study other advanced texts and papers in the area of general relativity without extra preparation."

The book is divided, as the title suggests, in three parts. Spacetime has the chapters What is Curvature?, General relativity basics, Spherically symmetric gravitational field while Geometry consists of Vectors and Tensors, Inner Product, Elementary Differential Geometry, Connection and Curvature, Riemannian geometry, Some More Geometry and the section Gravitation has The Einstein Equation, General features of spacetime, Weak Gravitational fields, Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions and Cosmology.


In our Physics Section, 360 pages, Hardcover, Rs. 550. ISBN: 9788185931968.

Venu Bharati

Bamboo is perhaps one of the most under-utilised natural resources of the country. Venu Bharati -A Comprehensive Volume on Bamboo by Vinoo Kaley is a book that brings together Kaley’s vision of sustainable development, to make this grass an essential element of the industrial base, and not merely a part of the handicrafts industry. An introduction to bamboo and its usage, it provides a wealth of information on anatomy and composition, preservation, farming, applications, processing techniques and products.

Vinoo Kaley was an architect turned artisan and activist. Known to social activists across the country as "the bamboo man”, Kaley was to be found working among traditional bamboo artisans, making and helping to design bamboo products that could be used even in modern urban life.

Venu Bharati - A Comprehensive Volume on Bamboo was finalised by Vinoo Kaley just days before he died of a heart attack in June 1998. The book has been produced by his colleagues and was released at Wardha in June 2000. This book is an account of Kaley's research on Venu, one of the many Sanskrit names for bamboo. Here bamboo is the central point of a larger vision for an alternative mode of development, which would make efficient and rational use of natural resources in creative ways.

India is home to almost 45 per cent of the world's bamboo forests. But irrational and inefficient harvesting gives us ridiculously low yields. The uses to which the bamboo is put are also not optimal. For instance, Kaley calculated that a tonne of bamboo creates upto 350 person days of work in the artisanal sector. By contrast it creates 12 person days in a paper mill which also needs large quantities of water and electricity. Kaley's energy was focussed on expanding a “bamboo sector" which would not only boost the traditional bamboo artisans but give livelihood to millions of others.

Venu Bharati is both a documentation of the various bamboo species of India and also an analysis of how and why this resource is being misused. Bamboo is also one of the world's best natural engineering materials, growing much faster than wood and needing relatively little water. Kaley explains why bamboo is a key element in maintaining the ecological balance and ensuring sustainable food and livelihood security.

Available in Hindi and English, Venu Bharati is published by Aproop Nirman, and is available for Rs. 250 here.

Speaking of Bamboo, the National Mission on Bamboo Applications, structured as part of the National Common Minimum Programme, has been tasked with creating the basis for enlarging the bamboo sector, and with supporting the efforts of the Government of India towards augmenting economic opportunity, income and employment. They list other useful and documentaries on livelihood issues and traditional wisdom related to bamboo:

In The Forest Hangs a Bridge
Sanjay Kak
39 minute Documentary film
Rs. 500
A film about the building of a thousand foot suspension bridge by the people of an Adi village, an evocation of the tribal community that makes it possible, and a reflection on the strengths - and fragility - of the idea of community. Available here.


Traditional Wisdom and Cane Crafts of Northeast India
MP Ranjan, Nilam Iyer and Ghanshyam Pandya, National Institute of Design
Rs. 300 (paperback) and Rs. 370 (hardback)
Many structures in the Northeast and other parts of the country depend on bamboo; indeed it is most sacrilegious to use concrete and steel for habitations in places where bamboo is, or could be, available in abundance. Modern designers and architects have not yet expended any real effort in that direction. This book will encourage them to go further. On SwB, here. 

Indian Philosophers

The French Institute of Pondicherry's new title, Two Śaiva teachers of the sixteenth century. Nigamajñāna I and his disciple Nigamajñāna II is a "complete analytical study of all the œuvres of Nigamajñāna I and his nephew-cum-disciple Nigamajñāna II. This study aims at bringing to limelight the great contributions made by these two teachers in the sixteenth century for the consolidation, elaboration and propagation of the Śaivasiddhānta religious system and philosophical doctrines.

For the first time the contents of all the available texts of these two Śaiva teachers in Sanskrit and Tamil, of which many are unpublished, are completely and critically analysed with a view to fully bring out the richness of these texts in their totality and their value in the propagation of Śaivasiddhānta during one of the most crucial periods in Indian history."

Reviewing it in The Hindu, S N Kandaswamy writes "In this book, the author has made an extensive survey of the contributions of these two savants to the revival and renewal of the Saiva theological and metaphysical doctrines. ... Since the book projects some fresh views, contrary to the traditional ones, it would definitely evoke the reader’s interest in the subject."

In our Philosophy and Religion sections, Rs 600. xviii + 274 pages, ISBN: 9788184701692

The contributions of Veddera Chandidas, a well-known Telugu novelist who also served as Professor of Philosophy at the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati are analysed by A Raghuramaraju in ENDURING COLONIALISM — Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy, from OUP, New Delhi. In this book, "the author discusses the present lack of original philosophical discourse in the context of South Asia, especially India and investigates the reasons of such absences. It also investigates the reasons for decline in traditional philosophical schools and Sanskritic studies in the subcontinent. The book discusses the manner in which Indian thinkers from the times of nineteenth century social reforms to the present day have interacted with the contemporary issues of philosophical engagement the world over. This volume explores three significant issues - absence, the consciousness of the contemporary, and new philosophical episteme - relevant to thought-systems in the Indian subcontinent."

In a review of the book that has also appeared in The Hindu, S Panneerselvam says "The first chapter explains the various aspects of permanence — pre-existence, existence, and post-existence. According to the Indian tradition, existence is caused by desires, and liberation is considered as devoid of desire. In the second chapter, the author shows how in Chandidas, we find a distinction between the ontic and the ontological. The ontic is structural and metaphysical, whereas the ontological is functional and empirico-physical. There is also the fusion of both which sustains oneness and plurality. The third is on the significance of creativity in Chandidas’ text, and here the comparison is with Roland Barthes, T S Eliot, Foucault, Deleuze, Bersani, and so on. Creativity as a multi-directional fusion is novelty, repetition, and aesthetic. In chapter four, Chandidas’ understanding of the nature of reality, causality, and temporality is examined.

The author shows how Chandidas’ notion of causality differs from the Indian conception and how it is related to the idea of process. The fifth chapter analyses ‘desire’, and the author is of the view that Candidas’ conception is more complex than that of Deleuze. For Chandidas, desire is continuous and multi-directed and is grounded in contradictoriness, and he thinks that liberation is not cessation of desire, but a perpetual process of intensification.

The author needs to be commended for presenting a difficult philosophical text in a simple and easily understandable way. His approach to the text is exemplary and the publication will certainly be of interest to specialists and students of philosophy alike."

Also in our Philosophy section, 176 pages, hardcover, Rs 545. ISBN: 9780195699364

Mor Naon Habib

Habib Tanvir passed away on June 8, 2009 at Bhopal. While scholars of drama mark the passing of the prolific legend of contemporary Indian theatre, we also commemorate the writer, poet, actor, organiser of progressive writers and people’s theatre, and the immense contribution he has made to the cultural consciousness of our times.

Habib Tanvir started his career in the theatre in his student days as a member of the Mumbai IPTA (Indian People's Theatre Association), an involvement which many claim was the crucible for all his later work. Tanvir then moved to Delhi and forever changed its theatrical landscape with his seminal production Agra Bazar (1954) which he himself described as “the first serious experiment integrating song with drama and rural actors with urban”. Created with students of Jamia Milia Islamia and residents of the Okhla Industrial Area, it foreshadowed the continual class mix that was to define Naya Theatre later. Creating a palette never seen before in Indian theatre, Tanvir’s stage was not the socially and architecturally walled-in space, but a bazaar -- a marketplace --with all its noise and bustle as well as with all its social, economic and cultural conflicts. This experience with non-trained actors and folk artistes later blossomed with his work with folk artistes of Chhattisgarh. Tanvir blended in the indigenous performance form of nacha into his oeuvre, creating not only a new theatrical language, but also milestones such as Charandas Chor, and Kamdeo ka Apna Basant Ritu ka Sapna, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

One of the highlights of Tanvir’s training in Acting in The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in between 1955-57 was his eight-month stay in Berlin in 1956, during which he got to see several plays of Bertolt Brecht which proved to be a lasting influence on him, as in the coming years he also used local idioms in his plays to express trans-cultural tales and ideologies, and displayed a penchant for employing music and poetry in plays, not as a superfluous embellishment but, much like Brecht, as an integral part of the action. This gave rise to what has been called a “theatre of roots”. A deeply inspired Habib returned to India in 1958 and took to directing full-time, producing a powerfully experiential, creative and political theatre.

During the last two decades Habib Tanvir’s work resonated strongly in the political life of the country, inviting the ire of the Sangh Parivar for firmly standing against fundamentalism through plays like “Ponga Pandit”, “Zamadarin. Tanvir’s abiding contribution to contemporary culture will be his remarkable incorporation of traditions of folk and tribal theatre, music and language into his modern formal craft.

In 2005, a documentary Gaon ke naon theatre, mor naon Habib was made on Tanvir, one of the greatest innovators on the Indian proscenium since Independence, and his troupe - Naya Theatre, by Sanjay Maharishi and Sudhanva Deshpande. ‘My village is theatre, my name is Habib' (75 minutes, Hindi, English, Chhattisgarhi with English sub-titles, Sanket Productions, 2005) is an attempt to capture live performance on celluloid. An insightful and lively documentary, the film chronicles Tanvir's involvement with the Indian stage for over five decades, playing concomitantly the roles of playwright, director, designer, singer, composer and occasional actor. It is as much a salute to the others of the group- his wife Monika, the incomparable voice of Bhulwaram and the myriad talents of his daughter Nageen that have made Naya Theatre so exceptional.

In our Documentaries section, Gaon ke naon theatre, mor naon Habib is available for Rs. 1200 in DVD format and Rs. 700 in VCD format.

Developing Science

The Centre for Science and Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries is an organization based in New Delhi, that is devoted to promoting a number of areas that are of direct relevance and benefit to developing countries. These include, among others, Agricultural Biotechnology, Bio-safety and Bio-ethical Issues, Environment, Biodiversity and Ecology, Food Processing, Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and Traditional Knowledge, Technology Transfer, and so on. A fuller description of their aims can be found on their website.

They bring out a number of publications that can be of great use, and that could do with wider dissemination, and two recent examples are highlighted here.

Traditional and Alternative Medicine: Research and Policy Perspectives, edited by T De Silva, T Bahorun, M Sahu and Le Mai Huonghas just been published by Daya Publications, New Delhi, in association with the NAM S&T Centre. This book, based on the International Workshop on ‘Herbal Medicinal Plants and Traditional Herb Remedies’ held in September 2007 in Hanoi, is likely to contribute to an understanding of the status of research, policies and regulatory status of medicinal plants and their products in developing countries, and the information presented herein would hopefully serve as a valuable material for the scientists and professionals engaged in this subject area.

"Herbs and traditional medicines are being extensively used for healthcare in almost all the countries. Ancient religious texts are replete with references on the use of natural products with medicinal properties. Because of local beliefs and cost considerations, herbal medicines remain a popular mode of treatment in the developing countries. Even in the industrialised society, rising cost of prescription drugs and ensuing side effects of the treatment, make it highly attractive to use the traditional medicine particularly for minor ailments. Modern system of medicine is based on sound experimental data, toxicity studies and human clinical studies, however pharmacopoeia on herbal products is usually not available. Precisely, herbal industry lacks good manufacturing practices as standards of the medicinal plant products are not well regulated and the quality of finished herbal products is often not up to the mark. For this reason, many medicinal plants are either getting scarce or are on the verge of extinction resulting into genetic erosion due to a huge public demand and extraction of massive amount of modern drugs from these plants. If this trend continues, the human race will lose some of the most important sources of future drugs, which will be lost by the mankind forever. The focus of this book prominently encompasses the importance of traditional medicine in our modern health systems and discusses the potential applications of phyto-chemicals to assist bio-molecular mechanisms, and hence offer realistic and therapeutic possibilities. It includes review papers on production strategies, projection trends, regulatory status and IPR issues, and reports on the characterization and isolation of useful medicinal plant phyto-chemicals, clinical and bioactivity studies comprising antifungal, anticancer, antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory, hepato-protective and acetylcholinesterase assays. Finally, a series of comprehensive country reports provide an evaluation of the use of traditional heath care systems and related research output in many developing countries."

The book has something like 60 chapters that range from reviews, Herbal Medicines: From Research to the Production Line, Medicinal Plants/Traditional Medicine and IPR Protection
and so on, to Genetic Diversity of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees of Brunei Darussalam Determined by RAPD and PCR-RFLP Analyses to Isolation and Characterization of Triterpenes and a Phenolic Glycoside from Celastrus hindsii Benth to Traditional Veterinary Herbal Practices of Kalahandi District, Orissa, India to The Brief History and Development of Traditional Medical Science in Mongolia.

In hardcover, xviii+594 pages, this title is priced at Rs. 1995 in India and US$ 100 overseas. ISBN: 9788170356141

A similar conference on Coastal Ecosystem: Hazards Management and Rehabilitation at Purwokerto, Indonesia in August 2006 resulted in the book of the same name, consisting of 26 selected research and review papers on different aspects of coastal ecosystems.

"Coastal zones contain many of the Earth's most complex and diverse ecological systems, productive in both the biological and economic senses. Coastal region includes inshore waters, inter-tidal areas and extensive tracts of contiguous land.

Coastal zones are not only economically valuable for fisheries, commerce, navigation and recreation, but also include some of the most ecologically important environments. Regrettably, these economic, social, and environmental benefits are at a risk as the coastal zones are affected by both gradual and recurrent processes such as accretion and erosion and by extreme natural events such as floods, hurricanes, typhoons, Tsunamis, earthquakes and severe storms. This is further aggravated due to increased economic activity within the coastal zones resulting in costly damages to property, society, economy and environment. This combination of natural and human forces and the uncertainties involved in their origins and impacts presents major challenges to coastal managers.

The publication has been presented in four parts, namely, General Topics on Physical Oceanography; Impact Studies Related to Tsunami, Tropical Cyclones and Toxic Contamination; General Coastal Management Issues, Including Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies; and Country Reports and Case Studies on Coastal Ecosystem. The material presented in this volume will serve as a valuable reference material for the professionals working in the area of Coastal Ecosystems and Coastal Hazards Management and will help the developing countries in working out scientific solutions for management of hazards affecting the Coastal Ecosystems."

Also in hardcover, xxii + 364 pages Rs 2400 in India and $100 outside, ISBN 9788170355571

Kabir. Community Weaver.

Kabir (1398-1448) ranks among the world's greatest poets and mystics. He was "also a satirist and philosopher, and a poet of timeless wit and wisdom. Equally immersed in theology and social thought, music and politics, his songs have won devoted followers from every walk of life through the past five centuries. He was a Muslim by name, but his ideas stand at the intersection of Hinduism and Islam, Bhakti and Yoga, religion and secularism. And his words were always marked by rhetorical boldness and conceptual subtlety."

In Kabir: The Weaver's Songs from Penguin, Vinay Dharwadker "offers a sparkling new translation of one hundred poems, drawing for the first time on major sources in half a dozen literary languages. They closely mimic the structure, voice and style of the originals, revealing Kabir's multiple facets in historical and cultural contexts. Finely balancing simplicity and complexity, this selection opens up new forms of imagination and experience for discerning readers around the world."

Rabindranath Tagore also found much to admire in Kabir, who he translated- perhaps not as felicitously- in 1914.

Receive that Word from which the Universe springeth!

That Word is the Guru; I have heard it, and become the disciple.

How many are there who know the meaning of that Word?

O Sadhu! practise that Word!

Rupa Books, New Delhi, has a nice hardcover edition of this set of 100 poems in translation.

This post is also about the brilliant Kabir Project that was started in 2003. Through a set of documentary films, folk music videos and music CDs, accompanied by books of the poetry in translation, the aim is to spread the word of Kabir, increasingly more relevant in these times...

Largely the effort of Shabnam Virmani, a documentary filmmaker and artist in residence at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, the Kabir Project showed in Bangalore earlier this year, and in the US. Though, of course, the message would be welcome all over our country as well. Details of the films, CDs etc. can be found on their website, http://www.kabirproject.org/ which is designed as an online multimedia archive of the music and poetry of Kabir. All the material is incredibly good value!

Consider one of the four documentaries, HAD-ANHAD: Journeys with Ram & Kabir. "Kabir defied the boundaries between Hindu and Muslim, refusing to be labeled himself and sharply criticizing sectarianism. His name and upbringing were Muslim but his poetry often uses Hindu concepts and Hindu names for God, especially Ram. This film journeys in search of the “Ram” invoked in Kabir's poetry, delving into the heart of divisive Hindu-Muslim politics of religion and nationalism, encountering singers and lay people in India and Pakistan, probing the forces of history and politics that have created disputatiously diverse Rams, while also spawning many Kabirs."

The others are as imaginative, and explore much new ground. The books listed above will soon be in our Poetry section...

Poems of Kabir, Rs 95, 124 pages, hardcover, ISBN: 9788171676729

and do write in if you would like material from the Kabir Project.