Dayanamite

Dayanita Singh is one of the most accomplished and astute photographers of her generation. Her work has won international acclaim, and has influenced a whole new generation of photographers.

"Her acute gaze frames not just the moment but, as Sunil Khilnani observes in his essay on her work on Benares, captures what happens beyond the pools of light. This retrospective collection brings together her entire oeuvre from Myself Mona Ahmed published in 2001, to her most recent explorations of colour and night, Dream Villa and The Blue Book. With over 100 photographs, this volume, which includes perceptive commentaries by Aveek Sen, is a collector's delight.

Dayanita's works have been exhibited extensively, including galleries and museums in Berlin, London, Milan, New York, Sydney, Zurich and many others. She is also the recipient of many awards including the prestigious Prince Claus Award 2008 by the government of The Netherlands.

Dayanita Singh. From Penguin, 8.5" x 11" in hardcover, 256 pages, Rs 5999. ISBN: 9780670084494

Teach for the Stars

The preface of Arnab Rai Choudhuri's Astrophysics for Physicists starts with a lament, albeit with some justification. Although astrophysics is up there with particle physics and condensed matter physics as one of the three big areas, few teaching departments offer a specialization in the subject... the closest one comes is through a course on General Relativity and Cosmology. Which, as anyone (especially afficionados of the Big Bang Theory (in reality or on TV)) will tell you, is not quite the same thing.

One consequence, or cause, depending on which way one looks at it (and depending on which way time flows in your frame of reference) is that there are few books affordable by and available to the Indian student. Most books on astrophysics, even by Indian scientists, tend to be published by presses outside India, and while they (the presses, that is) do make a local edition available, again, its not the same thing.

Rai Choudhuri, who is at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore has written Astrophysics for Physicists (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) to teach "astrophysics to physics students at advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. This textbook also provides an overview of astrophysics for astrophysics graduate students, before they delve into more specialized volumes. Assuming background knowledge at the level of a physics major, the textbook develops astrophysics from the basics without requiring any previous study in astronomy or astrophysics. Physical concepts, mathematical derivations and observational data are combined in a balanced way to provide a unified treatment. Topics such as general relativity and plasma physics, which are not usually covered in physics courses but used extensively in astrophysics, are developed from first principles. While the emphasis is on developing the fundamentals thoroughly, recent important discoveries are highlighted at every stage.

In our Physics section, in paperback, 490 pages, Rs 495. ISBN: 9780521176934

The Abuses of Enchantment

SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ, professor of Indian politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, and erstwhile colleague at Jawaharlal Nehru University has long been recognized as among India’s most thoughtful and wide-ranging political thinkers and analysts, one of the subtlest and most learned writers on Indian politics.

The Enchantment of Democracy and India: Politics and Ideas is his new book of collected essays and is brought out by Permanent Black who have also published two earlier collections of his work.

The essays in this volume, the third in a linked trilogy, try to approach Indian democracy from different angles. Kaviraj argues that it is wrong to believe that with the rise of modernity human societies suffer complete disenchantment: modernity creates new forms of enchantment, and democracy is, in fact, part of the political enchantment of modernity.

Focusing on Indian democracy, Kaviraj shows the limits of marxist and liberal political analyses. In its Indian incarnation, he says, liberal democracy has had to inhabit an unfamiliar cultural and historical world whose peculiarities are very different from the peculiarities of European societies.Viewed by conventional political theory, Indian democracy appears inexplicable. It defies all the preconditions that theory lays down for the success of democratic government—namely, a strong bureaucratic state, capitalist production, industrialization, the secularization of society, and relative economic prosperity. The durability of Indian democracy shows that instead of asking how Indian democracy has survived, we need to ask if those are in fact preconditions for democracy.

These and many other fascinating issues of democracy’s relationship with religion, identity, development, inequality, and culture comprise the themes that link the essays in this brilliant and insightful collection.

In Politics, in hardcover, 352 pages, Rs. 695. ISBN 9788178242965

A Dangerous Place

Victoria Schofield, writer and broadcaster, and author of (among several other books) Kashmir in the Crossfire (1996) and Afghan Frontier: At the Crossroads of Conflict (2010) has a timely book out in reprintfrom VIVA, Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the unending war.

After 20 years of insurgency, Kashmir continues to be a major flashpoint and decisive factor in destabilizing regional relations. Resolving the dispute over the state of Jammu and Kashmir is crucial to achieving peace and stability, without which the US Af-Pak strategy is unlikely to succeed With international eyes focused on South Asia, understanding what is at stake in Kashmir has never been more important. For decades, the dispute over the valley of Kashmir, famed for its beauty and tranquility, has determined much of Pakistan’s and India’s foreign policy. With the state, located between two nuclear-armed nations and India blaming Pakistani militants for the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, the potentially wider implications of the conflict are higher than ever on the international agenda.

This fully updated edition of Kashmir in Conflict offers a highly readable, carefully documented account of the origins, development and implications of this contentious issue. Beginning with the early history of the independent kingdom of Kashmir, Victoria Schofield traces the origins of the modern state in the nineteenth century, including the controversial ‘sale’ by the British of predominantly Muslim Kashmir to a Hindu ruler. She examines the implications for the people when in 1947 the Maharaja chose secular, yet majority Hindu, India over Muslim Pakistan and shows why the neighbouring countries continue to argue over the status of Jammu and Kashmir which, according to recommendations passed by the UN, was to be determined by the will of the people.

Drawing upon research in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India, Pakistan, and a range of historical sources, Schofield analyses critically the actions of the key players who, throughout its history, have contributed to the current militarization of the valley. And with the help of numerous interviews she takes into account the hopes and fears of all the interested parties — Pakistan, India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are themselves divided, not only by their linguistic and cultural traditions, but also in their objectives.

This has been called 'One of the best general introductions to what a well-briefed Bill Clinton described as the most dangerous place on earth’ by the New Statesman .‘A brilliantly detailed journey through the complex history of Jammu and Kashmir', the Literary Review . And ‘Anyone concerned with the future of South Asia will find that Ms Schofield’s book will enrich their understanding of what is at stake.’ Asian Affairs.

In our Strategic Affairs section, in paperback, Rs 425, ISBN: 9781848851054

Betweenness

Rizio Yohannan Raj is a bilingual writer, presently Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the newly founded Central University of Kerala in Kasaragod. Peripatetic, she has earlier held positions in the editorial departments of Navneet in Mumbai and Katha in New Delhi.

She writes poetry as well as fiction, and has also translated, from Malayalam to English and vice versa. Her novel Avinashom: The tale of the timeless will soon appear from Harper Collins. Her translations from other languages to Malayalam include two novels by the Swedish writer Torgny Lindgren, the Maithili poetry of Udaya Narayana Singh, and Dalit poetry from various Indian languages.

Eunuch, her debut collection of poetry has just been published by Authorspress, New Delhi (recall our recent post on Jayanta Mahapatra's The Lie of Dawns). A second poetry collection Naked by the Sabarmati should be out soon.

The castaway eunuch returns to us from the grimy margins of life. Standing in the middle ground, armed with the secret knowledge of truth and treachery that has always evaded our divided camps, s/he now demands entry into our histories. Defying the rigid frames of our morality and language, the eunuch starkly reminds us of the futility of our proud tools, even as s/he reclaims connections with many a potent figure from myth and history alike: Ardhanaree-swara, Teiresias, Sikhandi, Brihannala, Bagoas the Persian, Narses the Roman, San Boa the Chinese, the Chief Black Eunuch of the Ottoman court. The idea of ‘crossing the border,’ fundamental to the eunuch’s identity, inspires the poems in this collection to emerge irreverent, transcendental, different...

Eunuch, in paperback, Rs 95.00 , pp 74. ISBN: 9788172735357. In Poetry, naturally.

Faith and Belief

In MARGINS OF FAITH: Dalit and Tribal Christianity in India, Rowena Robinson and Joseph Kujur bring together a number of sociologists who documents the ethnographies of regionally distinct Dalit and tribal Christian communities, raising new arguments pertaining to the autonomy and distinct identity of these communities, often in adverse social set-ups.

Stressing upon the plurality of identities, the essays reject the idea of determining these exclusively on the basis of religion. They also chart the multiple levels of marginality experienced by both Dalit and tribal Christians and analyze how these groups negotiate their former religious faith and practices with Christianity.

The book is a response to the urgent need for such studies in social science writings brought to the fore by contemporary political challenges/struggles facing these communities in various parts of India.

From SAGE, in our Tribal Studies section. Hardback, 320 pages, Rs 695. ISBN 9788132104674

Dalit Theology in the Twenty First Century edited by Sathianathan Clarke, Deenabandhu Manchala, Philip Vinod Peacock marks the beginning of a new Dalit self-understanding and a new appreciation for the changed landscape of the twenty-first century where the agency of Dalits in the area of theology has exploded the monopoly of caste interpretations in a significant manner. This volume addresses how despite its proud entry into the post-colonial, politically democratic twenty-first century world, India continues to straddle the structural inequalities and functional hierarchies based on its age-old caste system. It also looks at various Dalit, women, tribal, and other subaltern movements that struggle against insidious forms of caste-, class-, ethnicity- and religion-based violence and violation. A unique combination of Dalit theology with Dalit feminism and feminist theology, this book brings together the key directions and interests that Dalit Theology has taken in the new century.

From OUP, Hardback 320 pages, Rs 745. ISBN: 9780198066910

Under construction

Somebody is having a good laugh somewhere... The mess that Delhi is in, thanks to the preparations for the Commonwealth Games- corruption apart- make a mockery of urban planning, governance, and the development of infrastructure. And other cities in India are not much better, really.

Four professors at the Indian Institute of Management, G Ramesh, V P Nagadevara, G Naik and A B Suraj have edited a collection of essays on Urban Infrastructure and Governance for Routledge, India.

The book contains a selection of papers presented at the Third International Conference on Public Policy and Management held in 2008 at IIM Bangalore, on Urban Governance in its multiple perspectives. The papers are grouped into sub themes of Urban Growth and Plan, Governance through Partnership and Participation, and Financing Urban Infrastructure. These papers are written in the context of providing for urban growth and infrastructure through better governance and financial reforms. With several cases from developing nations, the book dwells into policy as well as implementation, and the governance of the same in terms of institutional processes, partnerships and participation, and financial reforms. It brings in fresh insights on partnerships and participation in relation to governance. One of the highlights of the book is that it looks at financial mobilization and reform as a strategy for governance and how these itself can be an instrument of governance.

In our Urban Studies section, 329 pages in paperback, Rs 795. ISBN: 9780415596213

Straddling two cultures

Jayanta Mahapatra, poet and physicist, has had a remarkable career. Widely heralded as one of the finest English language poets in the country- and indeed, the first to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi prize- Mahapatra taught physics till 1986 at several colleges in Orissa, including Ravenshaw in Cuttack.

A poet who came to his calling relatively late in life- at the age of thirty eight by popular account- Mahapatra has been prolific, and has earned considerable popular recognition.

Authorpress, the publishing house based in New Delhi, has brought out

The Lie of Dawns: Poems 1974 - 2008, a well produced collection of poems chosen by Mahapatra, dedicated to his wife Runu. Mahapatra has been called the "finest multicultural poet writing in India" and here he brings his own choice of the finest poems he has written over past thirty five years. A revelatory selection for readers who are familiar with his work, and for readers who are coming upon his impressive poetic achievement for the first time.

2009 was a very good year in many ways for Mahapatra. In addition to the publication of The Lie of Dawns, he received the SAARC literary Award, the Allen Tate Poetry Prize, an honorary doctorate from Ravenshaw University, and the Padma Shree Award from the President of India.

This and other books of poems by Mahapatra in our Poetry section, Rs 395, ISBN 9788192734749.

Time for Tea

Tea, once growing in the wildernesses of Assam, blossomed into one of the most economically viable plants of India. It gifted our country a flourishing industry involving not only huge finances but also a wide range of human resources. Over centuries this wonder beverage has got interwoven with our history and culture and become a way of life in India.

There are few who are as qualified as Prafull Goradia to write the story of tea in India. Chairman of the Contemporary Group, he has had a long career in tea. Indeed, in 1979 he wrote a 99 page tract titled Profiles of Tea that was published by Oxford + IBH.

Although he has written extensively in the intervening years- mainly on a range of political topics- he returns now to The Saga of Indian Tea with Kalyan Sircar, a two volume compilation of the history and economics of the tea trade in India. Volume 1 is out now, and Volume 2 is in preparation and together, these will provide a comprehensive view of this very important subject.

The book is published by Contemporary Targett, a part of the Contemporary Group of Companies. While their primary interests are in tea brokerage, they also publish books, make dental products, and run the Indian School in New Delhi. Another of their publications is the magazine Contemporary Tea Time. This started as a black & white 24 page pamphlet, which evolved into the magazine it is today, tacklingi ssues that are relevant to the tea trade, the estates, and to planters. This is also an area of considerable interest to those who study our colonial past. Tea was very much once "the white man’s preserve".

Goradia has been in tea since 1959 and has experience that ranges from auctioning, to producing, to the marketing of tea. He has twice been a member of the Tea Board and chairman of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association in 1975. Apart from tea, his interests have ranged from jute, tobacco, cigarettes to the manufacture of oral care products. In 1976, he innovated the Boeing bag, layered with hessian and polythene for bulk packing of tea. The saving in wood as a result has been enormous; today 80% of Indian tea is packed in jute and polythene.

Sircar studied at London School of Economics and held senior teaching positions in a number of institutions of higher education in UK. He has published articles in academic journals of Europe and India on subjects of Indian indentured labour, migration and economic development, tea plantation labour and early management problems of tea companies in India.

The Saga of Indian Tea gives a panoramic and comprehensive view of the industry, including chapters on the different regions where tea is produced, details of how the plant is tended and cared for, how tea is manufactured... There are reproductions of some classic photographs in the book that give a glimpse of how things were (and sometimes continue to be) done- see the photo on the left, for instance, where two workers are sifting tea. Other chapters deal with Trade and Commerce, Development, the conditions of labour on the estates, the role of Government and the state of the Industry. A final chapter in Volume 1 deals with the changes brought about by indigenization.

Find it on Scholars in our General Books section, at Rs 1800, 688 pages, in hardcover, ISBN: 9788190649414

Full Marx

Leftword will, in October 2010, bring out a complete set of Marx' Capital, all three volumes in beautifully bound hardcover (see Volume 1's cover on the right) in a boxed set. And for those with more capital, an exclusive limited edition of 25 sets only, elegantly bound in leather.

Volume I is A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, translated from the third German edition by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling and edited by Frederick Engels.

Volume II is A Critique of Political Economy: The Process of Circulation of Capital edited by Frederick Engels, and Volume III is A Critique of Political Economy: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole also edited by Frederick Engels.

A related forthcoming title from Leftword is Marx's Capital: An Introductory Reader, with essays by Venkatesh Athreya, Vijay Prashad, Jayati Ghosh, R. Ramakumar, and Prabhat Patnaik.

The three volume set is priced at Rs. 2000/$60(per set), shipping extra. The individual volumes are not sold separately, although if you write directly to Leftword, there is a discounted price until end November.

Vol. 1 is 768 pages, ISBN: 9788187496953, Vol. 2 is 564 pages, ISBN: 9788187496960, and Vol. 3 is 960 pages, ISBN: 9788187496977.

Building Modern India

Permanent Black bring out the paperback version of Jon Lang's A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India an invaluable book for those who want to understand the geography of their cities, as well as for students of Indian architecture. In lucid language that speaks to laymen and architects alike, Jon Lang provides a history of Indian architecture in the twentieth century.

Lang, who was born in Calcutta was Professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and earlier Director of the Urban Design Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught from 1970 to 1990.

Here he analyses its tangled developments from the founding of the Indian Institute of Architects during the 1920s to the present diversity of architectural directions. He describes the often contradictory tugs of the international and the local as he reviews architects’ efforts to be up-to-date in their work.

Lang examines the early influences on Indian architecture both of movements like the Bauhaus as well as prominent individuals like Habib Rehman, Jawaharlal Nehru, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. He looks at monuments, museums, resettlement colonies, housing, offices and movie halls all over India in his wide-ranging survey. Over 150 photographs and line drawings explain and illustrate concepts outlined in the text.

In our Architecture section, in paperback 214 pages, Rs 695. ISBN 9788178243054