Tagore Tales (Projapoti, Rs 150) contains one novella and ten of Rabindranath Tagore’s most popular short stories. But the translations can only sadden those who had welcomed the expiry of copyright on Tagore’s works. The translation of Nashtanir as “Fouled Nest” would suffice to illustrate the point. If morning shows the day, then a look at the preface would be advised. Here the translator, Carolyn B. Brown (who has done the job with Sharat Kumar Mukhopadhyay), talks about audiences being drawn back to Tagore by new creations such as Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Ranu o Bhanu, Rituparno Ghosh’s Chokher Bali, or the television series, Tarpar Rabindranath, which tried to visualize the life of some of Tagore’s ‘filmed’ heroines 25 years after their fictional time. One doesn’t quite know who to feel sorrier for — the “audience”, or Brown herself. The book is a compendium of carelessness and ignorance, with “Mussalmanir Galpo” being referred to as “Mussalmani Galpo”, Brahmadaitya (in the context of the Brahmo-elite professor Bamacharan) in “Professor” being explained as “the Brahmin giant”. The preface also mentions Hemsashi in “Sentence” as an example of “a recurring figure [in Tagore’s stories], a woman at the window, often sitting in the dark”. But there is no character by that name in “Sentence” or “Shasti”.

The Power of N (Rupa, Rs 195) by Meeta Lall attempts to respond to the problem of our increasingly sedentary lifestyle and dangerous food habits. Growing affluence has affected our patterns of eating, both at home and at work. And so Lall suggests several nutrition patterns for men, women and children, using food guide pyramids and specifying portion sizes. Sections are devoted to nutrition needs of pregnant women, travelling as well as desk-bound professionals.

Civil Disobedience Movements in India & India’s Case for Freedom (Frog, Rs 250) by C.V.H. Rao records the history of the various satyagraha movements conducted under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi and auspices of the Congress and also tries to “appreciate the results and fruits thereof”. Rao is under no illusion about the movements being run on the steam of high ideals. His analysis of India’s freedom movement in the context of international developments, such as the Atlantic Charter, Monroe doctrine and World War II is useful.