Adversity laced with happiness

The Penguin Companion to the Mahabharata (Rs 200) by Bishnupada Chakravarty has been translated from Bengali by Debjani Banerjee. It first gives the story of the epic in short subtitled episodes, and then sums up the different parvas in a few sentences. An interesting section involves places and characters. Here one can find the arithmetic of ‘akhouini’ (perhaps it could have been spelt differently): Foot soldiers: 1,09,350, horses: 65,610, elephants: 21,870, chariots: 21,870; total: 2,18,700. At the end there is a list of sorts — the five gems, the seven sages, the eight vasus and so on. The companion is full of interesting trivia. For instance, that Mahabharata’s Manipur is not the modern-day state at all, but a place whose geographical markers have not been identified. And you always thought Chitrangada had a small nose and slant eyes?

Let the Guitar Raise her Hand (Tarjama, Rs 100) contains the selected lyrics of Silvio Rodriguez, the iconic Cuban troubadour. Unfortunately, this pioneer of the “Nueva Trova” (New Folk) is largely an unfamiliar name even to the fans of Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Kaushalya Bannerji, the translator, does a good job of introducing Rodriguez and his art to the readers. The songs chosen are very powerful, but some of them are also steeped in despair — such as “Little Daily Serenade”, which ends: “I am happy./ I am a happy man,/ and I want them to forgive me/ for this day,/ those who have died/ for my happiness.”

The Potion of Eternity (Puffin, Rs 195) by Sonja Chandrachud is “a hilarious hauntings adventure” (whatever that is supposed to mean). The names of the characters seem to flaunt the author’s punning powers: Drunkula Von D’eth, Tantrika, Sinistra being some of them. The story is a mish-mash of well-known stories from the genres of horror, spook and fantasy, with a bit of Bollywood thrown in.

Memory’s Daughter (Katha, Rs 200) by Krishna Sobti is the author’s first novel, trans- lated from Hindi by Smita Bharti and Meenakshi Bharadwaj, it is set against the backdrop of the Afghan and Anglo-Sikh wars in 19th-century Punjab. The novel is the story of Pasho, the girl who asks “If I have to die, why should others survive?”