World within world

FRONTLINE PAKISTAN (Penguin, Rs 299) by Zahid Hussain is an account of the “path to catastrophe and the killing of Benazir Bhutto”. After Ahmed Rashid’s Descent into Chaos, a magisterial study of the failure of nation-building in central Asia, and Ayesha Siddiqa’s take on the Pakistani army in Military Inc., this book might appear a bit dated. The material is not startlingly original. Rashid and Hussain, both seasoned journalists, have travelled extensively in the conflict zone along the Pak-Afghan border. While Rashid tends to be factual, Hussain has a gift for story-telling. His tale is rich in anecdotes and laced with moments of great suspense. (He sneaks, for instance, inside the Afghan border disguised as a doctor.) But is there really anything left to be known about the rise and fall of Musharraf, which is the crux of Hussain’s narrative? Rashid has shown, painstakingly, “how the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia”. Those who haven’t read his intimidating tome yet, would be better advised to try out Hussain’s shorter, and crisply written, volume.

Independence to globalization (Anthem, Rs 350) by Arabinda Ray describes “an Indian manager’s journey” from the dawn of post-coloniality to the high noon of liberalization in India. This fascinating memoir is more than a revisiting of Ray’s career as one of the foremost professional managers in modern India. Richly nostalgic, these reminiscences are tinged with a sense of déjà vu. “At 77,” Ray confesses, “I find I now live amidst a huge educated adult population to whom the times we lived through seem a vastly unfamiliar world”. The result is a complex and arresting history that not only charts the evolution of the corporate world as we know it now, but also a record of the passing of a certain ethos and a work culture — much of which would make little sense to the architects of globalization.

The Homecoming (Penguin, Rs 299) by Shashi Warrier is set in the dangerously beautiful Kashmir valley. The story grows out of Javed Sharif’s return to his home in Srinagar to celebrate his father’s eighty-fourth birthday and the trail of horror that is unleashed on his life on that very day. As the nightmare closes in, Sharif watches his carefully guarded dreams fall apart. Since the novel owes much to Warrier’s experiences as a journalist reporting from the valley, there is an unmistakable authenticity in the setting and its people. The measured prose makes the dialogues come alive.

Lessons in Heartbreak (Harper, Rs 250) by Cathy Kelly weaves together the lives of three women in love and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The holy trinity of romance fiction — infidelity, betrayal and guilt — might help attract readers, but the unoriginal mix of clichés and the forbidding length might not be exactly tempting — even for die-hard rom-com fans.

Destination Moon (HarperCollins, Rs 195) by Pallava Bagla and Subhadra Menon is a comprehensive record of “India’s Quest for the Moon, Mars and Beyond”. Revered as a deity, the Moon has been at the heart of the Indian imagination. Its presence is ubiquitous in literature, mythology, folklore, iconography and in the daily lives of ordinary Indians. In 1999, almost three decades after man had first walked on Moon, Indian scientists decided to launch the first major expedition to our celestial neighbour. A project to develop the Chandrayaan-1, India’s “moon craft”, was undertaken, aiming eventually at space tourism. This book not only celebrates this dream but also makes a scientific and ethical revaluation of a venture that has cost millions.