2008 Books

Books to start the 2008 season.

Inspite of the Gods

'Inspite of the Gods: The Strange Rise' of Modern India by Edward Luce is another anecdotal book by a foreign author. It is amazing to see someone else's perspective (and perception) on the things that we Indians take for granted. The insightful book is covers many of the modern dilemmas that face the country as it reaches out to turn a page (at least for those who can afford it in the world's biggest poverty-ridden country).

Deewan-e-Ghalib

Though I have never read the complete thing (what with my weak Urdu-reading competency), I can still vouch my literary prudence, stick my head out and declare this to the best ever book on Urdu poetry. For the less patient like me there are some great compilations that can be found to get a taste of Mirza Ghalib's Urdu shayari.

Samplers @ http://paul.rutgers.edu/~saiqbal/Stuff/Ghazals.html

India Unbound

India Unbound by Gurcharan Das traces the author's personal history marries those with some great anecdotes about India, which makes for a great read.

City of Djinns

'City of Djinns - A Year in Delhi' is William Dalrymple's semi-autobiographical-travelogue-historical-lesson about the city of Delhi and its inhabitants in the last millenium.

A must read for anyone interested in the history of Delhi or who just wants to get a feel of how the city has evolved over centuries: a new one keeps coming up over the old one.

Test 123

This a test, really it is.