scholarly book

Indian partition fiction in English and in English translation
a text on Hindu-Muslim relationship
by Basudeb Chakraborti

read this book yesterday in library. quite a work as it summarily includes major fiction written on or during the mass migration of Indian sub continent. excerpts from the books of khushwant singh(train to Pakistan),chaman nahal(azadi),bapsi sidhwa(ice-candy man) were made, along with special emphasis on certain phrases or dialogues by the author basudeb. 'train to Pakistan', on which a movie was featured by the same name, and 'ice-candy man' on which the movie 'earth-1947' was made, portrayed the mass psyche engulfing the two major religions, or better say two major socio ideologies followed by the people living in what is called Hindustan. novels in their true sense depicted how the foreign educated persons (nehru and jinnah,along with many others), leading major political forces, decided to share power, leaving in destitute the millions of people living in existential harmony(to say at least). Muslim alienation felt by and leading to the need of separate state(two-nation theory) and further communal hatred, not only caused the most horrific and barbaric acts of humanity, but continues to haunt the social orders by babri masjid and kashmir insurgency issues.

shattering of innumerable families, with loss of human dignity mainly incited upon the women, was a shameful act in the history of mankind. sorry state of women status, where an abducted women by the other community was unaccepted by the kin and family, is somewhat present in contemporary times too. many fiction works examined in this very book are worth in understanding the driving force of the mad violence tsunami which shook the auhtority of human lives for many many years to come.

self help books!!

an extended glance over the self help books section in a book store will allow one to see the diverse populace deeply indulged in the first few pages of the high profile writer's works. with the students tensed over exam results, to the young professionals pissed upon meeting the targets, to the middle aged men finding some content(women in this phase of life are still not bothered about contentment) - all are busy finding those magical words which will soothe their anxiety. and as soon as they grab their alchemy, they feel like an aura has started to built up, somewhere not only behind head but surrounding their whole body. this aura helps them overcome the exaggerated price marked on the lucrative designer back cover.

now comes the mammoth task of completing the book in one go! this is tricky because the sound advice given by that well-wisher,who also recommended for the book, was to finish it off in a single sitting otherwise the 'due effect' the book has to cast will not take place. to overcome this, reader places a deal with inner conscience to allow him a 5 min break halfway. this automatically makes room for the mandatory chores he is expected to attend in a normal day which will show up abruptly. some fortunate ones will hit for a bench in a peceful park or a place where solitude is guranteed.

so after the much hyped reading exercise, end result- a bigger question looming in large- is nearly same for the varied titled self help books - why the hell i wasted my time and money for this shit? but what is forgotten by people is the fact that this book helped them to be away from that very depressing feeling which was eating them up. yeah, its true that they could have adopted some constructive remedy instead of self helping themselves in this manner; its also true that the very reason of their anxiety suddenly seems to be just momentarily,in a transition state. nevertheless, self help books are ought to help you one way or the other. even if thats not the case, they are certainly helping the author and his publishing house making a fortune.