Breaking Trough by Isher Judge Ahluwalia

    Breaking through is the autobiography of Isher Judge Ahluwalia. Married to a great technocrat and economist, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, she too was an economist in her own stride. 

     The book is the life story of Isher, a leading economist of her generation. Born in a modest, lower-middle-class Sikh family, she did well in academics, graduated from Presidency College, Kolkata, and did her post graduation from Delhi School of Economics where her professors were Amritya Sen and Jagdish Bhagvati. She did her Ph. D from MIT, USA and got a job with IMF. In the USA she met Montek Singh Ahluwalia, working with IMF, and they married. 

    Isher returned to India, where she authored two books on the slow Economic Growth of India where she advocated liberal economic policies and the opening of the economy to the world.  She was a professor at the Centre for Policy Research and director and later Chairperson of ICIER, an institution, conceptualized and developed by IG Patel. She further developed ICIER into a leading global think tank. She also served as Chair of the Board of International Food Policy Research Institute and Chair of the High Powered Committee on Urban Infrastructure Services set up by Govt of India in 2008. 

     Her life story is narrated in candor and from the heart and also portrays a career woman balancing here work and family and also trying to be close to her roots. She was deeply religious and caring for her family of two sons. She died  soon after the book was published in 2020. 

Nehru, Tibet and China

 

    Nehru, Tibet, and China written by AS Bhasin, and published in the year 2021 is a well-researched book and can be easily termed as an authority on the subject. Avtar Singh Bhasin served in the Ministry of External Affairs for thirty years. He retired as head of the Historical Division. He has written several books on India's relations with its neighbors, including a five-volume study on India's relations. This book can be called an abridged version of that study.  

    In this book, the author takes the period from 1949 to 1962 and gives a detailed account of events culminating in the 1962 war with China. Putting a Historical perspective, Tibet was a free country. China was a weak country. British had independent relations with China and Tibet. Tibet had ups and downs in relations with China. As China flexed its muscles with encouragement from the British, they inducted a large force under a General in Tibet in 1909. Dalai Lama fled to India in 1910. In 1911 Chinese troops were thrown out by Tibetians and Dalai Lama returned to Tibet. in 1914 a conference of Tibet, China, and British India was held in Shimla to mark the borders of India vs Tibet and China. Henry McMohan prepared the draft. Two copies of maps were made, one retained by McMohan and one given to Tibetians. China did not agree to the borders marked by McMohan and they protested. They did not sign and were not given any copy of the maps. Thus the legacy of the borders continues since then. 

    After the fall of the Kuomintang Govt in 1949, Communists took over China and started asking for areas 'illegally taken over by India'. In 1950 China occupied Tibet. India did not protest. There was a curious mix of the word Suzerainty and Soveraigninty regarding the status of Tibet under China. Subsequently, China invaded Tibet and usurped it. India did not protest. Dalai Lama sought refuge in India and was granted the same. This was not liked by China.

     After independence India took its borders for granted and never tried to strengthen these by citing posts on borders as laid down by the British. Nehru, much against his advice to the Burmese President, was also shy of discussing borders with Chinese counterparts, lest the Chinese are mistaken that India is not sure of its borders. China never treated India as equal. They ran propaganda to brand India as a friend of Imperialist countries. China built a road through Aksai Chin in 1956. India did not protest. After Chinese activities increased further and things got escalated by 1959, India protested and cited Aksai Chin Road as an example of encroachment into Indian territory. However, China noted India's silence, when the road was being made, as tacit approval of Aksai Chin as lying with China. 

    The Incident of Kongka La happened in 1956 when 10 Indian border policemen, on patrol,  were killed by the Chinese. The Indian Government was caught napping. Nehru had to face irate parliamentarians. He tried justifying it perceptional differences in line of border between India and China. (Almost the same thing happened after the Galwan clashes in June 2020).  Zhu Enlai visited India in 1960 and offered to discuss border issues. He assured to treat the McMohan line as a permanent border provided complete Aksi Chin is given to China as per their claims. Nehru did not agree with that. Subsequently, China escalated its activities culminating in the 1962 war. 

    The book is highly readable dotted with detailed notes on the events at the diplomatic and Government level. The book is very well laid out with various chapters taking on events one by one simultaneously at the National as well as international levels. It has 316 pages and can be easily read over a few days. Overall worth a read especially in the present context of tensions on Indo-China borders. One can easily find many similarities between the mistakes committed by Nehru as well as the present Government. Seems that we have never learned lessons from our History.  

 

 

Death Script

     Death Script by Ashutosh Bharadwaj is a journalist's journey in Maoist / Naxal affected areas of India. Ashutosh Bharadwaj is a well known journalist and fiction writer. He worked for nine years from 2011 to 2019 in Naxal affected areas. During the journey he has met men and women from both sides of the conflict.

    He has travelled through Bastar, Abhujhmadh Dandkarnya and adjoining areas of Maharashtra, Telengana, Madhya Pardesh and Odissa. He spent about four weeks with Maoists travelling and living in their camps.  He bring out the pain of common citizens very vividly for sufferings caused to them from security forces, Maoists and encroachment of their jungles by big industrial houses. Encounter killings of civilians in crossfire, through mistaken identity, punishment for being alleged police informers by Maoists have been brought out very poignantly.   

        Ashutosh Bharadwaj, being a fiction writer as well, has written this book in a unique style. He has met Naxals, Maoists, Salva Jadum leader Mahendra Karma and his family (after his killing by Maoists), police officers, Army officers (Brig Pawar) , alleged Maoist leaders living in cities, Dr. Prakash Amte and his wife, both Ramon Magsaysay award winners and of course common men ie tribals living in insurgency affected areas. As per the data till 2020, a total of 4337 people have been killed in this violence; bulk of them 1669 being civilians and Maoists and security forces in equal proportion. That brings about the stark fact that biggest sufferers are commoners who have been widely covered in the book. The author has travelled in inaccessible areas, on foot, on cycle , motorcycle and lived in the far flung villages to get to the truth. 

The areas covered by the author 

       The Maoists hardly use letest communication devices . Their communication, surprisingly, takes place through letters that are hand delivered by messengers. The Maoists follow strict disciplinarian code. Women cadre undergo vasectomy. Police informers and surrendered cadres are given death punishments though Kangaroo courts. There many such facets of insurgents that come out in the book. Death stares in  almost each chapter of the book. Thus the name “Death Script” . 

        His reporting  in those years got him prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for Journalism for consecutive four years from 2012 to 2015. That speaks volumes of his work . Overall it is a very interesting book and should be read by those who mant to get first hand knowledge of the Maoist problem.

The Battle of Belonging

     The Battle of Belonging written by acclaimed author Shashi Tharoor is a book that is relevant to India's current political and social environment. It is 408 pages long and covers wide-ranging issues of Nationalism, Patriotism, Religion, and related subjects. 

    The book is divided into six sections. Each section has chapters dealing with the theme topics of the section. There are 38 chapters. In the first section, Shashi Tharoor discusses the idea of Nationalism and defines it in greater detail by giving thoughts of various thinkers on Nationalism vs Patriotism. In the next section, he tries to fit the template of Nationalism into the idea of India. In the third chapter, he discusses Hindutva idea of India and explains the faultlines of the same. In the Fourth Chapter the 'ongoing battle of belonging' is discussed in the context of incidents like polarisation, jingoism, the assertion of right-wing ideology, etiolation of Democratic Institutions, Assertion of Hindi, NCR and CAA, Bigotry, and mandir in Ayodhya. The next chapter deals with the Nationhood with the reaffirmation of Civic Nationism and Patriotism. In the last chapter, he outlines action to reclaim the soul of India. 

    The book is dotted with many live examples of dilemmas of Nationalism. Shashi Tharoor was born in England and had all the right to get settled in England as a born British subject. Yet he chose to live in India despite working for many years abroad. He preferred to continue to hold on Indian Passport whereas he could have easily obtained a British Passport. The dilemma of Danish Kaneria of Pakistan not being considered a true Muslim; Omar Bakhat of UNO, born in Eritrea, moved to Sweden did not appear to be Swedish; the dilemma of Serbians ; Ansar Hussain Khan who was born in a Muslim family in Calcutta, moved in 1948 to Pakistan and while working for Pakistan in UNO applied for Indian Citizenship and got it, but he became an outcast for friends in Pakistan and died as a broken man in Geneva. Discussing the difference between Patriotism and Nationalism he quotes French leader Charles De Gaulle, "Patriotism is when the love of your country comes first; nationalism, when hate for people others than your own country comes first". 

    He describes his own Nationalism as ' Civic Nationalism' which is a hybrid of good Nationalism and patriotism that rests on the institutional and constitutional pillars. Talking about the dilemma of Nationalism he gives an example of Talitha Kohona, born in Sri Lanka, who migrated to Australia, and worked in the UN for Australia but while watching a cricket match between Sri Lanka and Australia could not help to cheer for Sri Lanka. He later reverse-migrated to Sri Lanka and again got posted at the UN as permanent representative of Sri Lanka. Such support for various sports teams is common in the case of NRIs who cheer for India rather than the country where they mad migrated to. UK politician Norman Tebbit questioned the 'Patriotism' of such NRIs. 

    Words of Lala Lajpat Rai are worth reading where debating Nationalism he says, "Honest differences, controversial discussions, and criticism of public men by public men, are absolutely necessary for healthy growth of nationality. It is wrong to suppose that idea of Nationism requires complete freedom from sectarian quarrels or disputes."

    The author devotes the latter part of the book to the present atmosphere of surcharged jingoism, Islamophobia, and increasing polarisation in the society on religion and caste lines. He warns against tempering with constitution and subversion of democratic institutions, declining ethos and media standards, and pliant judiciary, and misuse of social media platforms to spread misinformation. In the last section, he gives out action plan to counter ethnic nationalism propagated by BJP Government of Narender Modi rather Modi-fication of India. He looks up to India which respects all religions, faiths, beliefs, regions, castes, and classes of all individual citizens. He says that this idea of India is under threat from those who seek not just to rule but to change India's very heart and soul into something it was never meant to be. Our patriotism must be anchored in unity, promote inclusion, and upliftment of the downtrodden. It must celebrate a sense of belonging and not hostility towards others. It should be Nationalism of hope,  not fear. He gives the example of an Australian Dr. David Baker who taught in St Stephens College, Delhi, and fought hard to get Indian Citizenship. 

    The book must be read by all citizens who love our country. The book is well researched and draws heavily from various sources that are quoted to prove the point. 

Alchemist

Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a worldwide bestseller book. It can be read in just one sitting. 

 

Ready to Fire

    ‘Ready to Fire : How India ans I survived the ISRO Spy Case’ by Nambi Narayan and Arun Ram is an autobiographical account of the famous ISRO Spy Case that came into the limelight in 1994.  S. Nambi Narayan was a scientist, closely associated with the liquid propulsion engine and cryogenic engine for the polar satellite launch vehicle popularly known as PSLV series of rockets that carried and established a number of satellites in space for the Indian Govt.

    The book gives an account of the life of Nambi Narayan from a college student to joining ISRO as a young scientist with just a B. Tech degree, later getting a higher degree from prestigious Princeton University in USA and his journey thereafter. India had been using solid propulsion engines till then. Nambi Narayan ushered in a new era by introducing liquid propulsion engine which he named Vikas engine. To change from solid to liquid propulsion was a battle in itself which he has very well described in the book. The technology was obtained from France where Indian Scientists headed by Namby Narayan worked in collaboration with French space agency by moving to Vernon, France and working there for few years, and learning the technology. An Indian businessman named Kanwal Grover in France was of immense help to them in France.

    He had very high regard for Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, and UR Rao who headed ISRO in succession.  He was a junior to APJ Abdul Kalam who was working on solid propulsion engines. He got the technology of cryogenic engines from Russia despite opposition from the USA. 

    As per him, the entire ISRO Spy Case was a story built up by the Intelligence Bureau of India, to thwart the plans of ISRO to get cryogenic engine technology. An IB Joint Director named Ratan Sehgal was caught being in touch with  CIA  agents at USA Embassy in New Delhi. Ratan Sehgal was later asked to put up his voluntary retirement papers and 'let go'.   Ratan Sehgal, MK Dhar, RB Sreekumar (at one time Commandant CISF at VSSC Trivandrum), all from IB, with help from Kerla Police created this 'Spy' case.  The case was transferred to CBI and they found the case to be false. But it took almost four years to finally close the case by the Supreme Court of India. 

    The book is very interesting to read. Two stories one, of Namby Narayan starting from his childhood and the second, of Spy Case run parallel in each chapter. Namby Narayan has regretted that his own boss Kasturirangan did not stand by him when he (Nambi Narayan) was under arrest and investigation. Six people to name, Satish Dhawan, TN Seshan, UR Rao, Yash Pal R Narsimha and S Chandershekhar wrote an open letter to Govt of India swearing by the innocence of Nambi Narayan. 

    I have also read the book 'Open Secrets' written by MK Dhar where he has mentioned this case briefly in one chapter. He retired shortly thereafter when the case was transfected to CBI. 

    It is indeed a good book to read about this case and know the man, Nambi Narayan. He was awarded Padam Bhushan in 2019. 

Fractured Freedom

 

    Featured Freedom is a prison memoir written by Kobad Ghandhy who spent almost ten years as an undertrial in various jails in India. 

    Born in an affluent Parsi family he had everything one could ask for. His father was a CA in Glaxo India. He was sent to Doon School where his classmates included Sanjay Gandhy, Kamal Nath, and Navin Patnaik. After passing out of Doon School in 1963 he joined St Stephens College, Delhi. He studied Economics and passed out in 1967. He was sent to England to learn Chartered Accountancy. The racial discrimination by Britsh forced him to abandon his studies and join the struggle against casteism, inequalities, and social injustice.  He was deeply influenced by Marxism. 

    In India, he worked with Dalits and slum dwellers in Mumbai, Nagpur, and other such places. He did come in touch with Maoists and other radical elements but his work was largely devoted to getting justice for marginal communities. He married a co-worker Sudha and both of them took the decision not to have children, lest it causes obstruction to their work. Where else one could find such devotion? They worked with Dalits and Tribals in Tribal areas of Maharashtra and in Bastar region of Chhatisgarh. His wife died in 2008 while working for tribals in Bastar region. 

    He was picked up by police from Delhi and sent to Tihar Jail where he spent nearly nine years. Giving details of prison conditions he gives out details about how all kinds of rules are flouted by prison authorities and prisoners are mentally tortured by denials of basic authorised amenities. He was acquitted in most of the cases that came up for hearing in the courts. Having earned his freedom in 2019, he still has ten more cases pending against him. In Tihar Jail, in High-Risk Ward he had the chance to meet, Afzal Guru, Nirbhaya rapists, politicians like Chautala, Sudheendha Kulkarni, Dons from UP, Khalistanis and Islamist terrorists and Maoists. He appeared to have disillusioned with Maoists whom he compares with Mafia. 

    Why did he choose such a life? He says, "Well I don't really know; with the comforts we had been used to, it would have been far easier to settle down with all the inherited wealth. But then, when I think again, would that have given us happiness? Anu (his wife) was such a natural, honest person she could have never compromised with her convictions. And I would never have been comfortable in the corporate world of greed. So, communism seemed the answer for both of us."   

    He is quite an intellectual. Towards the end, he has reflected on life, our past, future, Happiness, Democracy, and Freedom. That part of the book gives out his outlook on life and Indian Democracy. 

    Overall a readable book. 

        

 

Everything is F*cked

       Everything is F*cked is a wonderful book written by Mark Manson. This is his second book. His first book was The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Both the books are on my reading list. I should have read his first book first.

The book starts with the story of Witold Pilacki, a war hero from Poland, who fought to see a better world. He lived and died to see a better world or his country a better place to live. He goes on from Paradoxes of the world progress to our internal conflicts between Thinking brain and Feeling brain. He compares these two brains to two passengers of a Clown  Car where both are in conflict with each other and one thinking brain being the driver being continuously heckled by feeling brain . He derives three laws of emotion based on Newton’s three laws of motion.

A particular chapter that I found very fascinating is how to create your own religion. Six steps are:- 1. Sell hope to the hopeless; 2. Chose your religion out of Spiritual, Ideological and Interpersonal religions; 3. Promptly invalidate all criticism or outside questioning; 4. Create ritual sacrifice for dummies; 5. Promise heaven , deliver hell; 6. Prophet for profit. This kind of model fits well for all kinds of religions , sects and neo-sects here in India and elsewhere.  He goes on describing growth of humans from child to adolescents and to adults and their priorities on pleasure and principles. All along various chapter he discusses the theories of various philosophers like Nietzsche, Kant and others. He goes on discuss how we all suffer varied degrees of pain and on the scale of ten a happy person generally hovers around at seven. Pain is inevitable but suffering is choice. Our quality of life is determined by the quality of our character which is in relation with our pain. To deny ourselves the ability to feel pain for a purpose is deny purpose in our life at all. Real freedom is living with less which requires less energy to achieve joy and victory over desires. 

In the end he dares to hope to see the world , where people are seen always as ends, where people see pitfalls of their desires, where people will demand something better for themselves first before  demanding from the world, where information will be worth something, where catastrophes of climate change is mitigated if not outright prevented. 

He sees hope in Artificial Intelligence which he hopes will, manufacture significant things without conflict, truly of help to mankind and who knows one day we will become integrated with machines themselves. Maybe One-Day we will cross the evolutionary bridge into “Something greater” and cease to be human any longer. 

Overall an interesting book. Worth a read. 230 pages which I read and mulled over in few sittings over two days. 

Witness to Blunder

     Witness to Blunder is written by Col Ashfaq Hussain of the Pakistan Army. It gives an account of Kargil misadventure by the Pakistan Army. Col Ashfaq Hussain served as Deputy Director of ISPR in 5 Corps in Karachi. 

    The book is more of a personal account and opens with usual Pak propaganda about partition and Kashmir issue. He claims to have interviewed many serving and retired officers. He has given stories of Pakistan Officers and Jawans who died in Kargil and were honoured with gallantry awards. He has also given account of the coup that took place thereafter in which Nawaz Shrief was dethroned by General Parvez Musharraf.  

    The book gives out details of planning by just four Generals and execution of the plan. There were no clear-cut objectives. The civilian Government was totally kept in dark about the whole plan. When discovered and heavily outnumbered and outgunned by Indian Army the troops were left to fend for themselves. Most of them died fighting it out. 

    The book does not bring out the backlash that was suffered by General Parvez Musharraf from the Pak Army. In fact, the book From Kargil to The Coup by Nasim Zehra is better and gives vivid details of that. The author was present at Karachi airport and organised the address to nation by General Pervez Musharraf. As per him, General was a bit nervous when recording the address. 

    Overall an average book. Good to read by soldiers who want to have a view from the other side of the hill. 

Let Me Say It Now by Rakesh Maria

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 Let Me Say It Now is is autobiography of Rakesh Maria. He retired from a post equivalent to DGP of Police of Maharashtra. Last important post that he held was Commissioner of Mumbai Police.Born in a Punjabi family, he graduated from St. Xavier College Mumbai and cleared Civil Services exam. He chose IPS over and was allotted Maharashtra Cadre.

He got into prominence when he joined ATS and headed it as DCP in Mumbai. The was to nab number of notorious gangsters. The autobiography gives out-many interesting stories of politicians, Bollywood actors, and gangsters having brush with Mumbai Police. The stories made the book readable.

He was commissioner of Mumbai Police when 26/11 terrorist attack took place in Mumbai. As per him he was ordered by DGP to be present at Police Control headquarters and coordinate the efforts of Police to neutralise the terrorists. Later on he was severely criticised by wife of Ashok Kamte, an IPS Officer who got killed, for not leading the police force from front. He also interrogated Ajmal Kasab the terrorist who was caught alive. 

Later part of the book brings his fall from grace when he was removed from post of Commissioner Police and shunted out as DGP Home Guards. As per him he was misquoted by Chief Minister Devender Fadnavis over Sheena Bora murder case. CM blamed Mumbai Police about keeping him dark over the case. In last chapters he has tried to clarify about the whole episode. There is of course more to the story but the book gives his version. 

Overall it is a readable book. There are many interesting stories related to underworld dons later becoming politicians of repute. 

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1946 Naval Mutiny

 

Praveen Babi

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 Biography of Parveen Babi is worth a read. She had been a hit glamorous heroine in Indian Hindi Feature Films from 70s to 90s . She was born in a wealthy Orthodox Muslim Family in Junagadh in Gujrat. Her father died when she was quite young. She was studying in college in Ahmedabad when she started taking part in plays. She’s itr of rebelled against the family and went off to Mumbai of start acting in the movies. Her first few movies proved to be flop but soon she caught the attention of big name directors and producers. 

She’s had live in relationship with Danny Denzongpa, Kabir Bedi and later with Mahesh Bhatt. She had severe problem schizophrenia  that aggravated in later part of her life. She developed imaginary fears of getting killed by her co-actors including Amitabh Bachchan and even by CIA. She had a kild of soul healer cum Guru in U G Krishnamurti who took care of her in sickness but later he, too gave up on her. She never took her treatment seriously and refused to believe that she had the problem. The author has very well captured her moment of love and bouts of sickness and treatment thereafter. 

Danny continued to be with her in thick & thin for long.  But she died a loner. Actors like Amitabh Bachchan never ever cared for her in bad days. One can see flashes of her life in Films, Arth, Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi and Woh Lamhe. In her prime she appeared on the cover of The Time magazine. She had no inhibitions of drinking and smoking in public. 

Author Karishma Upadhyay had done full justice to Parveen Babi in capturing her life in this book. 

Very good read.  

Watershed 1967 : India’s Forgotten Victory Over China

 Watershed 1967 is detailed account of an incident that happened in 1967 in and around Nathu La at China India borders  Sikkim. Probal Dasgupta has given that account in much greater details and converted into the book.

A Promised Land by Barak Obama

 

General TN Raina : Life and times of

       Autobiography of General TN Raina titled  Vision Courage and Service gives out the events of life of General Raina in a great detail.  He was commissioned into the Hyderabad (later on Kumaon Regiment) in 1941. After going through various facets of army life he reached the pinnacle of his career and was appointed Chief of Army staff in the year 1975 and served up to 1978.

      General Raina participated in Second World War was he was injured during training at Kirkuk and lost an eye. While serving with the  in Indonesia he met a French girl and they got married.

In 1962 was he was brigade commander at Chushul and was awarded Maha Vir Chakra. In 1965 was was he was BGS of 33 Corps and in 1971 he commanded 2 Corps.. There  was no major war or skirmish during his tenure as Chief of Army Staff. But emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi and  she looked forward to the support from Army for her actions.  But General Raina curtly  told her that army will remain apolitical  and will obey the constitutionally appointed Government.

The lost his son in his prime life. After retirement he was appointed India’s  High commissioner in Canada. He developed health issues and died there. The biography does dwell more on military related issues rather than on the personality. 

By Many A Happy Accident by Hamid Ansari

    By Many a Happy Accident is an autobiography by M. Hamid Ansari who had been Vice President of India for 10 years. He was from a well-to-do family. His father had been a freedom fighter too. He joined the Indian Foreign Service and served in Indian missions and consulates in various capacities and was also an Indian representative at UNO.  

    He was Chief Protocol Officer during the Commonwealth Heads of the Government meeting held in India during the time of Smt Indira Gandhi. He was awarded Padam Shri for that. Most of his postings were in the Middle East and Muslim countries.  Thus he developed a kind of mastery in Middle East Affairs and was at the helm when needed by the Govt of India to iron out problems with the Middle East Countries.  

    After retirement, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and later Chairman of Minorities Commission of India. He served as Vice President of India from 2007 to 2017. His autobiography brings out his scholarly pursuits. He has written many papers and undertaken many lectures on Middle East Affairs, International affairs. 

    His autobiography brings out his intellectual bent of mind and he has brushed many incidents too trivial to be given in detail. This is the hallmark of such people who are intellectual giants. Controversial farewell address to him by PM Narinder Modi when PM mocked him by saying that "you (Hamid Ansari) are now free to follow your core belief", is given only a passing reference. Hamid Ansari had been a stickler to rules while presiding Rajya Sabha. He never allowed any Act to be passed amid din in the Rajya Sabha. PM Narinder Modi did want that and once walked into his office unannounced complaining about that. The incident is given in the book. 

    The book is worth a read.