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.