Some essential readings :::: Men who discovered India came as amateurs, but returned as scholars ---- ::: "Two hundred years ago, India was seen as a place with little history"

"The nineteenth century was the age of enquiry. It was perhaps inevitable that India should have its Darwin, its Livingstone and Schliemann....

The men who discovered India came as amateurs, by profession they were soldiers and administrators. But they returned home as giants of scholarship."  

- This is from book 'India Discovered: The Recovery of a Lost Civilization' penned by John Keay. 

Every book has a history, nothing unusual about it!

Some more essential readings ... although 'reading' is now a 'vanishing art'. 

There is another example. 

"For all the excitement and the very considerable achievements, Indian history is still far from complete...

It is devoid of almost everything that traditionally makes history palatable for the general readers."

Well, the book is truly an absolute joy to read even as one may disagree at times. 

The author also paints a rather rosy picture about the British Empire and the book will fail those who expect the story of India’s plunder by the Britishers and the Muslim rulers.

Another book, I would recommend is 'The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan' written by Christina Lamb. 

A celebrated writer Lamb also has penned serious page turners like 'Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan To A More Dangerous World'.

The book 'The Sewing Circles of Herat' throws light on the life and times of Talibs in a pretty interesting manner.

Refer to this example - "Oh my God, he is a Talib...and that meant he's sissy or he is available".

There is another oneliner - "The inevitable result is sodomy. It's the done thing in Pashtun society because of women being shut away in houses. A good looking boy would have dozens of attempts made on him".

There is also more! 

"....King Zahir Shah (of Afghanistan) gazed into the distance with the terrible sadness of a man who clearly bears the weight of his conscience of one million of his countrymen dead, another one and a half million disabled".

Christina Lamb has also authored 

'House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe' and captures not just the source of a conflict, but also highlights her conviction that there is still hope for one of Africa’s most beautiful countries.

I would also recommend John Redwood's 'The Death of Britain?'

The book published way back in 1999 - much before the Brexit issues had rocked the country raises few vital questions: Can the United Kingdom survive devolution, European integration, reform of the Lords, slimming of the monarchy, proportional representation?

John was an Oxfordshire County Councillor and in the 1980s he was Chief Policy Advisor to Margaret Thatcher. 

It is said that he urged her to begin a great privatisation programme, and then took privatisation around the world as one of its first advocates!

The book also talks how Scotland could perhaps shatter the Union by demanding full independence.

Some excerpts would make you fall in love with the book. - 

There is nothing wrong with reversing the past. It may be politically correct now to bemoan those who do as fuddy-duddy or old-fashioned, yet that sense of continuity in British life is our greatest strength.

However, the author also says --- "The British people are slow to awaken to provocation" and one more --- The British people are not very keen on revolutions".

 

Every reading occasion should also have a history, the time set, the mindset of the readers etc etc !

'River Dog - A Journey Down the Brahmaputra is one such compendium! Penned by Mark Shand, a well known British travel writer.

RIVER DOG is a story encompassing sublime landscapes - in Assam where the River begins to broaden into its full majesty flows with mystery and legend. It goes without saying that river Brahmaputra is one of the world's great rivers.

Beginning as a tiny glacial stream in Western Tibet it flows through India and Bangladesh before gushing out into the Bay of Bengal.

Not only the book talks about the river, its glory and its history - there is a unique element as a 'Dog' also accompanies Shand and he adds to the mystique of animal lovers - animals always add a new "dimension to your travels, they take you away from yourself". I think that makes the stuff more readable!

For lovers of northeast, the author throws light on the history of Ahoms and Assam.

What does the word Assam mean?

"Establishing their capital at Sibsagar, the Ahoms named the region Assam which means undulating land" - says Shand.

Check out with Hindi experts - google says Undulating word in Hindi means 'Lahardar' !

ends