Book Watch

The enemy within

THE arrival of former bureaucrat C. P. Srivastava's book on corruption could not have been better timed even if planned. In the wake of the Tehelka tapes which exposed all that has till date been in the realm of conjecture, Srivastava's academic study Corruption: India's Enemy Within assumes significance; particularly because he has documented some statements made by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on corruption.

The epilogue provides ammunition that can be effectively used by the Opposition against the Premier under the current circumstances. For, Srivastava quotes Vajpayee as having declared "zero tolerance" towards corruption and what better opportunity than now to hold him to this "commitment".

In fact, Srivastava himself would be a much disappointed man today. For, though the Tehelka tapes make his academic study of corruption more convincing, the expose has dashed his hopes in the Vajpayee Government, which, according to the author, "has the historic opportunity, responsibility and ability to take decisive steps for launching a determined assault on the demon of corruption".

This expectation from the Vajpayee Government apart, the book attempts to link corruption to Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest", explain why India is gripped in the stranglehold of corruption, and show how the cancer of corruption has struck the system from top to bottom.

Put together with an assessment of the damage caused by corruption, Srivastava signs off with a warning of the dangers ahead if the malady is not contained. And, unlike many such books, which discuss the problem without actually suggesting workable remedies, the author has documented steps taken by other countries to successfully battle what is a global problem.

Corruption: India's Enemy Within, C. P. Srivastava, Macmillan India, Rs. 275.

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Artificial fault-line

WITH the two governments failing miserably to bridge the wedge driven between people who have shared the same landmass for centuries, it is over to the people of India and Pakistan to break the deadlock. Making best use of the commencement of the Delhi-Lahore bus service, groups from either side have been crossing over to build bridges of understanding between people and show what borders - "lines of ink" - really are: "Barricades which choke the flow of rational dialogue and discourse".

Here is an account of a journey undertaken in 1997, much before the bus service began. And, written as it is by an American born in India, Amritsar to Lahore: Crossing the Border between India and Pakistan is free of the prejudices that invariably fashion the reactions of natives making the same journey these days.

Though Stephen Alter has chosen to write Amritsar to Lahore in a travelogue format, his preoccupation is not so much with the sights and smells of the journey but the question of identity on either side of the border which "for India represents a source of national regret, and for Pakistan is a symbol of identity and pride".

After undertaking the journey and seeing the subsequent growth in hawkish outlook on both sides, Alter concludes that the border cannot be wished away. While this, in his opinion, is the harsh reality, he says peace still has a chance in South Asia provided people make use of the bus service - "a concession by governmental authorities" - to meet and mingle with each other.

Amritsar to Lahore: Crossing the Border between India and Pakistan, Stephen Alter, Penguin India, Rs. 250.

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Heritage circuit

AFTER bringing out city guides and maps, Eicher Goodearth Limited has now strung together the World Cultural Heritage Sites in India to make them more accessible to tourists. Doubling up as a reference book on the heritage sites, Speaking Stones: World Cultural Heritage Sites in India, like all Goodearth Publications is replete with photographs and practical information that a tourist invariably looks for in a travel book.

Billed as the first attempt to thread the World Cultural Heritage Sites in India together, this publication had the support of the Department of Tourism, and covers 17 such sites in the country including the most recent entrant - the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

Being primarily a travel book, the sites have not been arranged in a chronological order. Instead, they have been arranged as per their accessibility from the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai which have been identified as gateways for a group of sites closest to them.

Speaking Stones: World Cultural Heritage Sites in India, Good Earth Publication, Rs. 270.

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Shifting fortunes

THESE days, it has almost become a practice with journalists to write books on important events they cover in the line of duty. But, in the case of Shubha Singh, it is more than just a case of a journalist putting all that she could not use in her reportage - due to constraints of space - into a book.

Born into a family that moved to Fiji four generations ago as part of an early batch of indentured workers in 1884, Shubha Singh draws on both her journalistic experience and lineage to put into perspective the chapter of Fijian history that began on May 19, 2000.

While the focus of her book is on the goings on in the islands since mid-May last, Shubha Singh also weaves into the narrative the aspirations of the people of Indian origin who had pinned their hopes on the new Constitution adopted in 1997. Of the view that Fiji could progress only if both communities lived in harmony, she also makes out a case for India to play a greater role in steering Fiji back to democracy.

Fiji: A Precarious Coalition, Shubha Singh, Har-Anand Publications, Rs. 295.

ANITA JOSHUA

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