Book Summary- The Professional by Subroto Bagchi

The Professional

By

Subroto Bagchi

(Portfolio/Penguin, New Delhi, 2009, 217 pages)

The world is increasingly getting professional.  But, the author states that the term, “Professional”, is not merely a means of “earning a livelihood, just another way to get ahead in life, build and seek further material comfort to eventually enjoy retired life”, but actually “nothing short of a religion”, while, the capacity to serve was “a blessing of life”.

BOOK SUMMARY-The Underachiever’s Manifesto by Ray Bennett

The Underachiever’s Manifesto

The Guide to accomplishing little and feeling great

            By Ray Bennett, M.D., 2006, Chronicle Books 96pp. (85 pp. effective), $9.95(Rs.539 by Homeshop18)

            Underachiever? What does this writer want me to do? Does he want me to be a loser then? If that’s not the case, am I to be a pretender by feeling great without achieving greatness? If I had come across this book by myself, some of these reflections would have definitely crossed my mind. Thankfully, I have been spared of this natural thought process this time round, since the recommendation came from one of the serious readers of this page, Nanda. Thank you, Nanda, for the book suggestion.

Book Review - NITYASUMANGALI : DEVADASI TRADITION IN SOUTH INDIA by SASKIA. C. KERSENBOOM

NITYASUMANGALI :  DEVADASI TRADITION IN SOUTH INDIA 

by  

SASKIA. C.  KERSENBOOM

[Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Delhi, 1998 Reprint, pp. 226,  price: Rs 295]

This was a book reviewed by me ages ago. 

INTRODUCTION

Who was the Nityasumangali (ever-auspicious woman) the author was dealing with?  The Devadasi.  How can the devadasi, one of the most despised women, be an ever-auspicious person? Is it just another foreigner’s attempt to love Indian culture so much as to admire the seemingly anachronistic tradition?  Does she justify it?  These are the questions which strike any reader’s mind when she comes across this book and this reviewer is no exception.  A study of the book answers them.

Book Summary – Waiting for the Mahatma by R.K. Narayan

Book Summary – Waiting for the Mahatma

by R.K. Narayan

Indian Thought Publications, Chennai

27^th Reprint 2012, 256 pp, Rs. 125/-

          This is not one of wait to see the emancipation of one’s lot, rather it is of how a selfish individual waits for the Mahatma’s clearance to get married to the girl of his choice.

         

          The protagonist, Sriram, is an insipid person who can be easily influenced by anyone.  He grows up under the loving care of his grandmother, after the early death of his parents.

          When he is twenty, his grandmother hands over the fat sum of money she had been saving in his name.  His irresponsibility  is known immediately, when he wants to withdraw a huge sum of Rs. 250/-, but his watchful grandma restricts it to a decent Rs. 50/-.

Book Summary- A River Sutra by Gita Mehta

A River Sutra

                                      by Gita Mehta

Viking – Penguin Books India, 1993 282 pp,  Rs. 299/-

          This is an interesting book made up of stories either experienced or told on the banks of the River Narmada.  There is a narrator (Sutra-dhar), an ex-civil servant, who takes up the job of the Manager of the Narmada Rest House, a Mughal vintage building deep inside the forest on the banks of the Narmada, as if only to symbolise his entering the Vanaprastha stage of life.  One finds vivid descriptions of the building and its neighbourhood but the thread (Sutra) that runs the book is the River Goddess herself.