Concept of `Bharatiya Nari` a can of worms: Namita Gokhale

Being a housewife in contemporary India is a tedious task and comes with a new set of pressures, says writer-publisher Namita Gokhale who also believes that Indian feminists balance and suppress a lot.

"There is the pressure of looking young, slim and beautiful. As one gets older, one has to look younger. It is very hard work to be a Delhi society lady; a minute by minute struggle!" Gokhale, who has penned 10 books, told reporters in an interview.

The changing society, the Indian political spouse, society, women and oddballs are the spotlight of the 56-year-old writer`s new novel, `Priya: An Incredible Indyaa`, which is a sequel to her first book, `Paro: Dreams of Passion`.

"The concept of `Bharatiya Nari` is a can of worms, crawling with contradictions," says Gokhale, known for powerful and interpretative portrayal of women like in `Shakuntala: The Play of Memory` and `In Search of Sita`.

"Indian feminists are not like Western feminists. They balance their lives, their children`s lives and their husbands` lives. And they suppress a lot. What they do for the family cannot be undervalued. The `stree charitra (womanhood)` has always been a part of our literature. What is a woman and Indian womanhood is reflected in `Priya`, my new book, and `In Search of Sita`," Gokhale said.

"While Sita is a book about coping with the stresses of being an Indian woman, Priya has to live up to the expectations of the `Bharatiya Nari`," she said.

A satirical social comment on the high life of the capital, her new book published by Penguin India picks up the threads of some of the important characters in "Paro..." and puts them in a new context.

The novel traces the roller coaster life of Priya, a girl from India`s growing middle class, who works her way up through social and professional ranks to become the wife of an Indian minister, Suresh Kaushal. Priya copes with social vertigo, infidelity, menopause and relationships and learns some vital lessons watching her new friend Poonam chase status, sex and designer shoes.

The novel is also a journey into the layered core of the country`s changing economic scenario and the issues politicians strive to unravel in a flurry of five-star dos peopled by networkers, operators, business magnates and social hangers-on.

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think. These are the two aspects of my work. Some of my work is sad and tragic - but this book, I have tried to keep it funny," Gokhale said.

Gokhale began scribbling Priya on a notepad on an aeroplane and "was apprehensive" about it.

"I was worried because you are not supposed to criticize. I am bad at jokes - I always forget the punch line. I was not sure whether I would be able to deal with the challenge. `Paro` was a tough act to follow. I was young then. A lot of the new book comes from a generation I didn`t really know. My own bewilderment is in fact Priya," she said.

Gokhale feels the novel is also an observation of Delhi as the capital city.

"Delhi is a city of so many constant contradictions, of cities within cities. But what is surprising is the sense of entitlement that the citizens of Delhi feel as if the world belongs to them. It is amusing and alarming because the sense of entitlement makes the people so self-absorbed. I have faithfully maintained the Delhi idiom. The Delhi idiom (life) fascinates the rest of India - the rest of India is suspicious of Delhi wallahs," Gokhale said.

The writer would not mind turning Priya into a movie if asked by Bollywood.

"I wouldn`t be possessive about the book," she said.

Other books of Gokhale, one of the co-directors of the Jaipur Literature Festival, include works like `Gods, Graves and Grandmothers`, `The Book of Shadows`, `The Book of Shiva` and `A Himalayan Love Story`.

Tagore second most known figure in China

The Chinese may have the highest regard for Buddha but apart from him, the Indian name best known to them is Rabindranath Tagore.

"In the background of over two millennia of China and India having been interconnecting, interacting, and learning from each other, the Nobel Laureate was closest to our times, real and intimate to us," says Wang Bangwei of Peking University.

"From Sakyamuni (as Buddha is referred to in China) we have enjoyed more of a reverent godliness, and from Tagore we have enjoyed a tangible humanness that was noble and admirable," writes Wang in "Tagore and China", arguably the first full account in English of the poet`s visit to China and related issues.

Along with Wang, the book, published by Sage, is co-edited by Tan Chung, Amiya Dev and Wei Liming.

The book charts Tagore`s `grand visit` in 1924 undertaken in response to China`s `Tagore fever` and the series of talks he gave there, their antecedents as well as impact. During the visit, the

Chinese celebrated Tagore`s 63rd birthday and conferred him the Chinese name of `Zhu Zhendan`.

"Tagore and China" is a collection of articles by eminent academics and scholars including the likes of Amartya Sen, Prasenjit Duara, Uma Das Gupta and Patricia Uberoi.

Supplemented by some rare photographs, it is a tribute to Tagore`s 150th birth anniversary.

"In the beginning, as an Asian winner of the Nobel Prize, Tagore made the Chinese feel the recovery of Eastern glory, as the Chinese saying goes: `yu you rong yan` (we all share the glory). When Tagore visited china, there were various intense arguments in the Chinese cultural and educational circles because of the difference of personalities and ideologies. When the Sino-Japanese war broke out, Tagore strongly condemned Japanese militarism and made us feel he was our real friend," Wang writes.

Tagore, Tan says, was the inspiration of India-China fraternity in modern times.

"Jawaharlal Nehru once wrote that unlike Mahatma Gandhi who arrived like a thunderbolt shaking us all, Tagore `crept on us and permeated us`.

"His influence on Nehru augmented Nehru`s own idealism for a special friendly relations with China during the 1950s which culminated in the `Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai` sentiments," Tan, a pioneer of China studies in India, writes.

According to Dev, Tan "planned the book, thought up its thrusts, knew whom to invite to write on them, got in touch with them."

Amartya Sen writes that Tagore`s involvement with China not only included admiration for Chinese culture and civilisation, but also his deep sympathy for the people of China.

"At the age of 20 in 1881, Tagore wrote a powerful attack on the opium trade, which had been imposed on China. It was particularly disturbing for many Indian, including Tagore, that the opium was mostly being grown in British India. His Bengali essay on this, under the title `Chine Maraner Byabasay` (the business of killing people in China) was a comprehensive attack on the British strategy in this terrible area, with its devastating impact on the Chinese people," Sen writes.

The book has a foreword by India`s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao in which she says that Tagore sought to promote the cause of India-China understanding, envisioning the ascent of India and China to a higher platform of civilisational leadership and fraternal partnership.

Tagore`s visit to China in 1924 was described by Chinese scholars as an "earth-shaking event" at that time.

"Tagore`s China visit and the various attitudes in the Chinese response to it wrought an unforgettable page in the annals of Sino-Indian cultural intercourse. It has provided endless food for thought for the benefit of posterity in their introspection and forward looking. Though Tagore`s visit created approbation and disapprobation in the thinking society and cultural circles of China, there is no gainsaying that the traditional friendship between the two peoples of China and India was strengthened and the path of cultural intercourse was recreated," writes Wei Liming, an expert of Indian literature in Peking University.

China unveils 100 new books on Buddhist medicine

China has unveiled a newly-published 100-volume collection of books on traditional Buddhist medicine.

The collection was unveiled at the Shaolin Temple, the shrine of Kung Fu in central China`s Henan province, Xinhua reported.

The "China Buddhist Medicine Collection" includes more than 3,000 documents on theories and practices of Buddhist medicine.

The earliest of the works dates back to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. - 220 A.D.), while the latest was written during 1912-1949.

"We use medicines to cure people`s physical illnesses and Buddhism to solve their mental problems. The combination of the two is aimed to restore the balance and harmony of man`s body and spirit," Shi Yongxin, abbot of the Shaolin temple and one of the principal compilers, was quoted as saying.

The Shaolin temple offered its manuscripts on medicines - some of which had never been revealed to the public before - for the book collection, he said.

The Shaolin temple, usually deemed the birthplace of Kung Fu, is also known for orthopaedics and traumatology - a branch of surgery that deals with major wounds caused during accidents or violence.

Novel idea: Fans get to name Kardashian book

The Kardashians are working on a novel, and you may get to name it. Publisher William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, announced Tuesday that reality stars Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian are turning to fiction. Scheduled for a November release, the book promises an imaginary peak into the dynamics of "a glamorous, high profile and complicated family."

Fans with ideas for a title can check out the website http://www.bookperk.com/kardashian or follow (at) harpercollins on Twitter.

The winner gets some fame — but no cash prize

Jeffery Deaver unveils his James Bond novel ‘Carte Blanche’

American mystery/crime writer Jeffery Deaver has unveiled his James Bond novel ‘Carte Blanche’, which is set in the 21st Century.

Deaver, 61, is not the first writer to take on the Bond legacy, but he is the first to set Ian Fleming’s character in 2011, and the book’s release coincides with the anniversary of Fleming’s birth.

“Carte Blanche was not ‘a pastiche’,” the BBC quoted Deaver as saying.

“I took Ian Fleming’s iconic character and made him younger - and the poor guy ends up in a Jeffery Deaver novel. I write rollercoasters, which means he doesn’t get a minute’s rest,” he said.

At a launch event planned with the precision of an MI6 operation, the American author received the first copy of the book from a team of Royal Marines who abseiled from the roof of London’s St Pancras station.

Fleming’s niece, actress Lucy Fleming, told the launch event that her uncle would have been pleased by the way that Deaver “has kicked his dear old James Bond into the 21st Century”.

In Carte Blanche, Bond has served in the Royal Naval Reserve, including a tour in Afghanistan, before joining the secret service.

Deaver was eight years old when he read his first James Bond novel. A self-confessed “Bond addict”, he wrote his first unpublished novel aged 11 about “a British agent who sneaks into Russia to steal a Soviet bomber”.

Eighteen months ago, Deaver - whose 28 novels have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide - accepted the offer to carry on the Bond legacy.

“Who would have thought that the dreams and aspirations of a young boy so many years ago would come full circle in the way that they have?” he stated.

Controversial author Arundhati Roy`s book launch disrupted

The launch of Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy`s new book ‘The Broken Republic’ was disrupted by a group of protesters at the India Habitat Centre here late Friday.

The protesters barged into the venue and shouted slogans like ‘Arundhati Murdabad’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and threw pamphlets at the audience, denouncing the book.

They threw some pamphlets. However, policemen overpowered them and escorted them outside the auditorium."I paid them to do that," Roy said later joking about the incident.

Delhi police had booked Roy under sedition charges in November last year for her alleged "anti-India" speeches at a seminar here on "Azadi- The Only Way" where she shared the dais with Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Later, Roy also performed along with a music band.

On her book, Roy said it examines the nature of progress and development in the emerging global super power and asks fundamental questions about the modern civilisation itself.

"War has spread from the borders of India to the forests in the very heart of the country...It is democracy in Greater Kailash but not democracy in Dantewada," she said.

Roy is the author of Booker winning fiction God of Small Things (1997) and non-fictions Algebra of Infinite Justice (2001), Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire (2005) and Listening to Grasshoppers (2009).

The book examines the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

New collection of stories from Ruskin Bond on his birthday

Novelist Ruskin Bond, who celebrated his 77th birthday Thursday, gifted his fans a brand new collection of stories about one of his most endearing characters - the eccentric, bumbling Uncle Ken.

‘Crazy Times with Uncle Ken’ includes old classics as well as new stories, a statement by Penguin-India said. A Puffin imprint, the book is priced at Rs.199.

Uncle Ken is one of those people who do not do much but a great deal happens around them.

Whenever Uncle Ken arrives at Grandma`s house, which he does often, trouble erupts. Uncle Ken drives his car into a wall, is mistaken for a famous cricketer, troubled by a mischievous ghost, chased by a swarm of bees and attacked by flying foxes.

Be it the numerous bicycle rides with the author or his futile attempts at finding a job, Uncle Ken`s misadventures provide huge doses of laughter.

Born in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun, New Delhi and Simla.

He wrote his first novel, "The Room on the Roof", when he was 17.

Bond was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written over 300 short stories, essays and novellas (including Vagrants in the Valley and A Flight of Pigeons) and more than 30 books for children.

He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India in 1993, and the Padma Shri in 1999.

Best Selling Author Jeffrey Archer Launches Five Novel Saga

At 71, bestselling British author Jeffrey Archer is tackling his biggest project to date -- a five-novel saga called "The Clifton Chronicles" that sweeps through the 20th century and into the 21st.

The first instalment, "Only Time Will Tell", has just been published, and follows Harry Clifton, whose angelic voice is his ticket into a good education and out of grinding poverty.

He befriends Giles Barrington, born into a wealthy family, and falls in love with his sister Emma, but a tragic twist of fate threatens his happiness and the story ends with World War Two looming over the lives of the entire cast.

"What I didn't realise in my stupidity at the age of 71 and a quarter is what an incredible challenge it would be, because if you commit yourself to five books, there's no way out," Archer told Reuters in an interview.

"Luckily I've finished two of them by now -… but I've had some sleepless nights," he added in his luxury penthouse overlooking the Houses of Parliament in central London.

Archer first came up with the idea of the Clifton series when he was working on a 30th anniversary edition of "Kane and Abel", one of his most popular novels published in 1979.

"I thought, 'Do you know, I'd like to do a saga that goes 100 years, so I decided on 1920 to 2020, one family, the Clifton family. But I then realised that I couldn't do it in one book, and I felt it would work well in 20-year segments."

He has only a broad outline in mind of the direction the plot will take, giving him a sense of freedom.

"I'm going to have to run into their (characters') children ... and what's more, I'm going to have to move into the 1950s and 60s and 70s so I'm going to have to bring that up to date too. That's all I know, that's the challenge, that's the fun."

PUBLISHING REVOLUTION

Archer, who has sold more than 250 million books during his 35-year writing career, is as famous in Britain for his political career in the Conservative Party and two-year imprisonment as he is for his novels.

A favourite of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he served in parliament and was made a lord yet also went to jail in 2001 after lying in a libel trial against a newspaper which said he had had sex with a prostitute.

He produced a three-volume diary of his time behind bars and has continued to write full time since. The Clifton Chronicles are likely to keep him busy for the next few years.

Only Time Will Tell recounts the story through the eyes of each of the main characters, highlighting how differently they perceive the same events. Archer said he would continue with the structure throughout the saga.

He based Harry loosely on his own life, as he has done with characters in previous works.

"There's a lot that's me in Harry," Archer said. "I was brought up in the West Country (southwest England), with a mother who had a very hard time because my father died young, so all those things are parallels, it is autobiographical."

The mysterious figure of Old Jack Tar, who acts as sage and mentor to Harry, is also based on a real person, this time the much-decorated British army officer Tommy Macpherson.

Archer first launched the book in India, a deliberate attempt to maximise sales in a country where the author is popular but where pirated editions of his books appear within a few days of publication.

"I got a young kid with a stack of books tapping on my window as I was driving slowly into Mumbai," he said. "I put the window down and the young man said 'Would you like the latest Jeffrey Archer?' and I said 'I am the latest Jeffrey Archer!'"

With the rise of electronic readers, the problem will only get worse, he warned, adding that he did not know where the publishing industry would be in 10 or 15 years' time.

He recalled how Kane and Abel sold a million copies in the first week when it appeared in paperback.

"Today 100,000 is a big figure in your first week in paperback. Are less people reading me? I'd feel that on the street, you know ... and the answer is no, more people are reading me but the sales are going down."  (Courtesy: Reuters)

US novelist Philip Roth wins Man Booker International Prize

American novelist Philip Roth, known for books like `Goodbye, Columbus` and `Portnoy`s Complaint` was honoured with the biennial 60,000 pounds Man Booker International Prize Wednesday at a glittering ceremony at the Syndey Writers` Festival.

Roth, a Pulitzer Prize winner, was among the 13 finalists, who included Canada-based writer of Indian origin Rohinton Mistry.

The Man Booker International Prize, which honors a writer`s body of work, is distinct from the annual Man Booker Prize for fiction, which is awarded for a single book.

Roth`s body of work spans nearly half-a-century. The 78-year-old writer had earlier won the National Book Award, a statement by the Man Booker International Prize said.

For more than 50 years, Roth`s books have stimulated, provoked and amused an enormous and still expanding audience, Rick Gekoski, the chair of the judging panel, said.

"His career is remarkable in that he starts at such a high level, and keeps getting better. In his 50s and 60s, when most novelists are in decline, he wrote a string of novels of the highest, enduring quality," Gekoski said.

Roth, in a video message, said he was honoured.

He said one of the particular pleasures he has had as a writer was to have his work read internationally despite all the "heartaches of translations that it entails".

In 1969, he became a celebrity with `Portnoy`s Complaint`, the humorous and sexually explicit acount of a "lust-ridden, mother-addicted Jewish bachelor".

He received a Pulitzer Prize for his 1997 novel `American Pastoral`.

IANS