Nov 1, 1999

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Issue Contents

By Dilip Bobb

There are no booker prizes for guessing who's the biggest gainer in a post-multiple crisis situation: book publishers. Everybody and his brother, sister and son-in-law has a story to tell and a publisher to sell it to. Though readers may be left in a bind, in recent weeks they have been bombarded with books on earth-shaking events ranging from Kargil to newspaper proprietors and the Company of Women. Here are some more awaiting publication.

The Revised, Re-revised History of Hindustan by Murli Manohar Joshi. Now in its third edition, this is a tome who's time has come, according to the author. Historically speaking, this book has been written in fits (usually from the minority communities) and starts (depending on the author's term in office) and is sweeping in its recommendations, insisting that the past be swept under the carpet and substituted by a version authenticated by eminent historians in khaki knickers. In short, a reminder that those who do not learn from history are doomed to have it shoved down their throats.

Mein Kamp by Sonia Gandhi. Like the original, has the power to turn followers into fanatics and convince the democratically-minded to hastily retract their objections/suggestions/relations. For a novel debut, initial sales were disappointing, but has the ability, also known as Mein Camp, to make an embarrassing defeat sound like a resounding victory. As a political treatise, it shows that success is all very well, but succession is even better.

Merci be Coup by General Pervez Musharraf. When is a coup not a coup? Or martial law actually democracy in camouflage fatigues? Read all about it in this revolutionary new book which has everybody scratching their heads trying to figure out where exactly the author is heading. However, Pakistan is in the middle of a match-fixing controversy so one more hardly matters. While its contents may have left most people stumped, the book has been endorsed by the White House which is the literary equivalent of awarding the general a Purple Heart for his defence of democracy.

Seeti of Joy by Mamata Banerjee. In literal terms, a whistle-stop travelogue written on the fast track from Kolkata to the Delhi Durbar. In diplomatic terms, it's called Track Too strategy, where the author intends to emulate Ghani Khan Chowdhury and turn West Bengal into one vast railway platform. Unless Jyoti Basu blows the whistle on her and she runs out of steam. But for now, she's the one who's got the upper berth.

Biting the Ballot by Acronyms. A collection of explanations by various apologists and psephologists who conducted opinion polls on the recent elections. The authors, known to the reading public by their acronyms, go into painstaking detail on why they got their predictions wrong, with separate chapters on issues like the Kargil factor, the Italian factor, the going backward factor, the anti-incumbency factor and other factors which seemed to have no bearing on the outcome. The next edition will be devoted to a forgotten issue: the performance factor.

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