| by Ashok K Banker Penguin Books Rs 350 |
| This is the third book in Banker's seven-part fantasy retelling of the Indian epic. |
| The great mythological stories belong to all of us, the author suggests in his introductory note: "Does a grandmother consult Valmiki's original before she retells the tale to her grandchildren at night?" |
| In this book, the prince of Ayodhya prepares to face 14 years in exile in the tiny settlement of Chitrakut, deep in the heart of the forest. |
| A Spoke in the Wheel |
| by Amita Kanekar Harper Collins Rs 395 |
| This new publication, from the increasingly popular genre of historical fiction, traces the life of a monk, Upali, who lived in the third century BC, under the reign of the Emperor Ashoka. |
| The story involves a search for what the Buddha's true message was and how it could be put into practical use. |
| The author, Amita Kanekar, has researched the politics, economics and society of the period but she's still unselfconscious enough to admit, in her Acknowledgements, that one sentence (where a brigand boasts about how mothers quieten their children by invoking his name) "is of course inspired by Sholay"! |
| Westward Bound: Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb |
| Edited (with an introduction) by Mushirul Hasan Oxford University Press Rs 495 |
| Mirza Abu Taleb Khan (1752-1806), an erudite 18th-century scholar from Lucknow, travelled around England, France, Genoa, Malta, Turkey and Baghdad for four-and-a-half years, recording his impressions of the national customs and manners of Europeans, providing insight into the cultural streams in the East and the West. |
| This book, the original Persian version of which was edited and published by his son in 1812, is now available in this annotated English version. |
| The Romance of Salt |
| by Anil Dharker Roli Books Rs 395 |
| It takes some doing to produce a book exclusively on salt but Dharker has managed just that with this 228-pager (with photographs!) that is divided into two sections: the first on Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March, the second on a host of topics ranging from "Salt Wars" to "Superstition and Myth" to "Ladies of Salt". |
| This is a whimsical book but enjoyable "" if you have a taste for such things. |
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