Author: Ruskin Bond
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 251
Rain in the mountains is a collection of Ruskin Bond’s short works such as essays, stories and poems related to the mountains. Most of the stories, previously published in newspapers and magazines, are related to his wanderings, experiences and observations around Landour near Mussoorie, where he lives.
The collection of essays brings the mountains alive, and makes the reader yearn for those streams, grasslands, hills and the natural locales Bond lives in. He makes nature come alive and stand right in front of his readers, effectively conveying his feeling and making the beauty of the mountains stand out.
The book, at times, has a feel of his own brief autobiography. He writes about his days in the mountains, the people he lived and interacted with, and describes his everyday life in the mountains. A brilliant collection and a must read for any mountain lover.
Author: Janet Rizvi
Publishers: Oxford University Press
Pages: 264
Janet Rizvi’s book on Ladakh provides comprehensive information on every aspect of Ladakh – the life of it’s people, history, geography, religion, culture and economy. It is meant for people with serious interest in knowing about the region and understand the local culture and way of life, or to the non-casual traveller who is keen to get a detailed understanding of his or her destination before travelling. It can even serve as a guide, not in terms of where to stay and what to see, but giving in depth knowledge of every place visited.
The book is divided into chapters related to geography, history, culture, present day Ladakh and religious affiliations. Each chapter can be read independently and it should be easy to skip sections that the reader may not be interested in. How-ever, names from history are repeated in many chapters, making reading the chapters on history worthwhile. If a good introduction to everything related to Ladakh is what you are looking for, look no further than this book.
Author: Dominique Lapierre
Publishers: Arrow Books
Pages: 505
The title of the book ‘City of Joy’ is derived from translation of the name of slum in Kolkata(then Calcutta), called ‘Anand Nagar’.
Lapierre’s book almost changed the landscape of Anand Nagar, and much of Kolkata. His first hand description of the slum, the terrible conditions they lived in, the little money they survived in and the days that people spent without knowing if they will have food tomorrow, touched the hearts of people all over the world, and aid poured in big amounts.
The book is about the lives of a few people in the slums of Kolkata where Lapierre himself spent two years researching on the book. He takes up the story of a few people living in the slum to explain how people end up arriving in there, and how the slum itself gets created and grows by including everyone who comes in. And then coming in are people full of love who want to help then and uplift their lives, such as Stephan Kovalski, a Polish priest and the American doctor Max Loeb. The book contains numerous incidences full of sacrifices of people, explains how the people of the slum are full of life, enthusiasm and love despite the difficult conditions they live in. Though things would have changed much in the few decades that have passed since the book has been written, it does an excellent job in bringing out the ground realities of the poorest in Kolkata.
However, the book doesn’t score too well when it comes to readability. Lapierre is often guilty of trying to glorify the mundane. The book is full of adjectives that are actually used to describe things ordinary. And at times he goes to long length to describe most simple things and incidences that can test the reader’s patience. An attempt has been made to write the book as a story, but the tone of the book in most places is as dry as a documentary of chronological events and description of geography. All that doesn’t stop the book from being a valuable read, but would have been far better if the book was reduced to half its size.