Versus

The Short Review

The state would like to impose political censorship to muzzle the media foremost, and to have a say in and on theatre, cinema, art… As for social censorship, and we’re seeing it play itself out currently and vociferously where attempts by the Shri Ram Sene to show pub-going girls the whole point of Indian culture are being thwarted by a pink-chaddi-campaign.

The debate about absolute censorship and absolute freedom can be murky with interpretations finding vent in violence, self-justification and anger, especially when lumpens take on the onus as guardians of their own, narrow-minded interests. If freedom of speech is guaranteed by the Constitution, what about hate speech? Are strikes by workers a legitimate form of protest or a means to derail development and growth? Is a nude goddess blasphemy or creative interpretation — and how should people voice their disagreements, whatever their point of view?

 

Difficult questions, even more difficult answers… Dhawan’s book examines the status of policy, issues and concerns, and suggests that “free speech and India’s secular democracy aren’t there for the asking, but are part of an ongoing struggle and something to actively strive for”.

PUBLISH AND BE BANNED
Censorship and Intolerance in India
Author: Rajeev Dhawan
Publisher: Tulika Books
pages: 312
Price: Rs 595 

Behind the veil

Two years after her memoir Shame, Jasvinder Sanghera follows up with Daughters of Shame, weaving a story through the horrors faced by women who have been victims of honour violence and abuse. Her first book — in which she wrote of her own life, running away from a forced marriage, and be called ‘a shame’ by her family — gave courage to many women around the world, who found themselves seeking help from her through the organisation she founded, Karma Nirvana, based in Derby, UK.

The stories she relates in her new book are true, and she writes delicately, garnering much empathy along the way. The nature of the book is naturally disturbing, gloomy and enraging. But these are grim incidents we have often heard or seen in our neighbourhood, and read in the papers; however her strength lies in detailing. Written in first person, Sanghera’s involvement in the lives of the women she writes about lends a personalised narrative which is engaging, as it can be reassuring to many of those who have not had a chance to speak up.

DAUGHTERS OF SHAME
Author: Jasvinder Sanghera
Publisher: Hachette India
pages: 304
Price: Rs 295

Universally speaking

Thanks to continuing research in the field of astronomy, at regular intervals, the great mysteries of the universe are revealed to us in bits and pieces. Yet, one has never fully understood the wonders of it in its entirety. The Cosmic Detective, a book authored by Dr Mani Bhaumik, an IITian and scientist based out of California, packs in recent developments in the sciences.

This book is clearly defined as one meant for young readers, addressing them as ‘detectives’, pushing them in pursuit of solutions to the universe’s big questions. The book, however, reads uncomfortably like a chapter out of a geography text book. It does contain some new colour pictures obtained from NASA, but they are clubbed together in chunks and do not particularly lighten the load of the text. Encyclopedias such the Young Scientist or even Childcraft on the same subject would score over The Cosmic Detective for being better-packaged enterprises.

THE COSMIC DETECTIVE
Author: Dr Mani Bhaumik
Publisher: Penguin
pages: 92
Price: Rs 199