Autobiography by a freedom fighter, politician, and former chief minister from Jammu and Kashmir.

Autobiography by a freedom fighter, politician, and former chief minister from Jammu and Kashmir.

For all of India’s myths, stories and moral epics, Indian history remains a curiously unpeopled place. In Incarnations, Sunil Khilnani fills that space, recapturing the human dimension of how the world’s largest democracy came to be. His trenchant portraits of emperors, warriors, philosophers, film stars and corporate titans—some famous, some unjustly forgotten—bring feeling, wry humour and uncommon insight to dilemmas that extend from ancient times to our own.

Only two months to freedom. A jigsaw of around 565* princely states. At the stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947, India could emerge as a united nation. Or disintegrate into several pieces. On 3 June 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, makes a historic announcement. After two centuries of being a colony, India would finally become an independent nation on 15 August 1947. Yet there is no India as we know it today, only a patchwork of territories forming British India, and kingdoms ruled by maharajas and nawabs who had pledged their allegiance to the British Crown. The rulers are given three choices: accede to India, join Pakistan, or remain free. While many of the nearly 600 rulers unite with India, some with larger kingdoms decide to either wait for a better bargain, negotiate terms for joining Pakistan, or use the opportunity to give flight to their lofty ambitions. As the sun is poised to set on the British Empire, the future of India hangs in the balance. What unfolds in those nerve-racking last days of the Raj? In a gripping account, highlighting the key events and personalities of the time, this thoroughly researched book introduces young adults and older readers to the dramatic saga of how a great nation was forged. *For why 565, see page i

Treading the Beaten Path is a rereading of history through the review and critical analysis of fifty books. It is an in-depth analysis of major events that shaped the history of contemporary India. Amongst authors are B R Ambedkar, Rajdeep Sardesai Jai Ram Ramesh, Ramachandra Guha, Kuldip Nayyar, Zoya Hassan and a host of others. Major epochs in history like the Mughal period, Partition of India, the Emergency, Operation Blue Star etc. are included. The biographies of Sheik Abdulla, Feroze Gandhi and critical studies on S C Bose, Nehru and Gandhi form a part. Epochs of history include the partition of Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. A look at the two-part defense of Hinduism by Shashi Tharoor is a highlight. An evaluation of the Communist, Hindutva and Mandal movements is undertaken. On a lighter vein the biographies of Mohamed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Sahir Ludhianvi are explored. The reviews have a personal touch as the author has thought out of the box to add his opinion to many a contentious issue at hand. In that sense it is not a review but a critical narrative with the book acting only as a template with the discussion many a time spilling beyond the confines of it.

Many disenchanted Kashmiris continue to demand independence or freedom from India. Written by a leading authority on Kashmir’s troubled past, this book revisits the topic of independence for the region (also known as Jammu and Kashmir, or J&K), and explores exactly why this aspiration has never been fulfilled. In a rare India-Pakistan agreement, they concur that neither J&K, nor any part of it, can be independent. Charting a complex history and intense geo-political rivalry from Maharaja Hari Singh’s leadership in the mid-1920s to the present, this book offers an essential insight into the disputes that have shaped the region. As tensions continue to rise following government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns, Snedden asks a vital question: what might independence look like and just how realistic is this aspiration?