Land of the Seven Rivers - by Sanjeev Sanyal

This book is a whole hearted attempt by the author to trace the civilization of India right from Harappan times to the present day. In this pursuit covering close to 5000 years we come across many startling facts about India. The author throughout emphasises that Indian always had a sense of their civilizational history and we are but a mere episode in it. This book is a mix of travelogue, History and Geography and this alone makes it a very interesting read. Overall this book is a genuine piece of work on Indology.

He starts from the Harappan civilization and creates a mental map of how the harappan cities would have been like in their hey day. Particularly he points out many fascinating aspects of that civilization and brings home the truth to us. For example take ratio of sawa or 5/4 or 1.25 used in building Harappan cities. This ratio is followed even in later Aryan cities like Ayodhya and is used as a salutation in medieval period for famous general like Sawai Man Singh. I was searching for authritative material on Out of India theory of Migration and here the author convincingly presents the case of genetic make up of indians and debunks the Aryan invasion theory in favour of Out of India theory. By the time you finish the chapter on Genetics you will have no doubts in your mind about the OIT.

One common theme always peddled by British apologists and Marxist writers is that India was never a single country and how the British consolidated it into one nation. This is a total lie and here also i find the book to be an eye opener. Indians always had a sense of civilization and this is evident in many ways. The author points out the Ashokan pillars found in various parts of India , which was later used by Akbar to proclaim his rule over India. Much later a similar proclamation was done by British in 1858 in Allahabad. All of these rulers were aware that they were episodes in an otherwise great story of a civilization and left their mark knowingly. For the very same reason Ashoka Chakra was made the centrepiece of our national flag and Ashoka column was made the national emblem. Our forefathers and framers of constitution were aware they are inheriting a truly ancient civilization.



The book answers some of very pertinent questions i always had in mind. For example, Why did Buddha gave his sermon at Sarnath and not at Bodh Gaya when he had attained enlightenment there itself ? Why the rulers of Mewar are called Rana and not Maharaja like all other Rajput kingdoms ? Who are the Sinhalese people and why do they use Lion as national animal of Sri Lanka if there were no lions in their country ? Why India has huge reserves of gold in households when there are very few gold mines in India ?  Grab the book and have a great time.

JP Movement - Emergency and Indias Second Freedom

Recently read the book "JP Movement - Emergency and Indias Second Freedom". This book is about loknayak JP's days in jail and deals less with the actual JP movement. Written by M.G Devasahayam, JP's custodian in PGI , Chandigarh during the emergency, this book narrates the events after JP's arrest in 1975 and the days he spent in Chandigarh.
The book mentions the prevailing conditions of those days in 1975, when emergency was imposed, but stays clear of the details of the events leading to emergency rule. Dont get me wrong on this, he points out the reasons but not in full depth as i had expected.

It goes into details of JP's personality and also other details like his health, his likes / dislikes , his views about emergency, the authors concern about JP's health, the apathy of Delhi administration towards JP's health initially and the ultimate panic in Delhi Durbar when faced with the possibility of his death in custody. The author also hints at the possibility of JP being deliberately poisoned , how his treatment at PGI left a lot to be desired, how the Sanjay coterie could have been working behind the scene.

But even in bad health, solitary confinement and distress JP comes out as the INCORRUPTIBLE and UNPUTDOWNABLE . JP longed for one and one thing only - Restoration of Democracy. He wanted elections to be declared and held in time. Even in custody, he did not hold any ill-will towards Indira, who was like a daughter to him. JP also hints at the possibility of Russian involvement in the imposation of emergency and feared that if true, this will destroy India forever and india will become a satellite of KGB like other eastern european nations.

The author tried all possible measures to get JP released and ultimately succeeded in his endeavour. He was very kind to JP in jail and JP always trusted him more than anyone during that time. The book also deals with foreign perception about Indian emergency and how that was helpful in securing JP's release. JP left PGI with the promise of giving it his all to restore democracy and he fulfilled that promise. JP was in very bad health after his discharge from PGI and few people expected him to survive another 4 years, leave alone bring back democracy. But JP did all that and much more. His health improved after he shifted to Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai and once elections were declared in january 1977, he traveled extensively for 2 months till march 1977. even though he was on dialysis. At the end of it all, India was able to achieve second freedom, the author emphasises, due to the defiance of one man - Loknayak JP.

The book deals fairly well about JP as person, his ideals, his penchant for freedom and his Loknayak image. Overall a good book on the subject as there are very few available on the topic, but i was a little disappointed as i wanted to know more about the JP movement itself and how it was organised and carried out.  Not to blame tha author for this, as he was a civil servant working in Chandigarh and would not be knowing all details of the movement.

My rating for this book would be 3.5 out of 5 stars. You can buy the book from here http://www.infibeam.com/Books/jp-movement-emergency-india-s-second-freedom-mg-devasahayam/9789380828619.html