There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
aapbeeti: Kale Pani ki Karawas Kahani by Bhai ParmanandMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The writer was a Professor of Modern European History at National College, Lahore and thus was a teacher of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev. This was his memoir of his days in captivity at the Andamans. The book was proscribed by the … Continue reading Review: aapbeeti: Kale Pani ki Karawas Kahani
Gandhi Benaqaab by Hansraj RahbarMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a brave book since many authors would shy away from exposing the 'Mahatma'. However in doing so Rahbar exposes his own prejudices. Nevertheless, it is a well-researched critique of Gandhi and his politics. First Line: Desh ki shashya shyamla bhumi par Shiv ka … Continue reading Review: Gandhi Benaqaab
Bandi Jeewan by Sachindra Nath SanyalMy rating: 4 of 5 stars The book which according to a British secret report sent "more young men to the jails and gallows than any other book" is a first-hand account of the revolutionary movement in India during the second and third decades of the twentieth century. Sachindranath Sanyal, … Continue reading A Revolutionary’s Life: Bandi Jeewan
23 March 1931
On 7th September, 1930, the tribunal in the Lahore Conspiracy Case (King-Emperor vs Sukhdev and Others) pronounced varying sentences to the young men who were accused of 'waging war against the King-Emperor'. Of the fifteen men at the end of the trial, the majority got transportation for life, three were acquitted while two got RI … Continue reading Last (and Best) Read of 2016: Complete Tribunal Proceedings (With Sukhdev’s Remarks)
I have completed 10 categories out of a total of 12 (which means I get two entries), in the Back to Classics 2016 challenge hosted by Karen K @ Books and Chocolate.Here are the classics read:1. A 19th Century Classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.THE GREAT TONTINE by HAWLEY SMART (1881)2. A … Continue reading Challenge Wrap-Up: Back to Classics 2016
The Revolutionary aspect of India's freedom struggle hasn't really received its due. Historians have generally been dismissive of it with the result that in the official historiography of the country, the movement is mentioned only in passing. The Subaltern study group too has not paid any attention to it. It is a sad state of … Continue reading Five Books on Indian History and Critical Thought
One of the things that I invariably do while cleaning cupboards etc. is read the newspapers lining the shelves. Of course it tells you how tardy you have been in the cleaning (once I found the newspapers were years old and belonging to the era when newspapers in India were still b&w with no colour … Continue reading Krantiveer Bhagat Singh: ‘Abhyudaya’ aur ‘Bhavishya’ (Ed) Chaman Lal
Bhagat Singh is perhaps India's best known revolutionary. For long, he was just seen as a man with a gun in his hand but now slowly people are awakening to the fact that he was a voracious reader and an intelligent thinker who thought deep about the ailments that plagued Indian society.This book is an … Continue reading Bhagat Singh and his Legend (ed) J.S. Grewal
Today is the day when India lost three of her most glorious sons: Sukhdev, Bhagat Singh, and Rajguru. They died so that India could be free and today India repays them by calling a budding politician, notable only for certain speeches that he has made recently, Bhagat Singh!I would rather read a book than pay … Continue reading 23rd March: In Remembrance
a hot cup of pleasure 