An excellent book is coming out and am dying to read it.  Ram Guha is a brilliant historian/ academican/ scholar/ journalist/ writer/ intellectual. Also a engaging style of writing. I first read his book A Corner of a Foreign Field and loved the integration of politics, society, caste issues, history and cricket. The story was fascinating and rich. Then a journalist with the Financial Times said that I must read the the book on anthropologist Verrier Elwyn who worked in the tribal belts of Chattisgarh. That book was insanely brilliant. I bummed it from my friends property in Anant Van. I met Ram Guha in Bangalore and I wanted recommendations and he suggested his two books of essays. Those are treasures to be read again and again. I love Ram Guha is because he brings History alive with scholarship. There is his opinion but always in the fringe.

I cant wait to read his new book. He asked me to come for the launch in Bombay but I will be away in Vietnam.  Anyway any one keen to understand the path that INDIA has taken since 1947 must read the book.

The other reason  I relish his writing is on Hindustani Art music whihc I have featured in my previous posts, his deep affection for the Gandhi Nehru ideal.

Go buy the book

Before one learns to love this or that, one needs to learn to Love...
       Once you learn to Love, it will not be possible for you to Love this
             and hate that... Once you learn to Love, then all you can do is Love...
                  When you learn to Love, you no longer know how to hate. And
                          you also learn that Love is not about standing by in the time of
                                  need... It is about standing by to make sure that you conquer the need
                                       or others to stand by you... Love is about making not a single
                                                 compromise in your way, as you surrender every other need  that  you
  have in order to manifest the Good, the True and the Beautiful in
        everything that you are able and unable to touch!

The words above are not mine but an amazing person I know. Now that is such a beautiful, powerful map of love. Now we all need to walk the territory

To see such purity in love towards a child is something that I treasure.
 The absolute surrender to our little precious Ahilya amazes me.
The happiness and joy I see in you as you offer yourself to our little baby invigorates and inspires me.
grateful to such moments and all the mothers in the Universe