Kashmir Halcyon:

Book Review Boon Name: Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth Author: Audrey Truschke Hardcover: 216 pages Publisher: Penguin Random House India (10 February 2017) Language: English ISBN-10: 0670089818 ISBN-13: 978-0670089819 Package Dimensions: 20.2 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm By Daanish Bin Nabi daanishnabi@gmail.com The two Muslim kings of subcontinent - Sultan Alauddin Khalji and Emperor Aurangzeb - have remained shred in controversy since last few decades. The controversy is about whether they were bigots or pious rulers. Dissecting this myth between bigotry and piousness, comes the lucid account “Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth” by scholar and assistant professor of South Asian history Audrey Truschke. The book unmasks many aspect of Aurangzeb Alamgir who ruled for 49 years over 150 million people. The author tells us since Aurangzeb was a prince, his life was nothing short of a tumult storm. When Shah Jahan took ill, a brutal war ensued between the four sons of Shah ...

Book Review: Book: I Am A Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP’s Digital Army Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Juggernaut; Latest edition (26 December 2016) Language: English ISBN-10: 9386228092 ISBN-13: 978-9386228093 Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 2.3 x 13.3 cm By Daanish Bin Nabi daanishnabi@gmail.com When India contested her first general election in 1952, the grand-old party - Congress - and its educated leader Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru won the election hands down. Since 1952, a lot has changed in India including her political spectrum with the advent of social media. No one in mainland India would have thought that social media would play a role in re-shaping the fortunes of a party and its leader. In this social media frenzied world, comes a book by one of India's best known investigative and broadcast journalists Swati Chaturvedi.  The book titled - “I Am A Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP’s Digital Army” - tracks Bharatiya Janata ...

Book Review Book: An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India Author: Shashi Tharoor Language: English Binding: Hardcover Publisher: ALEPH Genre: History and Politics ISBN: 9789383064656, 938306465X Edition: 1, 2016 Pages: 360 By  Daanish Bin Nabi daanishnabi@gmail.com Indians, described as “nigger” by Lord Curzon, has emerged as one of the intellectual breeds of the modern times. One among millions of these “niggers” is the astute Congressman – Shashi Tharoor. He is among India’s finest politicians, authors, and intellectuals. In 2015, Tharoor delivered a speech at Oxford Union titled does ‘Does Britain owe reparations to India?’ His speech went viral on social media networking site and within no time Tharoor was forced to transform his speech into the book by his friend and publisher David Davidar. The book is titled “An Era of Darkness: The British Empire In India”.  The book is a masterpiece on the British loot in India and has bee...

British Raj’s duplicity Book review Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire Author: Alex Von Tunzelmann By Daanish Bin Nabi While reading “Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire” written by Alex Von Tunzelmann, one gets the idea that the book has been written to appease the Indian standpoint. This because the British author and historian has given more space to Indian leaders and its politics while ignoring Pakistan, its leaders and the country at the same time.   The author has also tried to bail out Lord Louis Mountbatten for his misadventures in the wake of partition of India. The book highlights immense research and the chain of events that led to partition, put aptly by Tunzelmann.  Her work covers in detail Mountbatten’s relations; Mahatma Gandhi’s politics; Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s stubbornness on achieving Pakistan, a separate state; Jawaharlal Nehru’s re-drawing of secret plan of independence documents i...

By Daanish Bin Nabi The fuss over crumbling diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan has been played up in last couple of years, particularly after Pakistan declared that it will take up the Kashmir issue and human rights violations in J&K at international fora and India declared that it will isolate Pakistan, diplomatically. Amid the India-Pak bickering and heightened tension on the Line of Control and in Kashmir (JK), the peculiar case of Kulbhushan Jadhav popped up. Jadhav, facing guillotine after his alleged arrest in Pakistan, indictment wherein he has been charged with spying and trial, became a common link connecting or  disconnecting the foreign relations. The ultras in Pakistan advocated swift and decisive action – execution. In India, the allegations were refuted, but the government never backed from giving up on Jadhav. The case was pursued meticulously and the government tried its own methods of applying necessary pressure to stop Jadhav’s execution...

By Daanish Bin Nabi As the world observed ‘International Day in Support of Victims of Torture’, Parcham brings you the story of a woman in Kashmir. Despite persistent inhuman torture, she continues her search for her father and her husband. The 39-year-old Saba Khan (name changed) is from Boniyar, Uri. Her misfortune started soon after the onset of militancy in Kashmir. Saba has four sisters, a brother and a daughter. Missing Father Saba’s father went missing on May 11, 1990. He was a salesman in a cooperative ration ghat. With teary eyes, Saba says, “I and my sister had gone to meet a Pir Baba, who stays near our house. His son had also been picked up by the Army.” Saba says that while they were talking to the Pir Baba, the Army raided his house. “When they saw my sister and me, they told us that your father has not gone home today. We were petrified and started crying. We spent that dreadful night at Pir Baba’s house. When we went to our house in the morning, we ...