HT Picks; New Reads

When the storyteller becomes the story

In sixteenth-century India, warrior Amar Singh, tracker Jingu, artist Qamaruz Zaman and fire-scarred scholar Ferdows travel through a land teeming with clans, languages and deities, stealthily rigging the emperor’s dominion over man, beast and demon.

The unlikely quartet prove adept at engineering spectacles reflecting the Great Moghul’s divine right to rule. Qamaruz Zaman and Jingu’s acting abilities are as sublime as their sketching and tracking; Amar Singh excels at violence; and Ferdows is a skilled linguist and healer. In a series of disguises, they intercept a rogue elephant attacking a riverside caravanserai, face a liger in a subterranean complex under a desert kingdom, and confront a demon in an animistic community in a remote mountain valley. The Great Moghul takes credit for each hunt, and this strategy of empire expansion seems to be working.

But there are challenges. Qamaruz Zaman is frail, hedonistic and allergic to fur. Jingu has dreams of transcending his caste but fears they will only ever be dreams. Ferdows is on a hunt but doesn’t like hurting things. And Amar Singh is a narcissist who cares only about honour and reclaiming lost glory. By the time the quartet reaches the harem city of Zikri to investigate a mysterious death during a symposium on metaphysics, the differences of temperament, belief and ambition between them are causing issues.

In Zikri, Jingu and Qamaruz Zaman are sidelined, Amar Singh learns there is an imperial hunter other than the Great Moghul, and Ferdows the storyteller becomes the story.

Set in the Mughal era, the book mixes elements of the detective story, the adventure tale and speculative feminist history.*

Speaking truth to power

The Urdu newspaper Pratap – and its Hindi counterpart Vir Pratap – had a long and eventful history. Launched by Mahashay Krishan on 30 March 1919 and ably carried on by his son Virendra and later his grandson, Chander, it was a torchbearer against the British Raj that covered all the major events during India’s struggle for independence and after, until it wound up in 2017.This book chronicles the exciting lives of the newspapers, their founder and editors, as well as landmark events of Indian history, from Independence to the Emergency and Operation Blue Star. Pratap was known for its bold stance, which lead to it being shut down for a year by the British administration within 12 days of its launch, the arrest of its founder and editors-in-chief multiple times, and even a parcel bomb being delivered to its office in 1983.An icon of Indian journalism, Pratap is a reminder of the importance of speaking truth to power. Its story deserves to be read by all.*

Of history, structure and spirit

Indian classical music is the oldest, most sophisticated and scientifically complete musical system in the world. Its two major streams — the south Indian (Carnatic) and the north Indian (Hindustani) — share common origins and were part of a single tradition until the thirteenth century. L Subramaniam, one of the best-known classical musicians of our age, and the late and highly celebrated vocalist Viji Subramaniam examine the origins, history, structure and spirit of this system.Classical Music of India discusses in depth the melodic and rhythmic aspects of both Carnatic and Hindustani, briefly comparing these concepts with the classical music of Europe. There is a lucid comparison of the two Indian forms, an examination of instruments integral to them and a re-examination of fundamental concepts. An expanded, revised and updated reissue of the classic Euphony, this work is a definitive appraisal of Indian classical music. It is an essential addition to the library of any serious music lover, whether steeped in the music of India or new to it.*

*All copy from book flap.