Oh! Such a sad tale, full of pathos and foreboding. I was so moved that I went into active depression for a couple of days.

This is a supposed narrative that Sultana gave of his life to a white Sahib the night before he was supposed to be hung.

It makes for great reading because it seems that Robin Hood has come alive again. Sultana is a charismatic bhantu outcaste who has no other choice but to rob and thieve, such is the abject poverty that he is born into. This book is set in the backdrop of the non-cooperation 20's, probably just after the Chauri-Chaura incident.

The author narrates the events in Sultana's life and his love for his Phoolkanwar(a nautanki girl) so well that one is moved to will him to survive this night! At the end, we can sense the despair of Sultana and the distrust of the white Sahib towards all Indians. The climax is quite gripping. This book is a must read for all those who think on how Dakus have arisen in India.

To get more from Mr. Saraf, please visit his website

Why is it that collateral damage is so heavy in times of war? Has no one, not even the great Sun Tzu ever pondered about the horrors visited on the non-combatants in battles not of their choosing or making?

In fact, many thinkers, military strategists and humanists have thought just such dark thoughts and come up with ideas that seem to be so inapplicable today. I was perusing a lovely book that came quite close to what I feel war should be confined to. Mr. Ramo, in his new book, The Age of the Unthinkable, writes quite well and really puts out interesting and bold ideas. He does seem to be a rather serious fan of Sun Tzu and sometimes seems to elaborate on themes a little less than we want him to. However, his idea of using war as a nudging device to get people to understand your point of view or else....
is not that bad an idea.
Think of Afghanistan now for a moment. There is no need to set drones onto the population in the hopes that the Taliban will be cowed by them. If we were to engage them in other ways like stopping the supply of milk to certain parts of the country until certain demands were met, we would have a better and less deadly weapon. The harvest of poppy is very useful to them. I cannot believe that we can't do a deal with Iran and stop that supply chain or significantly hinder it so that these boys don't get their toys(guns and hashish).
Instead we go on bombing in an act of wanton stupidity....

Outliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell

So now we have another book by Mr. Gladwell that gently reminds us that a lot of what we do in life depends on our hard work and some completely random opportunities.

He goes on to internalize this concept to include how his family enjoyed certain privileges as a result of chance and some very enlightened hard work.

This book really tells you that you need to put in 10,000 hours at something that you have already exhibited considerable amateurish skills. There go my chances of making billions!!!

Playing the enemy

by John Carlin

This is a book that truly inspires. I think the author wants to deliberately focus on the Rugby World Cup of 1995 and the rapprochement that it wrought between ordinary black and white South Africans. He chooses to completely disregard the Inkatha-ANC violence in the context of a power shift and focuses on how Mandela won the white South Africans over to the idea of a "rainbow nation". Reading these books makes you want to cry out for the same sensibility in other societies torn by violence and hatred.

I think this group of folks who formed the first government of post-apartheid South Africa were an absolutely exceptional group. Walter Sisulu, Bishop Tutu, Cyril Ramaphosa, Uncle Thabo et al are very good folks compared to the surrounding statesmen of Africa. Of course, Mandiba Mandela's role was the key to the thaw in relations between the various white and black communities.

Back to the book at hand. It is a truly inspiring work that seeks to look at various personalities at all levels of society in South Africa and explains their transformation in their own words.

Read this and go to sleep dreaming better dreams. Tomorrow will look rosier...