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B O O K S H E L F
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Sally Neighbour speaks to Srirekha
Pillai about an Australian woman’s
extraordinary journey into Jihad.
From Robyn to Rabiah, what made
her undertake that journey?
After her tumultuous early life, I believe she welcomed the order and restraint of the Islamic way of life. She was also clearly attracted by the strong element of social justice and egalitarianism of Islam, which was in contrast to the snobbery she had encountered during her childhood in rural Australia.
Rabiah seems to hold bin Laden in
high regard. Post-26/11, does she
still harbour those feelings?
Rabiah says she knew him as the benefactor of people aiming for an Islamic state in Afghanistan: the fact that he funded schools and refugee camps in Pakistan; that her children saw him buy bread for poor refugees in Pakistan in the 1980s; that he built roads and girls’ schools in Afghanistan in 2000/1. She says she knew nothing of his terrorist plots and that he was essentially waging
his own private war on America, which majority of the ‘Afghan Arabs’, such as herself, were ignorant of.
Does she still believe in her Utopia, an ideal Islamic state?
Rabiah certainly still believes in what you and I see as the ‘Utopia’ of an ideal Islamic state. She thinks it’s a reality which would of course include ‘hudud’ punishments such as stoning of adulterers and severing the hands of thieves. Rabiah believes these are part of God’s law, set out in the Quran, and thus must be part of a true Islamic state.
The Mother of Mohammed
Sally Neighbour, Jaico, Rs 295 |
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Hypnotizing Maria,
Richard Bach, Jaico Books,
Rs 175
Like his earlier books, Bach espouses the philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely appearances. From infancy to the time we kick the bucket we are hypnotised by suggestions made by friends, colleagues, media, etc. Beginning with a suggestion, which is affirmed by incidents
and confirmed by our beliefs.
With time, suggestions become beliefs, become perceptions, become every socalled thing in our playground of life. An entertaining and enlightening read. |
Cine Blitz Gold: Love and Longing
in Hindi cinema,
VJM Media Pvt. Ltd., Rs 549
Promising to be a collage of different
eras, the book takes the reader down memory lane as it tries to convey how love has been portrayed in Hindi films. There are several essays and quotes, some by celebrities themselves, on the
topic of love and longing. Flipping
through its pages generates a bit of
nostalgia. The book is well endowed
with stills from black and white era to colour films. If you have seen some of the films mentioned in the book, then you are likely to appreciate it better. |
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The Painter: A Life of Ravi Varma,
Deepanjana Pal, Random House India,
Rs 399
Charting the course of prince Ravi
Varma’s life, the book takes us through the ups and downs of how a prince became one of India’s leading painters. There is an old world charm of the princes and princesses, queens and kings, which is brought out so beautifully by the author. The book resonates with the hours of research that the author would have put in to come up with a well-written book as this one. |
Super Freakonomics,
Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner,
Penguin, Rs 399
Interpretations of every day things,
like how saas-bahu serials have reduced incidences of wife beating or the perils of walking drunk or how a prostitute is more likely to sleep with a policeman than be arrested, make for good reading. The 34-page long note of research papers accumulated from all over is the meat on which the book stands. Super Freakonomics is a throughly enjoyable read. |
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Auto Expo 2010 begins in Delhi |
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The best audioproducts of 2009. |
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