Half Lion by Vinay Sitapati

Vinay Sitapati brings forward the story of one of India's most reclusive Prime Ministers, PV Narasimha Rao. I believe that any man or woman who ascends to the highest office in the country deserves a study of their extraordinary life.  PVN Rao lived a life most extraordinary. Vinay Sitapati chronicles his life from his childhood years in Telangana to his support of right-wing nationalist movements and then his slow rise in the Congress party.

PV Narasimha Rao was an only child and early in his life he was pushed out of his home for further studies. By age ten he was fluent in multiple languages, was married and had left home for studies. Reading about great men also gives us a reason to reflect on our own lives; A mere child of ten had been through more than people go through in their entire lives.  In his university years, PVN Rao became cognizant of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Nizam of Hyderabad on his Hindu populace, this led to Rao joining a Hindu right wing group who fought the Razakars(Nizam's goons).

Later, Rao joined the congress party. Rao was elevated by Indra Gandhi to become the CM of Andhra Pradesh. Rao was a political animal, his myriad experiences had led him to become politically astute and he made sure that he was in the good books of India's political dynasty, the Nehru-Gandhi family. Rao knew never to cross the Nehru-Gandhi's. Even when Indira deposed him from the chair of CM, he remained loyal. Biding his time...

JFK's Forgotten Crisis by Bruce Riedel

Bruce Riedel is an US expert on South East Asia. Mr Riedel has also served in the Obama White House, where he acted as an adviser to the POTUS on Afghan and Pakistan. He is known to be fair and un-biased and also partially responsible for Obama's tilt towards India. In this book, the author analyzes how John F Kennedy, who was POTUS during the 1962 Sino-India war responded to the crisis in Asia, along with handling the even bigger crisis of nukes being placed in Cuba.

I have often wondered at why did India and China go to war? Two ancient civilizations, both colonies of the British and both had leaders like Nehru and Mao at the helm. I often hear the phrase "Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai" which literally translates into "Indians and Chinese are brothers" originating in 1950's. How did the situation deteriorate to such an extent that they went to war and that even after almost 40 years after the war George Fernandez(Defense Minister of India during NDA rule) declared China as our No.1 enemy. I have heard different things from different people, starting with of course Dalai Lama.

Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years by AS Dulat

AS Dulat, is an erudite on the subject of Kashmir and also ex RAW chief, India's premiere Intelligence agency. In Kashmir, the Vajpayee years, Mr. Dulat shares his opinions, thoughts and experiences on the conundrum that is Kashmir. The author has spent a lifetime in Kashmir and knows all the power players personally. His work on Kashmir for the IB, RAW and the PMO make him a considerable expert on the subject.

Mr. Dulat is an ardent advocate of dialogue with all parties involved. During his lifetime he engaged in dialogue with Kashmiris from all walks of life, which included hardened separatists and even Pakistan backed terrorists. From his understanding there are two ways to untangle the 'Gordian knot' as he calls the problem of Kashmir either we blow the Kashmiris to hell and destroy ourselves in the process or talk to them and come to a mutually acceptable solution. Kashmir is a Muslim dominated state who at the time of partition was ruled by a Hindu ruler, Raja Hari Singh, the King of Kashmir was still contemplating on which direction to go whether to stay with India, go with Kashmir or become a sovereign state. This is when the Pak army invaded Kashmir and Hari Singh's hand was forced to accept the help of Nehru. Indian Army was lodged in Kashmir and has not left since.

Indian Summer by Alex Von Tunzelmann

Indian Summer chronicles the personal and political lives of Edwina, Louis Mountbatten and like a cheap Bollywood love triangle India's first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. I'm being unfairly harsh, the books is an eloquent chronicle of India's fight for independence, but not how we imagined it to be. In this book, the author explores different personalities during those tumultuous times and how relationships between them decided the fate of India, Pakistan and even Britain. I'm of course referring to the Pre-independence and post Independence arena which consisted of stalwarts like MK Gandhi, Jinnah, Mountbattens, Nehru and Patel. These people were tied to each other not only professionally but also personally, they were the best of friends one day and sworn enemies the next.

The story presented by Miss Tunzelmann, focuses on the Mountbattens more than anyone else. How Edwina and Louis Mountbatten fell in love in India, went back to England and got married. Their marriage did not turn out to be a fairy tale, but which marriage does? Edwina started seeing other men and Dickie(Louis' pet name) became embroiled with the Navy. Later, Dickie was made the last Viceroy of India, responsible for transferring power from the Britishers to Indians. Edwina accompanied her husband to India, despite their growing differences. This is were Edwina met Nehru, she was smitten and he was bedazzled. Thus, began a love affair between the wife of perhaps one of the world's most powerful men and the future prime minister of the largest democracy the world would ever come to know.

A History of the Sikhs, Volume 1: 1469-1839 by Khushwant Singh

Being a Punjabi I have always been curious about the history of the Punjab. The political history of Punjab is intermingled with the history of the dominant religion in those parts, Sikhism. Also, one often hears phrases like Sikhs made many sacrifices for us, the Sikh Gurus gave their lives for us etc. So, I was naturally curious about their History; I got myself this book written by Mr. Khushwant Singh.

 In the beginning the author familiarizes us with the topography and climate of the Punjab. Then, Mr Singh, himself a Sikh, dwells into ancient history about the Mohenjo Daro, Indus valley civilizations, whose cradle was the Punjab. Singh, claims that this ancient civilization was later wiped out by the Aryans invaders. The Aryans, bought the Vedic religion to the fore in India and till date are the dominant force in India. The aboriginals were marginalized and the tribals in India today are decedents of the aboriginals. Although after almost 2600 years, anyone claiming that Aryans are still outsiders, and trying to drive political mileage out of it is are just being plain silly. Hinduism, while a great religion has had too many problems, the major one being the caste system, the social hierarchy in which the Brahmins take the top spot(incidentally the same people who came up with the caste system) and Shudhras at the bottom, who were not only given menial jobs but were discriminated and persecuted for centuries. Even in modern day India, this rigid and evil structure persists which the upper casts still exploit.

15th April 1469, Guru Nanak, born into a middle class, hindu, Bedi family was spiritually inclined from an early age. The young Guru could hold his own against erudite theologians. He was married at an early age, 12, child marriage was common in those days. Nanak even had two sons and was later convinced by his sister to find regular employment. Soon, He had his epiphany, and announced to the world his encompassing philosophy where he repeated several times he was "neither a Hindu nor a Muslim". Thus, a new monotheist religion was born. Inspired from the Sufi and Bhakti movements. Nanak used the local language, Punjabi, to spread his word. Guru Nanak, also traveled the world to spread his religion. An anecdote from one of his travels goes something like this: Nanak was travelling in the middle east and was somewhere near mecca, when he got tired and fell asleep. A zealous Muslim started shouting at him; pointing out that his feet were pointing towards Mecca, on hearing this Nanak went back to sleep, the Muslim enraged moved Guru Nanak's feet to a different direction, to his astonishment Mecca moved to where the Guru's feet were, wherever the zealot tried to move the Guru's feet mecca also moved. The Guru pointed out that God was everywhere.

Eminent Historians by Arun Shourie

"Eminent Historians: Their Techniques, Their line, Their Fraud" is a noble effort by Arun Shourie to counter the lies and propaganda that has been peddled by communist historians. Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, D.N. Jha and Bipin Chandra etc have all been accused of whitewashing history so that their masters the Nehru-Gandhi family and Congress can rule without anyone questioning them and several generation of Indians are brainwashed into believing that their servitude towards the Congress is a virtue.

 Communists authors are in powerful positions in Universities, historical boards and committees. The government has been unusually kind to them, The Congress governments and these historians are symbiotic organisms, both feeding of each other. These historians have created an oligarchy in the history field in India, where they keep promoting each other and each other's work. The author has also accused them of not only toying with history but also of being corrupt and inefficient. Something to ponder over as you turn page after page of evidence that the author brings to light i.e. the money that they took from the government for completing historic projects and gave nothing in return.

All of us, who have read history outside NCERT text books know that a lot of important events in our history like the Emergency imposed by Congress, anti Sikh riots, Sikh struggle against Muslims rulers etc are completely skipped over in text books. So we always had an inkling of tampering of history but only after reading this book will you get an idea on how inordinately large this fraud is, and how anti Hindu subtle messaging in text books is a work of clever planning and organization.

Communists authors, who Shourie keeps referring to as 'Eminences' have spent a life time in coercing Indian history and culture. Communist line dictates that in order for communism to take hold people or sheeple (as communists like to really think about us) have to be made to think that their own culture and history is nothing but lies and shameful acts by their ancestors. Communist authors have gone great length to prove in text books taught at schools that:

Durbar by Tavleen Singh

Durbar's literal translation in English is a royal courtyard. The durbar which the author refers to here is not of some Mughal or Mauryan emperor but this is the durbar of a post British monarchy which over the last seven decades has been the most powerful in South East Asia, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

The author Tavleen Singh, belonged to a rich Sikh family but she claims that she wasn't content with being simply one of the privileged class, she yearned to do something with her life and took up journalism as a profession. At a time when we had fewer and fewer women at workplace, Tavleen decided to challenge the glass ceiling by becoming a journalist. The book acts as a conduit for Tavleen's journey as a journalist and the rise and rise of India's first family. Tavleen's access to the rich and powerful through her profession and her circle of high society friends provide fodder for political and social gossip which is the basis of her book.

The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjay Baru

In 2004, when Dr. Manmohan Singh ascended to become Prime Minister of India, the most powerful position in South East Asia it was not only a surprise for his supporters and detractors but a pleasant surprise for the man himself.  ManMohan Singh edged out men like Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh and other sly and seasoned politicians to rule India for the next decade. The author, Sanjay Baru, was then Media adviser to the PM. He served the Prime Minister in UPA 1 and thus claims to have a close working relationship with Manmohan and had intricate details about the workings and Politics of UPA.

ManMohan Singh is a world renowned erudite, whose work in economics is unparalleled. He along with PV Narasimha Rao were the architect of the modern Indian economy and responsible for opening up India to the free market. Manmohan Singh's legacy was already sealed but he got the opportunity to lead India in 2004, when Sonia Gandhi, an Italian waitress who married into the most powerful family in India, and become the leader of Congress Party by virtue of her marriage to the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family decided to rule India through a proxy.

Ayodhya the dark night by Krishna and Dhirendra Jha

The Secret History of Rama's appearance in Babri Masjid

Communists authors Krishna and Dhirendra Jha spin their own take on the Babri Masjid incident, no not the one in 1992 where the Masjid was destroyed by Kar Sevaks but the one in 22 DEC 1949. In the common man's memory the Babri Masjid incident is etched as an act of hyper Hinduism. In reality it has a deep political strategy at its core, this is true for both 1992 and 1949. In 1949, a sadhu, Abhiram Das, who was also a leader of one of the many Akharas in Ayodhya surreptitiously placed an idol of Lord Ram in the Babri Masjib, thus claiming it to be a place of worship for the Hindus and not Muslims. Thus kicking off the controversy of Babri Masjid which while writing this in May, 2015 is still unresolved..

Babri Masjid is of course built in Ayodhya, which is to Hindus what Mecca is to Muslims. On a side note do you know that one cannot build a temple in Saudi Arabia(the massive middle east Islamic country) let alone in holy Mecca, which is situated inside it. Alas, non Muslims cannot even enter Mecca let alone think about building a temple there. But I digress, the communist authors are so bigoted and prejudiced against the Hindus and the Hindu Mahasabha(a major political outfit back in the 1940's and 1950's) that they refer to them as communal in every line of the book. They literally prefix the word communal when referring to any person who supports the Mahasabha or the Hindus. The Communist authors have done no justice to the art of documenting history and writing a book. They come up with a conspiracy theory that the Mahasabha and its tallest leader Veer Savarkar were behind the plot to install the idol of Lord Ram in the Babri Masjid as they wanted to usurp power from the secular Congress party led by the bronze god Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Abhiram Das was only a pawn in the chess board of the Mahasabhaites and their sympathizers in the Congress, one of them being the Iron Man himself, Sardar Vallabhai Patel. The communists authors have the audacity to attack the architect of India, Patel and pit him against Nehru, at least that is what the book tries to portray. So they have a whole chapter called "Nehru-Patel Standoff", the chapter is like those videos on youtube who promise the latest episode from game of thrones but when you click on the video it instead shows you a static image for a long long time.

24 Akbar Road by Rasheed Kidwai

Rasheed Kidwai is a veteran journalist who has witnessed the highs and lows of the Congress. He has been a witness to the venerable history of the Congress party from the inscrutable Indira Gandhi to the earthy Sitaram Kesari and now the prince in waiting Rahul Gandhi.

In 24 Akbar Road, the author takes us through the power corridors of the Congress. Its leaders, their lives, gossip and history. When someone recommended me this book then I was immediately on the back foot as I was not interested in the encomiums showered by some sycophant, my fears were allayed by the author. He puts forward an almost unbiased and honest account of Congress leaders, although he refrains from criticizing the Congress or its leaders too harshly.

The book begins with perhaps the most colossal leader of the Congress, Indira Gandhi, the woman who defeated Richard Nixon, genocidal Yahya Khan, Bhindrewala and even managed to check mate Henry Kissinger. Daughter of one of the most important founding fathers of our nation, Indira Gandhi was an automatic choice for the throne of the Congress after Nehru died. She would later have to fight rebellion in her own party and form the Congress(I) which was headquartered from the now legendary 24, Akbar Road. Indira Gandhi also had the dubious distinction of imposing emergency in the country and suspending democracy for a whole of 2 years. Indira Gandhi was both a force of good and evil. Her human rights record and imposition of the emergency would continue to remain a blot on the history of Independent India.