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HT Picks: This week’s most interesting reads
On the reading list this week is an A to Z of the Parsi way of life, an examination of the Assam Accord, and a memoir about the evolving dating habits of middle aged men and women.
On the reading list this week is an A to Z of the Parsi way of life, an examination of the Assam Accord, and a memoir about the evolving dating habits of middle aged men and women.
ASSAM; THE ACCORD, THE DISCORD BY SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
The Assam Accord, which sought to end a six-year-long agitation against undocumented immigrants in Assam, was signed between members of the All Assam Students Union (AASU), and state and central governments just a few hours before Rajiv Gandhi was to deliver the Independence Day address in 1985. Immediately afterwards, the student leaders were catapulted from their hostel rooms into the corridors of power. Their party, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), was voted to power the same year, with Prafulla Kumar Mahanta becoming the youngest ever chief minister of an Indian state.
Key clauses of the Assam Accord remained unimplemented during Mahanta’s often controversial tenures (1985-1990, 1996-2001), and through three terms of Congress rule, which ended with the BJP’s victory in the state in 2016. Central to the Accord was deportation of those who could not prove their roots in India prior to 24 March 1971. In 2015, the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) based on the 1971 cut-off of the Accord began. The first list was released in December 2017, and did not include 14 million names.
Assam: The Accord, the Discord looks at the making of the Assam Accord and its long shadow on the state, through political gamesmanship between principal players, periods of ULFA and Bodo militancies, and right wing propaganda that had split the state along communal lines.*
IS THERE STILL SEX IN THE CITY BY CANDACE BUSHNELL
Set between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country enclave known as The Village, Is There Still Sex in the City? gathers Bushnell’s signature short, sharp , satirical commentaries on the love and dating habits of middle aged men and women as they continue to navigate the ever-modernizing world of relationships. MILFs, cougars, love, sex, divorce – Candace’s brilliantly funny and honest first-person account lays bare the truth behind middle aged romance. Among the other revelations, we read her Modern Day Cougar Compendium, including guidance on such important matters as the Unexpected Cub Pounce (sometimes the cub does the pouncing); what to do when your age-appropriate date asks you to pay for his kitchen renovation; and the Pluses and Minuses of Being Older and Wiser.
In Is There Still Sex in the City? Bushnell looks at love and life from all angles – marriage and children, divorce and bereavement – as well as the very real pressures on women to maintain their youth and have it all. This is a pull-no punches social commentary and an indispensable companion to one of the most revolutionary dating books of the twentieth century.*
OH! THOSE PARSIS BY BERJIS DESAI
In this A to Z on Parsis:
How Parsis convert the dirtiest swear words into terms of endearment
Pesi, who got the Pope himself to intercede to reduce the volume of bells rung at St Joseph’s Church, Dadar
Maku Macbeth’s OCD which compelled her to change her undergarments five times a day
The inside story of famous Parsi murderers
Men who believe why have a wife when you have your Mummy
Parsi mediums communicating with the dead to obtain indigestion remedies
Irreverently ribald; infuriatingly funny.
Relish the world of India’s cutest community. *
*All copy from book flap
