Reviews of the latest books from and on Southasia

Kari
by Amruta Patil
HarperCollins, 2008

With such a vibrant graphic tradition, it is little surprise that Indian art and literature has now produced a series of beautiful and smart graphic novels. Orijit Sen's Kalpavrisksh (1994) and Sarnath Banerjee's Corridor (2004) and The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers (2006) are now joined by Amruta Patil's very smart new book. The drawings are evocative, and the emotions tear off the page. There isn't much of a story here – not like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home (2007), which draws us in with its coming-of-age, coming-out narrative. Our Kari's coming-of-age is muted. I wanted more. (Vijay Prashad)

Traffic:
Why we drive the way we do
(and what it says about us)
by Tom Vanderbilt
Allen Lane, 2008

Say what you will about our increasingly globalised, increasingly non-regimented soup of urban existence, but where exactly are these elements in our daily lives? Most people are stuck in something of a rut of habit: regularly meeting, if not the same people, many of the same types of people. Into this easeful milieu sallies forth something of a great leveller: traffic, that most democratic of daily annoyers.

Any man (women are, evidently, much more laid-back about traffic) who sets out to write a book about traffic has likely done so out of frustration, if only at the daily vagaries a commute sets up. Perhaps the most important aspect of this (definitive) new work is its ability to break down exactly where this frustration comes from. The short answer: from the anonymity inherent in driving a vehicle. This not only allows the human brain to feel as though it can get away with being far less than cordial, but also aggravates to an even greater degree those who cannot give any response to such slights. (This means that riders of cycles and motorcycles – and convertibles – are automatically better for the road network as a whole, by simply being more human.)

Delhi is, perhaps inevitably, the big climax of Traffic, as the author wades into a slew of jaw-dropping statistics. Almost 50 modes of transport ply the Delhi roads, giving weight to the 'largest democracy' rhetoric. At the same time, these drivers make an estimated 110 million traffic violations per day, accounting for around one in ten global road deaths per year. More worryingly, around 80 percent of those fatalities are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

Ultimately, Vanderbilt can't wrap his head around Delhi traffic any more than to suggest that its traffic has yet to "grow up" – although, to be fair, the Delhi experts he quotes come to the same conclusion. Even so, there is something gleefully freewheeling about the common bumper-sticker ideology 'Good breaks, good horn, good luck' that makes one hope that unstructured traffic will always have a place somewhere. (Carey L Biron)

The Last Dragon Dance:
Chinatown stores
by Kwai-Yun Li
Penguin, 2008

Though there are a mere 4000 Chinese in Calcutta today, the community of which Kwai-Yun Li writes is a much more vibrant one. By the 1950s, the Calcutta Chinese – with their restaurants, hairdressing salons, leather-tanning factories and furniture businesses – were an integral part of the city's fabric. Yet, as is true of migrant communities elsewhere, they were still very much the 'other', a fact that was reinforced after the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Li's stories, inspired by her childhood in Calcutta, are necessarily coloured by the event – the fears of being sent to the detention centre in Rajasthan, mothers sewing money into the seams of their children's clothes in case they are taken away suddenly, sympathisers of Mao being deported back to China, fights within the community between communists and nationalists. Though certainly interesting, these narratives are not what make the collection so engaging. Rather, it is Li's ability to set up the story, vividly giving life to each character and location in just a few pages, and weaving it all together to provide colourful glimpses into the lives of the Chinese of Calcutta. (Surabhi Pudasaini)

Media Ethics: Global dimensions
by Nirmala Rao Khadpekar
Icfai University Press, 2008

Mass media come in various forms – broadcast, print, online. As the watchdogs of democratic values, print and broadcast media have undergone significant changes due to 'market demands'. Khadpekar's new work can be read as a fairly comprehensive guide to how these demands are shaping the media world today, and what they mean for the future. It tries to tackle many issues, but without focusing too much on any particular one. From intercultural dimensions in global media ethics to a long walk with Guevara and Chomsky, the book brings together a collage of articles from leading journalists on the role of the contemporary media – all authoritative and thought-provoking, ultimately offering an overall view of the subject matter. (Shivendra Thapa)

New Nepal, New Voices:
An anthology of short stories
edited by Sushma Joshi & Ajit Baral
Rupa & Co, 2008

The 'New Nepal' depicted in this anthology is less about a radical internal transformation, and more about superficial changes. On the other hand, the 'New Voices' do offer a new stylistic approach to the discourse currently taking place in Nepal, notably Greta Rana's "The Hill", Prawin Adhikari's "The Face of Carolynn Flint" and Manjushree Thapa's "Walk Fast". Rana captivates in an enchanting Nepali version of the timeless tragedy Romeo and Juliet; Adhikari's short story rejects show for substance, powerfully expressing a range of emotions in simple words; and Thapa's stream-of-conscious narrative captures the essence of her character, articulating the fears and wonders faced by an aged man from Kathmandu when visiting his son in Zurich. Although the quality of the stories varies rather significantly, the collection does touch on a notable spectrum of the social trends that have emerged in the country over the past years. (Smriti Mallapaty)