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Sen, Salman again top bestseller lists
Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and "Midnight's Children" author Salman Rushdie continue to hold sway over Indian readers, with "The Argumentative Indian" and "Shalimar the Clown" topping the bestseller lists in the non-fiction and fiction categories respectively.

The top 10 in the non-fiction and fiction categories are as follows:

Non Fiction

1. The Argumentative Indian
Author : Amartya Sen
Publisher : Penguin Allen Lane
Price : Rs.650.00

2. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Globalized World in the 21st Century
Author : Thomas Friedman
Publisher : Penguin Allen Lane
Price : £8.50 (Rs.684)

3. The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to international Relations
Author : John Baylis & Steve Smith
Publisher : Oxford
Price : Rs.595.00

4. MAO: The Unknown Story
Author : Jung Chang & Jon Halliday
Publisher : Jonathan Cape, London
Price : £13.00 (Rs.1,047)

5. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, ...
Author : Steve Coll
Publisher : Penguin Books
Price : £7.75 (Rs.618)

6. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and The West
Author : Gilles Kepel
Publisher : Belknap Harvard
Price : $23.95 (Rs.1,910)

7. Doordarshan Days
Author : Bhaskar Ghose
Publisher : Penguin Viking
Price : Rs.395.00

8. Children of the Raj
Author : Vyvyen Brendon
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Price : £20.00 (Rs.1,595)

9. The Future of India: Politics, Economics and Governance
Author : Bimal Jalan
Publisher : Penguin Viking
Price : Rs.350.00

10. Diddi: My Mother's Voice
Author : Ira Pande
Publisher : Penguin Books
Price : Rs.250.00

Fiction

1. Shalimar The Clown
Author : Salman Rushdie
Publisher : Jonathan Cape, London
Price : Rs.595.00

2. The Da Vinci Code
Author :Dan Brown
Publisher : Corgi Books
Price : £2.90 (Rs.231)

3. Eldest
Author : Christopher Paolini
Publisher : Doubleday
Price : Rs.695.00

4. The Accidental
Author : Ali Smith
Publisher : Hamish Hamilton
Price : £10.50 (Rs.837)

5. Arthur & George
Author : Julian Barnes
Publisher : Jonathan Cape, London
Price : £11.50 (Rs.917)

6. The Namesake
Author : Jhumpa Lahiri
Publisher : Harper Collins
Price : Rs.395.00

7. Tin Fish
Author : Sudeep Chakravarti
Publisher : Penguin Books
Price : Rs.250.00

8. The Unspoken Curse
Author : V.K. Madhavan Kutty
Publisher : Tara Press
Price : Rs.295.00

9. Babyji
Author : Abha Dawesar
Publisher : Penguin Books
Price : Rs.295.00

10. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
Author : Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher : Little Brown
Price : £5.99 (Rs.477)

(Source: Bahri Sons, New Delhi, www.booksatbahri.com)

Indian ceramic artist at Beijing Biennale
By Uma Nair, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) Beijing International Art Biennale, the largest art exhibition in China, will have an entrant in one of India's finest ceramic artists and potters, P. Daroz.

"My entry is a porcelain relief plate that was created after my trip to China some time back. I am excited about this because my work is quite different," says Daroz who leaves next week for the exhibition to be held from Sep 20 to Oct 20.

The porcelain face of the Chinese image is intrinsically a flashback to the past for Daroz, who has always been fascinated by history and culture. 

"I was amazed at the harmony, the sense of proportion that the Chinese civilisation had so many hundreds of years ago," Daroz told IANS. 

After his trip to China, he embarked on a series of warrior heads that he used as lids for his huge Aladdin-like urns that he glazed in splendid tones of barium sulphate.

"The soldiers in terracotta were so fascinating, I thought about them for days. The faces that I created, even the warrior heads have a definite spirituality about them and a vibrancy that holds them in a timeframe," he said.

Known for his precision and perfection with glazes, Daroz has worked arduously for 30 years on different forms - both sculptural as well as huge urns and murals. His creations grace numerous corporate foyers and hotels all over the country. 

"Using the timeframe to give a sense of history, bringing it back and forth, has always been an important part of my creation. In my work you will see that I have tried to frame fragility and the potency of power," he said.

Besides China, Daroz has also visited Egypt for art exhibitions. After returning from Egypt, he did a series of split faces on freestanding masks. He plans to organise a show of these artefacts at a special exhibition here after returning from China.

Daroz's work will be an exemplary representation of the fact that there is a lot happening in Indian ceramics, with artists putting in a lot of work to create individual compositions with brisk techniques. 

The porcelain will be highlighted with lights behind the frame and it will be a treasure that brings together the past and the present.

The Beijing Biennale is known to be different.

But Daroz said: "It is true that art seeks innovation. But innovation does not mean new media and new art forms. The modernity in traditional art is exactly what the Beijing Biennale wishes to contribute to the diverse world of contemporary art."

Indo-Asian News Service 

Indian creative legacy needs private attention: Tuli
By Prashant K. Nanda, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) Neville Tuli, the man who infused professionalism into Indian art through the auction house Osian's, says private participation is a must to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the country.

"Five thousand years of history is now on the footpath. Some of it is dying in the state archives without attention," said Tuli, the 42-year-old founder chairman of Osian's Art Foundation. 

"We must realise the limitation of our governments. It's time for private players to come forward and invest in this field," Tuli told IANS. 

Tuli himself left England after staying there for three decades as he realised that his heart lay in India.

"After the 1970s there was hardly any investment on the preservation and encouragement of creativity. The National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art and other such institutions took birth before 1980. 

"We must realise the simple fact that the government cannot do all those things by itself. There are a thousand other issues in front of the authorities. Along with that there is a huge crunch of budget."

He stressed on formulating a self-sufficient framework for the preservation of the cultural legacy and the promotion of modern Indian art. It is the responsibility of the private sector to be more active in that direction, he said.

"We the people of India must take responsibility to preserve our cultural heritage. Without the knowledge of history, the growth would be a pseudo growth. At the end of the day, if you don't know your history and culture, you are nowhere," said Tuli.

Tuli, who is working on creating an art institute, has collected 200,000 art works in the last five years. Recently he organised two exhibitions in Delhi and Mumbai to take the best of his collection to the public.

Osian's archive and library has paintings, engravings, film posters, advertisements, puppets, cinema memorabilia and many other artefacts of the last two centuries. 

"The public must see the most enchanting works of our forefathers. This will leave them inspired and energised, more respectful of history and one's artistic legacy. This will inspire them to enter the world of art and culture and make them more interested in changing the situation."

"Through my art archive and library, I want to convey that private participation is the call of the day to save our rich legacy. Any government will be happy to see corporates showing interest in preserving art and culture," he said.

"There are more than 30,000 monuments standing neglected. Is it not the responsibility of the private sector to look at them, taking some time out of their so-called economic aggression?"