Good deals, bad deals

Subordinate ally: the nuclear deal and INdia-Us strategic relations by Prakash Karat, (LeftWord, Rs 95) is the latest issue in the Signpost series whose timeliness can hardly be disputed. It brings together a collection — mostly of articles, but also of a speech or two — of the man who has become the face of the Left’s opposition to the nuclear deal. Spread over a period of no less than seven years, these writings are supposed to show the Left’s consistency in warning the nation and its misguided leaders of the impending disaster if India became party to America’s grand imperialist design. These are also intended to convey how single-mindedly the Left has tried to prevent such an eventuality. From laying bare the shamefulness of Jaswant Singh’s kowtowing at Bush’s court, discouraging joint military exercises since 2005, forcing the deletion of the mention of Indo-US ties from the UPA’s common minimum programme to the current impasse, the Left has done it all. Karat vouches that the emerging alliance could only mean “more and more onslaughts on the livelihood of the workers, farmers and the common people” (is Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee listening?), and would further jeopardize India’s cooperation with China and Russia on the issue of gaining “access to energy”.

A Girl and a river by Usha K.R., (Penguin, Rs 295) follows a narrative style made familiar by Arundhati Roy’s Booker-winner. It alternately veers between the past and the present, and keeps at its centre one particular event that becomes the turning point for the lives of its characters. Something happens during the Quit India agitation in a quaint Mysore town that signals the beginning of the end of Kaveri’s dreams. Her own brother, Setu, has much to do with the changes in her life. But 50 years pass before Setu’s daughter unravels the hideous family secrets and finds out that some broken family ties do not deserve to be mended.

The Battle for No. 19 by Ranjit Lal, (Puffin, Rs 195) is a racy read and tries to introduce the young to the big bad world of communal violence in India. A group of eight girls are caught in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. They escape the carnage by slipping into a plush bungalow, but soon realize that theirs are not the only lives they have to think about. And only the rare skill of one can save them.