Life and Lies of M R Maiti

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh My rating: 5 of 5 stars At the juncture of Independence, Freedom was interpreted differently by different sections of society. For the well to do, it meant good jobs vacated by the British whereas it made no difference to the poor. They even felt more secure from dacoits and bandits under the British rule. The book is set in such a background. It describes the events that occurred during the partition process in a fictitious village situated on the Indo-Pak border. Man Majro, a village where people did not wake from an alarm clock ringing but by listening to the mullah's call to prayer, which in turn, was a function of the punctuality of the trains that arrived at the Man Majro railway station; a village where Sikhs and Muslims lived together as brothers. The book showcases how the irregularities that began with the late arrival of trains impacted the lives of villagers both directly and indirectly. Man Majro had so far remained total...

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee My rating: 5 of 5 stars We have an innocent girl, not even in her teens yet, unaware of the prejudices all around, questioning everything, hardly subdued when confronted. One cannot not help but appreciate the brilliance of Scout Finch pointing out the hypocrisy in Americans criticizing Hitler of discrimination against Jews while they themselves were doing the same to their black folks back home. Midway through her childhood adventures, her father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer by profession, is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a Negro. Things were not in favor of Tom. First, he was accused of raping a woman which in itself is such a heinous crime that the public convicts you even before the court does. Second, he was a Negro and the woman concerned was white. The prejudice only made it worse. According to the law, any person whether white or black has the right to defend himself. But defending a Negro is a disgraceful ac...