A World on Hold- A Living Record of the Global Pandemic; Edited by Divita Aggarwal, Surabhi Sundaram, Om Publishers
Words of Wisdom: Health Books for June
This is a collection of first person narratives of resilience in the face of human crisis. For those who have lived through the pandemic, life has been about coping with challenges. The once-in-a-lifetime calamity has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world around us. Those who have survived to tell the tale, will there ever be any closure for them having lost their loved ones, their livelihoods and a way of life to a virus that still seems to be lurking around?
The book compiles 20 diverse and compelling experiences chronicling the events of last two years that brought the world to a standstill. From Shashi Tharoor, Vidya Balan, Nonita Kalra, Shilarna Vaze to an anonymous police officer, a migrant worker, a gravedigger, a cabin crew member -- all have shared their first-hand experiences at hospitals, crematoriums, migrant worker camps and vaccination centres.
The authors have given the book a shape of a well-researched analysis of the impact thepandemic had not only on individuals and families but in the process also on several industries including tourism, hospitality, education, aviation, business and cinema. Containing multiple stories of heroism and helplessness, fear and forbearance, hope and despair, the book provides an unsparing 360-degree view of the pandemic and the lessons it has to offer.
Period Matters - Menstruation in South Asia Edited by Farah Ahamed; Pan Macmillan India
Words of Wisdom: Health books for June
Though menstruation is a natural bodily process, any discussion on it is buried in shame or is still a taboo subject in many South Asian societies. A global effort, however, is on to open up conversations about menstruation and menstrual health.
The book strings perspectives from well-known figures and those whose voices go missing from the mainstream. Through essays, artwork, stories and poems from policymakers, entrepreneurs, artists, academics, activists, as well as interviews with the marginalised, the anthology explores myriad aspects of how menstruation is diversely experienced.
Activist Granaz Baloch narrates how she defied traditional notions of tribal honour and conducted the first-ever menstrual health workshop in Balochistan; Radha Paudel writes about her mission to have menstrual dignity acknowledged as a human right in Nepal; Shashi Tharoor relays his radical Menstrual Rights Bill which was tabled in the Lok Sabha in the Indian parliament; Farzana and Chandan relate how mimicking the rituals of menstruation helps them feel more feminine as transwomen; Tishani Doshi breaks new ground with a poem about her uterus; Ayra Indrias Patras describes how poor women in Pakistan managed their period during the Covid-19 pandemic; Aditi Gupta reflects on promoting menstrual literacy among young children across India through the Menstrupedia comic books; Lisa Ray reveals how her illness triggered an early onset of menopause.
The book also showcases menstrala, or art inspired by menstruation, ranging from Rupi Kaur’s iconic photo essay, Anish Kapoor’s oil paintings, Shahzia Sikander’s neo-miniaturist art, photographs of wall murals made by young people in Jharkhand, to Sarah Naqvi’s embroidery while Amna Mawaz Khan offers a perspective through the choreography of her menstrual dance.
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At The Limits Of Cure: India’s Battle Against Tuberculosis; ByDr.Bharat Jayram Venkat; Bloomsbury India
Words of Wisdom: Health books for June
In 1950s, an international team of researchers in Madras had demonstrated that antibiotics were effective in treating tuberculosis. But by the turn of the millennium, reports out of Mumbai stoked fears about the spread of totally drug-resistant strains of the disease.
In this anthropological history of tuberculosis treatment in India, Bharat Jayram Venkat examines what it means to be cured, and what it means for a cure to come undone. From the colonial period—a time of sanatoria, travel cures, and gold therapy— to a postcolonial present marked by antibiotic miracles and their failures, the author juxtaposes the unravelling of cure across a variety of sites. He writes about the illness, treatment and suffering in general among people in idyllic hill stations and crowded prisons, aboard ships and on the battlefield. If cure is taken as termination of a disease, Venkat provides a foundation for imagining cure in a world where antibiotic efficacy is fading.
For those who wish to know if a history of cure can be more than a history of how disease comes to an end, this book is a must read.
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The Unlikely Friendship: A book on Down Syndrome by Smriti Rathi; Partridge India
Words of Wisdom: Health books for June
This is a simple illustrative book that explains to children the importance of understanding friends and classmates around them you who may not be like the rest. The book is a the story of two boys, Aryan, afflicted by Down Syndrome, and Ishan and how both of them move on from initial fear and hatred to become the best of friends, helping each other and cheering for each other.
The heartwarming storyline demonstrates it takes very little to be kind to each other. It shows how bullying and arrogance can ruin the esteem and confidence of someone else when we do not care to know the truth and realities of the other person’s life. When Ishan is empathetic towards Aryan, the latter conquers his fear and mainstreams himself by playing football like a winner.
After starting with lot of animosity, when both the boys indulge in a frank conversation let go their misunderstandings, the relationship between the two eases and the book shows the young readers the importance of compassion and tolerance. It also teaches them that Down Syndrome is not a disease but a genetic condition that delays physical and mental growth but it does not mean the person will remain a non-achiever.
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INSIDE OUT: Charlie Unwin; Hachette India
Words of Wisdom: Health books for June
In any high-pressure environment, from special operations to the operating theatre, Charlie Unwin says, people can be divided into two groups - those whose performance is controlled from the outside in and those who control their performance from the inside out. His book is about your ability to achieve incredible things on the outside by paying attention to what’s on the inside.
To show how one can train his or her mind, the author explores the inner workings of the world’s accomplished performers including double Olympic champions, special forces soldiers, fighter pilots, surgeons, barristers, chefs, musicians and financial traders and talks about techniques that enable them to give their best under pressure.
Combining his experience as a performance psychologist with a blend of cutting-edge science and conventional wisdom, Charlie takes the reader on a journey through the three dimensions that shape our inner world - the Thinking Dimension, the Feeling Dimension and the Intuitive Dimension.
He turns the complexities of neuroscience, stress adaptation and cognitive performance into simple and effective training principles that one can use in everyday quest for excellence. Reading the book gives the confidence to do more and go further with what one already has in order to emerge a champion.
