Nirvana!

Front Cover. Anyone interested in defence or army is drawn towards the book A soldier guards our border. He/She fights day and night for us, so that we may sleep at peace. A soldier is our hero. One might have heard such words of admiration and gratitude towards our soldiers umpteen times at several fora. While the sentiment behind these words are welcome, restricting ourselves to these eulogizing phrases never allows us to know the normal human being in a soldier, their emotions, their family lives, the trepidation they undergo, about their kith and kin.  Here is another masterpiece by Brig. Subaiah Ganapathi Bhagwath aptly titled ' Antarangada Mrudanga ' which lays bare a soldiers life stripped of the usual rhapsodies and one which gives us an opportunity to know the soldiers life from within. Best aspect of 'Antarangada Mrudanga' is that it conveys the message not through lengthy personal accounts but through short incidents that is easy to remember a...

Whenever we read about the defence forces, army in particular, we get extreme accounts of valor and sacrifice or that of failure and corruption. But a normal army man's humane life gets lost somewhere in between. This Kannada book titled 'G annu Hidida Kaiyalli Pennu' (Pen in the hands which held a gun) by Brigadier SG Bhagwat is a pathbreaking account of life in the army in all its hues which never make it to the media.  Though Brigadier Bhagwat picks instances from his own life in the army in no way the book can be called as a biography. His lucid narration makes sure that the reader focuses on the event rather than the author himself. But the experience he gains from the events he narrates is also from which we get to learn. Amazing isn't it? Some of his experiences makes you proud of the army, some tell the pitfalls in the institution and our system, while few others incidents just make you smile.  Brigadier Bhagwat's narration of his unit...