Pune: The Queen of Deccan Book review

Ever wondered why Pune is called so? Or why the culturally rich peths of the city are named after days of the week? Or why Pune is characterized by narrow roads? The astonishing and fascinating history of Pune has often been ignored and set aside. Pune isn’t limited to the splendid Shaniwar Wada, or even to the story of the majestic Shivaji. The Battle of Khadki, the brave Nana Phadnis, the visionary Jyotiba Phule, and the grand Bund Garden, all have a vast and interesting history. Pune: The Queen of Deccan by Jayamala Diddee and Samita Gupta is your perfect handbook for getting a flavor of Pune’s history. Simple language, interesting illustrations and absorbing facts make it impossible to put the book down once you begin reading it.

Pune: The Queen of the Deccan takes you on the journey to the old roads of Punewadi. You flow in the tiny stream of Nagzhari. You witness the empty kutcha roads of Pune, attend the evening paars with the elderly, fight battles with the Peshwas and also build Government houses in the Cantonment. This voyage through time not only introduces you to many lesser known facts and fables, but also completely changes the way you look at Pune.

Diddee and Gupta’s beautiful writing makes the book a unique and engrossing read. They truly deliver a ‘tribute to the city’ and effectively construct Pune’s urban personality. The contrast of Pune as a cultural capital and booming industrial city has been discussed and explained at length. The book is divided into 7 chapters, which discuss topics including peshwai, cantonment, colonial times, metropolis, etc. The true carriers of Pune’s history and culture, the peths have a chapter dedicated to them, which does complete justice to the traditional wards of the city. All the chapters are presented comprehensively and give an overall outlook of the city during those times.

For a beginner who wishes to know more about the history of the city, this book is a blessing. There is no point when the book gets boring. Santosh Bhandare’s collection of photographs ensures the same. Not just the carefully curated photographs, but also the old maps, illustrations add to the understanding of the reader and overall connect with the book. Any Punekar would know the Town Hall, Fergusson College, Mandai, Aga Khan Palace. This book describes why and how they were built and how they developed throughout the years. A description of such locations makes the book relatable for even a common citizen of the city. The photographs of the locations from different time periods also help the reader connect the dots of the past and present.

The book also teaches us a lot. As we see the city develop, we also see how the greed for more led to exploitation and destruction of the environment. The floods, epidemics, famines across various time periods showcase how exploitation of nature has punished us repeatedly over time. As the book culminates, the authors also describe how they expect their city to be in the future. Its been about ten years since the book released, and we fail to meet most of the parameters mentioned in the book. Pune, over time, has turned from a cradle of culture and heritage to fast-paced industrial city with clogged roads. But is that what we wish to be? The author leaves you to ponder upon such questions.

Pune: Queen of the Deccan brings Pune to life. It makes an extremely successful attempt of tracing the events that have shaped our beautiful city. The culture, architecture, evolution, challenges, accomplishments, administration and history are all elucidated perfectly in this amazing read. If you have been a citizen of Pune for long, or wish to know the hidden secrets of this magnificent city, leave your Netflix or Amazon Prime for a weekend and try reading this masterpiece! I guarantee you won’t be disappointed

In Search of the Cradle of Civilization: A book review

Once upon a time, the Aryans, utopian, blue-eyed and intellectually ‘superior’ beings of the West, invaded the Indus Valley Civilization, a peace-loving and serene settlement. Sounds like a short and simple story, doesn’t it? Unfortunately (or fortunately for mystery lovers), it isn’t that simple. The so-called ‘Aryan invasion’ has been debated extensively in the past century with various new theories coming up. Droughts, floods, massacres, diffusion of cultures are few of the theories which scholars have come up. The Aryan invasion has often been criticized citing ‘Western worldview’. ‘In Search of the Cradle of Civilization’ by Subhash Kak, Georg Feuerstein and David Frawley makes an attempt to erode the widely accepted Aryan invasion theory, and put forward the ‘Eastern worldview’ on the issue. The authors propose that the Indic and Vedic people were, in fact the same.

The book is divided into two parts: the first one elucidating the main argument regarding the decline of the Harappans, and the second one focusing on the spiritual heritage of India.

A great introduction to the book and the concepts keeps the reader gripped to the first part. The language is quite analytical, and forces the reader to question what she is reading, for every argument is unique and almost unheard of by most common readers. The first part describes the similarities between the Vedic and Indic cultures, the ambiguous definition of the word ‘Aryan’, the excavation of the Indic cities, etc. A perfect summary of the arguments is the last chapter of this part, which is named: Why the Aryan invasion never happened: Seventeen Arguments.

The second half of the book describes the cultural and spiritual legacy of India. Everything from spiritual heritage, Vedic psychology, astronomical basis of myths, and the birth of Vedic science is covered. This part focuses more on explaining the metaphorical aspect of the legends and writings, rather than the common literal aspect. Spectacular revelations about so many common legends are made, and they will leave you spellbound.

The book is quite well-written and an interesting read overall. However, it isn’t particularly neutral. It is quite focused on eroding the Western worldview, and emphasizes on this idea quite frequently. The reader, hence needs to be cautious. If you wish to read this book for research purposes, read it from a neutral point of view, without any biases. Do not get swayed by the Western view or the Eastern counterviews on the issue, rather study the evidences in both cases and come up with your conclusion. Forget the Eastern or Western worldviews, or any such other biases, and read the book from a state of mind which allows you to take in information and evidences, not opinions. The book is quite old, and a couple of theories put forward become either more substantive or unacceptable citing the recent discoveries such as Rakhigarhi or Bronze chariots. So, do not read blindly. Research, revise, understand, question and interact with the ideas in the book. That’s when it becomes fun.

What are you waiting for? Get that copy now and go on a horse ride with the ’Aryans’ to the ancient past!