Page 65 - 30NOV2019EA

theStack DOCUMENTING MERITS

OF SIKH HERITAGE
THE SILENCE AND THE STORM The new book, Sikh Heritage, traces the history of
By Kalpana Sharma; Aleph; 199 pages; 599 valour and devotion of the Sikh community
Refusing to recognise that the concept of “family honour” is prem- SIKH HERITAGE: A History of Valour and Devotion is a
ised on the suffering of women, Kalpana Sharma, a Mumbai-based succinct and delightfully photographed glimpse into
media veteran of four decades, writes that sexual vio- the community’s religion, its ten gurus, its temples,
lence against women in India is also inevitably linked traditional systems of governance, history, architec-
with the kind of politics that dominates. Similarly, in ture, and the famous Golden Temple.
conflict zones — be it Kashmir, the northeast or the This book traces the history of valour and devotion
Maoist belt that extends from Nepal deep into South of the Sikh community, which forms a small percent-
India — men take up arms on behalf of the State or an age of India’s population, yet produces a significant
ideology “but the cost is not just loss of life on both amount of the country’s food reserves.
sides, but also what happens to the women caught in Despite the brutal assaults of history faced by the
the middle”. This is the seventh book that Sharma has Sikh community — such as the partition of Punjab —
authored, edited or co-edited and is a welcome addi- they have still maintained the merit of their heritage.
tion to the narrative on a subject that is increasingly A photographic documentation of the Sikh histo-
taking centre-stage in India. ricity through objects both in time and space, such
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- as the beautifully captured images of Harmandir, its
toshakhana, and takhats or temporal seats of the
WHO BLUNDERS AND HOW? THE DUMB SIDE OF THE Sikhs, portray a unique rela-
CORPORATE WORLD tionship between the edifice
By Robin Banerjee; Sage; 263 pages; 550 and the Sikhs — thus, each
photograph is a story in itself.
There have been any number of books on how corporate honchos This new approach aims at
and the businesses they lead have made it to the top. But, have the conception of Sikh herit-
you ever wondered why once household names like age not only as the sacred
Saridon, Premier Automobiles, Ranbaxy, Kodak, Xerox, masterpieces of the past to
Dunlop, PanAm, Enron and Lehman Brothers have bit- be valued and conserved, but
ten the dust? It is no secret that success is often built also as emblematic and living
on a bed of fiascos and flops. Unless you fall, you do spaces to be appropriated by
not learn; unless you try, you cannot fail; and unless the local communities, who
you fail, you cannot grasp, the author adds, pointing are the bearers of a rich and
to a cardinal rule that businesses that have toppled active collective memory.
over have failed to understand. “Mistakes and failures The book is a collabora-
will never disappear howsoever hard you may try. But tive effort between renowned
the good news is they are enlightening. You can learn photo-journalist Sondeep Shankar, who has pub-
as much from failures, oversights and howlers as you would from lished, among others, a 10-part series on various
your trials and triumphs,” is another mantra worth remembering,” aspects of Sikhism, and Dr Rishi Singh of the School
the book says. of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- and was also instrumental in the execution of www.
canadiansikhheritage.ca under the auspices of the
ALLAHU AKBAR University of Fraser Valley, British Columbia.
By Manimugdha S. Sharma; Bloomsbury; 305 pages; 599 “Working as a photojournalist in 1980s-90s, I was
engaged in closely covering Punjab and the Sikh
Even though Akbar has been omnipresent in folk tales, comic books community during those challenging times. Observing
and even serious academic works, he isn’’t really that visible to all at the Sikh community closely, I got quite fascinated by
a conscious level. And what’’s not visible or properly understood is them and decided to continue covering various facets
often ridiculed, dehumanised and violently rejected — as is happen- of the community after normalcy in Punjab,” Shankar
ing in India right now, says the author of this book, reportedly said.
a journalist with a leading Delhi-based newspaper. “I began making several visits to the state espe-
The book, he says, is a common man’’s attempt “to cially Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib and Golden
understand a great man who was inarguably ahead Temple at Amritsar. As more opportunities came my
of his time, straddling a spiritual realm and a violent, way, I photographed the Sikh community, their festivi-
mortal world, always delighted and troubled by ties, fairs, sports, their manuscripts, the Sikh regiment
both...I hope Allahu Akbar will be a small step towards centre, Sikh relics, forts and palaces and rare relics
understanding this ruler exemplar of his time in our and artefacts at Toshakhana of Golden Temple,” he
supercharged times”. A caveat, though: One would added.
need an absolutely open mind to absorb what this This work involved climbing to snow-clad Hem-
book has to offer. kund Sahib not once but twice in the same year.

65