Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
I have always loved the Cormoran Strike books, especially the 5th one, ‘Troubled Blood’, which was a baggy slow moving monster ( not words you would use to describe a crime novel) but somehow deeply satisfying. So I instantly bought her latest, ‘The Ink Black Heart’, which was great fun, but not as good as the last one.
Compare two children – one born in north India, the other in the south.The child from south India is far less likely to die in the first year of her life or lose her mother during childbirth. She will also receive better nutrition, go to school and stay in school longer; she is more likely to attend college and secure employment that pays her more.This child will also go on to have fewer children, who in turn will be healthier and more educated than her. In a nutshell, the average child born in south India will live a healthier, wealthier, more secure life than one born in north India.
Why is south India doing so much better than the north? And what does that mean?
In this superbly argued book, data scientist Nilakantan RS shows us how and why the southern states are outperforming the rest of the country and its consequences in an increasingly centralized India. He reveals how south India deals with a particularly tough set of issues – its triumphs in areas of health, education and economic growth are met with a policy regime that penalizes it; its success in population control will be met with a possible loss of political representation. How will the region manage such an assault?
Hard-hitting, troubling and full of fascinating data points, South vs North is an essential book about one of the biggest challenges that India faces today.
Seventy-five years ago, India attained its independence.What was it like to be an ordinary citizen during that time? How did they celebrate the first Independence Day? What was the atmosphere like on the streets, in cities and towns and faraway villages? How did the people feel? And how do they feel today about the country they witnessed being born?
In this extraordinarily moving book, fifteen Indians from across the country tell their stories of their first Independence Day
– some were no more than four or five, others, young adults about to enter college. Some lived in far-off places without the newspaper or the radio to give them the news; some had never seen an Englishman and didn’t know what freedom meant. Others lived in fear of communal riots and their lives being destroyed.
Here are stories from Bombay and Delhi and Mysore and Lahore, from riot-struck Punjab and Bengal to remote villages in Bihar and Tamil Nadu.These stories, each utterly different, make history come vividly alive, reminding us that behind the facts and the big dates lie the beating hearts of countless Indians who created history together.
Deeply inspiring and totally gripping, Independence Day will make 15 August 1947 – and a slice of India’s history – come wholly alive.
