Catagory: Biographies, Diaries & True Accounts

As India completes 75 years of independence, we bring to you a slice of our beloved country in the words of our favourite author, Ruskin Bond. Drawing on his own memories and impressions of this unique land, he pays homage to the country that has been his home for 84 years. Bond talks fondly about the diverse elements that make up this beautiful land-its rivers and forests, literature and culture, sights, sounds and colours. A Little Book of India is an amalgamation of the physical and spiritual attributes of our homeland, and takes you on a journey filled with nostalgia and devotion.

There are not many Indian heroes whose lives have been as dramatic and adventurous as that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. That, however, is an assessment of his life based on what is widely known about him. These often revolve around his resignation from the Indian Civil Service, joining the freedom movement, to be exiled twice for over seven years, throwing a challenge to the Gandhian leadership in the Congress, taking up an extremist position against the British Raj, evading the famed intelligence network to travel to Europe and then to Southeast Asia, forming two Governments and raising two armies and then disappearing into the unknown. All this in a span of just two decades.

Now, new information throws light on Bose’s intense political activities surrounding the revolutionary groups in Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and United Provinces, his efforts to bridge the increasing communal divide and his influence among the splintered political landscape; his outlook and relations with women; his plunge into the depths of spirituality; his penchant for covert operations and his efforts to engineer a rebellion among the Indian armed forces. With this new information, what appeared to be dramatic now becomes more intense with plots and subplots under one man’s single-minded focus on freeing the motherland and envisioning its development in a new era.

Furthermore, one of the most sensitive issues that have prevented political parties and successive governments from talking much about Bose is his joining the Axis camp. While Jawaharlal Nehru and other prominent Congress leaders publicly denounced the move, the Communist Party of India went on to a prolonged vilification campaign. Sardar Patel issued instruction to Congress leaders to defend the INA soldiers without eulogizing their leader.

Was Bose really a Nazi sympathiser? Knowing very well about the strong public opinion that existed among the political leadership and the intelligentsia in India against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and imperial Japan, why did he risk his own political image by allying with the Axis powers?

Pacey, thought-provoking and absolutely unputdownable, Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist will open a window to many hitherto untold and unknown stories of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Probably the first critical biography of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose till date.

In 1971, India waged a momentous war against Pakistan. But before all-out war, an even more significant tank battle was fought on 21 November 1971 by the C Squadron 45 Cavalry, which demolished the Pakistani General A.A.K. Niazi’s plans of victory and set the stage for the utter routing of the Pakistani Army.

Equipped with the amphibious PT-76 tanks, the Indian Army’s C Squadron 45 Cavalry was unleashed to swim across the River Kabodak, near the Boyra salient (now in Bangladesh), to counter the threat from East Pakistan. On 21 November 1971, the two warring armies clashed in a tank versus tank battle at Garibpur. In one fell swoop, Pakistan’s 3 (Independent) Armoured Squadron, consisting of fourteen American M-24 Chaffee tanks, was completely destroyed and two of its infantry battalions were badly mauled. This was followed by the shooting down of three Sabre F-86 jets for the loss of two PT-76 tanks on the Indian side. And thus, the biggest attack planned by General A.A.K. Niazi to teach the Indians and the Mukti Bahini a lesson had gone up in smoke.

This battle was a victory and a decisive one at that. It was a trumpet call to the rest of the world of India’s intent to stand up for human liberty and dignity in this war of liberation.

On 3 December 1971, Pakistan declared war. The rest is history.

The Burning Chaffees is a thrilling account of the pivotal battle of 21 November by Brigadier B.S. Mehta.

Note: There is an error on Page 267. Brigadier Mehta was awarded Mention-in-Despatches for his gallant services, and not the MVC. The error is regretted and has been corrected in the new edition.