I’ve got my books and my poetry to protect me…

“Boi chara o kichu jane na” (she knows nothing besides books).
-Gopa Mashi

That’s what my maternal aunt said to my paternal aunt last weekend as they lay watching me reading instead of napping as most people do in the punishing afternoon heat of Kolkata. Though it may not sound like it, Gopa mashi was actually complementing me in a way. Yes, I may not be able to cook a pot of rice, but I sure can talk Indian politics. Bengalis are known for their reverence of everything intellectual, a reputation that makes other Indians (or non-Bengalis I should say) stereotype Bengalis as snooty, elitist, debutantes. Perhaps they are right. In that case, my dorky love of books and leftist political leanings make me a text book Bang-a-lee. Even if I never read them, I collect books with all the vigor of a Beanie-Baby obsessed grandma.

Yesterday, my spirits were significantly lifted after making a late afternoon visit to my favorite bookstore Earthcare books (formerly Classic books) on Middleton Street. It is a small, funky, alternative bookstore slash printing press that focuses on social and political books about ecology, environment, development, politics, foreign policy, gender, history, etc. I always end up dropping buku Rupees on their collection of rare and alternative books each time I visit. Earthcare Books is run by a hip, social activist woman from Bombay. Please visit if you are ever in Kolkata. Let me know if I can pick up any titles for you while I’m here. My prize purchases yesterday:

An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire –Arundhati Roy 2006 (oops—she did it again…my incisive, critical, political hero! Everyone even remotely interested in social justice and/or American foreign policy must read this.)

Women, Culture, and Development: A Study of Human Capabilities – Ed. Martha Nussbaum and Jonathan Glover 1995 (this collection of essays is right on target with my research, plus I’ve seen half of the contributors speak in person! Did I really just write that?)

Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered - E.F. Schumacher 1973 (a classic--thanks for the suggestion, LP!)

Gender Dimensions in Disaster Management: A Guide for South Asia –Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu and Maithree Wickramasinghe 2003 (can’t wait to show Jude this one)

The No-Nonsense Guide to Class, Caste, and Hierarchies – Jeremy Seabrook 2005

The No-Nonsense Guide to World Poverty – Jeremy Seabrook 2005 (They also have a No-Nonsense Guide to International Development—must get it!)

The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power – Ed. Wolfgang Sachs 1997

Postmodernism for Beginners – Jim Powell 1998

Teach Yourself Hindi – Rupert Snell 2003 (All I can say in Hindi at the moment: “Do you have cold water?” “Do you have cold Pepsi?” “It is cold outside today.” “My name is Tanya (masculine).” I aim to learn some grammatically correct phrases not involving the word ‘cold.’)


If only I didn't have the attention span of a Teletubby, I could read them all this summer...

-TKP, Bibliophile