Table of Contents

Introduction - Kanak Mani Dixit
The Dragon Bites its Tail - Kanak Mani Dixit
Axing Chipko - Manisha Aryal
Far Eastern Himalaya-The Search for Distance and Dignity - Sanjoy Hazarika
A Bangladeshi Looks for his Country - Afsan Chowdhury
A Kashmiri Solution for Kashmir - Eqbal Ahmad
The Fractured Image of Muhammad Ali Jinnah - Khaled Ahmed
Generals as Governors: The Parallel Political Systems of Northeast India - Sanjib Baruah
Eating with our Fingers, Watching Hindi Cinema and Consuming Cricket - S Anand
The Dark White Shroud - Shruti Debi
Between Despair and Hope: Interrogating ′Terrorism′ - Dilip Simeon
SAARC and the Sovereignty Bargain - Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Relevance of the Middle Path: Rediscovering Gandhi for all Southasia - C K Lal
Two Chairmen and a People - Kanak Mani Dixit
Gujarat as Another Country: The Making and Reality of a Fascist Realm - Prashant Jha
Reframing the ′Burma Question′ - Thant Myint-U
The Beauty of Compromise - Ramachandra Guha
Understanding the Nepali Mandate - Prashant Jha
A People on the Run - Rajan Hoole
God and the Gospel of Globalisation - Meera Nanda
Why Pakistan is not a Nation - Pervez Hoodbhoy
A Tibet of the Mind - Tenzing Sonam
Subsumed by History and Nation - Afsan Chowdhury

About the Author

Kanak Mani Dixit, writer and activist, was educated in Nepal, India and the USA. He is the founding editor (1987 to the present) of Himal Southasian, a highquality, independent, monthly journal that offers informed critical commentary on social and cultural issues.

Alongside the journal, Dixit plays an influential role in a wide variety of cultural disciplines. He founded the Film South Asia (FSA), a documentary festival, which has become an important platform for local creativity, stimulating innovative local filmmaking on topics such as gender, child labour and water scarcity. Dixit also organises public lecture series and conferences involving regional and international speakers—including, recently, a Cartoon Congress incorporating a Southasian cartoon competition. He promotes research, writes children’s books and co-owns a publishing house that disseminates books and translations of great value to Nepali society. He is the author of Peace Politics of Nepal: An Opinion from Within published by Himal Books in 2011. He was one of the cofounders of the post-2005 Civil Society Platform, plays a key role in the prodemocracy campaign, challenges repression and promotes freedom of expression. Among other awards, he was awarded the Prince Claus Award in 2009.

Reviews

The best of Himal... a good reader to dip into...what strikes one the most while going through the book is the relevance of these essays to our times, the realities they present to the reader impact our politics, society and culture some 15-20 years later.
*Frontline, 25 January 2013*