Riding The Tide
The US endorsement of Pakistan's position on Kashmir bolsters Musharraf's fortunes even as anti-American outrage gathers steam.

Powell And Patience
President Bush's invitation to Vajpayee for a one-on-one in Washington next month makes up for the disappointment in New Delhi in the wake of Colin Powell's visit.

Autumn Of Turmoil
The Northern Alliance waits and watches the US moves in anticipation of a post-US-attack power struggle with the Taliban.
A look at the mood and the ground realities in Kabul.

BOOKS

No Yaar, This Is Asoka

Good pictures but potted history of the king and his times is an insult to the subject

By Bhaskar Ghose

One of the advantages of writing a coffee-table book like this one is that you can put in a whole lot of stuff which may or may not stand up to scrutiny because you know that hardly anyone reads it. What they do is look at the pictures. So if you have some attractive pictures, you're made. Actually, many people don't look at the pictures either. They just keep the book on-yes-a coffee table or any convenient place where guests can see it, or, better still, they repack it and give it as a present to someone.

THE MAKING OF ASOKA By Mushtaq Sheikh HarperCollins Price: Rs 995 Pages: 159

Mushtaq Sheikh uses his hi-yaar style to present a potted history of Asoka and his times, and then, in a chapter titled, would you believe it, "Myth O'Logic" he lays out some of the legends about Asoka with a breeziness that helps you flip through the pages faster than you otherwise would, pausing-but only briefly-to look at some of the sketches. Some of these have
pleasing lines, but lack any semblance of life. However, as if to compensate, in between the chapters are sketches by
M.F. Husain; none of them will make you fall off your chair, but they do have the artist's deft touch.

The photographs are spectacular enough; scenes from the film are juxtaposed with some diverting shots of director Santosh Sivan, actors, actresses and crew, and succeed in giving the reader (viewer?) a fair idea of the atmosphere during the shooting of the film. There are some very attractive photographs of Shah Rukh Khan as Asoka, and some reasonable ones of the others. One, in particular, of Kareena Kapoor as Kaurwaki, the princess, preparing for battle holds your attention because it's the only one where there's a bit of character showing.

The rest of the book consists of interviews with the principals and, of course, the director, and anecdotes about the making of the film. This part-the major section of the narrative-is the most disorganised. The different pieces stay disparate, never coming together to suggest what the making of the film involved.

The interviews with the director and Shah Rukh are reasonably well done; both give you small doses of their "View on Life", but then all film people think they're expected to do so, so you don't have to spend too much time on them. Kareena's interview is the silliest of the lot. Short of actually saying, "Who's this Ashok guy, yaar, what a bore, yaar", whatever she says is in that vein. Juhi Chawla, on the other hand, is cheerful and sparkling in her answers; a sensible young woman, who obviously took her job as the producer seriously.

Shiekh obviously thought no one would read his copy; he was mistaken and that's the part of the book that can be safely passed over.

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Kolkata Restaurant: Tangerine

Delhi Yoga: Morarji Desai National Yoga Institute

Delhi Cultural Festival : Qutab Festival