Advantage Outsiders
With the balance tilted against it, the Taliban regime will soon find itself vanquished.

Lull Before The Storm
Amid calls for a quick and decisive end to the conflict, Afghanistan has been abuzz with talk of an imminent Northern Alliance ground war against the Taliban.

History's Pointers
The Soviet Union's 10 years campaign in Afghanistan — a conflict that led to a humiliating withdrawal and, some say, its eventual breakup
— can be a learning experience for
the US.

BOOKS

Monumental Waste

One more from the Raj nostalgia industry but this one is mundane history

By Swapan Dasgupta

Once the greatest imperial power, Britain is today the world's foremost heritage state. It is a place where everything old is lovingly preserved-well, almost everything. From reconditioned Shanks commodes to the National Trust properties, preservation is Albion's way of life. Which is why Britons are both saddened and infuriated by the Indian disregard of heritage. To Britons, the Raj is both nostalgia and commerce; to cretinous Indians, it is just prime real estate awaiting "development".

LEARNING THE WAYS EARLY: Schoolboys on the Mail, Darjeeling

Of course, it wasn't always like this. Before Lord Curzon established the Archaeological Survey of India and made preservation a part of the loftier goals of the Empire, the conquering British were vandals. Very much like the conquerors from Central Asia who preceded them. Robert Clive helped himself to priceless goodies from the palace in Murshidabad and Lord Bentinck even contemplated shifting the Taj Mahal block by block to England-the economics of transportation saved the monument.

REMAINS OF THE RAJ: THE BRITISH LEGACY IN INDIA By Antony Wild HarperCollins/Rupa Price: Rs 1,096 Pages: 240

Since Raj nostalgia hit Britain in the 1980s-some date it to the spectacular success of the TV version of Paul Scott's Jewel In The Crown-it is redemption time. From endless newspaper articles on the last railway engine from Chakradharpur (pronounced Chuck-udder-pore) to endless coffee-table glossies, the Raj has been reinvented for a people who no longer think they won the first prize in the lottery of life by being born English.

Predictably, the quality is uneven. Robert FermorHesketh's photographs of the Architecture of the British Empire (1986) and Jan Morris and Simon Winchester's Stones of the Empire (1983) set exacting standards. These have been matched by the spectacular Smithsonian Institute-sponsored India Through the Lens, Photography 1840-1911, published last year. Against these, Antony Wild's offering is a complete non-starter.

That Wild is a Raj admirer isn't in any doubt. He is the chairman of the East India Company PLC, a company inspired by the original thing. However, it is one thing to love the Empire, and a different ball game adding to the sum total of knowledge about it. In addition, Wild is guilty of what many would regard as a misrepresentation. Entitled Remains of the Raj, the photographs-not terribly classy or out of the way-are about British monuments as they stand in today's India. Logically, the text should have centred on the lingering presence of the Raj. Sadly, it is a mundane history of British rule.

Writing on the Raj legacy entails a knowledge of both history and contemporary Indian society. Wild's understanding of the latter is fleeting. Which is why this book is destined to find a place in the remaindered sections of bookshops.

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Mumbai Restaurant:
India Jones

Mumbai Puppetry Festival: Toccata

Bangalore Restaurant: Chung Wah

Kolkata Exhibition : Life Is Beautiful