This is a powerful indictment of what passes off euphemistically as the benevolent Raj. British colonial rule of India and China (two countries under study), author Rajendra Prasad says, was nothing short of a terrible crime against humanity. In what is undoubtedly a path-breaking study, Prasad dives into newspapers, books, pamphlets, booklets, journals, confidential notes, British official reports, secret directives and even posters of a bygone era to study how colonialism bled India and China, more so Calcutta and Shanghai, from 1850 to 1914. The results are devastating.

Newsrooms are manic hell where destinies of the nation and its inhabitants are written, expunged and even manipulated to grab maximum TRPs as in the case of reality television that peppers news with spice to reach out to viewers.

English is fast developing a dynamism all its own in the non-English-speaking world, says former Indian Administrative Service officer, writer and noted theatre personality Bhaskar Ghose, whose first novel is a tale of two bureaucrats.

What-to-eat-and-what-not-to-eat books are dime a dozen. So what makes "Eating Wisely and Well" different from the pack? Answer: the author.