December 1, 2002 Welcome to a generous selection of articles from DAWN's Weekly Books & Authors. This page is updated every Sunday. For current issue Click here Not an offering As a custom, dowry is said to have been prevalent among the rich and propertied classes. Apparently, it was believed that women were not competent to handle property and so at the time of marriage... EXCERPTS: Army with a civilian face Politics has become a ladder to climb to lucrative civilian jobs for the military in all states where it has seized power. Pakistan is no exception. Ayub Khan adopted this strategy during his rule and decided in 1960 to induct serving military officers.... EXCERPTS: Biscuit tins, playing cards... Kantha, a form of traditional embroidery done over layered rags with threads drawn from old sari borders, served as quilts and coverlets in rural Bengal for centuries. Unlike the embroideries of... ARTICLE: The telling of truth Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) is counted among the most “literary” of classic film directors. As a matter of fact the directors considered the three giants of the world cinema — Satyajit Ray,... ARTICLE: Not free to write Filipina writer Ninotchka Rosca coined the term gender-based censorship in 1993 to refer to the “historic, worldwide silencing of women’s voices through various means, which subtly, but effectively, obstruct the achievement... AUTHOR: Qaisra Shahraz: Time to write “Six months before the publication I began to get cold feet. No, I wasn’t nervous or embarrassed or even afraid of what I had written. As a matter of fact, exposing... AUTHOR: Jaun Elia (1931-2002): An innovative master “This is the poetry of a person who was always a failure,” Jaun Elia, who died on November 7, wrote in the foreword to his poetic collection. “Why should I shy... SYNDICATED: Tunnel vision According to Ben Okri, human beings are born complete but grow up with something missing. He retreads this philosophy — essentially that of Wordsworth’s “Intimations of immortality” with Yoruba influences —... SYNDICATED: Armed with 14,000 letters Biographies of Charles Darwin are scarcely an endangered species. They appear with dismaying frequency. Some are inept and unwelcome, a few are moderately interesting and fulfilling, but none has offered the... REVIEW: The water crisis Penned by the world-renowned environmentalist and radical thinker Vandana Shiva, Water wars is an exhaustive document that explores the reasons for water shortages especially in the Indian context. The introduction gives... REVIEW: Pakistan’s quest for identity Pakistan was created ostensibly for the downtrodden Muslim community of the Indian subcontinent. After 55 years, it is still debated whether the Muslim nation really existed. Since a structured nationalism was... REVIEW: Weaving a book out of carpets Carpets, politics, wars, travel. This is not an easy mix to combine, but Christopher Kremmer, an Australian writer, has set out to do this and in the end produced a book... REVIEW: The spoils to the victors Elderly women of Berlin have their own nomenclature for the granite Soviet war monument in the heart of their city: “The tomb of the unknown rapist”.... REVIEW: Novel within novel Considering Ian McEwan’s well-known predilection for probing the murky side of human nature, Atonement, at first, does not at all feel as if its been written by him. Part 1 of... REVIEW: Humanitarian Intervention The responsibility for protecting the lives and promoting the welfare of citizens lies primarily with the sovereign state. However, there is a hiatus — a responsibility deficit — if a state... REVIEW: Inevitable transgression No sensible person can deny the lure and ecstasy of dreams, and no oppression, no matter how strong it is, can snatch away the dreams of an oppressed person. If the...

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