there is a lot to learn from this book

THE EXAMPLES ARE ESPECIALLY HELPFUL WHEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN IAS TO FOREIGNERS, OR WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO RELATE THE IAS TO US GAAP. I FOUND THE COMPARISONS AND EXPLANATIONS VERY READABLE TOO. THANK YOU.

A nautch girl's freedom to choose her lover can never have been unambiguous, as Mirza Mohammed Hadi Ruswa's novel on Umrao Jan, the famous courtesan of Lucknow, amply suggests. Ruswa himself described the circumstances under which Umrao Jan Ada came to be written: one evening, at a gathering of his friends where poetry was being read and discussed, a woman from the next door apartment was heard to voice her appreciation of a couplet that Ruswa had recited. Ruswa then had a word with her; she was persuaded to join the group, where she recited a verse whose last lines were:

"Who will listen to the tale of my woeful heart? Far and wide have I wandered on the face of this earth And I have much to impart."

At Ruswa's prompting, Umrao related her life to him over several sittings, and those narratives Ruswa committed to writing; it is in Umrao's words, that the narrative was to find shape. Umrao had a large hand in the characterization of her own life. She had a command over words and her easy facility with poetry won her a following among the aristocratic literati of Lucknow: with her couplets she stole their hearts. Kidnapped by a ruffian who sought to exact revenge for the term he had served in jail on the strength of testimony given by her father, Umrao was brought to Lucknow, and eventually sold into the establishment of Madame Khanum Jan. It was at this house of prostitution that she was to live out the greater part of her life; it was there that she was transformed from Ameeran to Umrao. Luckily, her education was entrusted to a scholar who combined his refined tastes and not inconsiderable learning with a real affection for Umrao. "From the shapeless log of wood that I was," Umrao was to say, "he chiselled out a civilised being"; it was the Maulvi who endowed Umrao with the confidence that allowed her not merely to sit with cultured company but to "command the respect and attention of wealthy aristocrats". Most significantly, the scholar nurtured her interest in poetry until it had "developed into a passion", and that was the passion with which she was to etch the story of her life indelibly onto the social and cultural imagination of Lucknow.

As Khushwant Singh and M. A. Husaini, whose endeavors have brought Umrao Jan Ada to readers of English, point out in their introduction, Umrao Jan Ada conveys "a flavour of all that was Lucknow -- its language, its poetry and music, and the way of life of its citizens". This was the city that perfected the culture of the social grace and where everyone aspired to be a poet. The very decadence of Lucknow not merely aristocratic but inimitable.

Umrao Jan undoubtedly evokes some of the ambience for which Lucknow was renowned, but it is the complex characterization of Umrao and the life that she led which makes the novel memorable and significant. In Ruswa's rendering of Umrao, the courtesan is most candid about her profession: though it may well be a woman's desire to be loved, a desire that swells as she grows older, it is not given to a whore to live out this desire. A tart's only friend is her money; she is no one's wife, and if she is foolish enough to give her love to some man, she does so at the considerable risk of jeopardizing her livelihood. When Ruswa interrogates Umrao about the place of love in her life, she is quite forthright in her pronunciation of the view that in her profession "love is a current coin. Whenever we want to ensnare anyone we pretend to fall in love with him." As she adds, no man ever loved her, nor did she ever love any man.

While Umrao's relations with the Nawab Sultan appear to belie her own profession of indifferent engagement with men, her surrender could not have been complete lest her very livelihood should have been endangered, for where was the man who would openly risk his lot with her? A 'respectable' man had a home to which he could return, and a wife to embrace, but what was the net of safety around Umrao? Whatever her fame as a singer of laments and as a dancer who could en-trance men as much by the style and substance of her poetic deliveries as by her movements, she would perforce be judged by the refinement of the pleasures that were hers to offer in bed. God might well forgive streetwalkers who repent, Umrao was to reflect, but "good women never" do so. They are "suspicious and contemptuous of women who go astray", for "however lovely a character" these good women may have, and however good housekeepers these women might be, they find to their great chagrin that men "will fall for a street woman who may have nothing in the way of looks, and may be wanting in all other qualities as well". Loathed by "good women", and reduced ultimately by their patrons and clients to tools of their pleasure, what could these courtesans, howsoever beautiful and talented, hope for by way of some secure place within the socio-economic and cultural fabric of Indian society?

Umrao emerges finally as a woman with formidable reservoirs of strength, almost ponderously reflective, as she slips into old age, about the strange twists of destiny that carried her from the confined world of the hearth to a realm where, though the regimes of power were just as portent, she could experience herself as an agent. It is this wild horse of ambiguity that Umrao Jan, the novel as much as the character, rides with admirable candor

For anyone who likes Urdu poetry this is a good one Ghalib's imagery in his poetry is very vivid. I love the way Ghalib describes his feelings etc. you can really see it.The only thing i was disappointed about was that in the translation from Urdu to English it loses its power and depth overall it was pretty good. Ghalib was truly a great poet

The contents of the book must get a 5 stars rating. However, the publisher didn't do a good job of publishing the book! Some of the characters are hard to read.

Overall rating would be "4 stars".

This is a really wonderful book to start learning Kiswahili with. The explanations are clear and it is very attractively illustrated. My only (small) gripe is that there are no solutions for the exercises, which hampers independent study somewhat. However, this won't deter any serious student as the book does include a translation of all the dialogues,as well as all a vocabulary listing all the words used in the book. Highly recommended!

The year is 1979. Iranian Jew Ezra Solaiman and his family feel trapped in a country in turmoil. Iran is increasingly ruled by Islamic fundamentalists who are becoming a law unto themselves. As the Solaimans prepare to flee the country while there is still time, Ezra is thrown into prison on trumped-up charges. Awaiting execution, he encounters a fellow Jew who speaks puzzling words about a man called Yeshua. Unsure just who his enemies are, Ezra is desperate for a way out; out of prison, out of Iran, out of the chaos his life has become. "Passport" is a riveting tale of revolution and revelation; of failure...and faith. (Taken from cover for lack of any other reviews)

The book I found was well informative and was good for practicing, but the kit was a mess. The instructions were very ambiguous and the paste came out frothy and light. Not only was the paste horrible, but the cone aplicator tore because the plastic was too thin and the paste was all clogy. But other than that, the book was great, but i wouldn't waste my money

This henna book had some of the best mehndi designs for hands I have seen. Most books give you beautiful pictures but don't take the time to explain each design. This book does. The hand art is a must for people starting out.

The only bad thing about this book and the kit it comes with is it has the smallest amount of henna I have seen in any kit. 5 grams isn't much at all. Plus, the solution to mix with the henna is a dry crystalized form that doesn't appear to have all natural ingredients. I think this is bad since Mehndi is a purely natural body art. The mehndi oil included in the kit is the oddest smelling of any kit I have bought too.

If you want illustrations buy the book but if you want henna buy the Return to Tribal Body Adornment Kit.

I found this book to be one of very few books that had such detailed history and background information on the ancient art. The book layout was excellent and well planned which really helps a beginner like myself to adjust withou getting confused. The sections are easy to understand and follow and is great for people who are new to this art. The mixture of designs is good you get a good balance of traditional mixed with modern the kit was tricky but if you follow the instructions works!! But buy this book for it's rich knowledge and by the way the cover is wow!!! and probably the only one with an asian model on it. My congrats to the wonderful author of this great piece of work and are there any other titles by her???

The book presents several Armenian myths as a reality. Shortly after Armenians migrated to Transcaucasia from Middle East (during the Ottoman Empire and Russian rules), the entire nation of Armenians became a victim of so-called "historians". They invented several myths, such as "the most ancient nation", "the first Christian nation", and "Great Armenia, from sea to sea". All those myths were intended to create in hearts of ordinary Armenian men and women a hatred towards their neighbors, on whose lands they settled, and encourage ethnic wars and massacres of non-Armenian population. Their goal was to "clear the land from Turks, Kurds, Jews and others", and create an "ethnically cleans state". However, they needed some "historical facts", in order to justify their crimes. And this book - is one of those myths, presented as a "historical facts".

The authors can get credit, however, for creativity in using a name of "Azerbaijani historian", to backup their writings. Of course, the poor "Azerbaijani historian" had no idea that his name would be used centuries later to sign somebody's hateful fantasies.

The book present a classic tool of Armenian propaganda. The facts are distorted, the true writings of Mirza Jamal Javanshir have been changed by the "translator" Bournoutian to fit his version of Karabakh's history. This ancient Azerbaijani land, the home of the greatest Azerbaijani writers, poets, musicians and statesmen, where ancient Albanians (ancestors of Azerbaijanis) first accepted Christianity, has been portrayed as a "part of Great Armenia". To make his "annotations" credible, the "translator" uses the name of Azerbaijani historian, in order to further mislead the readers. The author/ "translator"...END

For a long time I wanted to get a view on Karabakh from a perspective of an Azeri historian. I would like to note that unlike many now day's historians, Mirza Jamal did not pursue political ends in exploring the history of the region. His was simply writing history for the sake of history not political implications. This made him unbiased towards Armenians and Aeries.

I highly recommend this book especially if you would like to get an unbiased glance of Azeri historian on region of Karabakh.

i just started listening to galib.. it's been 7 days.. the more i listen.. the more depth i find.. each of his 'sher's could have possibly multiple interpretations.. but actually that strngthens the point that they are really have a deep & 'dard'-filled meaning..

i am amazed....

u know about 30 years back when my father was my age.. he used to read galib & used to try understand it.. & now i am doing it .. 30 years later.. i actually realized that there is something in galib's 'shayari' that would just go on for ages to come......

I consider myself lucky that this was clearance priced. . . at my local [computer super-groovy store].

These books are reasonable in content, but they cost far too much to justify their content. I've read other books which cut through the hammy and fluffy text and give me what I need to know. In fact, buying four books on Backoffice ranging from $30 to $50 offers exponentially more information from more diverse sources - and typically come with their own CDs as well. I could care less if they are "Microsoft biased or not" Que has a habit of hyping up products they cover and oddly they cover non-Microsoft products, too.

Lots of padding, and here's one reason why. The TCP/IP section is nice I suppose, but it's not teaching me anything as to how it relates to Backoffice so far. It's going into the history and how the numerology is structured (DNS, subnet mask, et cetera), but if I want to know about TCP/IP protocol theory, lots of books devoted to that [and in greater depth] exist. This book acts as if it wants to be a be-all solution, but has to cut content in some areas to make up for it.

It's no wonder that both books are included on CD in HTML format. I'm hoping that the other reviewer was wrong about his CD not including the goodies for both books. Unfortunately it makes sense as many a company will change a product's content and legally find ways to justify it.

If you're not Richie Rich or Bill Gates, go find and buy up to four books which would effective equal the ridiculous cost of this two-volume set. The Que set is nothing more than a [not quite] cheap attempt to acquire revenue by providing heaps of padding.

Some of the chapters are heavily Microsoft biased. I was expecting more of a reference manual so I was disappointed. And even the reference chapters aren't that clearly written--though some are.
For the price, I'd look somewhere else for a BackOffice reference. (P.S. The included CD didn't come with all the books that the cover claimed it came with...)

This book is a great place to start learning about the different products that make up Microsoft Back Office. It is full of Tips that even today (as an MCSE), I find extremely useful