Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
To Life: Books that tell a story of another world
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Lifestyle
  • To Life: Books that tell a story of another world

To Life: Books that tell a story of another world

FP Archives • June 16, 2012, 13:56:38 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

There’s something soothing about a set of old hardbound books from Life. They are postcards from a lost world where the streets of Baghdad are tree-lined and the Bamiyan Buddhas still exist. Here’s to Life.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
To Life: Books that tell a story of another world

by Malobi Dasgupta I grew up with a series of hardbound books from Life. The books were on Iraq, the USSR, South Africa, East Germany and Afghanistan. I loved them because they served a dual purpose. They were sources of beautiful pictures as well as reliable support for tents that my brother and I would build to sleep in. [caption id=“attachment_346163” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Baghdad. Courtesy: Facebook”] ![](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/baghdad380.jpg "baghdad380") [/caption] The books were from my father’s world tour as a lad. He had stories about every country. But the most interesting ones were about Iran and Lebanon. Our bedtime stories would mostly be true accounts. How beautiful the women in Iran were, how musical the Persian language was, how wonderful the underwater bar at Beirut was, or how a perfectly good day in Lebanon would be interrupted by a bomb and then everyone would resume their chores as if nothing was wrong. The books are still in perfect condition. My father preserves books, stamps and photographs. He has sepia-toned pictures of an Air-India plane with art-deco interiors  and an air-hostess who looks like Sharmila Tagore complete with a bouffant and a paisley-printed sari - a garment whose demise might well coincide with Air-India’s. He also has photographs of people smoking in a plane to Paris (c’est normal), a dog standing on all fours on a tin-can, the first-ever concert of Mehdi Hassan in India and the streets of Tehran during the days of the Shah. The world has thirty-four new countries since the books were published. I often read the books because the description of the beauty of Baghdad, in the present tense, is soothing. It leaves me with the feeling that all is well with the world. The captions that run under the pictures of Iraqi women are definitive - “Women in Baghdad are proud and independent” or under a street shot, “Wide tree-lined avenues of modern Baghdad”. In the book, USSR still exists. There are Chechens, but they are not bleeding. Instead they are drinking tea against a very blue sky, laughing, unaware and unconcerned about the future. There is no country called Namibia yet. So no movie stars are adopting kids from there. In Afghanistan, the Bamian statues of the Buddha are still towering over the caves. Afghan fruit-sellers are sauntering around India with their wares: large walnuts, almonds and figs. The Taliban does not exist yet and the pollution levels in China are still very low. To Life.

Tags
Inpraiseof Baghdad: Life Magazine
End of Article
Written by FP Archives

see more

Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV