Recent technological advancement in manned and unmanned undersea vehicles, overcome some of the limitations of divers equipment. Without a vehicle, divers often became sluggish and their mental concentration was limited. Because of undersea pressure that affected their mind, concentration among divers was difficult or impossible. But today, most oceanographers make observations by means of instruments that are lowered into the ocean or from samples taken from the water. Direct observations of the ocean floor are made not only by the divers, but also by deep-diving submarines. Some of these submarines can dive to depths of more than several miles and cruise at depths of 15 thousand feet. Radio equipped buoys can be operated by remote control in order to transmit information back to land-based laboratories including data about water temperature, currents and weather. Some of mankind’s most serious problems, especially those concerning energy and food may be solved with the help of observations made possible by these undersea vehicles.

BOOKSHOPS are piled higher than ever before with lavishly illustrated children’s books tricked out to look like instant classics. What to buy?

1. Books for Five-year olds and under

Whether to be read alone or to be read aloud, a good picture book for young children strikes a balance between words, which must not be too plentiful, and images, which must not shout too loudly. “How Many Miles to Bethlehem?” is a deft retelling of the story of the Nativity by an English poet, Kevin Crossley-Holland, with Peter Malone as illustrator. The words are spare and well chosen (every actor in the drama, from the ass to the angel, has a page to present his point of view), while the rich pictures are almost Giotto-like in atmosphere and choice of detail.
Also ringing the changes on a seasonal theme is “Santa’s Littlest Helper”—a collaboration between Anu Stohner and Henrike Wilson as illustrator. One of Santa’s undervalued assistants stumbles upon a startling fact: animals, unlike children, don’t usually get presents.
Alexis Deacon is one of the finest of a younger generation of English illustrators for children. In his third work, “Jitterbug Jam: A Monster Tale”, Mr. Deacon collaborates with an American writer, Barbara Jean Hicks, to produce a gentle morality tale about the nature of strangeness. His horned monsters, alarming to look at but gentle in character, seem distantly related to Maurice Sendak’s wild things.
The best animal picture book of the season is “Lord of the Forest” by Caroline Pitcher and Jackie Morris. Ms. Morris’s illustrations are lavish and painterly, and the story—who exactly is the king of the jungle?—holds the reader in suspense until the very last page.
The funniest new picture book is Posy Simmonds’s “Baker Cat”, the tale of a baker’s cat who manages to outwit his owner, a thoroughly punitive and miserable fellow, by forging a cunning alliance with the very mice he is supposed to be keeping out of the bakery. Children will adore the fussy detail and the hilarious dialogue.
New in Britain, “The King of Capri” is a tale by Jeanette Winterson, who is better known for her novels for grown-ups; it is illustrated with panache by Jane Ray. The wind blows away the clothes of a greedy king, but they land on the roof of a tender-hearted woman. The story has all the ease and surprise of an old folk tale.

To live in the place of my choice. While I was away in Delhi in the early 1960s, I decided I was going to live in the hills and work from there. Just as, five years earlier, I had decided that my home was India and not England.

Mussoorie may not have been the perfect choice (there are places more lovely), but in many ways, it has suited me. I’m near the Doon (familiar territory), not too far from Delhi (and my publishers), and just a short walk into the solitude of the mountains. I have lived with the family and companions of my choice—Prem and his children and grandchildren, and many good people on the hillside who have been generous to me over the years.

And have I won the time for leisure, books, nature, love and friendship? Yes, most of these things, for some of the time. Not everything falls neatly into place. How can it? But I think I’ve done most of what I set out to do. I could have done it a little better, and perhaps there’s time to do more. My faults and limitations are many, but I’ve always accepted that I’m a most imperfect specimen of humanity, which means I’ve always been on friendly terms with myself! And yes, Sir, I’m still doing my thing—cobbling shoes, making a tolerable soup, and recording my life and the life around me to the best of my ability. Talking of hotels—most of them, big or small, have one thing in common: the occasional guest who makes off with the linen, the cutlery, and sometime, even a TV set.

2. Six-to-ten-year olds
Two new editions of classic books head the list for children at the younger end of this age range. Naomi Lewis has produced an excellent new selection from the “Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.” All the favourites are here, from “Thumbelina” to “The Little Mermaid” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, along with lesser known stories, such as “The Flying Trunk”. Joel Stewart’s illustrations bring out the many moods in Andersen’s stories—their darkness, their vertigo-inducing strangeness, their wild flights of humour.
From the same publishers comes Martin Jenkins’s sensitive abridgement of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver”. The illustrations of Chris Riddell, formerly with The Economist, show his characteristic flights of fancy.
Admirers of Philip Pullman for his a “Dark Materials” trilogy, will be pleased to discover that he is no less adept at writing fantasy for younger children. “The Scarecrow and His Servant” has familiar elements of plot and characterisation, from the perky and comical scarecrow himself, to the serendipitous journey he takes in the company of a small, hungry boy called Jack. Yet, the familiar is transformed by the engaging and unpredictable way in which the story unfolds. Sheer delight.
“Magical Children” brings together three short novels by Sally Gardner about children who have magical gifts—the strongest girl in the world, a boy who can fly and another who just happens to be invisible. Ms Gardner’s strength lies in her ability to combine the extraordinary with the utterly unexceptional.
“Christopher Mouse: The Tale of a Small Traveller” is a wonderful first novel by William Wise for readers with growing confidence. It is about the adventures of a mouse who moves from family to family and after much travel and heartache, finds a happy home. The delight of this book is in the deft humour of the first-person storytelling.
Two novels not to be missed at the upper end of the age range are Linda Newbery’s “At the Firefly Gate” and Shannon Hale’s “Enna Burning”. The first is about an unconfident urban boy, newly displaced to rural Suffolk, who makes strangely magical links across the generations. The second is a historical fantasy which circles around the mysteries of fire.
3. Eleven and above Children’s fiction for this age group has long been dominated by fantasy published in series. This season, two authors with an excellent record have new titles to their name, Herbie Brennan adds to his “Faerie Wars” series with a new book, “The Purple Emperor”. In it, a son has the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of a father who has returned from the grave. Mr Brennan’s manner is both brisk and amusing.
Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell have again collaborated on the latest novel—the seventh—in the “Edge Chronicles” series. “Freeglader” is set in foot-slogging, mist-choked Tolkien/Pratchett country. A young knight-librarian, Rook Barkwater, inches his way through peril, meeting ferocious birds, treacherous blowholes and bogs, and much else to keep him on his mettle.
Ursula Le Guin is a distinguished author of fantasies for older children. Her new novel, “Gifts”, feels rooted in the folk tales of some distant, mythic tribe. The intricate plot is plainly yet absorbingly written.
Frank Cottrell Boyce has written a delightful and quirky thriller, set in Ireland, just before the introduction of the euro. “Millions” is quite unlike anything else recently written for this age group. The narrator, Anthony Cunningham of Year Six, has a direct and beguiling voice: funny, odd and compulsively readable. This is a story about money—how it arrives out of the blue, and how it needs to be to spent, fast.
More poignant and inward-looking is “Private Peaceful”, a novel by Michael Morpurgo, Britain’s children’s laureate. A young private, trapped in the trenches during the first world war, reflects upon his peaceful rural childhood. The closer danger creeps, the more he faces backwards into the past to retrieve some sense of inner tranquility.

No Less a person than Mr. N. Vittal, Central Vigilance Commissioner, has observed about this book as follows: “Mr. K. L. Malhotra who had worked in the Central Vigilance Commission has rendered an immense service to all those connected with the administration of vigilance in Government Organisations”.
As observed by the author in his introduction “one of the main functions of the state is maintenance of law and order, right of equality before law and to prevent abuse of power given by law and ensuring correct application of law. This can be ensured by watchfulness, caution and vigilance. As such, the Central Government has enacted a number of laws dealing with comiption and has also constituted the central vigilance commission.”

Quoting Kautilya, the author says: “Just as a fish moving deep under water cannot be possibly found out either as drinking or not drinking water, so, government servants employed in government work may not be found out while taking the money for themselves. It is possible to ascertain the movement of birds flying high up in the sky but it is not possible to ascertain the movement of government servants or their hidden purposes. Kautilya, in his Arthashastra, further says just as it is impossible not to taste a drop of honey or poison that is placed at the tip of the tongue, so it is rather impossible for the government servant not to eat up at least a bit of the king's revenue.”
The introductory paragraph gives out not only the facets of corruption but also the facets of vigilance. It also deals with the functions and powers of the Central Vigilance Com- mission, constituted by a recent Ordinance passed by the Government of India. The author takes us through the Cen- tral Vigilance Commission Ordinance 1999, its constitution, working, function and other features. According to the au- thor, vigilance means watchfulness or to bring awareness. It is an integral part of all government institutions.
The consultation with the commission, according to the author, ensures that a public servant who is guilty will not escape punishment and no innocent public servant will be punished. It provides independent and unbiased advice after making the proper assessment of the cases. Also, the functions of the commission are purely advisory. Final decision as to whether advice should be accepted or not rests with the competent authority. However, whenever there is any departure from the commission's advice, the reasons for doing so should be promptly intimated to the commission. The proceedings will be reflected in the annual report of the commission.
Cases will be referred to the commission at the level of the CVO, who is normally of the status of deputy secretary and above in respect of ministries and departments. The author, by giving out the full details of the functions of the commission, has helped the staff of the government commission attorneys and lay public.

Normally, according to the author, the commission's advice is required in all matters having a vigilance angle in which a public servant of the Central Government or the administration of a Union Territory or an employee of a public sector undertaking or a nationalised bank or an autonomous body or a registered society is involved. The author has categorised what is vigilance angle.
The role of the CVO has been succinctly explained. He is accountable to the secretary of the department and high- level officers of other institutions covered by the Act. As prevention is better than cure, the commission has the power to call for reports, returns and statements from all ministerial departments, institutions categorised in the ordinance and the commission advises the ministry, based upon exigencies and circumstances. Lot of paper work is involved in maintaining registers as listed by the author.
The second chapter and chapter 24 of the book deal with the institution that has become very famous, indispensable and much sought after. When and how the CBI was set up, its composition, its powers and jurisdiction, are explained threadbare. Discussions on the above aspects reveal the deep study and pains taken by the author in disclosing to the readers the importance of the CBI. The features of the Prevention of Corruption Act have been furnished in this chapter. The strength, functions, jurisdiction and achievements of the chief technical examiners' organisation and that of the chief vigilance officers, including their role and other aspects are given in chapter four. The chief vigilance officers are the eyes and ears of the Central Vigilance Commission. In fact, a CVO is an extended arm of the commission, says the author.
Supported by case laws, he gives a clear picture of as to what constitutes misconduct in chapter five. An exhaustive list is there. Further, in the chapter captioned “Conduct rules—a comparative study,” he again deals with misconduct where cases of moral turpitude, sexual harassment, demonstration of strikes, criticisms of the government, gifts and acceptance of dowry are discussed in detail. Comparative study of misconduct by employees in government service, public sector institutions and banks, all about complaints, investigations, investigation techniques and disposals of complaints can be found in chapters six, seven and eight.
Delays in disposals of files are everywhere. How the delay occurs in this field and what dilatory tactics are adopted makes interesting reading. “Suspension” is an administrative action. It is not a recognised penalty but it leaves a deep stigma on the government servant's entire service career, even though he may be exonerated afterwards. “No show observed the Supreme Court in a case. A separate chapter has been assigned to explain how the CBI works to catch comipt officials by laying traps. This chapter, apart from being interesting, is instructive to the staff of the persons involved in investigation of crimes. A separate chapter dealing with white-collar crimes discloses that it is the educated who commit more crimes in ingenuous manner. I will be failing in my duty if I do not refer to a case referred to by author. “Once a senior officer was approached by a contractor to show favour in the award of a particular contract, in his favour, on consideration. His P.A. had shown the file to the contractor where the officer had written ‘approved’. The contractor was pleased that the work was got done with the fraction of the ‘settled amount.’ The officer did not release the file, as the settled amount had not been paid. He called back the file and recorded ‘not approved’. The contractor again approached the officer with the plea that he had gone out of station, due to the death of his mother-in-law. When the amount was paid, he (the officer) added one ‘e’, ‘Note approved’. When that note sheet was tested in CSFL it could be easily proved that ‘Not’ was added afterwards, and ‘e’ was entered subsequently, by ultra violet rays”.