Srinagar, Oct. 12 -- There are books that inform, books that entertain, and books that preserve. Chander M. Bhat's Kashmiri Pandits: Culture, Heritage and Traditions belongs principally to the third category. Spread across 462 pages and encompassing 178 subjects, the volume is an ambitious attempt to gather, preserve and present the cultural memory of a community whose traditions have evolved over centuries in the distinctive civilizational landscape of Kashmir.The book is not merely an account of customs and rituals. It is, in many ways, a record of a way of life, of practices observed in homes, of food and agricultural traditions; of religious observances; of plants and natural objects invested with cultural significance; that have long...