In 1896, Mark Twain arrives at the docks of Bombay, wife and daughter intow, and, after attending a party in his honour, vanishes from his room at theiconic Watson's Hotel in the dead of night.Desperate to find the legendary writer and avoid an international incidentbetween his country and Britain, the American Trade Consul, Henry Baker,teams up with Abdul, his trusted aide, and Maya Barton, a free-spirited Anglo-Indian with surprisingly intuitive detective skills. But they have their taskcut out for them: Mark Twain's disappearance appears to be entangled witha thriving opium trade; an intimidating, self-righteous preacher; an anxiousmagician who walks on stilts; a professional thief on the run; and a powerfullabour leader, Tuka, whose young wife is found strangled in her bed.Full of fascinating period detail and delightful cameos-and awash withsuspense-The Kidnapping of Mark Twain is a thrilling page-turner.
Prince Ashoka is one of the many heirs to the mighty Mauryan empire, ruledby his father Emperor Bindusara. Disillusioned by the trappings of power, hehas given up his position as the crown prince, but unlike the rest of the royalfamily, Ashoka's loyalty to Mauryavansh is unwavering. So, when he overhearsa plot to assassinate the Emperor, he makes it his mission to root out theassassins from the capital city of Patliputra with the help of the fierce army ofChandikas.But little does young Ashoka know that the enemy lies within his own family.Despite successfully thwarting his father's assassination, he is sent away toadminister distant Takshashila, where he has to assist his brother PrinceSushim. And when Ashoka takes necessary steps to squash the Pashtunrebellion there, his acts are seen as treasonous and he is brutally punished, leftfor dead. The brains behind these machinations are the ruthless Queen NoorKhorasan and her mother, the War Marshall Jezza Khorasan.Who will succeed in this ruthless game of thrones? Will it be the deadlyKhorasans, or will it be Seleucus Nicator and his daughter, Queen MotherApama, out to fulfil their dreams of conquering the subcontinent?Or will Ashoka rise from the dead and save the vast empire founded by hisgrandfather, the great Emperor Chandragupta Maurya?Full of ambition, intrigue, lust, battles, and the high drama of politics inancient India, this trilogy by master storyteller Ashok Banker appears in asingle, complete volume for the first time. Gripping, and pulsating withaction, it recreates the rise to power of one of India's most legendary rulers.
First published in 2014, Mid-wicket Tales is back almost a decade later, in arevised and expanded edition to delight and entertain cricket fans and scholarsalike. Humorous and richly detailed, this marvellous series of essays-writtenby two 'incurable cricket romantics'-tells the characterful story of one ofthe most beloved sports in the world.A seamless blend of theories with statistical data, technical assessments, andcharming anecdotes, the essays range in theme from Kapil Dev's batting style;big-hitting superstars like Victor Trumper, Viv Richards, and Virender Sehwag;the fearsome pace of Michael Holding; the magical close catches of EknathSolkar and Bobby Simpson; and the mastery of Sachin Tendulkar; to delightfulevenings spent with the dashing Salim Durani and the fabulous M.S. Dhoni,and illuminating conversations with the cerebral stars, Rahul Dravid and S.Venkataraghavan. This revised edition also has superb new essays where welearn of Mahatma Gandhi's involvement with cricket, discover the integralrole of video analytics in modern-day cricket strategy, and experience thebrilliance of women's cricket, which has taken the world by storm.
Bulbul Sharma has spent a lifetime exploring the gardens, parks and forestareas in and around Delhi. This delightful book is the result of her wanderings.From Grey Hornbills and Rose-ringed Parakeets in Lodi Gardens to thehandsome resident Indian Eagle-owl at Tughlakabad Fort, she recounts herobservations of all manner of birds and animals with the zeal of a true naturelover. She describes how the different seasons bring about changes to Delhi'sflora and fauna. During fog-shrouded winter days, she makes her way toSultanpur Lake to watch the migratory birds; in Delhi's brief spring, whenevery roundabout and garden is a riot of colour, she watches the birds busilybuilding their nests. In the cruel summer months when everyone escapesindoors to escape the heat, the calls of the Coppersmith and the Green Barbetresound from every leafy tree. And then the monsoon arrives heralded by thePied-crested Cuckoo which never fails to predict the rain.Sharma observes how the enforced solitude of the lockdowns in Covid daysturned many of us into nature lovers, who suddenly discovered the pleasuresof watching the birds on the trees. Now that things are back to normal, shehopes that these newborn nature lovers will continue to savour one of life'ssimplest joys-birdwatching.
Shalome came to India from Syria in 1792. He was an astute businessman,and once he started his business in India, his work took him to many parts ofthe country. He wrote all about it in his diary. Now, some 240 years later, hisdescendant Jael Silliman weaves a great-fun story based on this diary, whereShalome's adventures are narrated by his little monkey friend, Chanchal.And what a colourful story it is, of royal elephants, silks, diamonds, and lotsand lots of mouthwatering delicacies! Chanchal describes how she meetsShalome in Gujarat and then accompanies him to Calcutta, a city that wassurrounded by jungles at the time. They spend a year in the nawab's palace inLucknow and meet the royal elephants there, and visit Maharaja Ranjit Singhin Punjab to see the Kohinoor!Funny, heartfelt, and filled with insights into Jewish life, Shalome Rides aRoyal Elephant is not just the story of Shalome and Chanchal, but also aboutthe great melting pot that is India where different communities and religionshave lived in harmony over the ages.
In My Body Didn't Come Before Me, Kuhu Joshi recalls her struggle with spinaldeformity, depression and shame that made it nearly impossible to feel atease in her body. Her verses travel in time between childhood, when she wasdiagnosed with severe scoliosis, and her journey into young adulthood. Theymove between hospitals, schools, gardens and homes in an urgent attemptto reclaim agency. The poet asks: Who is a woman before she becomes just abody? Is there a part of her that isn't trapped in the limitations of the physicaland the conventions the world sets down for womanhood? The longing forsafety and pleasure that envelops girls and women bonds them to each otherin these poems. Sensual and intense, they explore desires that are sharplyindividual yet deeply universal. The poetic voice is in turns coolly observantand seething with rage. It brings to focus distinct moments from the past thatmay seem small but are defining. Parents, lovers, friends and strangers hauntthe universe of this moving and exquisitely crafted collection.
The ethnic clashes that broke out in Manipur in May 2023 were ostensiblydue to Kuki opposition to the demand by the dominant Meiteis for ScheduledTribe status. Kukis, and other tribal groups, claim that this would eat into theirmeagre entitlements. In turn, the Kukis as a group have been branded 'illegalimmigrants', blamed for the proliferation of poppy cultivation, and accused of'narcoterrorism'.Conflicts between ethnic groups are not new in Manipur. But the violence in2023, which killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, was shocking forthe sheer viciousness on display. Any effort to find explanations to this conflictonly throws up more questions.Why is there such anger in the people of the state? Is this a religious or an ethnicconflict? Why were the police and paramilitary forces-of which huge numbersare deployed in Manipur-unable to stop the violence? What role did chauvinistMeitei organizations like Arambai Tenggol play in the violence? Why did it takeseveral months for India's national leadership to break their silence on the issue?Is there really a problem of illegal immigration into Manipur from Myanmar?Who are the Kuki-Zo people? Are they to blame for the drug menace in thestate, as claimed by the Meiteis? What have the state and central governmentsdone to prevent drug trafficking in the region? Does anyone benefit from what ishappening?In this urgent book, Nandita Haksar explores with clarity and insight, and alsocourage, a complex geopolitical problem, exposing the hypocrisy of identitypolitics in Manipur, never losing sight of those that have suffered-and continueto suffer-the most in this conflict.
Textiles: The Indian Story aims to help readers understand the varied textiles ofIndia and their role in our cultural heritage. This book is useful as a tool forhands-on learning for everyone. It can be used by teachers to impart textileeducation in a simple manner.Through discovery, fun activities and personal experiences, we can explorethe world of textiles.
While answering a distraught call from her friend Sitara, Sita, detective Lalli'sniece, discovers a body in an empty flat-a hulking salesman with his headbashed in. However, more than the crime, Sita finds herself distracted by aprint of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, which hangs in the living room.Why is the iconic Renaissance painting in a single colour? And what is itsconnection with the corpse on the living room floor?The Madonna seems hardly relevant to the police in their hunt for themurderer. But Lalli, the last resort for unsolvable crimes, thinks otherwise.
The foundational ideas of Indian democracy-fraternity, equality, secularism,justice-are not alien concepts. As this book shows, from the earliest attemptwith the 'Constitution of India Bill' in 1895, whose authorship is unknown,to the 1925 Commonwealth of India Bill, the Motilal Nehru ConstitutionalDraft of 1928 and various Congress resolutions to the Constituent Assemblyof 1946, we see these basic ideas reiterated again and again. With the adoptionof the Constitution, 'we, the people' merely affirmed our faith in an idea offreedom that thousands of Indians had fought and died for.Among the many distinguishing features of our Constitution is the role ithas played in realizing the promises of the freedom struggle. We see how,creative interpretations by the judiciary aside, it has provided the blueprint forinterventions by civil society to protect the citizen from both the brazennessof political power as well as the uncertainties of a developing economy. Nowonder, then, that in the decades since Independence, the Constitution hasbecome our very identity as Indians. For all its shortcomings, it has held ourdemocracy together, and the people have, likewise, stepped up in its defencewhen needed, like they did in 2019 to protest the ominous amendments tothe Citizenship Act.In this lucid yet passionately argued essay, distinguished scholar of politicalscience Neera Chandhoke shows us why our Constitution is as much apolitical and moral document as it is a legal one, and as Indian as the republicit created.
The work of rescuing children from slavery is not for the faint of heart, as thetwelve gut-wrenching accounts in this book will show. Harder still is to givethem their life back, after they've been kidnapped, trafficked, sold, abused andmade to work in horrific conditions, often for as long as they can remember.Pradeep was offered up for human sacrifice by his family, thought to be a badomen; Devli was a third-generation slave in a stone quarry in Haryana, whohad never seen a banana before her rescue; Ashraf, a domestic child labourerat a senior civil servant's house, was starved and scalded as punishment;Sahiba was trafficked from Assam to be someone's wife against her will; Kaluwas abducted and made to weave carpets all day long, his injuries cauterizedwith phosphorus scraped off matchsticks; Bhavna was trapped in a circus,sexually abused for years by her owners; Rakesh was worked in the fields allyear round like cattle, and spent the nights locked up with them in the stable;Sabo was born to labourers at a brick kiln, and never knew life outside it; andManan lived his childhood mining mica in the forests of Jharkhand, barelygiven time to even mourn his friend who got buried when the mine caved in.Kailash Satyarthi's own life and mission were entwined with the journeysof these children. Having lived through unspeakable trauma, they had lostfaith in humanity. But behind their reticence, behind their scraggy limbs andcalloused hands and feet, hope still endured. This book tells the story of theirshared struggle for justice and dignity-from the raid and rescue operationsof Satyarthi's Bachpan Bachao Andolan, to international campaigns for childrights. It is a testament both to the courage of the human spirit and to thepower of compassion.
Santa Khurai was seventeen when she decided to start dressing like a woman.Born male, she had always believed herself to be female, and she claimed herfeminine identity fiercely and openly. Her bold act of wearing dresses and makeupin public brought down upon her the wrath of her father, insults and ridiculewherever she went, and, frequently, beatings at the hands of the armed forceswho are a constant presence in her native Manipur. The humiliation and physicalattacks did not deter her. In her words, 'My desire to be a woman, a beautiful,fashionable woman, was so strong that I was not afraid of challenging anythingthat came in the way... I felt that I could bear anything but I could not live like aman.'The price she has had to pay is high. Knocking on doors for a job, she found thatmost times, no one would employ her because of the way she looked. When sheeventually found success as a make-up artist, with her own beauty parlour, thestress of her struggles sent her spiralling into drug abuse and penury.Fighting her way through these troubles, she became involved with thetransgender movement, and in 2010, she was appointed Secretary of the AllManipur Nupi Maanbi Association (AMaNA). Since then, she has worked closelywith AMaNA and its sister organization, Solidarity and Action Against TheHIV Infection in India (SAATHII). Today, she is at the forefront of the LGBTQmovement in Manipur, travelling the world to speak for her community.Santa Khurai has known the heartbreak of an abusive marriage with aheterosexual man, and the joy of adopting a son; the highs and lows ofinternational recognition and disownment by her own family. Through it all,she has remained true to herself, and refused to be broken. Her story is aninspiration for all humanity.
In her mid-twenties, Madhu Tandan and her husband, Rajeev, left Delhi tolive in a remote ashram amidst the Himalayas. Under the tutelage of thecharismatic and mysterious Ashishda, the former English aircraft engineerturned Vaishnav guru, they lived a simple life with a 'soil to soul' philosophy,where every experience was viewed as an opportunity to grow.Living as a community in the Ashram came with its own challenges. Otherthan being physically taxing, there were days when life was too perplexing,and when personal dilemmas would leave them questioning the journey. Thecouple strove through this with resilience, struggling to transcend suffering anddiscover what lay beyond it. Believing in simple practices such as growing one'sown food and meditation, and relying on the powerful role that dreams play inone's life, Madhu and Rajeev navigated their seven years of Ashram life with theconviction that there are no dead ends in life.First published in 1997, AWayWithin-extensively revised and expanded forthis edition-is a candid and illuminating account of the inward journey; aquest that is challenging and rewarding in equal measure.
The Modern History of Jammu and Kashmir, Volume Two: The Karan Singh Years (1949- 1967) examines the politics of the period that followed Maharaja Hari Singh's exile from the State in 1949. Focusing on Hari Singh's son, the book examines the history of Jammu and Kashmir through Yuvraj Karan Singh's journey from becoming the Regent at the young age of eighteen, then the Sadar-i-Riyasat and finally the Governor. During the challenging time when the Sheikh Abdullah-led National Conference and the Dogra-backed Praja Parishad were locked in a fierce tugof-war for control of the State, it was the Yuvraj who prevailed as the voice of reason. He strove to maintain equitable power sharing between the three major provinces-Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh-throughout the eighteen years of his career in Jammu and Kashmir. The major political changes during Karan Singh's time-the judicious use of the provisions of Article 370 and the further integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India, among others-also had a crucial effect of consolidating the future of the State with that of the country. A sense of mutual respect and cooperation was forged between Delhi and the Jammu and Kashmir leaders. Relying on both historical sources and the vast correspondence Karan Singh had with Jawaharlal Nehru and later Indira Gandhi, this second volume of Harbans Singh's magisterial trilogy is both a biography of a remarkable man as well as a fresh look at the history and politics behind the making of modernday Jammu and Kashmir.
The frontiers of any country have been known for centuries for their wars, romance, songs and dances and most importantly for their colourful and beautiful people. In British India, too, the North-West and North-East Frontiers were very unlike the rest of the sub-continent. To gain the support and affection of the peoples who lived in these mountainous tracts required a different approach to administration. The administrators who were sent out to these frontiers, more often than not had military backgrounds. 'Rules are for Fools' was often what they believed in-and they were prepared to live and work in very trying circumstances. Jawaharlal Nehru saw good reason to continue with this system after India's Independence. A unique administrative service for NEFA and the Hill Tracts of North East India was set up. This service comprised mainly of officers from the armed forces. Lala Bimalendu Kumar Dey was one such person who fitted the slot ideally-a man who held duty to the country and its people above all else. He was also one who loved to ride alone deep into the forests where he restored his clarity and composure, gaining wisdom and strength from the world of nature and the voice of his own conscience. From Sylhet to Shillong, he bore the journey and life's challenges and excitement with true grit. Bijoya Sawian, his daughter, tells his remarkable story with the insight and perspective that only an insider can have
From Sialkot to Lahore, Arif Ali makes the journey to realize his dream of being a history teacher. In Lahore, his life is upended by dramatic events unfolding in light of a General wielding far-right power after the ruthless assassination of a Prime Minister. As a teacher, he resists the decree to teach a false history, and as a poet, articulates his emotions on unrequited love and the turbulent political atmosphere. Arif's impotent rage towards the increasing religious intolerance around him compels him to join Kamal and Nadira in their cloak-and-dagger acts of resistance. And, while he presciently awaits the dreaded storm of sectarian violence to break, in the wake of the General's legacy of a brutal military rule, he finds love that hitherto he could only imagine through Urdu poetry. With Roohi by his side, Arif finds his muse, but watches with deep frustration the public floggings, persecution of minorities, and the societal divide created by increasing fundamentalism. When a student in his class is falsely accused of blasphemy, he decides to save him from being arrested and embarks on a dangerous mission that lands him in the middle of sectarian clashes. Will he succeed in saving the boy and making it out alive, to live the life he dreamt of as a history teacher in Lahore? Tahira Naqvi recreates Lahore of the 1980s in this moving political novel, showing eloquently the struggle between a besieged democracy on the one hand and thriving cultural traditions of Urdu poetry on the other
They have lived on Planet Earth from well before the first apes and humansappeared. They lead fascinating lives that involve shooting, stinging, flying,jumping, biting, and more. Some can lift 500 times their body weight. Someothers navigate their way using the stars or even the Milky Way. Some aredeadly carriers of disease. And some pollinate more than one-third of ourfood sources. Together, they are essential for life on Earth to continue in aneven balance. They are: ants, beetles, scorpions, mantids, butterflies, bees,spiders, cockroaches and yes, even mosquitoes and flies!No one can describe the natural world as delightfully and humorously asRanjit Lal, and in The Harmony of Bees he brings his decades of experiencewatching and closely interacting with the world of creepy crawlies to writingabout more than twenty kinds of them. Termites have central air conditioningin their nests, he tells us. A grasshopper can jump ten times its own height(which is like us jumping the length of a football field in one leap). The tinyfig wasp is key to the survival of the mighty banyan tree. Not everyone hatescockroaches-a zoo in Japan organized a cockroach exhibition and 'cockroachpetting sessions'! Along with these bizarre and wonderful facts, Ranjit Lalexplains how these creatures live, mate, build their homes and look after (oreat) their young.Sometimes creepy, sometimes gruesome, always entertaining and packed withinformation, this is an immensely entertaining and unusual nature book
Spanning poems written over two decades, Anand Thakore's In Praise of Boneis a significant achievement. It displays his deep knowledge of the poeticform. He has written nocturnes and aubades, villanelles and sonnets, odesand dramatic monologues, apostrophes and ekphrastic poems, hymns andblues, picking the perfect tempo and tone to suit the contents. The poemsin this collection are seeped in a wide range of emotions. They bravelylinger in the intensity of feelings, be it grief or joy or wonder or outrage.By accepting experiences without judgement, the poems invite readers toimmerse themselves in the present fully and live life without fear. There isdeep, philosophical seeking here and this includes shades of self-loathing andregret as well. There is humour and sardonic wit at play too. The poems alsocelebrate moments of genuine human connection, raising many insightfulquestions about the nature of the self and its bond to others.The selected poems from the Mughal Sequence weave a shimmering tapestryto give voice to Indian history. They share intimate glimpses of the lives ofhistorical figures such as Humayun, Gulbadan Begum, daughter of EmperorBabur and Emperor Babur himself, and the Koh-i-Noor diamond, once a partof Mughal ruler Shah Jahan's throne which was then acquired by the British.Poems such as 'Puppet's Life Ends on String' and 'Buddhist Monk Hangs Self'are inspired by contemporary events.This landmark collection eloquently captures the nuances of both history andmodernity, embracing tragedy and joy with equal grace.
Behold! The Word is God contains a selection of 51 abhangas (devotional poems)from celebrated Bhakti poet Tukaram's vast oeuvre, each Marathi abhangafollowed by two English interpretations-Shanta Gokhale's and JerryPinto's. Hailed as one of the greatest poets in the Marathi language, Tukaramcomposed poems that are packed with hidden layers of meaning. So, twoindependent translations of each abhanga give readers a chance to gain adeeper understanding of the original. The saint-poet's original abhangas areincluded in the book alongside the translations as Roman transliterations.Tukaram's abhangas, copied by many hands and gathered over several years,do not follow any particular order. But the translators, keen to give theirselection a narrative order that would offer readers a view of the abhangasbeyond their immediate sense, have arranged them into three groups-'Tukaram and poetry', 'Tukaram and life' and 'Tukaram and Vitthala'.Pinto does what Arun Kolatkar and Dilip Chitre had done in their translationsof Tukaram-recast the abhangas as independent poems that run parallel toTukaram's creations. Gokhale, on the other hand, stays as close as possibleto the sense, movement, rhythm and form of the originals. Together, theirtranslations capture the mystic wisdom and the musicality of Tukaram'shymns, and open a whole world of meaning for today's readers.
Some time between the two World Wars, Syed Mujtaba Ali set out on shipfrom India to travel to Europe. Leaving Sri Lanka behind, sailing in the ArabianSea and then along the coast of Africa, he crossed the Horn of Africa, until theship reached Suez Port. Along the way, Ali collected a bunch of stories-abouthis new young friends Paul and Percy, who became his loyal acolytes; and theeccentric Abul Asfia Noor Uddin Muhammad Abdul Karim Siddiqi, who carriedtoffees, a gold cigarette case, and other sundry items in his capacious overcoatpocket and who had the answer to all problems though he barely spoke a wordever.As the ship makes its way, Mujtaba Ali tells stories of the island of Socrota withits pirates in search of treasure. He dives into history and recounts how thegiraffe went to China via India from Africa. And when the friends get off atSuez, in order to see the pyramids of Giza, he provides a deeply entertainingand perceptive description of Egypt-from its taxi drivers and café owners, topharaohs and tomb hunters.Erudite but light-hearted, brimming with laughter and with many moments oftenderness, Tales of a Voyager is a gem of a travelogue from the author who wrotethe immensely popular travel account of Afghanistan, In a Land Far from Home(Deshe Bideshe).'Syed Mujtaba Ali knows how to perform magic through his writing!One moment his humour and wit will make you break out in roaringlaughter and the next you find yourself buried in deep thought beingtouched by the poignance in his satire.'-Dhaka Tribune
After her widowed father marries a younger woman, Radhika's world fallsapart. She feels betrayed-the emotional and intellectual bond that shehad forged with him since the early death of her mother breaks with thatsudden marriage. To escape the unbearable situation at home-the growingrift between her and her father-Radhika moves to Chicago to pursue hermaster's in fine arts. She returns to India two years later, burdened by asense of alienation and homesickness, only to realize that while nothing hadchanged in her country, everything had. The family that she had longed tobe reunited with barely acknowledges her arrival. The sense of belonging ismissing, leaving her in 'an emotional state of in-between-ness, of universalunbelonging'. As days pass, Radhika is paralysed with ennui, which tingesall her relationships-romantic or filial. So she lies on her takht, bored,immobile, uninspired...An extraordinary chronicler of the inner lives of the urban Indian woman,Usha Priyamvada is a pioneering figure in modern Hindi literature. Won'tYou Stay, Radhika?, first published in 1967, expertly explores the stifling andnarrow-minded social ideals that continue to trap so many Indian women inthe complex web of individual freedom, and social and familial obligation.Daisy Rockwell's sensitive and skilful translation brings this poignant Hindinovel to a new set of readers.
Ghosts, derangements and strange happenings abound inVictorian fiction. Evenmore so in stories from the Raj written by English writers, overwhelmed, oftenunnerved, by the vast and alien land they ruled but could not quite come togrips with.To them, India's jungles, village squares and railway stations-eventheir own colonial bungalows-bristled with the long-dead, the undead, theunexplained and the terrible.Women writers of the Raj brought greater imagination and skill to the spookytale than men.And among them, Bithia Mary Croker and Alice Perrin were easilythe best.This collection brings together, for the first time ever, the spookiestshort stories of these mistresses of the Raj supernatural.The khidmatgar of a derelict mansion is curiously always at his master andmistress' service, but only after dark.A dead woman comes calling for herdevoted husband, the Collector of a colonial outpost.An unwelcomingkhansamah in a secluded dak bungalow hides a sinister secret.An ayah bewildersher mistress when she sings lullabies to her imaginary charge.A missionary'halfcaste' Eurasian discovers the powers of a native goddess.And a stately hill stationhome comes to be occupied by a family of four, happy for the surprisingly lowrent they must pay, until they discover why.Drawing upon local legends, colonial records and Indian folklore, these gripping,atmospheric tales will send shivers down your spine and yet leave you craving formore.
'Every person has a story. That story will often feature a village and in that village, ahome. My story, being no different, starts with my village, Chamtha...[which] standsat the sangam-the confluence-of four districts: Patna, Samasthipur, Begusarai andVaishali.'Anjani Kumar Singh's memoir begins with these lines. In the pages that follow,we witness a remarkable life unfolding-a life that is a'sangam' of traditionand modernity; of formal education and lessons learnt through encounterswith the diverse worlds of Bihar and India; of professional commitment andpersonal conviction; of public service and private passions.Together withfascinating insights about the challenges and satisfactions of governance anddevelopment work, Singh also shares his experiences of travelling across Indiaand abroad; building one of the world's finest collections of rare plants; and-his shining achievement-setting up the splendid Bihar Museum, a home forboth classical and contemporary South Asian art, which compares with thebest in the world.This book is among the most engaging and unusual memoirs of a publicservant you will read.
The New Age of Bakasur begins when two young boys, Pradeep and Ravi, arrivein Delhi from Bhopal to spend a week with their uncle, Shekhar. They admireShekhar for his relentless crusade against corruption. A well-respected policeofficial, Shekhar has exposed several scams involving the rich and the powerfulusing innovative sting operations.As Pradeep and Ravi explore Delhi, their illusions about it being a modelmetropolis are shattered. They are stuck in traffic jams and stranded onflooded streets. They spot garbage-strewn stretches in the heart of thecapital. Official apathy and the glaring divide between the rich and the poorstare them in the face. When they turn to Shekhar for answers, he explainshow corruption has infected every aspect of governance like a deadly virus.Unscrupulous public figures-modern-day 'Bakasurs'-who swindle peopleand amass illegal wealth have become the biggest threat to the nation.Shekhar shares many real-life examples of dishonest practices, which hehas come across. These symptomize the rot across India. Shekhar shares hisexperiences with Ravi and Pradeep hoping to motivate them to becomedrivers of change and join forces with likeminded youngsters to vanquishtoday's Bakasurs and save the country from the scourge of corruption.Urgent, racy and often witty, this novel will strike a chord with everyconcerned reader invested in the future of India
Eleven-year-old Sridhar was fascinated by light. Growing up among a dozensiblings in a mud cottage in Chandannagar inWest Bengal, he longed to createsomething beautiful.A school drop-out who never studied beyond Class Eight,he taught himself about lights and electricity by doing odd jobs at an electrician'sshop-an act that earned him a severe beating from his father. In spite of hisfamily's opposition, he grew up to become a celebrated light artist and inventor,setting new standards for festival lighting and pioneering new techniques.Sridhar Das's work was exhibited internationally, to great acclaim, from the Festivalof India in Russia to Ireland, LosAngeles and Malaysia. For theThames Festival inLondon, he created the famous three-dimensional illuminated peacock boat.This is his story, poignantly told by his granddaughter, Samragngi Roy. It takes usback to a vanished time, and introduces us to a man who pursued his dreams andcreated a new field through sheer determination.But fame and hard work took a toll on Sridhar, and those closest to him. Hiswife had to combat illness and loneliness to take care of the family, leaving herhusband free to forge his chosen path, and his daughter grew up with her famousfather largely absent.This is also the story of his family, an unflinching explorationof the price that was paid for his meteoric rise. It is both a nuanced portrait of acomplex man and an affectionate tribute to a beloved grandfather.
The summer of 2021 saw a massive rise in the number of infections and deaths fromCovid-19 in India. Even by conservative estimates, at least 1.5 million people hadlost their lives by June; several times the official figure. As in the first wave of thepandemic, this time, too, the chaos and suffering was in large measure, as HarshMander shows, due to mismanagement by an uncaring and cynical state.The first part of the book, 'Locking Down the Poor', describes the grave humanitariancrisis of 2020, which pushed the urban poor to the brink of starvation. It shows howthis was a direct consequence of public policy choices that the central governmentmade, particularly of imposing the world's longest and most stringent lockdown,with the smallest relief package. Mander brings us voices of out-of-work daily-wageand informal workers, the homeless and the destitute, all overwhelmed by hunger,humiliation and dread. From the highways and overcrowded quarantine centres, hebrings us stories of the estimated 3 crore migrant workers whose livelihoods weredestroyed, forcing them to walk hundreds of kilometres to their villages.The second part of the book, 'Burning Pyres, Mass Graves', records the horrorsof the following year, when everything from hospital beds to oxygen and essentialmedicines fell disastrously short. Mander traces the causes for these shortages to thecriminal neglect of public health in India, a situation made worse under the NarendraModi government, leading to the extortion of a beleaguered population by everyonefrom suppliers of oxygen cylinders to pharma billionaires. He holds the state culpablefor indulging in pageantry-with the PM advertising himself as a messiah-when thecountry needed to brace for the impact of the second wave.Combining ground reports with hard data and first-hand knowledge, Mander chroniclesthe greatest humanitarian catastrophe India has faced in a century, the effects of whichwill be felt for decades. This powerful, even shattering, book is a necessary record ofa national tragedy that too many of us want to forget, when remembering is our onlydefence against a similar disaster in the future.
The modern history of Jammu and Kashmir is often focused mainly on theKashmir valley, leaving out the other regions that make up the bulk of theerstwhile Princely State. A similar limitation marks most discussions of therule of the fourth-generation Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, MaharajaHari Singh. After his inheritance of the throne in 1925, Hari Singh introduceda number of progressive reforms-among them, programmes for girleducation, opening temple doors for Dalits and abolishing the exploitativebegar system of labour. However, contemporary historians look past thesereforms and focus only on the issue of the accession of the State to India.At a time when the entire subcontinent was reeling from the shock andviolence of Partition, the Maharaja had to decide which dominion-India orPakistan-the State would join. How was he to choose where to put his trust,especially after Pakistan-backed Pashtun tribals invaded the State and Indiarefused to offer military help? Was any decision possible that would appeaseall-the Muslim majority of Kashmir, the Hindu majority of Jammu and theBuddhist majority of Ladakh?Those tumultuous times took a toll on Hari Singh during the final years of hisreign. Accession to India was not as easy as he had hoped, and pressurised byNehru and Sardar Patel, the Maharaja was forced to choose exile in 1949 andspent the rest of his days in Bombay.Harbans Singh's A Modern History of Jammu and Kashmir,Volume One: The TroubledYears of Maharaja Hari Singh (1925-1949) offers a more rounded history of theState than most available scholarship. The first volume in a trilogy, this bookoffers a strong and nuanced defence of the last ruler of Jammu and Kashmirand is a valuable document in understanding its evolving history.
In the autumn of 1939, seventeen-year-old Sammi has been married for onlytwenty-one days when her husband, Hari Singh, an officer in the British IndianArmy, is summoned to fight inWWII.The heartbroken couple bid each othergoodbye. Sammi awaits Hari Singh's return in her village,Aliwala, a syncretichamlet with Sufi bearings in the hinterland of Punjab. It is 1946 but there isno word from Hari Singh. He has been gone for nearly seven years. Caughtbetween her two feuding brothers, Jasjit and Kirpal, the now twenty-threeyear-old Sammi clings to her husband's memory.India is on the brink of gaining independence from the British. Jasjit worriesthat independence will damage age-old communal bonds and separate himfrom his closest friend, Zulfi Sheikh. Meanwhile Kirpal plans to solidify hissocial standing by forcing Sammi to marry his boyhood friend, the influentialBachan Singh.Will Sammi be forced into a second marriage or will she findthe courage to step out of the narrow alleys of Aliwala in search of a new life?Inspired by true events, The Song of Distant Bulbuls is set in a singularlyturbulent time in world history.The novel poses epic questions: is happinessan elusive goal? Is love the ultimate aim of human life or a means to somethingelse?What does it take to realize who one truly loves and how much?
'Every dog is a storyteller, but dogs do not write... So, once they find out you are awriter, they will want to tell you their stories, ask you to put them down...'In my tongue they say you can never straighten a dog's tail. How much more difficult tostraighten a dog's tales, then? And so I set them down for you in these pages... Only, bewarned: these are the tales of a small dog, recorded. And all dogs are storytellers, and allstorytellers are liars. Believe what you will of them, but believe at your own peril.'Kallu, a mongrel of modest proportions who roams the streets of Gorakhpur,has some stories to tell of his town. But dogs cannot be trusted to speak thetruth, so the narrator of this collection-a web as complicated as the mess ofcables and electric wires suspended over the galis of Gorakhpur-tries to siftfact from fantasy.But what is fact and what fantasy when a jailer escapes his own executionand comes back home riding an elephant, claiming to have been pardoned byQueenVictoria?When the star pickpocket of Gorakhpur is bested by aWhitetourist?When a young man falls in love with a street dog and uses him as aweapon, and a gangster decides to wear an assassin's bullet round his neck?When one Gorakhpuri boy walks all the way to China and comes face toface with Deng Xiaoping, and another is propelled to America by a smuttymagazine?Over a decade after his international bestseller The Storyteller's Tale, and theaward-winning Jimmy, the Terrorist, one of India's most distinctive authorsreturns to fiction with a funny, quirky, unputdownable chain of stories aboutthe heroes, villains and oddballs of Gorakhpur, the legendary small town-asfamous as it is notorious-in the heart of India.
Thirteen-year-old Maya is training to be a Halvard-someone who protectsthe Sands of Time, which keep the worlds of Olaman and Amrozan in balance.Battling intrigue and conspiracy, she comes face to face with the Warriors ofthe Shadows, who want to gain control over the Sands, and hence controltime itself. For that, they need the Key, and in a strange twist of fate, Maya isthe one who has it.With time running out, Maya must figure out who is a Warrior and who afriend. Her own abilities are increasing every day, but is that because sheis prophesied to be an agent of the Warriors? How can Maya control herstrength? Can Noah, her Watcher, protect her at all costs-even from herself?And what of her friend Yazid, now a prisoner of the Warriors? Will he have todie to save the worlds?As exciting and pulsating with action as Book One,The Prophecy, this sequelhurtles along till it culminates in a thrilling climax. And at its core is Maya, aprotagonist like none other-strong, brave, curious.
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