Asian Paints is India’s largest paints company and its early history is hardly known; even less is known about how Champaklal Choksey and his friends made Asian Paints the largest paints company in India as far back as 1967. There are many lessons that are relevant even today – from investing in high quality talent to separating management and ownership. Most importantly, there are very few books that show how honest businessmen can – and should – build large-scale institutions that endure beyond their lifetime, just as Champaklal Choksey has done. This book tells the story of an iconic institution and its less-known but visionary founder.
Archives: Books
Lessons in Chemistry (Special HB edition with Sprayed Edges)
* The multi-million-copy bestseller *
* THE NEW YORK TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *
* STREAM ON APPLE TV+ *
Your ability to change everything – including yourself – starts here
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
__________
A Book of the Year for:
Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home, Stylist, TLS Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, India Knight, Hay Festival, Waterstones, Amazon, Books are My Bag and many more
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award
Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
As read on BBC Radio Four
A BBC TV ‘Between the Covers’ pick
Hay Festival Book of the Year
Winner of the Books are My Bag Reader’s Choice Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award
Shortlisted for the HWA Crown Award
This Our Paradise
Srinagar, 1986. A Kashmiri Pandit family has just moved into their new home. The patriarch Papaji is a clerk in a food cooperative and his wife Byenji is a homemaker. The narrator is their eight-year-old grandson who spends his days playing cricket and climbing the tang kul in the garden. Everything is rosy till 1989. But then, propelled by ISI and the Jamaat, a secessionist movement rises and changes everything.
Lolab valley, 1968. After years of prayers, a boy named Shahid is born to Zun and her husband. He grows up in a society where corruption and unemployment are rife. The trajectory of his life changes when he meets Syed Sahab — an Islamic theologian and rabble-rouser, who wants to overthrow the Indian state.
The stories of both families intertwine tragically. In both cases, the boys are at the mercy of forces much larger than them. Both lose their Kashmir, in different ways.
From Waris to Heer
I am the story of the perennial lovers, Ranjha and Heer.
I am the story of Waris Shah, of Bulleh Shah’s dhammal, the rise of the Sikh misl and the fall of the Mughal Empire.
I am a story told in two parts, in two different narrative styles.
On the one hand, I am the story of a young Waris, displaced from his home and his journey to Kasur, Pakpattan and Malka Hans, where he finally composed this most iconic love legend of Punjab.
On the other hand, I am the story of Heer and Ranjha, being written by Waris Shah.
Throughout the novel, I flow between these two narratives, these two worlds—of eighteenth-century Punjab and a timeless Punjab.
Being Hindu, Being Indian
In popular imagination, Lala Lajpat Rai is frequently associated with Bhagat Singh, who, by assassinating J.P. Saunders, avenged Rai’s death, caused by a police lathi charge, and was hanged for it. Lajpat Rai is also remembered for his fervent opposition to British rule.
In recent decades, however, historians have converged with the Hindu Right in rediscovering Lajpat Rai as an ideological ancestor of Hindutva. But what then explains Rai’s wholehearted approval of Congress–Muslim League cooperation, and attempt to endow Hindus and Muslims with bonds of common belonging? Why did he reinterpret India’s medieval history to highlight peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims? Have our hasty conclusions about Lajpat Rai’s nationalist thought concealed its complexities and distorted our understanding of nationalism in general?
Meticulously researched and eloquently written, Being Hindu, Being Indian offers the first comprehensive examination of Lajpat Rai’s nationalist thought. By revealing the complexities of Rai’s thinking, it provokes us to think more deeply about broader questions relevant to present-day politics: Are all expressions of ‘Hindu nationalism’ the same as Hindutva? What are the similarities and differences between ‘Hindu’ and ‘Indian’ nationalism? Can communalism and secularism be expressed together? How should we understand fluidity in politics? This book invites readers to treat Lajpat Rai’s ideas as a gateway to think more deeply about history, politics, religious identity and nationhood.
Make Epic Money (Hindi)/Make Epic Money/मेक एपिक मनी
अपनी अभूतपूर्व किताब डू एपिक शिट में अंकुर वारिकू ने यह धमाकेदार सचाई लिखी थी : ‘समय, पैसा और हम ख़ुद–इन तीन चीज़ों के साथ हमारा रिश्ता जैसा होता है, हमारी ज़िंदगी भी वैसी ही होती हैअब, अपनी तीसरी किताब मेक एपिक मनी में उन्होंने पैसे को अपना विषय बनाया है।
लगभग पूरी ज़िंदगी पैसों के साथ वारिकू का रिश्ता बेहद गड़बड़ रहा। ऐसा इसलिए कि उन्हें कभी पैसों के बारे में कुछ सिखाया ही नहीं गया। उन्हें सिर्फ़ एक ही बात सिखाई गई थी कि अपनी आजीविका कैसे कमाई जासो, उन्होंने अपने ‘नौजवान मैं’—और वैसे अन्य नौजवानों—के लिए एक किताब लिखनी शुरू की, जिसमें उन्होंने हर वह चीज़ शेयर की है, जो वह चाहते थे कि काश, उनकी युवावस्था में उन्हें सिखाई जाती!व्यावहारिक।
कोई तकनीकी शब्दजाल नहीं।
पढ़ने में आसान।जितना काम आप पैसों के लिए करते हैं, जानिए कि आपका पैसा आपके लिए उतना काम कैसे कर सकता है।
ए।
।’
Under the Bakul Tree
When Ashim, the bright, cheerful class topper and the ‘jewel’ of Mahendra master, suddenly drops out of school, everyone is surprised. His classmate and academic rival, Nirmal, is deeply troubled by Ashim’s behaviour and decides to investigate.
As Nirmal discovers more about Ashim’s circumstances, a friendship as pure as the bakul flower blooms that stands its ground against the harsh realities of growing up in rural Assam.
A heartwarming coming-of-age tale, the book celebrates friendship, hope and determination as it unravels the devastating effects of poverty and of an education system that has failed the ones who need it the most—the misfits and outcasts.
Translated for the first time from the Assamese, Under the Bakul Tree is one of the finest young adult novels from India and is an invaluable addition to India’s rich literary landscape.
ACTION
Personal finance made easy for you!
Personal finance is a subject that touches every aspect of our lives, yet it is one that many of us struggle to understand and manage effectively. It is a complex and ever-evolving field that requires constant attention and adaptation. The principles of personal finance are not just about managing money but about creating a better future for yourself and your loved ones. Exploring 100 personal finance principles that will help you make the most of your money, this book brings to light the key principles of personal finance using, what the authors call, the ACTION framework: Assess, Create a plan, Track progress, Invest, Optimize and Navigate.
Talent
How do some Companies Multiply their Market Cap several times over?
Learning to build a high performing talent engine – today’s strategic imperative!
In this book, General Atlantic’s Operating Partner Anish Batlaw and veteran business advisor and New York Times bestselling author Ram Charan, show you how to build and incentivize management teams that can multiply enterprise value several times over in 4-5 years.
No matter how high your company’s growth goal is, you’ll get from here to there by learning from this book’s riveting narrative of the high-stakes personnel decisions and bold actions taken by CEOs, investors, and boards who grew six real—and world-class—companies, ranging from ecommerce startups to major corporations like Johnson & Johnson. Told from both authors’ firsthand vantage point inside each company, and from Batlaw’s active role in shaping their outcomes, TALENT offers a rare inside look at how shareholder value is created when CEOs move with speed and accuracy to get the right leadership teams in place.
How can you be sure that your company can grow its value as much as these six companies did? By learning from the versatile and replicable methodology presented in this book, which has worked effectively across geographies, cultures, and sectors. TALENT is the answer. Now is the time.
Focus on What Matters
Why is it so hard to live well amidst the chaos and noise? While you might think this is a problem of the modern world, it’s a timeless issue.
2000 years ago, the ancient Stoics talked about the exact same challenges we’re facing today, like:
- How can we find inner peace?
- What does it take to be happy?
- Can we become more resilient?
The answers can be found in the philosophy of Stoicism. I’ve used the philosophy since 2014 to change my life and career.
Focus on What Matters is a collection of 70 letters/essays I wrote about different aspects of life, from happiness, wealth, health to relationships and much more.
These letters, inspired by the original works of the Stoic philosopher Seneca, serve as reminders to focus on the right things in our chaotic lives.
The goal of the original “Letters From A Stoic” by Seneca was to share Stoic ideas with his friend, Lucilius, who had hedonistic tendencies and lived a busy life.
Focus on What Matters is inspired by those letters. It will show you..
- Simple thought exercises to become resilient and focused
- How to live in the present moment every day
- Authentic Stoic values for a life of happiness
- A way to build more discipline
In short, this book helps you to live well despite the challenges of daily life.