‘ . . . a valuable contribution both to the world of scholarship and to the larger public discourse’ – JAIRAM RAMESH
Indus Basin Uninterrupted, with an easy narration and rich archival material, brings alive a meandering journey of peace, conflict and commerce on the Indus basin. The Indus system of rivers, as a powerful symbol of the passage of time, represents not only the interdependence and interpenetration of land and water, but equally the unfolding of political identities, social churning and economic returns. From Alexander’s campaign to Muhammad-bin-Qásim crossing the Indus and laying the foundation of Muslim rule in India; from the foreign invaders and their ‘loot and scoot’ to the Mughal rulers’ perspective on hydrology and water use; from the British ‘great game’ on the Indus basin to the bitter and bloody Partition; and finally, as a historical pause, the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty-this book is a spectrum of spectacular events, turning points, and of personalities and characters and their actions that were full of marvel.
On 5 August 2019, Suhas Munshi was returning to Srinagar from a visit to legendary poet Habba Khatoon’s relic in Gurez, when an unprecedented curfew was imposed upon Jammu and Kashmir, and Article 370 was abrogated. Through his travels and conversations with people across the Valley, Munshi tries to give a sense of what that moment has meant to the common Kashmiri.
This insightful travelogue breaks away from the clichéd view of Kashmir, one that sees it either as an earthly paradise or a living hell. It takes you to unexpected places, into the homes of poets, playwrights and street performers; to a heartwarming Christmas service with the minuscule Christian community in Baramulla; and inside the barricaded city of Srinagar’s football stadium, which is a lively refuge for the elderly and their memories of a glorious past. Over three weeks, for fear of being abandoned in a harsh terrain, Munshi struggles to keep up with a group of Bakarwal nomadic shepherds as they make their way from Srinagar to Jammu over the mighty Pir Panjal mountains. And he finds a lone Pandit family living in a decrepit ghost colony in Shopian, the hub of militancy in Kashmir.
This World below Zero Fahrenheit presents a portrait of a people who’ve been overshadowed by the place they live in, even as it ruminates on the idea of home and exile.
‘The Shudras echoes Dr Ambedkar’s question in Who Were the Shudras? that he asked in 1946. More than 70 years later, Kancha Ilaiah and his team of authors revisit this issue to give Shudras a voice again’ -CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT
The Shudras: Vision for a New Path weaves together multiple dimensions of the predicament of India’s productive castes–in the spiritual, social, political, economic, philosophical and historical spheres. It reformulates their current position as well as future pathways. It strives to provoke Shudras-including regional political party leaders-all over India to realize their unique historical role in fighting unequal caste structures. And it gives a call to resist Hindutva, in which they have no liberated, equal space with the Dwija castes. At a juncture when the Shudra castes are regionalized and the Dwijas have become ‘national’, the fifth volume of the Rethinking India series, in collaboration with the Samruddha Bharat Foundation, seeks to bring home the real picture of their marginalized status in all key structures of the nation. It posits that the emancipation and progress of the Shudras are vital to sustain Ambedkar’s constitutional democracy and move towards socio-spiritual equality.
HEALTHY AND INFORMED COOKING FOR THE INDIAN KITCHEN
Preparing a meal for someone is an act of love, says Charmaine D’Souza, a nutritionist and a writer of many kitchen exploits. In her latest book, The Good Health Always Cookbook, D’Souza, along with her two daughters, Charlyene and Savlyene, offers the reader a peep into her childhood memories and her comfort food. With more than a
hundred recipes using easily available ingredients like jau, ragi and bajra, and local Indian fruits and vegetables, D’Souza gives you ample ideas for dishes that will not only tantalize your taste buds but also provide immense nutritional value. From healthy oatmeal bars to finger millet bread, from amaranth crepes to buckwheat molten cake, from hara channa chaat to spinach brownies, the book infuses a variety of ingredients to reinvent traditional recipes. Anecdotal, easy to follow and packed with useful tips, The Good Health Always Cookbook takes you on a delightful culinary journey.
By turns essay, memoir and cultural study, Finding the Raga is Amit Chaudhuri’s singular account of his discovery of, and enduring passion for, North Indian music: an ancient, evolving tradition whose principles and practices will alter the reader’s notion of what music might – and can – be. Tracing the music’s development, Finding the Raga dwells on its most distinctive and mysterious characteristics: its extraordinary approach to time, language and silence; its embrace of confoundment, and its ethos of evocation over representation. The result is a strange gift of a book, for musicians and music lovers, and for any creative mind in search of diverse and transforming inspiration.
We’ve all killed houseplants. But a plant’s death is a good starting point, because it can help us answer the important question: Why did it die? Equipped with the right knowledge, you can make plants thrive for many years. How Not to Kill Your Houseplants is the first-ever comprehensive guide on how to care for houseplants in the Indian context. In this book, you will learn how to choose the right plants for your space and lifestyle, the right light requirements, when and how to water and fertilize them, the best potting mixes, and how to propagate plants.
With simple and effective advice, and seventy houseplant profiles, accompanied by stunning pictures, plant parenting has never been easier.
Narendra Modi has been a hundred years in the making. Vinay Sitapati’s
Jugalbandi provides this backstory to his current dominance in Indian politics. It
begins with the creation of Hindu nationalism as a response to British-induced
elections in the 1920s, moves on to the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) in 1980, and ends with its first national government, from 1998 to 2004.
And it follows this journey through the entangled lives of its founding jugalbandi:
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.
Over their six-decade-long relationship, Vajpayee and Advani worked as a team
despite differences in personality and beliefs. What kept them together was
fraternal love and professional synergy, of course, but also, above all, an
ideology that stressed on unity. Their partnership explains what the BJP before
Modi was, and why it won.
In supporting roles are a cast of characters-from the warden’s wife who made
room for Vajpayee in her family to the billionaire grandson of Pakistan’s founder
who happened to be a major early funder of the BJP. Based on private papers,
party documents, newspapers and over two hundred interviews, this is a mustread
for those interested in the ideology that now rules India.
A thoughtful and revealing memoir from one of the world’s most
recognizable women, renowned for her bold risk-taking,
multiculturalism, and activism.
“I am a product of traditional India and its ancient wisdom, and modern India and
its urban bustle. My upbringing was always an amalgamation of the two Indias,
and, just as much, of East and West.” Unfinished takes readers from Priyanka’s
childhood in India, where she was raised by her grandparents and her parentstwo
army doctors committed not only to their children but to their careers and to
philanthropy-before being sent away to boarding school at an early age; through
her formative teenage years in the U.S. living with extended family in the
Midwest (Cedar Rapids and Indianapolis), Queens, and suburban Boston, where
she endured bouts of racism; to her return to India, where she unexpectedly won
the national and global beauty pageants (Miss India and Miss World) that
launched her acting career. Readers looking for a glimpse into what it takes to
succeed in the massive Indian film industry will find it here, and they’ll also find
an honest account of the challenges Priyanka faced navigating her career, both
in India and Hollywood. The result is a book that is warm, funny, sassy,
inspiring, bold, and rebellious. Just like Priyanka herself.
From her dual-continent twenty-year-long career as an actor and producer to her
work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, from losing her beloved father to
cancer to marrying Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s story will inspire a
generation around the world to gather their courage, embrace their ambition, and
commit to the hard work of following their dreams.
Vikas Gupta’s business was swindle (thagi) whom he always performed with all success so beautifully. What is his connection with murder? But that connection somehow emerged and silently gripped him when he became a witness of a murder.
By giving the title of Glamor Boy to Sunil, citing bias in his unlikely success, Inspector Prabhudayal demanded an independent investigation of the case. As a result, he had an intriguing, spider-webs-like complex story of double-murder which was the challenge of his creator for him.
