India’s first ever sff (science fiction/fantasy) genre novel in English
The Simoqin Prophecies marks the debut of an assured new voice. Written with consummate ease and brimming with wit and allusion, it is at once classic sff and subtle spoof, featuring scantily clad centauresses, flying carpets, pink trolls, belly dancers and homicidal rabbits. Monty Python meets the Ramayana, Alice in Wonderland meets The Lord of the Rings and Robin Hood meets The Arabian Nights in this novel—a breathtaking ride through a world peopled by different races and cultures from mythology and history.
The Prophecies foretell the reawakening of the terrible rakshas, Danh-Gem, and the arrival of a hero to face him. But heroes do not appear magically out of nowhere; they have to be found and trained. And sometimes the makers of prophecies don’t know everything they need to know…
As the day of Danh-Gem’s rising draws closer and the chosen hero is sent on a quest, another young man learns of terrible things he must do in secret and the difficult choices he must make in order to save the world from the rakshas.
Drawn from a variety of sources ranging from Greek and Indian epics to spy novels, fairy tales to superhero comics, The Simoqin Prophecies is a compelling tale, marked by meticulous plotting and artful storytelling—a page-turner sure to grip you from start to finish.
Archives: Books
It’s A Mom!
Bringing your first-born into the world actually means the birth of a whole new you, says first-time mother and toddler-survivor Shefali Tsabary.
While everyone fusses over the little bundle, you’re going to have to overcome the feeling of your life being taken over and turned on its head (while your body has been transformed into something just as unrecognizable). You’ll have to learn to take pleasure in being a mother through the utter helplessness of the initial days, the extreme fatigue resulting from sleepless nights, and the overwhelming responsibility of shaping another life.
It’s a Mom! gives you invaluable advice on how to handle your baby and yourself in every imaginable situation. From feeding and burping and establishing sleeping patterns to tackling your toddler’s tantrums, this book outlines effective techniques that will make bonding with your baby a pleasure. And it gives you the crucial tip that your ever-eager-to-advise relatives forgot to mention: you have a life beyond your baby-and a body and mind, and spouse to reconnect with.
Scarred
Did it really start with the burning of a train?
Scarred: Experiments with Violence in Gujarat asserts the existence of a much larger politics of violence, and tells the story of a disaster in Hindutva’s laboratory which etched deep faults in Gujarat’s social landscape.
While capturing the predicament of the Sabarmati Express survivors, Scarred is an intense, moving portrait of refugees whose lives have been changed forever by the violence that followed. It tells the story of people fighting for justice amidst fear and turmoil, unable to return home. It is also an insightful look into the minds of the perpetrators of this violence, and the PBI – World they seek to construct—a PBI – World where the ghettoization and socio-economic boycott of Muslims have become the norm.
What exactly happened in Gujarat in February 2002? Why did the country’s political leaders fiddle while Gandhi’s Gujarat burned? In this honest and thought-provoking book, Dionne Bunsha tries to answer these and many of the questions that we are still left with.
In Search Of The Prophet
When Salek sets out to find out about the Prophet of Islam, he has no idea what awaits him— Why did his father leave him to follow a man he did not know? On his journey to seek the answer to this question and to know more about Muhammad, Salek meets many strangers on the way. Strangers who embrace him and tell him stories about the Muhammad they love and have faith in. Through their stories, Salek gets to know and love the man who valued truth, equality, kindness, and justice above all. This is an unusual collection of stories about the life of Prophet Muhammad— about the harsh deserts that were his home, the battles he fought, the choices he was faced with, and the path he chose. Seen through the eyes of a young boy, these tales of faith and discovery make for gripping reading.
The Way Home
The Way Home” brings together in one volume fourteen stories representing the very best of contemporary Bengali short fiction. Showcasing some of Bengal’s finest writers at their creative best – Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay and Rajshekhar Basu, Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay and Ashapurna Devi – these stories deal with a myriad human themes that are at once individual and universal. From “The Brahmin”, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay’s treatise on greed, gluttony and tragic human experience, to “The Fugitive and the Stalkers”, Sunil Gangopadhyay’s trenchant tale of violence and retribution set in the days of the Naxal movement in Bengal; from Samaresh Basu’s harrowing look at poverty and its degrading effect in “The Crossing” to Narendranath Mitra’s lyrical take on the impact of triple talaq on Muslim women in “Sap”, the collection evokes different lifestyles, while reflecting problems and issues with which we can all identify.
Six Acres And A Third
This sly and humorous novel by Fakir Mohan Senapati—one of the pioneering spirits of modern Indian literature and an early activist in the fight against the destruction of native Indian languages—is both a literary work and a historical document. Set in Orissa in the 1830s, Six Acres and a Third provides a unique ‘view from below’ of Indian village life under colonial rule.
This graceful translation faithfully conveys the rare and compelling account of how the more unsavory aspects of colonialism affected life in rural India.
A Bowstring winter
It was the code of friendship. Like a bowstring: tight. Like an arrow: straight.’
When John Dkhar arrives at Kaizang restaurant, Shillong, one cold November evening, he has no premonition that his life is about to change forever. A loner by nature, and the very epitome of culture and refinement, John comes across people he will soon be involved with in a deadly game of passion and hatred, trust and treachery: James Kharlukhi, tough and uncompromising, a leader born with a lust for danger; Jennifer d’Santos, companion to James, whose love for John can only lead to tragedy; Charlie, aloof, enigmatic, and cursed with an ugly face which might prove to be his undoing; and Dor Kharkongor, ace archer, the spirit of the hills, caught between single-minded loyalty to James and paternal affection for John.
Set against the lush landscape of ShiIlong, Dhruba Hazarika’s tale of revenge and violence brilliantly evokes the sights and smells of North-East India while narrating a dynamic tale which addresses the universal themes of friendship, loyalty and the inherent loneliness of man.
Ideology & Social Science
One of the pioneers of sociological studies in India, Professor Andre Beteille has, over the past four decades, contributed a series of topical and stimulating articles to various newspapers. Some of these articles were collected in the book Chronicles of Our time, published a few years ago. Ideology and Social Science is a new and riveting collection of Professor Beteille’s writings on Indian society, politics and culture.
The fifty articles in this book cover a very wide range of subjects: from the practice of sociology to the prospects of political liberalism, from contemporary debates about caste ad caste quotas to old and still persisting myths about what is said to constitute the essence of Indian culture. Beteille’s ambit includes the relevant and important themes of secularism, diversity and unity in cultures, the culture of tolerance, discrimination at work, value systems in the changing Indian family, and caste practices in village communities.
Steering clear of passing intellectual trends as well as partisan politics, Beteille reaches his conclusions based on a careful examination of the evidence, not on a search for facts that fit a preconceived theory. Through his writings, he makes a cogent and passionate appeal to separate sociological theory from the frameworks of social activism.
For students of sociology as well as the general reader, this is a book that will stimulate thought and generate interest in social and political issues that are at the core of India’s modernity and tradition.
Byomkesh Bakshi (1)
Byomkesh Bakshi’s appeal as the self-styled inquisitor, a detective not by profession but by passion, found him a dedicated following among generations of readers. This collection of stories, all set in Kolkata of the 1950s and 1960s, brings together four mysteries that put the sleuth’s remarkable mental agility to the ultimate test. In ‘the Menagerie’ (adapted by master film-maker Satyajit Ray for his 1967 film Chiriakhana) Byomkesh cracks a strange case involving broken motor parts, a seemingly natural death and the peculiar inhabitants of Golap Colony who seem capable of doing just about anything to safeguard the secrets of their tainted pasts. In ‘the Jewel Case’ he investigates the mysterious disappearance of a priceless necklace, while in ‘the Will That Vanished’ he solves a baffling riddle to fulfil the last wish of a close friend. And, in ‘the Quills of the Porcupine’, the shrewd detective is in his element as he expertly foils the sinister plans of a ruthless opportunist. Sreejata Guha’s translation captures brilliantly the thrill and ingenuity of Byomkesh’s exploits just as it does Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s remarkable portrayal of a city struggling to overcome its colonial past and come into its own.
Collected Poems, 1970 – 2005
Keki Daruwalla Established Himself As A Name To Reckon With In Indian Poetry With The Publication Of His Very First Book, Under Orion (1970). With Nine Published Volumes So Far, Including The Keeper Of The Dead Which Won The Sahitya Akademi Award In 1984, And Landscapes, Which Won The Coveted Commonwealth Poetry Prize For Asia In 1987, He Is Today One Of India&Rsquo;S Foremost Poets. His Poetry, Characterized By A Trademark Vigour And Immediacy Of Language, A Razor-Sharp Tone And Subtle Imagery, Consistently Strikes An Ingenious Balance Between Image And Statement. With His Capacity To Blend A Larger-Than-Life Canvas With An Unfailing Eye For Detail, He Addresses A Remarkable Variety Of Themes In His Poems&Mdash;From The Epic Concerns Of Culture And History, Myth And Religion To The Quotidian Affairs Of Life And Death, Love And Passion.
This Definitive Edition, Testimony To His Prodigious Output And Astonishing Breadth Of Vision, Brings Together Over Three Decades Of Keki Daruwalla&Rsquo;S Work And Also Includes A Whole New Section Of Poems Previously Unpublished.