Karsan Dargawalla has always known that he will succeed his father as guardian of a Sufi shrine and an earthly avatar of the thirteenth-century mystic, Pir Bawa—but all he desires is to be “ordinary,” and play first-class cricket. When he goes away to study in the United States, he discovers an exhilarating freedom and rejects his inheritance; his life experiences however ultimately draw him back to his spiritual heritage. He returns to India to find a communally torn Gujarat, a despoiled shrine, and a fugitive brother.
With its grand historical sweep and intense personal drama, this superbly crafted novel tells a powerful story of one man’s struggle to balance life and faith.
Archives: Books
The Silent House
Each summer three siblings visit their bitter grandmother in her dreary seaside home. Faruk, the eldest, is alcoholic, divorced and a drift. Metin, the youngest, dreams of escaping to America. In between is their sister, Nilgun, a fiery revolutionary, hurtling towards womanhood. Over the week, the family face first love, old ghosts and childhood memories. Watching them is the dwarf house keeper Recep, who has stories of his own.
Tiger Warrior
Fateh Singh Rathore devoted the better part of his life to making Ranthambhore National Park a safe haven for the tiger population to live and grow in. He was intolerant of red tape and led a tireless crusade against poachers. Globally respected for his work, he was unpopular with Indian forest officials whenever he sought to point out anything that went wrong or the falling tiger numbers. In such cases, the official reaction was always denial—in other national parks such as Sariska or Panna, this kind of denial has led to a near wipeout of the entire tiger population.
Fateh survived a bid on his life, fought stiff resistance from a powerful lobby of bureaucrats, and was even barred entry into his beloved national park, all because he would not give up his fight to save the tigers. Yet, against all odds, he remained an eminently upright man, admired by Rajiv Gandhi, Bill Clinton, Amitabh Bachchan, and wildlife activists like Valmik Thapar. Deeply loyal to his friends, Fateh remained an unconventional family man, a gifted amateur actor and a lover of the good life. Soonoo Taraporewala’s insightful biography, based on her years of association with this indomitable ‘tiger warrior’, not only brings alive Fateh Singh Rathore’s extraordinary legacy but also opens up wider questions about wildlife conservation in India.
The Magic Of Saida
Descendant of an African slave and a Gujarati trader, Kamal Punja grew up in the ancient town of Kilwa, on the coast of East Africa. Kamal, who never knew his father, is given away by his mother to better his prospects. Years later, after a flourishing career as a doctor in Canada, he returns in search of Saida, his childhood sweetheart. But where is Saida, and why are his efforts to find her being thwarted? Feverish, delirious, and perhaps delusional, Kamal is haunted by the past as he struggles to trace the woman he thinks he betrayed. Along the way, he must face the truth of his mixed lineage and be accountable for a chain of events he had unwittingly set off.
Set in the vivid world where Africa, Arabia and India meet, where history, poetry and magic combine, The Magic of Saida is a haunting story of enduring love and lost childhood.
The Insider’s View
In this illuminating memoir Javid Chowdhury shares his varied experiences over four decades in the IAS: the years in training when he imbibed the service’s ethos and values; his initiation into the rural universe as the District Development Officer and the District Magistrate; and further on, to his handling of the infamous Bank Securities and Jain Hawala scams as Director of Enforcement and Union Revenue Secretary.
With a light pen, Chowdhury describes the changing social profile and attitudes of entrants to the higher civil services; the nepotism, in many garbs, that he encountered as Establishment Officer; and the stranger-than-fiction tortuous investigations of crimes. He also offers his nuanced reflections on the dubious legacy Gujarat acquired as a result of the communal carnage in 2002.
Chowdhury further examines how policymaking within government came to be whittled away under the neo-liberal theology, with key scrutiny being left to external expert think tanks and ad hoc groups. As a consequence, he perceives that public accountability came to be inordinately diffused, resulting in the roller-coaster governance that we witness today.
Sharp and insightful, replete with telling anecdotes and amusing sketches of icons, colleagues and ministers, The Insider’s View is a compelling portrait of the author, a self-confessed welfare socialist, besides being an X-ray of the innards of the bureaucracy.
Let’s Go Time Travelling
Was king Ashoka fond of chewing paan?
Mulligatawny was a soup, but what was pish-pash?
Did they design jewellery in Harappa?Who played pachisi, chaupar and lam turki?
Find the answers to all these weird, impossible question in this fascinating book about how people lived in the past. Go time travelling through the alleys of history and take a tour through the various ages-from Harappa to the Mauryan, Mughal to the British. Through short snapshots and wacky trivia, this book gives you a glimpse into the vibrant culture of India, as you learn about the life and times of kings, queens, viceroys and even ordinary children!
Spend a day with Urpi as she tries selling pottery in exchange for a few beads at Mohen-jo-daro; step back into King Ashoka’s kingdom where Madhura prepares to be a warrior; watch Adil harbour hopes of becoming a khansama in British India.
In Search Of Oneness
The Story That Must Not Be Told
Simon Jesukumar, an ageing widower in Chennai, passionately aspires to do something worthwhile with what remains of his life. Dominated by his wife during their otherwise happy married life, he struggles to break free from the haunting memories of the iron hand with which she led him. His aspirations are stirred by his nagging guilt about the slum, optimistically called Sitara, next door. As the story plunges into the heart of the slum, it brings together the most unlikely characters. Simon begins to understand why good intentions and small acts of mercy are no answer to the problems of a section of humanity he never knew.
Simon’s dilemma is ours: How can, or how should, the well-off help the poor?
Coming from one of the finest chroniclers of modern Indian life, The Story That Must Not be Told holds up a mirror to a moving, unseen, and deeply unsettling reality.
The Naive And The Sentimental Novelist
What happens within us when we read a novel? And how does a novel create its unique effects, so distinct from those of a painting, a film, or a poem?
In this fascinating set of essays, based on the talks he delivered at Harvard University as part of the distinguished Norton Lecture series, Pamuk presents a masterful theory of the novel. Drawing on Friedrich Schiller’s famous distinction between ‘naïve’ writers-those who write spontaneously-and ‘sentimental’ writers-those who are reflective and aware-Pamuk reveals two unique ways of processing and composing the written word. He takes us through his own literary journey and looks at the works of writers such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Stendhal, Flaubert, Proust, Mann, and Naipaul to describe the singular experience of reading. Unique, nuanced, and passionate, this book will be beloved by readers and writers alike.
Rebels in Rajasthan
Let the Magic Flying Jharokha take you to distant lands and nail-biting adventures! But first; solve this clue—
Desert bare
Maiden fair;
Lock of hair
Vayu and Deeya’s Uncle Jadoo has been kidnapped by an evil djinn. Now they need to locate the seven keys that will free him. But the djinn has hidden the keys in secret places all over India. Helping the children is a magic window frame; or jharokha; that can take them anywhere they want to go! With Uncle Jadoo’s clue in hand; and Jhoky; the boy from the Jharokha by their side; Vayu and Deeya land up in the deserts of Rajasthan; where they not only need to find the key; but also save a princess in distress!