Cambridge-educated Sir Saraswati Chandra Ranbakshi is a towering public figure in early twentieth century India. A firm believer in the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, he also has faith in the virtues of the British Raj. As a result, he has to mediate between the Maharaja of a princely state and the Viceroy and strike a fine balance between tradition and modernity. This tussle between old and new values is reflected in his three children, the daredevil Maneka, the timid Sita, and their brother, Yogendra, who turns their father’s world upside down by falling in love with a lower-caste girl.
A comedy of manners laced with intrigue and excitement, The Tailor’s Needle explores some of the great moral dilemmas of pre-independent India with wit and sensitivity.
Archives: Books
Return To Bhanupur
‘It is the first duty of kingship to be as the people wish to see me.’
This fictional account of events in the court of the princely state of Bhanupur, a hundred years ago, is a tale of intrigue, politics and image-building. What was going through the mind of Maharaja Amar Singh II in the key moments of his reign? How much did he rely on the advice of his clever prime minister Chatterjee, the wily Bengali? How did he solve sensitive issues like undertaking a voyage across the seas to attend the coronation ceremony of the British king, without polluting his caste? And what were his relations with the British—especially with Dr Constable and the architect Colonel Talbot, employed by his court? As the narrative moves towards its tragic conclusion, the characters’ innermost convictions are laid bare
The Nowhere Man
Srinivas, an elderly Brahmin, has been living in a south London suburb for thirty years. After the death of his son, and later of his wife, this lonely man is befriended by an englishwoman in her sixties, whom he takes into his home. The two form a deep and abiding relationship. But the haven they have created for themselves proves to be a fragile one. Racist violence enters their world and Srinivas’s life changes irrevocably—as does his dream of England as a country of tolerance and equality.
Kamala Markandaya was one of India’s most politically acute and prescient novelists. In this troubling and compassionate story, originally published in 1973, she foreshadows many of the issues of diaspora and race that we face in today’s world.
Dance Of Death
Three stories-one of a demi-god, a Swamiji on trial for murdering his followers, the other, of a young law graduate, racked by nightmares and Fits, and that of a judge whose entire family is threatened because he is presiding on the Swami’s case-come together in strange ways… …and raise a few questions:
Where is the Swami’s wife, the only witness to the case? Why does the young man not respond to treatment? Why does every judge die or leave soon after he takes up the Swamiji’s case?
The mystery slowly begins to unravel as the story progresses and out tumbles a shocking tale of horror, black magic and hypnotism…
Leela
Leela Naidu was listed as one of the five most beautiful women in the world by Vogue magazine. But she was much more than that. She was the fine-boned, haunting face in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anuradha, in Merchant-Ivory’s The Householder and in Shyam Benegal’s Trikaal. She was the woman who refused to sign Raj Kapoor’s films four times, and the actor who asked for a script long before the phrase ‘bound script’ became Bollywood cliché. Jean Renoir taught her acting and Salvador Dali used her as a model for a Madonna. Leela was married, the mother of twins and divorced before she was twenty. Later, she was Dom Moraes’s muse, his unpaid secretary, his best friend and, when he was interviewing Indira Gandhi, his translator (interpreting ‘his mumbling questions’). Through this time she also edited magazines and dubbed Hong Kong action movies, was Kumar Shahani’s first producer, and when JRD Tata wanted a film on how to use the washroom on a plane, she made it for him. A Patchwork Life is a memoir that is charming, idiosyncratic and a window to a world of Chopin, red elephants, lampshades made of human skin, moss gardens and much more: a world where a naked Russian count turns up in a French garden, plush hotels offer porcupine quills as toothpicks and an assistant director sends his female lead an inflatable rubber bra. Leela’s life was about ‘staying in the moment’. Everyone who met her has a Leela Naidu story. This is her version
Achieve Your Highest Potential
We all have an underlying desire to achieve more than what we already have, but something stops us from moving forward. We’ve all looked at more successful, happier people than us, and wondered what we are doing wrong.
• Why is it that we feel unable to progress any further?
• What is that always stops us from being the best that we can be?
Written by a columnist and lifestyle coach, Chitra Jha, Achieve Your Highest Potential, is a step by step guide to set you on your personal growth plan. It will help you to break all the barriers and be the success you should be
The Roots Of Vedanta
Difficult Pleasures
A solitary economist drives across Europe to try and redeem a tragedy; a boy fervently hopes his father will not miss his appearance in a school play; a girl sits alone in a deck chair in Goa, frightened by what she has done; a village boy leaves school for the bright lights of bangalore; a man tries to stop time. Wry, tender, borderline surreal, Difficult Pleasures is a collection of stories about the need to escape and the longing to belong. Accomplished, ambitious and full of surprises, this is a masterful collection and it confirms anjum Hasan’s reputation as one of India’s most gifted young writers.
The Terrorist
When you are trained to endure the harshest of climates, the most hostile of situations, to survive where no ordinary man can – there’s little difference between you and the terrorist you are trying to kill. Little, except which side you are on. Suvir and Murad – both victims of circumstance, both numb with the pain of haivng lost their loved ones – choose to do things differently. While one becomes the most feared of terrorist, the other joins the Special forces. Their face-off is a flight to death as one is out to carry out a major terrorist operation in Delhi and the other has been specially called in to foil the attack… Moving breathlessly, through rugged terrain, this edgy thriller will not let you rest till the very last page!
Meddling Mooli And The Bluelegged Alien
Murali Krishnan aka Mooli: a boy whose meddling ways get him into trouble all the time.
Supriya George aka Soups: a girl who loves reading and has plenty of smart ideas.
They are best friends on a mission.
To win a prize on the website WAYOUTS
[World’s As Yet Original Untried Tricks and Stunts]
So they try out many untried tricks and stunts. And mess up the house. And trouble their parents. And create ruckus in their neighbourhood.
But do they eventually win the prize?
Pick up this easy- to- read book and find out how Meddling Moolie and Soups ‘shoot’ a neighbour, discover a blue-legged alien and have some awesome, super cool adventures.