Of the seven books that comprise the Valmiki Ramayana, the Uttara Kanda is the final and perhaps the most problematic: Rama banishes his beloved Sita into the forest; Rama kills Shambuka, a low caste man practising austerities that are above his station; Rama is reunited with his sons during a sacrifice at which he loses his wife forever; Rama watches over the death of his devoted brother Lakshmana who knowingly submits to a curse that will take his life.
In Uttara, Arshia Sattar exquisitely captures the heady delights of the original text in all its sensuous, colourful detail-frenzied battles, simmering intrigue, lustful demons and the final and tragic act in Rama and Sita’s love story. But the Uttara Kanda raises more questions than it answers, and Sattar’s accompanying essays skillfully explore the shattering consequences of Rama’s actions even as they unravel the complex moral universe of the Ramayana.
In When Darkness Falls and Other Stories, Ruskin Bond displays all the qualities of a master storyteller: a deceptively effortless style, an eye for the extraordinary in seemingly humdrum lives, and a deep empathy with his characters. We make the acquaintance of Markham, a war veteran condemned to a lifetime of loneliness by a tragic accident; Susanna, the merry widow who loved each of her seven husbands to death; the sad wife who returns after her death only to find that her husband has moved on to another life and another wife; a simpleton who outwits a crafty ghost; and Kundan Lal, the reckless rake whom women find irresistible. We also go down memory lane with the author, Dehradun of the 1940s and ’50s, where there was space for the small errors of young and eccentric lives.
Humorous, sad and nostalgic, the stories in the collection are a treat for all Ruskin Bond fans.
Ruskin bond once famously remarked that while he does not believe in ghosts, he sees them all the time – in the woods, in a bar, in a crowd outside a cinema. Not surprising, then, that in his stories ghosts, jinns, witches – and the occasional monster – ae as real as the people he writes about. He makes the supernatural appear entirely natural, and therefore harder to ignore. This collection brings together all of Ruskin Bond’s tales of the paranormal written over five decades. It opens with perhaps his best-known story, the unforgettable, Á face in the dark’, set in a pine forest outside Simla, and ends with the shockingly macabre ‘Night of the Millennium’, where the scene of the action is an abondoned cemetery. In between are tales featuring monkeys and a pack of dogs come back from the dead, an elderly lady who is a witch after dark, a schoolboy riding his bicycle up and down the country road where he was killed, and Kipling’s ghost in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. comprising twenty-eight classic stories that range from the chilling to the whimsical for the supernatural has its funny side too, a face in the dark and other hauntings is the perfect collection to have by your bedside when the moon is up.
Guru Nanak was deeply spiritual from an early age, having being born into a society caught in the throes of orthodoxy and ritualism. The ills of child marriage, infanticide and a rigid caste system had further crippled his people. The outpouring of Nanak’s faith evolved into the universal message of the omnipresence and existence of one God, of true love, equality and compassion, which appealed to Hindus and Muslims alike.
Drawing upon the various myths and legends contained in anecdotal biographies and placing them in as precise a historical framework as possible, The Book of Nanak traces the chronology of the main events of Nanak’s life. It sheds new light on Guru Nanak’s message and includes translations of some of his hymns, which continue to inspire people the world over.
‘I was born ugly. That’s what my mother always said.’
So begins the story of young Sonny Mahadewala who leads a dual life: between his adoptive England where he cohabits with a privileged American; and the mixed blessings of Mahadewala Walauwa – the big house on the mountain belonging to his father’s people in Kandy, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka-where a troubled existence has earned him both honour and shame. For Sonny’s mother, a wonderfully maleficent anti-heroine, is convinced that demons possess this ugly son of hers. Demons and the devil himself circumscribe the playing field of this book, whether seated in the draughty chapels of Oxford or roaming the Kandyan countryside, and through their clever interplay they speak of larger horrors with able grace.
For who in this world is utterly good or utterly evil-and who, indeed, is the devil?
Teenage years are the most difficult and puzzling years for both the teenager and his or her parent. This is when children begin to develop their own identity, seek individualism and veer away from their parents. They can be rebellious, defy norms and traditions, and stay cooped up in their rooms for days on end. Everything the parent says is anathema to them. So, whether you are a parent or a teenager, how do you deal with this turbulent and challenging phase?
In Drama Teen, Lina Ashar explores concepts from both sides of the fence. Helicopter parenting, parent-teen conflicts and ways to resolve them, and the habits that lead to a successful life are among the topics discussed here. She also explores ways to minimize the pain and trauma the ‘drama-teen’ phase can cause both to the teens and their parents. Packed with practical advice, tips, what-not-to-dos, and activities, Ashar expertly guides you to keep your cool through those complicated years.
It is said that the musk deer searches all its life for the scent that emanates from it. Similarly, we humans look everywhere for peace and happiness but fail to look within ourselves.
Through The Musk Syndrome, Ruzbeh N. Bharucha, one of the best known spiritual writers of our times, makes this very simple but profound point. In his anecdotal style, often taking instances from his own life, Ruzbeh demonstrates the strength of our thoughts and actions; our beliefs and practices; and the power of the mind and spirit that we often fail to understand.
His approach is not of a Master but of a friend gently nudging you to understand what might be going wrong in your current attitude to life and the people around you.
The Musk Syndrome encapsulates the wisdom of life.
At the start of the new millennium, Aftab’s life came undone. He turned forty, and his wife of fourteen years left him for another man, taking their only child with her. Now he is on a train to Dehradun, the town of his childhood, doing the one thing he feels he is still good at: running away. As he looks back on his imperfect past, crowded with personal and professional compromises, only a slim hope saves him from despair: perhaps this flight will give him a second chance to reclaim a long-lost love that could have been his, had he the courage of his convictions. And then he can start afresh. With uncommon sensitivity and a rare understanding of human emotions, Navtej Sarna has produced a poignant account of a life of missed opportunities and approximate loves.
Reports announcing the death of the book are now rife, but the continued relevance of the ten master writers discussed in this volume is proof to the contrary.
Here we come across the dissident Czech writer Václav Havel, who later became the nation’s president; the South African Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer, with her pronounced anti-apartheid novels; the Chilean-American Isabel Allende, ‘the world’s most widely read Spanish author’; and Günter Grass, hailed as the ‘literary spokesman of his generation’. We also meet Graham Greene and Milan Kundera alongside the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz, who, in his quiet way, ridiculed Islamic fundamentalism. The book is rounded off with three remarkable Latin American writers: Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz and Gabriel García Márquez.
Of Love and Other Sorrows takes the reader on a fascinating journey in the company of some of the biggest names in modern literature. This illuminating study of their lives and works will seduce readers to rediscover these masters for themselves.
‘I was a common man and a common man isn’t allowed to dream big . . . but then, there are those rare moments when one of these ill-fated lives manages to rise from mediocrity like a phoenix from the ashes’
His formative years were nothing but full of turbulence. From leaving his schooling to working as a daily-wage labourer, Dalip Singh Rana had seen it all at a very young age. He was often the subject of ridicule and was poked fun at due to his enormous girth.
However, even under such harsh circumstances, a determined Dalip relentlessly pursued his goal of wrestling for India. Such was his passion that he did what no Indian had done so far – enter the internationally acclaimed WWE arena!
My Fight with Destiny is the story of a man who not only triumphed over wrestling superstars like The Undertaker and went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship but also of a man who conquered his inner demons and physical anomalies.
An inspirational, emotional and no-holds-barred account of a life less ordinary-of a village simpleton who went on to become an international icon.
This is the story of how Dalip Singh Rana turned into THE GREAT KHALI!
