Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, Bangalore, which completes 150 years in 2015, was founded in the memory of Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton (a master at Rugby). The school has transitioned from a Victorian school conceived in Tom Brown’s School Days to one that has sought to keep the public school relevant in modern India. The book encompasses profiles of the people and the times, right from the 1860s, covering spheres as varied as the armed forces, public service, police, education, academia, law, medicine, the arts and the offbeat.
Peppered with extracts from old letters, oral history and archives, the narrative features an eclectic range of prominent personalities, such as Lieutenant William ‘Leefe’ Robinson (the first Victoria Cross in an air operation), General K.S. Thimayya, Admiral V.S. Shekhawat, Dr Raja Ramanna, Lord Colin Cowdrey, Leslie Claudius, Lucky Ali, Sam Balsara, Feroz Khan, Nandan Nilekani, and several others. With chapters dedicated to those martyred in the World Wars as well as linking the journey of the school with the city of Bangalore, The Order of the Crest traces the alumni of Bishop Cotton over this period, profiling those old boys who have accomplished eminence or otherwise
remained unsung, but not without touching others’ lives.
Archives: Books
The Tryst Betrayed:
In The Tryst Betrayed, former Indian foreign secretary Jagat Singh Mehta looks back on an eventful career which began on the day after India’s independence.
In his lucid and informative style Mehta sheds light on Nehru’s prophetic assertion of ideological agnosticism (named ‘Non-Alignment’ in 1946) and its distortion by the accidental overlap of decolonization with the Cold War.
Mehta argues that Nehru was naïve on China, wishful on the Soviet Union and prejudiced against America. The civil servants were hypnotized by what he refers to as the ‘Panditji knows best’ syndrome. He illustrates that Nehru’s bark was no doubt frightening but his bite not vicious.
Pradyumna
The hero must rise from the ashes if he has to. But rise he must.
As the world trembles on the threshold of Kali Yuga-4,32,000 years of unprecedented evil-the Kuru queen Gandhari curses Lord Krishna. ‘Mankind will perish. Your name will be forgotten and so will your Gita!’ she rages.
And, inexplicably, Krishna submits to her decree . . .
Who, then, will save the world from the primordial Kali demon?
Can Vama rise to the challenge in time? He learns that he is Vir Pradyumna, the son of Lord Krishna, who was kidnapped by the asuras.
Destiny chases him from an asura kingdom to Dwaraka and Kurukshetra, forcing him to battle monsters, angry gods, blazing weapons and his own weaknesses.
Pradyumna is a gripping saga of the rise of the mighty, swashbuckling hero whom all of humanity awaits.
Crossed
War is here.
Full-scale war has erupted between the Crusaders and the demons and even Chi has to admit that it isn’t going well. Like any sensible rat, Meda’s eager to abandon the sinking ship but, unfortunately, her friends aren’t nearly as pragmatic. Instead, Meda’s forced to try to keep them all alive until the dust settles.
As the Crusaders take more and more drastic measures, the tables turn and Meda suddenly finds herself in the role of Voice of Sanity. No one is more horrified than she is. When old enemies reappear as new allies and old friends become new enemies Meda has to decide-again-whose side she’s really on.
The Assassin Nuns of Pistachio
When eleven-year-old Ann is sent to live with the famous Assassin Nuns of Pistachio, she expects nothing less than a life of swashbuckling adventures and covert rescue missions. Instead, she meets a group of mild-mannered women who prefer soufflés to sword fighting and haven’t stepped out of their mountaintop abbey in years. After Ann discovers that there’s something very nasty going on in Pistachio, she decides it’s time the nuns lived up to their reputation. Armed with wooden spoons, gardening gloves and a malfunctioning robot broom, can these unlikely heroes save the day?
Become A Junior Inventor
Ever wondered how roller coasters work?
Been fascinated with nuts, bolts, screw drivers, batteries, switches, wires and bulbs?
Get acquainted with these movers and shakers of the world of gadgetry around us . . . and become a Junior Inventor yourself! Put together by Cloud Mentor, a company that guides kids to become budding inventors, this fun book is specifically designed for today’s readers and has tons of activities to keep them happily occupied.
Featuring almost every conceivable topic of interest-from machines, circuits, kitchen innovations to design basics-this incredible book helps children unleash their creativity and innovative best. Learn how to make an automobile run, create your own traffic light at home and explore the science behind your favourite remote-controlled toy.
Work on these supercool DIY experiments and more, discover some amazing facts and experience the magic of science like never before!
Aarushi
It is the murder that haunts India with the simplest of questions: Who did it? A fourteen-year-old girl is killed in her comfortable suburban home along with the family servant under puzzling circumstances. Within weeks, her dentist parents are the prime suspects; within months, they are as good as exonerated; a year and half later, they are on trial. But did they do it? From the controversial police investigation to the media frenzy surrounding the Talwars and the protracted legal battle, every layer of the Aarushi case has mystery and metaphor. Now comes the ultimate retelling of the story. Avirook Sen has followed the court case, examined all the police documents and interviewed key players among investigators, lawyers, family and Aarushi s friends. In Aarushi he draws a superb portrait of the young woman, the aftermath of her death, and tries to answer the biggest question of all. Acute, gripping and brilliantly written Aarushi is a book that will take you into the heart of the murder that has gripped the nation.
Love Not For Sale
Love can happen anywhere, with anyone…
Kabir Thapar is the spoilt son of a rich capitalist in Mumbai. His mother’s sudden death scars him for life, leaving him at loggerheads with his father who finds himself a new wife in no time.
As Kabir embarks on a downward spiral of alcohol and drugs, he, on one ill-fated day, finds himself embroiled in a hit-and-run case. Making a quick escape, Kabir ends up in a red-light area, where he meets Sehar, a sex worker. As he falls head over heels for her, he must own up to the one emotion he has been running away from all his life—love.
From the bestselling author of A Half-baked Love Story comes a story that perfectly weaves together the explosive passion between Kabir and Sehar, the contradictions of ‘modern’ India, and the inevitable tragedy that befalls its lovers.
The Lazy Girl’s Guide To Being Fit
Get smart, get moving!
Most of us want to be fit and healthy, but get stuck in a rut—we just don’t have the will power to get up and move. What is the incentive for you to get off that couch and work out when you have all three seasons of Game of Thrones waiting for you? Almost everyone wants to be fit, but they just can’t muster up the effort to do so. If you are like them, then this book is for you.
The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Being Fit is about the first few steps you need to take to go from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one, because that’s the biggest challenge for a couch potato—movement! It’s all about finding the balance in your life. This book will show you how exercise can take the guise of several daily activities—be it shopping or going on a picnic—and how eating right can solve half your problems. The easy and effective exercise routines contained here will get you fit in no time. The body can be beautiful if you know how to put it to use and have fun doing so. And this is exactly what this book will show you.
CII India Design Yearbook 2014
Showcasing the best in design in India for the year 2014-15
The CII India Design Yearbook 2014 is a medium to communicate the best of design emanating from India in diverse design disciplines. These yearbooks become an international reference for excellent design. Companies, journalists, architects, planners, designers and people all over the world who are interested in design use the yearbooks for their day-to-day work and keep them over the years as collectors’ items and an archive of excellent design.
This is the second instalment of the yearbook, which aims to capture over 200 recent projects in which the companies / design firms have employed agile design thinking, methodology and processes to achieve success for clients, partners and end users.