The watershed of the Ganga, or Ganges, lies in the central Himalayas of Garhwal. Hindu tradition identifies the sources of this river as sacred sites. Every year, millions of pilgrims travel to shrines at Yamnotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Stephen Alter retraces the original Char Dham Yatra on foot, following ancient routes that crossed the mountains before motor roads were built. At the same time, he navigates the mythology and lore of this natural and spiritual realm, where every tributary and confluence is invested with seminal stories.
Archives: Books
Squiggle Gets Stuck
Squiggle’s back this time, in a fun-filled adventure that helps turn muddled sentences into ones that make sense!
Squiggle’s stuck! She’s fallen into a dictionary and can’t escape. The only way out is to create a grammatically correct sentence and use it to jump off the page. She’s even got to rescue a very mixed-up character called Doodle Dude while helping him learn about verbs, nouns, prepositions and more such. Can you help them build a getaway sentence?
This new adventure follows on from Natasha Sharma’s brilliant and highly acclaimed Squiggle Takes a Walk, the best way to figure out the world of punctuation.
The Cauliflower Diet
The cauliflower. An answer to the prayers of every person on the planet who wants to lose weight, cut down on sugar and stay healthy, while not being hungry all the time. Sounds like a pipe dream? It’s not. The cauliflower is one of the best-kept secrets in the dieting community. It is among the most adaptable and versatile veggies that can blend into any kind of cuisine in the world and is an almost-perfect substitute for several types of starch-flour, cereal, pasta, rice and even the potato-for a fraction of the carb count. Besides being low in carbs, the cauliflower is gluten-free and high in nutrients. In The Cauliflower Diet, learn how the amazingly adaptable cauliflower can be used in the preparation of all the things you love: rice, upma, cookies and even pizza! Perfect for all types of weight loss, this humble vegetable will help you shed the kilos in no time.
You Are Not Alone in This
When life takes a difficult turn, will your friends help?
Daksh is a successful author. He has a loving wife, money, status-everything except a child. So when he meets his childhood friend Mahesh and his daughter, he is overjoyed. But his happiness is short-lived-he learns that Mahesh’s follies have thrown his family apart. Daksh wants to help his friend, more so for the sake of his little daughter.
However, soon they are sucked into a racket of cheating, lies and deceit. And things are not as easy to sort as they first thought.
You Are Not Alone in This is the story of the true test of friendship.
A Revolutionary History of Interwar India
Focusing on the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA), A Revolutionary History . . . delivers a fresh perspective on the ambitions, ideologies and practices of this influential organization formed by Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, and inspired by transnational anti-imperial dissent. It is a new interpretation of the activities and political impact of the north Indian revolutionaries who advocated the use of political violence against the British.
Kama Maclean contends that the actions of these revolutionaries had a direct impact on Congress politics and tested its policy of non-violence. In doing so she draws on visual culture studies, demonstrating the efficacy of imagery in constructing-as opposed to merely illustrating-historical narratives. Maclean analyses visual evidence alongside recently declassified government files, memoirs and interviews to elaborate on the complex relationships between the Congress and the HSRA, which were far less antagonistic than is frequently imagined.
Fourteen Years with Boss
Reminiscing of a time long lost, Fourteen Years with Boss gives a delightful insight into the workings of the Gemini Studios of Madras-one of the most influential film-producing organizations in India-and its founder, the brilliant and multifaceted S. S. Vasan.
Filled with vivid sketches of actors, extras, directors and the ‘boss’, Ashokamitran recreates life at the studio so that it materializes in the reader’s mind with the perfect balance of humour and nostalgia.
Still Bleeding from the Wound
A perfect amalgam of irony, wit and wry humour, Still Bleeding from the Wound is a collection of stories from the greatest living Tamil writer. Ashokamitran’s deceptively simple narratives take the reader deep into the poignant struggles waged by ordinary middle-class men and women for survival, dignity, and a hint of moral grace. His nuanced prose is richly diverse in the range of characters and situations they portray, marking him as a master storyteller of our times.
The Ghosts of Meenambakkam
One dark and stormy night, Dalpathado unexpectedly crosses paths with the narrator at Meenambakkam airport. The faceless, middle-aged man from Dalpathado’s past is there mourning the unexpected death of his daughter in a plane crash. After they spend a dangerous night in each other’s company, lashed by rain and reminiscence, neither man remains the same.
Ghosts of Meenamkbakkam is a meditation on the violence that detonates human lives and the idea of love that endures all mayhem, even in death.
Manipal and Beyond
As a young man in the immediate post-Independence era, Ramdas Pai was captivated by the nation-building fervour of the times and the opportunities for enterprise. The old-school entrepreneurs of those days envisioned their endeavours as contributory to nation-building. A fine example of this patriotic mindset was Ramdas’s own father, T.M.A. Pai, who dotted the landscape of the then South Canara district with his educational institutions. Undaunted by sceptical bystanders and numerous obstacles, the elder Pai contrived a community-based, participatory model for the funding and sustainability of these institutions, and then offered them to Morarji Desai, the then prime minister, as a gift to the nation.
As heir to these early accomplishments in private-sector education and healthcare, Ramdas ushered in an era of professionalism, revamping concepts and systems, developing colleges and hospitals into institutions of excellence, and consolidating them into his father’s dream of a university in Manipal. Ramdas leads a committed group of over 20,000 colleagues in seventy institutions, including six universities, in five countries. Bold, pragmatic and upright, Ramdas is the role model for Team Manipal.
This book is more than just the story of an institution builder. It highlights the harsh regulatory environment of education on the one hand, and the temptations of profiteering in a suppliers’ market on the other hand.
Enlightenment: The Only Revolution
According to Osho, amongst the many scriptures, none are comparable to the Gita of Ashtavakra. He says, ‘Before it the Vedas pale, the Upanishads are a mere whisper. Even the Bhagavadgita does not have the majesty found in the Ashtavakra Samhita–it is simply unparalleled.’
Enlightenment: The Only Revolution is the distillation of the teachings of Ashtavakra Samhita. To understand it is to understand the essential elements of life.