As he investigates the mysterious disappearance of his wife and a popular newspaper columnist, Celâl, Galip finds himself assuming the enviable Celâl’s identity, wearing his clothes, answering his phone calls, even writing his columns.
With its cascade of beguiling stories about Istanbul, The Black Book is a brilliantly unconventional mystery, and a provocative meditation on identity.
Archives: Books
Raj
A sprawling, extravagant saga, Raj is at heart the story of Maharani Jaya Singh. Spanning nearly half a century, the novel takes in its sweep both Jaya’s coming of age as the ruler of her state, Balmer, as well as the drama of India’s struggle for independence. Powerful, enlightening and compulsively readable, Raj is one of the great historical novels of our time.
The Eighth Ring
This deeply felt memoir, translated from the acclaimed original in Malayalam, chronicles the endeavours of four generations of the Kandathil Varughese Mappillai family that set up the Malayala Manorama, the Travancore National and Quilon Bank and other enterprises. With great candour, K.M. Mathew describes how their fortunes changed when their support to the nationalist State Congress brought upon them the wrath of the Travancore dewan, leading to the bank’s collapse; and how through sheer persistence and diligence they could rebuild the paper and go on to establish huge companies. Mathew also shows that throughout the paper upheld the values of liberalism, credibility and democracy, which it continues to do until today. Featuring some of Kerala’s tallest figures over almost a century, The Eighth Ring is a rich portrait of a remarkable man, his family-clan and their stirring times.
Picky Eaters
Does your child revolt at the mere thought of eating greens? Are you running out of nutritious lunch-box ideas?
Parents today are constantly reminded of the need to give their children healthy, home-cooked meals instead of the fat-, salt- and sugar-laden fare in food courts and restaurants. Yet, busy lifestyles mean that family time is in short supply which makes it hard to balance this need with the practicality of cooking for every family member.
In Picky Eaters, celebrity chef and culinary expert Rakhee Vaswani guides parents and kids on how they can make everyday food fun, exciting and yummy. From delicious, healthy recipes to party-planning and cooking together, this book will tell you how to get your child to eat right. So banish all those mind-boggling questions about what to feed your children—and start cooking!
The Book Of Gold Leaves
Two lovers are destined to meet in the city of Srinagar. Roohi is a beautiful,spirited girl who is haunted by dreams of a mysterious man she believes is hertrue love. Faiz is a young papier mâché artist on the cusp of painting his masterpiece,the Falaknuma. When fate conspires to bring them together on one windsweptevening, both fall irrevocably in love.But it is 1991. Kashmir is simmering with political strife, and it is only a matter of timebefore Srinagar is engulfed in the gathering storm. Before they know it, the city they callhome erupts in violence, threatening everything that the two lovers hold dear.An ageold tale of love, war, duty and choice, The Book of Gold Leaves is as devastatinglyresonant as it is beautifully written.
Being Mortal
Doctors are trained to keep their patients alive as long as possible. But they are never taught how to prepare people to die. And yet for many patients, particularly the old and terminally ill, death is a question of when, not if. Should the medical profession rethink its approach to them? And in what way? With aging populations and hospital costs rising globally, these questions have become increasingly relevant.
In his new book, Atul Gawande argues that an acceptance of mortality must lie at the center of the way we treat the dying. Using his experiences (and missteps) as a surgeon, comparing attitudes toward aging and death in the West and in India and drawing a powerful portrait of his father’s final years-a doctor who chose how he should go-Gawande has produced a work that is not only an extraordinary account of loss but one whose ideas are truly important.
Questioning, profound and deeply moving, Being Mortal is a masterpiece.
And Then One Day
Naseeruddin Shah’s sparkling memoir of his early years, ‘from zero to thirty-two’, spans his extraordinary journey from a feudal hamlet near Meerut to Catholic schools in Nainital and Ajmer, and finally to stage and film stardom in Mumbai. Along the way, he recounts his passages through Aligarh University, the National School of Drama
and the Film and Television Institute of India, where his luck finally began to change.
And Then One Day tells a compelling tale, written with rare honesty and consummate elegance, leavened with tongue-in-cheek humour. There are moving portraits of family members, darkly funny accounts of his schooldays, and vivid cameos of directors and actors he has worked with, among them Ebrahim Alkazi, Shyam Benegal, Girish Karnad, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi.
The accounts of his struggle to earn a living through acting, his experiments with the craft, his love affairs, his early marriage, his successes and failures are narrated with remarkable frankness and objective self-assessment. Brimming with delightful anecdotes as well as poignant, often painful revelations, this book is a tour de force, destined to become a classic of the genre.
Collected Stories
Buried resentments, unexpected disappointments, new friendships, small acts of cruelty, journeys that take you back to where you started. With trademark compassion and tender irony, Anita Desai’s short stories give us familiar worlds made unfamiliar, to wonderful effect.
An ageing couple is stranded in a stultifying Delhi summer by the visit of a roguish old Oxford friend, who trades on his charm; an American woman turns to hippies living in the Indian hills, homesick for the farmlands of Vermont; a dog terrorizes the neighbourhood but is cherished by his stern master; a Delhi girl of slender means finds a new kind of freedom with her young friends, in her barsati home; a peaceful game of hide and seek turns into a nightmare; a businessman sees his own death.
In one masterly volume, for the first time ever, here are Anita Desai’s collected stories —including Diamond Dust and Games at Twilight.
Mission India
Mission India: A Vision For Indian Youth has been written with the intention of challenging the Indian youth to bring about a positive change in the country by 2020. Kalam starts off by telling the readers that there has never been a time in Indian history such as this, where the nation has 540 million youth and 20 million Indians across the globe. He also states that several developed countries have directed their efforts towards setting up research centers across the country, which has benefited scientists, engineers, and professionals from various spheres.
Kalam and Rajan tell the readers about their goal to make India one among the five top economic powers in the world by 2020. In the beginning of this book, Kalam presents the readers with a question as to whether India can become a developed country. He then provides insights into the current situation in the country, and explains that this goal is a realistic one. In the subsequent chapters, Kalam and Rajan begin to examine the five industries that need to become reasonably self-sufficient in the coming years, and each chapter tells the readers what can be done to bring a positive change in each industry.
They also tell the readers about the current education system in the country, and the latest technology that can be used to improve the quality of education. The readers are also given insights into the present healthcare industry and infrastructural system, which are trademarks of a developed nation. Kalam and Rajan conclude by telling every individual and organization about the role they can play in transforming the nation by 2020.
The Fourth IIT
Time is scarce and precious in today’s world and we seek solutions that are quick. While allopathic medicine tends to focus on the management of disease, the ancient study of Ayurveda provides us with holistic knowledge for preventing disease and eliminating its root cause.
Dr Bhaswati Bhattacharya takes you through a day in the life of Ayurvedic living.