Quixotic nonconformists in small towns and young newly-weds trying to keep up with the times; a forlorn retiree helpless in the face of contemporary anger and a middle-class woman’s bond with her maid. Fourteen well-crafted stories give us a sense of the daily life of a wide cast of characters. Hasan’s protagonists are, as always, inward-looking, and whimsical and vulnerable outliers. Where is their place in the new order, where have they come from and where are they going?
Quietly devastating, subtly subversive and wonderfully wry, Hasan is a home-grown talent whose stories are increasingly the good address for authentic Indian fiction.
Retired sportswriter W.G. Karunasena is dying. He will spend his final months drinking arrack, upsetting his wife, ignoring his son, and tracking down Pradeep S. Mathew, an elusive spin bowler he considers ‘the greatest cricketer to walk the earth’.
On his quest to find this unsung genius, W.G. uncovers a coach with six fingers, a secret bunker below a famous stadium, an LTTE warlord, and startling truths about Sri Lanka, cricket and himself.
Ambitious, playful and strikingly original, Chinaman is a novel about cricket and Sri Lanka and of Sri Lanka through its cricket. Hailed by the Gratiaen Prize judges as ‘one of the most imaginative works of contemporary Sri Lankan fiction’, it is an astounding book.
Have you wondered what goes on in the heads of entrepreneurs? What makes them tick? The New Age Entrepreneurs provides a peek into the lives of thirty successful entrepreneurs, including N.R. Panicker of Accel Ltd., Ramachandra Galla of Amaron and M. Murali of Sri Krishna Sweets, who established flourishing businesses borne out of innovative ideas. These trailblazers delved into diverse industries, ranging from information technology to luxury hotels and Indian sweets. With snappy, insightful and motivating tales, interspersed with interviews and vivid profiles, The New Age Entrepreneurs is a collection of vignettes of men who made their own rules and set standards for the rest of the industry to follow.
All hell broke loose with a simple confession from Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam Computers, the fourth largest IT company in India with over 50,000 employees and business in more than 66 countries. His admission in 2009 of cooking the books to show exaggerated profits combined with the diving economy rocked India Inc. and forced it to look inwards.
With robust research, interviews and stories, Zafar Anjum tracks the chronicle from Raju’s confession and Satyam’s free-fall to the phoenix’s rise as Mahindra Satyam. This is a tale of betrayal and devastation, but more importantly of hope and resurrection. With an afterword by Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of Mahindra Group, The Resurgence of Satyam is the definitive book that will answer all that you wanted to know about the Satyam saga.
Less than 2 per cent of entrepreneurs succeed, only 15 per cent of employees get the best hikes, promotions and appraisal ratings. Less than 1 per cent get to senior management positions and higher. Does this mean the rest do not work as hard or are not as smart? They are! But there are subtle yet profound differences. According to bestseller author T.G.C. Prasad, there is more to accomplishments than just working hard or at times even being smarter. Working Hard Is Not Good Enough is an insightful management book for all who want to make a difference to their performance, potential and life in general, to achieve success and happiness.
Are digital means of communication better than traditional bhaashans and processions? Will a social media revolution coerce armchair opinion-makers to head to poll booths?
Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are changing the way the denizens of the world, and more specifically youth of this country, communicate and connect. In The Big Connect, Shaili Chopra traces the advent of social media in India and how politics and lobbying has now shifted to the virtual floor. She argues that though a post, a pin, or a tweet may not translate into a vote, it can definitely influence it. With comparisons to the Obama campaign of 2008 and 2012 and analysis of the social media campaigns of political bigwigs like Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal-the book discusses the role of a digital community in Indian politics.
What do you dream about when you envisage your future? In When I Was 25, Shaili Chopra traces the youth of eminent personalities like Adi Godrej, K.P. Singh, P. Chidambaram and Dimple Kapadia. These successful people open up about the challenges they faced and the choices they made to reach where they are today. They also part with invaluable advice to the young, based on what they have learned in their careers. Honest and refreshing, this book will inspire you and point you to the path of greater glory.
Contemporary dilemmas, whether in business or politics, bear an uncanny resemblance to the predicaments witnessed in the ever-timely epic, the Mahabharata. Who else but Bhishma Pitamah then to the rescue of the modern-day manager, politician or bureaucrat! In the epic, Bhishma is the upholder of truth and dharma, his life shaped by the difficult choices he makes. He isn’t always infallible, but even where his decisions are questionable, he serves as a role model.
Prof. N. Balasubramanian uses this powerful figure and his selfless values as a guide to make the right choices in The Bhishma Way. He discusses the importance of values, dharma, truth, justice and governance in businesses and governments. Analyses of real-life cases — among them, Union Carbide and the Bhopal gas tragedy, James Hardie and asbestos in Australia, and Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea — complement the mythological stories and insightful anecdotes in this illuminating and thought-provoking book. This serves as an instructive read for anyone striving for a higher moral code in day-to-day decision-making and leadership.
In 1991, an exciting journey began when finance minister Manmohan Singh initiated what came to be called the economic liberalization of India. It was the beginning of a bold new era that would redefine this country. India threw open its gates to outside businesses, embracing foreign products, competition and changing everything forever. Twenty-five years on, What’s Changed looks at how the country has metamorphosed since the first set of reforms were introduced. Experts like Kumar Mangalam Birla, Harsha Bhogle, Rama Bijapurkar, Siddharth Roy Kapur and many others write about the changes they have witnessed in their industries. This insightful book edited by Kartikeya Kompella casts a probing look at the quarter century of liberalized India and how it changed us all.
Pitch It! is an innovative and delightful book consisting of enthralling anecdotes linking top cricketing giants and corporate moguls that will act as a catalyst for professionals to soar to top echelons in their respective fields. Peppered with fascinating case studies from an eclectic spectrum of industries ranging from IT, consumer goods, automotive, aerospace, banking, petrochemicals and food and beverages, Pitch It! provides the essential blueprint for creating and sustaining winning organizations. It has a foreword by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and an epilogue by former Indian cricketer and coach Venkatesh Prasad.
