Timeless tales from all over India from Bengal to Bastar and Kashmir to Coorg, there are stories that have been handed down generations: bedtime stories for children, fireside stories for travelers, who have heard these tales, wondered at them and repeated them to others. In A Twist in the Tale: More Indian Folktales, Aditi De collects forty such stories from various parts of India and retells them with dollops of humor. A friendless crocodile, a timid mouse and a vain fox are among some of the eccentric characters that appear in this book. There is also a clever princess, a hapless priest with heron feathers flying out of his mouth, and galleries of rogues. Strange happenings are not uncommon, so a nail tree grows out of nail clippings and a beetle saves a man from the dungeons. Full of the details of everyday life, festivities and food, these ageless stories have seldom been so exciting and such fun. Accompanied by Uma Krishnaswamy’s brilliant illustrations, this book will introduce the magic of Indian folktales to a new generation of readers.
Archives: Books
Puffin Lives: Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Nehru’s words that night have remained etched in the nation’s memory ever since. Born to a privileged family in Allahabad, Jawaharlal went on to become a leading figure of the Indian independence movement. During the struggle he spent over ten years in prison, watched others in his family jailed time and again, and led numerous protest marches and agitations. Working alongside Mahatma Gandhi, he helped India keep its tryst with destiny and become a free nation. Aditi De recounts the story of Jawaharlal Nehru’s extraordinary life in this biography for young readers. Filled with charming anecdotes, it recounts episodes from Nehru’s childhood, his fascination with books and scientific experiments, his student years in England, and how he was drawn to the growing struggle for Indian independence. Finally, she sketches his role as the first Indian Prime Minister, and how he shaped the newly-formed democratic republic. Packed with little known nuggets of information, and trivia about the times, this book in the Puffin Lives series brings alive the thoughts and actions of one of modern India’s most important personalities.
Pakistan
Among the USA’s allies in the war against terrorism, Pakistan cannot be easily characterized as either friend or foe. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is an important centre of radical Islamist ideas and groups. After 9/11, the selective cooperation of President General Pervez Musharraf in sharing intelligence with the United States and apprehending Al-Qaeda members led to the assumption that Pakistan might be ready to give up its long-standing ties with radical Islam. But Pakistan’s status as an Islamic ideological state is closely linked with the Pakistani elite’s world view and the praetorian ambitions of its military.
Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military analyses the origins of the relationships between Islamist groups and Pakistan’s military, and explores the nation’s quest for identity and security. Tracing how the military has sought US support by making itself useful for concerns of the moment-while continuing to strengthen the mosque-military alliance within Pakistan-Haqqani offers an alternative view of political developments since the country’s Independence in 1947.
This new edition of this classic work includes data updates and an Epilogue by the author.
The Village by the Sea
An award-winning story about a family’s survival in a small fishing village in India
With their mother ill and their father permanently drunk, Hari and Lila have to earn the money to keep house and look after their two young sisters. In desperation, Hari runs away to Bombay, and Lila is left to cope alone.
Untouched by the twentieth century, Thul, the small fishing village near Bombay, is still ruled by the age-old seasonal rhythms. Hari and Lila have lived in the village all their lives, but their family is now desperately down on its luck. Their father drinks; their mother is seriously ill; and there is no money to keep them fed and clothed. Delicately and exquisitely executed, Anita Desai s gentle and probing story traces the evolution of Hari and Lila into adults as each of them faces the family’s predicament – just as the first signs of industrial India creep into their village.
A Classic of Our Time.
Animal Farm
This novel has striven to establish how despite the differences in their inner and outer natures, humans and animals can and must live in harmony. A fascinating narrative with some of the most memorable characters and unique setting, Animal Farm is a perennial classic.
1984
This book is written by George Orvel in 1948, but he put it’s title 1984, because they go ahead of their time and imagine a time in which the ruling power keeps an eye on its citizens and is also not in favor of giving them basic freedom.
Revenge And Reconciliation
In this remarkable study, well-known biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, underscoring the prominence in the Mahabharata of the revenge impulse, follows its trajectory in South Asian history. Side by side, he traces the role played by reconcilers up to present times, beginning with the Buddha, Mahavira and Asoka. His explanation of the 1947 division of India identifies the role of the 1857 Rebellion in shaping Gandhi’s thinking and strategy, and reflects on the wounds of Partition. The survey of post-Independence India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also touches upon the tragic bereavements of six of their women leaders.
Besieged
Doll’s Wedding And Other Stories
The stories in Dolls’ Wedding, by the finest short-story writer in modern Telugu, are nuanced, hard-hitting and marked by the total absence of sentimentality. A tightly constructed plot relies on a minimalist portrayal of characters-among them beggars, peasants, widows, children and the upwardly mobile middle class-whose pragmatism drives them to break convention and fight for their survival. The aged auditor’s young wife in ‘Got to Go to Eluru’ seduces an adolescent boy in order to produce a son who will protect her status when she is widowed; in ‘Firewood’, a peasant girl overcomes fear and speaks out when she is falsely accused of theft.
A realist devoid of ideologies, Chaso was deeply interested in the actual life and the inner world of people around him. These luminous translations bring Chaso to a new audience.
The Puffin Mahabharata
‘A long, long time ago, in the ancient lands of India, known in those days as Bharatvarsha, a family quarrel grew into a bloody war. There had been wars before, and there have been wars since, but that mighty battle between warring cousins of the Kuru clan has become a part of the mythology and history of India. Told and retold a million times, the story of the Mahabharata is about defeat as much as victory, about humility as much as courage. It is the greatest story ever told.’
Like a modern-day suta or storyteller, Namita Gokhale brings alive India’s richest literary treasure with disarming ease and simplicity. She retells this timeless tale of mortals and immortals and stories within stories, of valour, deceit, glory, and despair, for today’s young reader in a clear, contemporary style.
A brilliant series of evocative and thoughtful illustrations by painter and animator Suddhasattwa Basu brings the epic to life in a vibrant visual feast.
Matchless in its content and presentation, The Puffin Mahabharata is a book that will be cherished by readers of all ages.