‘I can’t picture you surviving in Indian politics. Let me tell you the reasons: you have morals, too much integrity, and you lack an ego.’
Without a job, and a marriage on the rocks, the mild-mannered Jay Banerjee has no choice but to come back from the US to Delhi. A chance meeting with a childhood friend, Govardhan Ray, aka Raja—a neta with a scandal too many—plunges him into the seamy, madcap world of Indian politics.
The fight for the Narayanpore seat—a nondescript district in West Bengal—begins, and along with it, the process of discovering ‘the real India’. Jay’s challenge: to provide a ‘clean campaign with integrity’.
Replete with colourful campaigns, media hullabaloo, cynical voters, goondas, chamchas and all the usual suspects, The Candidate is a breezy and humorous story of the great Indian election tamasha.
Who are the people of India? What are their rights? What are their claims on the Indian Constitution and on democracy? We the People, the fourth volume in the Rethinking India series, brings together a collection of essays that explores the process of germination and growth of undisputed universal rights, and of them being developed as tangible entitlements in India. The essays also examine the continuing challenge of establishing, realizing and protecting these entitlements.
The authors are academics, activists and practitioners who have a strong relationship with social movements. Their narratives trace the use of the rights-based framework of the Indian Constitution by sociopolitical movements in order to strengthen the economic, cultural and social rights of ordinary Indians. The multiple perspectives draw upon and contextualize the complex relationship of the citizen with the state, society and market in democratic India. Their sharp critiques have a counterpoint in stories of creative, successful alternatives designed by peoples’ collectives.
There is both an explicit and implicit challenge to conservative notions of ‘market-led development’ that see competition and profits as central to ‘progress’ and success. The essays showcase the continuing dialectic between established constitutional rights and shifting state policy. They provide invaluable insight at a time when many sacred pillars of neoliberal ‘globalization’ are crumbling, and the capitalist superstructure is itself turning to the state for survival. They promote understanding and scholarship, and enliven debates as we continue to search for answers in uncertain and challenging times.
Born in India to a prominent Hindu Brahmin family, the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi was only six years old when he began having visions of a mysterious mountain peak, and of men with shaved heads wearing robes the color of sunset. And so at the age of ten, he ran away from boarding school to find this place-taking a train to the end of the line and then riding a bus to wherever it went.
Strangely enough, he ended up at the Buddhist monastery that was the place in his dreams. His frantic parents and relatives set out to find him and, after two weeks, located him and brought him home. But he continued to have visions and felt a strong pull to a spiritual life.
This book is the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi’s profound account of his lifelong journey as a seeker. At its heart is a story of striving for enlightenment, the vital importance of mentors in that search, and of the many remarkable teachers he met along the way, among them the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Mother Teresa.
Running Toward Mystery is the beautiful story of a singular life compelled to contemplation, and a riveting narrative of just how exciting that journey can be.
Shashi Tharoor is the wizard of words. In Tharoorosaurus, he shares fifty-three examples from his vocabulary: unusual words from every letter of the alphabet. You don’t have to be a linguaphile to enjoy the fun facts and interesting anecdotes behind the words! Be ready to impress-and say goodbye to your hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia!
When Jiya meets Urmila, she sees a loud girl with a fierce expression and too-bright clothes. Urmila sees a snooty girl with a dull dress and no spunk. Can they ever be friends?
Everyone says Chumki is unlucky and makes things go wrong with her ‘magic’. No wonder she has no friends.Can her brother Aki’s plan help Chumki make friends?
Veena is full of bright ideas. She gets Aunt Malu to use her magic to make something new and wonderful. But magic has its own rules, and soon Veena and her aunt are in big trouble!
Timmi’s life is full of tangles. Her mother expects her to go to school even though she’s a raja; Idliamma eats up all her idlis and everyone thinks Timmi ate them … and why can’t people understand that if you have a giant for a friend you can lift the roof to let the rain in?
Timmi’s new friend Rizu is in trouble. Three boys lie in wait for him near the school every day. Timmi, Idliamma and Juju the giant are full of ideas to help him, but will any of them work?
Neel’s parents want him to win a scholarship, and go to the big city to study. But Neel doesn’t want to leave his beloved Sundarbans, with its beautiful trees and its magnificent tigers.
And then a tiger cub goes missing from the reserve!
The evil Gupta wants to sell the cub and sets his people to search for it. Neel and his sister Rupa are determined to find the cub and take it to safety before Gupta and his goons find it.
Racing against time, and braving the dangers of the dark, will Neel succeed in saving the little tiger cub?
Winner of South Asia Book Award 2016 and Neev Book Award 2018
‘A multicultural title with obvious appeal for animal-loving middle graders.’ Kirkus Review
‘(An) excellent book, offering adventure, suspense and food for thought, and is surely going to win awards’ Mirrors, Windows and Doors
