Riya has always had a secret ambition-winning the coveted Miss Indian Beauty crown. It’s Riya’s chance to turn fantasy into reality. The Miss Indian Beauty contest could well be her ticket to instant fame and success. After all, she’s good-looking, intelligent, confident and, most importantly, tall-how difficult could it be? But Riya is in for a dose of reality, as she soon finds herself in the company of twenty-two gorgeous girls, under house arrest in a five-star hotel in Mumbai for a rigorous training session that will test them all to their limits. With each girl’s eyes set on the crown, the mood is emotionally charged and the atmosphere intense, exhilarating, vicious and explosive all at once. What Would You Do to Save the World? is a delightfully entertaining first novel which reveals the dust behind the diamonds, the tears behind the plastic smiles, and dishes the dirt on what really goes on behind the scenes of a beauty pageant.
Archives: Books
The MGR Murder Trial
A gripping collection of stories about thedarkest years in Sri Lankan historyWritten with acuity and flair, the stories inThe MGR Murder Trial conjure powerful anddisturbing vignettes of the violence, fear andtrauma unleashed during the years of Sri Lanka’scivil war.
Me And Ma
Capturing the beauty of a mother-daughter relationship, Divya Dutta in this moving memoir celebrates her mother’s zest for life that made her into the woman she is today. Divya walks us through the most intimate memories of her life, those that strengthened her relationship with her mother. The incredible bond she forged with her mother helped her through difficulties, times good and bad, that led to her becoming an award-winning actor of stature in the Indian film industry.
Me and Ma is a celebration of Divya’s exemplary achievements. It is also an honest, intimate and heartfelt tribute to the force behind her success-her mother.
I Too Had a Love Story – 10th anniversary edition
This 10th anniversary edition of I Too had a Love Story brings to life one of the decade’s most-loved romance novels with gorgeous illustrations in a brand new design. With a personal note from the author, this book is a collector’s edition. It will also make for a fabulous gift.
Do love stories ever die? . . . How would you react when a beautiful person comes into your life, and then goes away from you . . . forever?
Not all love stories are meant to have a perfect ending. I Too Had a Love Story is one such saga. It is the tender and heartfelt tale of Ravin and Khushi–two people who found each other on a matrimonial site and fell in love . . . until life put their love to the ultimate test.
Romantic, emotional and sincere, this heartbreaking true life story has already touched a million hearts. This bestselling novel is a must-read for anyone who believes in the magic of love . . .
A Drop of Blood
Mohan Karan has been blessed with exceptional good looks-and a rare blood type. An orphan with few connections, he finds that his degree in English literature is unable to secure him a proper job. However, he discovers he can make good money by selling his blood to a private blood bank. And while this opens up unexpected possibilities for this unemployed graduate, little does he realize that it all comes at great personal cost.
This short, blistering novel launched Joginder Paul’s literary career, cleverly exploring the insidious ways in which the mighty habitually prey upon the vulnerable. Incisive in its observations, A Drop of Blood also ably tackles themes of female desire. Snehal Shingavi’s lucid translation makes this important work available in English for the first time.
The Candidate
‘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.
We The People
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.
Running Toward Mystery
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.
Tharoorosaurus
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 Met Urmila
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?