In this charming and insightful story, Deepak Singh chronicles his journey as an Indian immigrant in the United States of America.
Deepak falls in love with an American visiting India as an exchange student. The young couple gets married and leaves the country to live the American dream. Unfortunately for Deepak, he soon realizes that reality was completely different.
Armed with an MBA from a good B-school and quitting a cushy job in BBC, Deepak moves with his wife. But once in the US, all he is able to get is a minimum-wage job in an electronics store. Every day he confronts an unfamiliar American culture. He experiences the deeply entrenched racism and observes first-hand the crushing reality of being poor in America.
‘Fresh off the plane’, Deepak tells an intimate tale of living in an unfamiliar place, being the perennial outsider and making a mixed marriage work.
How May I Help You is a moving tale of love, empathy, vulnerability and hope that will keep you hooked till the last page.
Archives: Books
Padmini
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, an ambitious sultan, Ala-ud-Din Khilji, becomes infatuated with the famed beauty of Rani Padmini. He arrives at her doorstep in Chittor and lays siege to her fort. Padmini convinces her husband, Maharawal Ratan Singh, and his warriors to abandon any thought of surrender. Despite putting up a brave fight, when defeat seems imminent, Padmini chooses death by jauhar over dishonour.
Narrated from Padmini’s perspective, this moving retelling of the famed legend brings to life the atmosphere and intrigue of medieval Rajput courts. We cannot help but be swept along as Padmini grapples with the matter of her own life and death, even as she attempts to figure out what it means to be a woman in a man’s world.
Warrior of the Fourth Estate
Ramnath Goenka, or RNG as he was popularly known, redefined what it meant to be a newspaper baron. A man of many parts-freedom fighter, Gandhian worker, politician, merchant, industrialist-he made it his mission as a publisher to empower the citizen and hold the ruling classes accountable, often at enormous cost to himself. Goenka was a fearless agent for the freedom of the press, and famously waged an epic battle of defiance against the government during the Emergency.
B.G. Verghese’s biography charts the tumultuous course of Goenka’s life, from his modest beginnings to his building of the vast Indian Express empire with its multiple editions. It also paints a compelling portrait of a man who was a bundle of contradictions, who had staunch admirers as well as bitter enemies, a man you could love or hate but never ignore. This book is a roller-coaster ride through the twists and turns of Ramnath Goenka’s fortunes, including scandals and scoops, fiery public campaigns, dramatic court battles and the making and unmaking of political leaders and governments. Along the way, it tells the story, too, of a newspaper.
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi’s life spanned over two-thirds of a century. By the time of her brutal assassination in 1984, she had established herself as the most significant political leader India had seen since the death of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru. In this book, written with the close cooperation of her subject, Pupul Jayakar seeks to uncover the many personalities that lay hidden within Mrs Gandhi. Much more than a political biography, the book reveals the complex personality of Indira Gandhi-her thoughts and feelings, her hates and prejudices, her insights and her faults, her loves and emotional entanglements.
Full of startling insights, Indira Gandhi: A Biography paints a magnificent portrait-at once empathetic and unprejudiced-of one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable women.
India in Slow Motion
Mark Tully is incomparable. No foreign commentator has a greater understanding of the passions, the contradictions, the charms and the resilience that constitute India. In India in Slow Motion, Tully and his colleague Gillian Wright delve further than ever before into this nation of over one billion people, attempting to unravel a culture that, famously, has always resisted unravelling. India in Slow Motion is the account of a journey that for Tully and Wright has no true beginning or end. Covering a diverse range of subjects-from Hindu extremism to child labour, Sufi mysticism to the crisis in agriculture, the persistence of political corruption to the problem of Kashmir-this book challenges the preconceptions others have about India, as well as those India has about itself. India is often depicted as a victim of forces too wild to be controlled-of post-colonial malaise, of religious strife, of the caste system, of a corrupt bureaucratic machine. India in Slow Motion refutes this, probing into the heart of the Indian experience and arguing that change is possible and that solutions do exist. In the process it brings the country and its people brilliantly alive.
Mother Teresa
In this book, Mother Teresa’s Mumtamayi Vyasa Gatha is engraved with beautiful paintings. This book, written in a very interesting way, is also useful for children as well as adults.
IIMA – Business And Intellectual Property
Business and Intellectual Property reflects on the future of Intellectual Property (IP) in the age of new media and shows how—in a rapidly changing business field—managers and decision-makers need to be more perceptive, agile, and vigilant than ever before. Drawing on contemporary business affairs and strategies, it explores the nature and scope of IP and the evolution of national laws and global agreements like the TRIPs to protect it. It also explores measures (use of patents, copyright, and trademarks) used by some of the biggest brands—Coke, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Microsoft, Harrods, Maruti, Tata—to manage disputes and protect themselves. Accessible, clear, and using a wide range of case studies, Business and Intellectual Property gives an excellent overview of a subject that is becoming a key aspect of many businesses today.
The IIM Ahmedabad Business Books bring key issues in management and business to a general audience. With a wealth of information and illustrations from contemporary Indian businesses, these non-academic and user-friendly books from the faculty of IIM Ahmedabad are essential corporate reading.
SuperZero and the Clone Crisis
Close on the heels of his first two crazy adventures, the peskiest . . . sorry, super-est superkid in town falls plonk THUD c r a s h into a third. Everyone, including BigaByte, is in a lousy mood because someone’s stealing their laughs. Whaaa? Plus SuperZero’s mom has a scary surprise for him. Plus, plus, plus, there’s a cunning clone in school who’s turning himself into everyone else and creating full-on chaos. (Pssst, that’s your cue, SuperZero. Do your thing!) So much trouble can only be good news for SuperZero fans. Here come the hahas and high action once again.
What After Money and Fame?
Adi Godrej * Ajay Piramal * Amit Chandra * Anu Aga * Hafeez Contractor * Harish Salve * Javed Akhtar * Jayant Sinha * Kavita Seth * Narayana Murthy * Dr Naresh Trehan * Rashesh Shah
Twelve distinguished Indians who have achieved dizzying heights of success. What lies beyond material triumph for them? What is it that continues to motivate and sustain them? How much money do they think amounts to enough for individuals? What is their core philosophy of life that has helped them achieve what they have? What according to them is most important in life?
From the author of the bestselling book Corporate Divas, this is another insightful and engaging read that answers the above questions and more. Sonia Golani delves deep into the minds and psyche of some of India’s doyens par excellence, and through a series of in-depth conversations, attempts to throw light on the measure of a life well lived. What after Money and Fame is riveting and uplifting, an indispensable resource for anyone striving to attain exceptional success and balance in their lives-for sustained accomplishments for themselves-as well as towards making a definite contribution to the nation.
Unreal Aliens
For the first time in human history, a nation is playing host to an alien delegation. And it is Modi-led India that has this high honour. Prime Minister Modi rolls out the red carpet for the aliens. He receives them at the airport, shows them the sights in Delhi and convinces them to invest in the Make in India campaign. The leader of the alien delegation even holds a broom to promote Swachh Bharat. But what is the real reason the aliens have come to India? Are they friends? Or will they turn foes? Read this hilarious, rib-tickling novel from the authors of Unreal Elections to find out.