‘I was then about seven or eight. I had no useful role to play in this PBI – World; and that old palki, too, had been dismissed from all forms of useful employment . . .’
Hidden inside an ancient palanquin on a hot, lonely afternoon, a young boy sets off on an imaginary adventure. He encounters gangs of bandits, arrives at palaces where kings bathe in sandalwood-scented water, and the hunter accompanying him gets rid of the tiger lurking in the forest with a bang! of his gun. The boy, gifted with a vivid imagination and a sensitive mind, grew up to become one of PBI – India’s greatest poets and thinkers.
In Boyhood Days Rabindranath Tagore recounts his growing up years with gentle wit and humour. He describes life in nineteenth-century Kolkata when the only light in the evening came from castor-oil lamps; when hackney carriages raced through the city’s streets and women travelled in palanquins to the Ganga for their bath. He writes about his early love for music and poetry, the myriad influences that shaped his thinking and about the other members of his large, gifted family. Boyhood Days brings to life an era long past and traces the journey of an icon from childhood to the time he takes his first steps in the PBI – World of literature.
Do you think Indian history is boring? Check out what these ancient reporters had to say about our country many centuries ago. In his book, Indika, Megasthenes, a Greek traveller, wrote about giant meat-eating ants that dug for gold in mines somewhere in eastern India! Hiuen Tsang, from China, was witness to an assassination attempt on King Harshavardhana at a religious gathering. The Venetian Marco Polo described how the people of Kashmir could use charms to change the weather and bring about darkness. Athanasius Nikitin, from Russia, was amazed by the sultan of Bidar, who went hunting accompanied by 10,000 men on horseback, 50,000 on foot, 200 elephants, 100 dancers, 300 horses, 100 monkeys and 100 concubines! Read astonishing stories about India written by explorers who came to the country as pilgrims, students, traders, voyagers and fortune-seekers from the 3rd century BC till the mid-twentieth century. These visitors left behind fascinating accounts of their perilous journeys in an unknown land; descriptions of what the people ate, wore and thought; who ruled them and how; the strange animals of this land, and many more startling facts which are often the only written historical records of those times. Filled with incredible stories and nuggets of information, In the Country of Gold-digging Ants brings alive the exciting adventures of eleven intrepid men and women, and may just make history your most favourite subject!
When Ongchu, a young vanara princess, is kidnapped by a rakshasan, Rishi Agastya entrusts Gind, a bold young vanara, with the dangerous mission of restoring her to Baulpur, her home beyond the Himalayas. As Gind, his father Karuppan, and Ongchu set out on their long, arduous journey from the island of Poompuhar, they are stalked by wild animals and magical beings, waylaid and terrorized by rakshasas, and thwarted by a wrathful Indra, the god of thunder. They meet an army of vanaras on a mission to rescue a human princess from the clutches of the wicked rakshasa king; help a giant vanara in his search for the magical herb sanjeevini; and winter with a band of yetis in the high Himalayas. Mysterious and momentous things are happening around the vanaras, but they are clueless about their own part in these events. What is Agastya’s secret purpose? Will the three vanaras make it to Baulpur? What are the shadowy forces at work?
Gind’s exciting adventures will have you rollicking from one escapade to another in this action-packed fantasy. Meet delightful, strange and magical characters, and follow the trail of the vanaras as their light-hearted adventure turns into an odyssey…
A sudden violent storm takes Kolkata by surprise. It also leaves Narendra Nath Biswas injured, hit by a falling tree in the Park Street Cemetry . . . or was it the work of some unknown assailant? Feluda starts his own investigations and soon encounters enough questions to puzzle his matchless intellect.
Who was Thomas Godwin and why is someone digging up his grave? What is a Perigal Repeater? Who is this mysterious N.M. Biswas?
In his search for answers, Feluda digs up the fascinating history of the Godwin family going back to nineteenth-century Lucknow, and learns about Thomas Godwin’s precious heirloom. Ghostly happenings in a graveyard, a ruthless criminal with a gang of thugs, a master chef and a happy quitar player come together in an adventure full in danger and excitement.
Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu are holidaying in the seaside town of Puri, when they discover a dead body on the beach. And soon Feluda’s holiday turns into an edge-of-the-seat hunt for the killer.
Some very odd things are happening in this little coastal town. Ancient Buddhist manuscripts vanish. An unknown man walks on the sand leaving very strange footprints. Lalmohan Babu finds an amazing astrologer but Topshe is not so sure. And something really spooky is going on in an abandoned house by the sea. Feluda races against time to unmask a murderer with many faces who will not hesitate to kill again.
One of Feluda’s most chilling cases is brought alive by Tapas Guha’s brilliant artwork, and twists and turns in the story will keep you riveted till the breathtaking showdown!
It is the year 1568. Emperor Akbar is on the throne and all is well in Hindustan.
Or is it?
Meet Ash and Tara, two feisty kids who battle the vilest villains in Akbar’s court.
Devious minds are at work, planning to steal Akbar’s precious emerald dagger, which the emperor believes brings him good luck. Ash and Tara, twin brother and sister, growing up in a village across the Yamuna land up in Agra Fort and get to know of the conspiracy. Can they stop the ruthless Magesh and his accomplices from carrying out the plan? Or will they get framed for the theft and end up on the wrong side of the world’s most powerful monarch?
The breathless adventure twists and turns its way through the magnificent Agra Fort, the bylanes of medieval Agra and the dark, stormy forests across the Yamuna. Each story in the brand new Ash and Tara series will keep you engrossed till the final action-packed ending even as you get to know and love Akbar, Birbal, Ash, Tara and their friends like never before.
What do you do when you discover an unspeakable truth about your parents?
The Diwanchand family boasted of having only sons, no daughters. The water from a magical well in their farmhouse was the reason behind this ‘good fortune’, they said. One day, fifteen-year-old Gurmi sets out to look for the well and what he sees changes everyone’s world forever. The faces of three girls look up at him from the water, and draw him into a world of fun, games and cyber magic -and Gurmi has to face up to an unnerving truth as murky as the surreal well.
What terrible crimes have been committed behind the walls of the rambling Diwanchand family home? Will Gurmi and the ghost-girls be able to avenge the evil that has taken place and prevent yet another unspeakable atrocity from occurring?
Funny, yet sensitive and immensely powerful, Faces in the Water is the story of lives lost to appease our society’s insatiable hunger for male children, and the price families pay for its sake.
The birth of a prince in medieval India was usually followed by grand celebrations. Camped out in the wilderness when the news of Akbar’s safe delivery reached him; Humayun could only enjoy a quiet moment of thanksgiving. He broke a musk pod and as the fragrance wafted all over the camp; the new father hoped his son’s fame would similarly spread across the world.
Akbar-emperor; warrior; statesman and thinker-is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic personalities in Indian history. Crowned the king of Hindustan at the age of thirteen; his empire went on to include the farthest corners of the country. Yet he was not just a conqueror. A humanist; his deep interest in literature; architecture; art and his inclusive vision of religions at a time when such thoughts were not in fashion; set him down as one of history’s most remarkable men.
In this story of his life; as exciting and thrilling as any adventure tale; the author describes Akbar’s rough; difficult childhood spent on the run; his consolidation of the empire through war and diplomacy; the myriad interesting and entertaining people who made up his court; the strong women of the Mughal household; and finally; the intriguing circumstances under which the crown passed on to his son; Jahangir.
Accompanied by many vignettes of information about the Mughal empire and the world in the 16th century; this book is a fascinating introduction to the life and times of a ruler who still rules our imaginations.
The trail of a murder in a hotel in Kolkata takes Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu to the beautiful city of Kathmandu in Nepal. Here in the Himalayas the mystery deepens. A man claims he has a double, a crook who looks exactly like him. Then there is the tragic death of a helicopter pilot who discovered a nefarious smuggling ring. The intrepid trio faces danger amidst the busy bazaars, temples and stupas of Kathmandu and Lalmohan Babu has a scary, out-of-body experience.
Finally Feluda comes face to face with his greatest adversary, a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing . . .
Lalmohan Babu is in Bollywood! The best-selling mystery writer’s novel is being made into a Hindi film and the location for the shoot is the hill station of Darjeeling. Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu arrive in Darjeeling to watch the film being made, where they meet the mysterious Virupaksha Majumdar, a man with many secrets and a precious gold idol. When Virupaksha is murdered and the idol stolen, Feluda knows the answer lies in his past. Then Topshe and Lalmohan Babu discover a second body and things get very complicated. To make matters worse, one misty morning a shadowy figure viciously attacks Feluda.
As the trio races against time, can they solve three perplexing crimes? One of Feluda’s most exciting and thrilling cases comes alive in this newest addition to the popular comic book series.
