‘Ma, I feel exhausted with consuming, with taking and grabbing and using. I am so bloated that I feel I cannot breathe any more. I am leaving to find some air, some place where I shall be able to purge myself, push back against the life given me and make my own. I feel I live in a borrowed house. It’s time to find my own . . . Forgive me . . .’
Calcutta, 1967. Unnoticed by his family, Supratik has become dangerously involved in student unrest, agitation, extremist political activism. Compelled by an idealistic desire to change his life and the world around him, all he leaves behind before disappearing is this note . . .
The ageing patriarch and matriarch of his family, the Ghoshes, preside over their large household, unaware that beneath the barely ruffled surface of their lives the sands are shifting. More than poisonous rivalries among sisters-in-law, destructive secrets, and the implosion of the family business, this is a family unraveling as the society around it fractures. For this is a moment of turbulence, of inevitable and unstoppable change: the chasm between the generations, and between those who have and those who have not, has never been wider. Ambitious, rich and compassionate, The Lives of Others unfolds a family history, and anatomizes a social class in all its contradictions. It asks: can we escape what is in our blood? How do we imagine our place amongst others in the world? Can that be reimagined? And at what cost? This is a novel of rare power and emotional force.
Twenty-something investment banker Ayra had always wanted to be an art historian till it occurred to her that art history couldn’t possibly support her penchant for beautiful shoes.
One monsoon day, she’s sent to Rome on a last-minute assignation with a star client. What should have been a four-day trip turns into a two-week treasure hunt placing her bang in the middle of dodgy vintners and midnight deals, rolling Tuscan hills, and a millionaire playboy who’s out to taste more than just the wine.
I tell you the halaats are so bad, so bad that don’t even ask. The Talibans sitting on top of our heads, bombs bursting left, right and centre, drones droning away, load-shedding a hundred hours a day, servants answering back, in-laws trying to upstage you, friends throwing you out of their kitties and on top of that elections ka tamasha. Janoo tau is coming closer and closer to a nervous brake out while Mummy is getting sterile dementia. As for Kulchoo, bhai, don’t even ask. But I’ve decided, come what may, I tau am not going to let anyone clamp my style. I’m going to live just as I like-watching my Turkish soaps, going to GTs and weddings, throwing kitty parties, telling everyone everything saaf-saaf and, of course, doing summers in London-voh tau must hai na. And I’m going to do it in my Jimmy Choo ki heels and my sleeveless designer shirts, and my streaked hair and my Prada ki sunglasses. This much I’m telling you all from now only. So tighten your seat belts, okay?
A haunting dream. A sinister legend. Mesmerizing love.
The appearance of a mysterious and attractive stranger in the small town of Adeli changes Tara’s life forever. She’s now the heiress to the Khanolkar Rajwada in Mahabaleshwar. However, the palatial home that is her ancestral legacy is also full of people with deep, dark secrets and one of them is her father’s murderer.
Evil lurks in the shadows, as does love. But Tara can’t rely on anyone as someone out there is determined to prove the legend right and to finish the incomplete murderous task of the past.
Read on to find out what Tara’s fate will be . . .
They think they’re invincible. After seventeen very ordinary years of life in small-town America, Amit Pillai suddenly finds himself on a red-eye flight to Kerala. An NRI, he is forced to join the posh Ananthapuri International School, the only school in town that accepts ‘soft boys’ like him. But this Kerala is faux Americana where it’s all loud music and lined pockets, and there is never enough time to stop and look around. Amit quickly discovers that life here is anything but soft. Struggling with love and identity, he is never quite sure where to draw the line, when his fragile existence at school is rocked by a series of shocking events. What have they done? What are the consequences? And can they live with them? A roller-coaster ride through the real-time experiences of an Indian teenager, Wicked Games is contemporary school life told like never before.
Patriarchy asserts men are superior to women
Feminism clarifies women and men are equal
Queerness questions what constitutes male and female
Queerness isn’t only modern, Western or sexual, says mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik. Take a close look at the vast written and oral traditions in Hinduism, some over two thousand years old, and you will find tales of:
Shikhandi, who became a man to satisfy her wife
Mahadeva, who became a woman to deliver a devotee’s child
Chudala, who became a man to enlighten her husband
Samavan, who became the wife of his male friend
and many more . . .
Playful and touching—and sometimes disturbing—these stories when compared with tales of the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh, the Greek Ganymede, the biblical Sodom or the Chinese ‘cut sleeve’ Emperor reveal the unique Indian way of making sense of queerness.
Devdutt Pattanaik’s new book builds on profound ideas that our ancestors shared but which we have rarely inherited.
This book has content for mature audiences. Discretion advised.
Meda’s back. With a friend.The battle is over; the choice has been made. Meda Melange has officially hung up her monstrous mantle and planted her feet firmly on the holy and righteous path of a Crusader-in-training. Or, at least, she’s willing to give it a shot. It helps that the Crusaders are the only thing standing between her and the demon hordes who want her dead.The problem is the only people less convinced than Meda of her new-found role as Good Girl are the very Crusaders she’s trying to join. So when a devilishly handsome half-demon boy offers escape, how’s a girl supposed to say no?After all, everyone knows a good girl’s greatest weakness is a bad boy.
‘Startlingly avant garde in its form, as well as its content’-Business Standard
Samar, a young scholar, is married to Prabha against his will. Ego and frustration combine to make him refuse to say even a single word to his wife on the day of the marriage. They live thus, without speaking, for nearly a year. Until one moment when their suppressed emotions burst through, and lead to a passionate reconciliation. Funny, affectionate and hard hitting, this is one of the most unique love stories in Indian writing. ‘The first Hindi work which attempted to jolt the fabled Bharatiya Sanskriti (Indian culture) out of its smug stupor’-Countercurrents
‘The enfant terrible of Hindi literature’-Tehelka
‘I worry how badly my own men are involved, how much we are being used. Above all, I would like to know who’s behind this and how high his stakes are.’
When a young girl falls to her death from the Mission Row Police Housing Complex, home to DSP Bikram Chatterjee, Crime Branch goes into a tizzy.
Who is she? Is it murder or suicide? And, most importantly, how did she manage to climb up to the roof without being noticed?
As DSP Bikram grapples with death in his own backyard, elsewhere in the city two young criminals explore a new modus operandi, while there is a sudden spurt in wildlife poaching and the theft of antiques. The deeper he investigates, the more questions he is confronted with. Are all these crimes connected? This time DSP Bikram has more on his hands than he can handle because it’s not just the crime-he wants to sort out his personal life as well.
The third and final book in the series, The Final Report is an engrossing read.
This is Hindi Translation of English Book ‘The Immigrant’ written by Manju Kapur. Nina, at thirty, sees herself as increasingly off the shelf. But then unexpectedly, a proposal arrives. Ananda is a dentist in Halifax, Canada. The two marry and she leaves her home and her country to build a new life with him. But there is always more to marriage than courtship. And as Nina discovers truths about her husband – both sexual and emotional – her fragile new life in Canada begins to unravel. The Immigrant is another mesmerizing saga about the complexities of arranged marriage and NRI life from this most beloved of novelists.
