Wearer of many hats-philanthropist, entrepreneur, computer scientist, engineer, teacher-Sudha Murty has above all always been a storyteller extraordinaire. Winner of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature, the Padma Shri, the Attimabbe Award from the government of Karnataka for excellence in Kannada literature, and the Raymond Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award, her repertoire includes adult non-fiction, adult fiction, children’s books, travelogues and technical books. Here, There and Everywhere is a celebration of her literary journey and is her 200th title across genres and languages. Bringing together her best-loved stories from various collections alongside some new ones and a thoughtful introduction, here is a book that is, in every sense, as multifaceted as its author.
Catagory: Fiction
Fiction main category
Pather Panchali
In the idyllic village of the Abode of Contentment, Durga and her little brother, Opu, grow up in a world of woods, orchards and adventure. Nurtured on their aunt’s songs and stories, they dream of secret magical lands, forbidden gardens and the distant railroad. The grown-up world of debts, resentment and bone-deep poverty barely touches them. Their parents, Shorbojoya and Horihor, also dream of the railroad, though as the gateway to lands with a better future. But can distance really change destiny? Will the railroad augur a triumphant future for the Roys, or a ballad of fates drastically altered?
A powerful testament to the indomitable human will to prevail, this timeless novel comes alive in an incandescent new translation.
The Chronicle
Set in the terrifying times of Zia-ul-Haq’s rule, The Chronicle tells the epic story of a family and its illustrious homes. As Ikhlaq, the main character, struggles to build a home in Lahore, the reader is introduced to a darkly comedic and dramatic chain of events.
These events are interspersed closely with Ikhlaq’s exploration of the tazkirah, a family chronicle, which inspires him to write its last chapter-the story of his life and times.
The Chronicle is an abiding tale of Ikhlaq’s ever-changing life, and the document that chronicles his family’s long history going back to Persia serves as the imaginative soundboard of his life.
Mixing the narrative styles of Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic myth and legend with fast-paced contemporary prose, Husain proves once again his mastery of diverse narrative forms.
Across the Line
A tale of borders and beliefs shaped by the games people play
1947
New Delhi. Cyril Radcliffe’s hands are clammy, partly from the heat but mostly from the enormity of the task assigned. Mopping the sweat off his brow, he picks up his pen, draws a deep breath–and a dark line.
Rawalpindi. A barbaric frenzy of rioters fills the streets, disrupting a game of pithoo between Toshi and her brother, Tarlok, shattering their lives unimaginably.
2008
Rawalpindi. Cricket-crazy Inaya is sneaking out behind her father’s back for net practice when she discovers that she is not the only one in her family keeping a secret.
New Delhi. Jai accidentally stumbles upon an old, hidden away diary in his kitchen. The date of its last entry: 17 August 1947.
As Jai and Inaya’s unlikely worlds collide, another story unfolds. A story that started with the drawing of a line. A story that shifts the truth in their lives.
‘Compelling and uplifting . . . lingers long after the last page is turned‘ Vidya Balan
Chinaman
Retired sportswriter, W.G. Karunasena is dying. He will spend his final months drinking arrack, upsetting his wife, ignoring his son, and tracking down Pradeep S. Mathew, an elusive spin bowler he considers ‘the greatest cricketer to walk the earth’.
On his quest to find this unsung genius, W.G. uncovers a coach with six fingers, a secret bunker below a famous stadium, an LTTE warlord, and startling truths about Sri Lanka, cricket, and himself.
Ambitious, playful, and strikingly original, Chinaman is a novel about cricket and Sri Lanka-and of Sri Lanka through its cricket. Hailed by the Gratiaen Prize judges as ‘one of the most imaginative works of contemporary Sri Lankan fiction’, it is an astounding book.
All of My Heart
Can you really forget your first love?
Rehaan is a hard-working and down-to-earth kind of guy. When he moves to London, he is hopeful to meet his childhood love, Zynah, whom he hasn’t been able to forget even after all these years.
It turns out that Zynah is just the same, just as he remembers her-fun-loving, adventurous and beautiful.
However, there is just one small difference-she is getting married.
What will Rehaan do-risk ruining their friendship and tell her he loves her or let her marry the man she has chosen?
House with a Thousand Stories, The
It is 2002 and young Pablo, a city boy who has mostly lived a sheltered and privileged life in Guwahati, is visiting his ancestral village for his aunt’s wedding. This is his second time in Mayong, in rural Assam, since 1998, when he had come for a few days to attend his father’s best friend’s funeral. As the wedding preparations gather pace, Pablo is amused as well as disturbed by squabbling aunts, dying grandmothers, cousins planning to elope for love and hysterical gossips. And on this heady theatre of tradition and modernity hovers the sinister shadow of insurgency and the army’s brutal measures to quell militancy. In the days leading up to the wedding, which ends in an unspeakable tragedy, Pablo finds first love, discovers family intrigues and goes through an extraordinary rite of passage. Written with clinical precision, this gripping first novel announces the arrival of one of the most original voices from India’s North-East.
Vichhoda
The year is 1950; the Liaquat-Nehru Pact has been signed between India and Pakistan; she doesn’t know it will change her life forever; it will also make her stronger
Bibi Amrit Kaur’s life is literally torn apart in the 1947 riots. She’s now in a different country with a different identity. She accepts this new life gracefully and begins a new chapter. She gets married and has two children. Life, however, has something else in store for her. It breaks her apart. Again.
This time the pain is unbearable.
But the hope that she will reunite with her children and be whole again keeps her alive. And she doesn’t let the bitterness cloud her days, becoming a beacon of hope and courage for all.
From the bestselling author of Calling Sehmat comes another hitherto untold story of strength, sacrifice and resilience.
A must read.
Cow and Company
A brave and hilarious debut set in colonial India, Cow and Company begins with the British Chewing Gum Company setting up shop in Bombay with the mission of introducing chewing gum in the colonies. They declare paan, which is in all mouths at all times, as their enemy. A cow is chosen as the mascot. It is up on all the posters.
Religious sentiments are hurt. What begins as a search for a cow ends up in a catastrophe. With laugh-out-loud moments, ingenious use of language, and a spellbinding interplay of fantasy and myth, Cow and Company uses satire to take stock of the state of the nation, religion and capital, then and now.
I Am Life
‘You are from India-the land of three hundred and thirty million Gods-and you say you don’t believe in even one of them? I think it’s time to go home, Sid.’
Andrea’s words echoed in Siddharth’s mind as he poured himself another peg of Scotch. A Google search for the word ‘God’ directed him to India-a place where he had buried his childhood dream eleven years ago, before moving to New York. Now India and spirituality were vague memories. Siddharth had dismissed the idea of God when he had come to New York.
Until now . . .
Life was always demanding but this time it had gone too far. Now Siddharth was desperate and determined to find God one way or the other, to get his money and company back. As he boarded the flight to India, Siddharth shut his eyes and prepared himself for the ride back to where it had all started . . .