The world has erupted in a groundswell of protests in the last few decades: against authoritarian rule, the stranglehold of global capitalism and rising injustice. Some of these have led to regime or policy change, others to war and mass displacement. Protesters have turned time and again to poetry for it is words alone that can spread the spirit of resistance and offer release from the grip of tyranny.
This specially curated volume brings together some of the best known poetry to have been written against different kinds of oppression from around the globe. Featuring voices as diverse as Anna Akhmatova from the erstwhile USSR to Rabindranath Tagore in India, Pablo Neruda in Chile to Mahmoud Darwish in Palestine, Maya Angelou in the US to Bei Dao in China, Poetry of Protest celebrates the innate tenacity of human beings to defend freedom, equality and dignity.
Young Selvan’s life is no longer the same. His family’s ancestral land has been sold in order to make way for the construction of a housing colony. Now the verdant landscape of his childhood has been denuded, while Selvan and his family are compelled to move to much smaller lodgings. In the ensuing years, as the pressures of their situation simmer to a boil, Selvan observes his family undergo dramatic shifts in their fortunes as greed and jealousy threaten to overshadow their lives.
Murugan’s first novel, which launched a splendid literary career, is a tour de force. Now translated for the first time, it poses powerful questions about the human cost of relentless urbanization in the name of progress.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE TATA LITERATURE LIVE! AWARD FOR FICTION 2020
Preparations for King George the Third’s fiftieth birthday gala are in full swing in Lucknow. As poets and performers vie to be part of the show, Chapla Bai, a dazzling courtesan from Kashi, briefly enters this competitive world, and sweeps the poet Nafis Bai off her feet. An irresistible passion takes root, expanding and contracting like a wave of light. Over two summers, aided by Nafis’s friends, the poets Insha and Rangin, and Sharad, himself in love with a man, they exchange letters and verses, feeding each other the heady fruit of desire. When Chapla leaves for home, they part with the dream of building a life together. Can their relationship survive the distances?
Narrated in the voice of Nafis, Memory of Light weaves an exquisite web of conversations, songs, reminiscences around a life-changing love.
Can food lead Tara Taneja to love?
Tara Taneja lives in the small town of Siyaka; she runs a Mathematics Tuition Centre and works at her grandfather’s sweets shop, Lallan Sweets.
Nikku Sabharwal, her long lost best friend and crush, returns to Siyaka after many years. Sparks fly between them, as an adventure awaits.
The laddoos at Lallan Sweets are made from a secret magic ingredient. Lalaji, Tara’s grandfather, retires and decides that Lallan Sweets will not be inherited, but must be earned. So he devises a quest for his three grandchildren, Tara, Rohit and Mohit to find the magic ingredient. Whoever discovers it first will run the shop.
Nikku joins Tara in her pursuit to outsmart her cousins. The quest takes them from Mathura to Ludhiana, and together they battle old Family secrets, family legacies and unexpected dangers. Will the journey bring them together or lead to a bittersweet end?
Lallan Sweets is a heartwarming tale about love, family, food and the little things that matter in life.
Best known for his immensely popular Feluda mysteries and the adventures of Professor Shonku, Satyajit Ray was also one of the most skilful short-story writers of his generation. Ray’s short stories often explore the macabre and the supernatural, and are marked by the sharp characterization and trademark wit that distinguish his films. This collection brings together Ray’s best short stories, including timeless gems such as ‘Khagam’, ‘Indigo’, ‘Fritz’, ‘Bhuto’, ‘The Pterodactyl’s Egg’, ‘Big Bill’, ‘Patol Babu, Film Star’ and ‘The Hungry Septopus’, which readers of all ages will enjoy.
For readers who enjoyed the adventures of Feluda in Volume 1, this second omnibus volume holds more delights. Accompanied by his cousin Topshe and the bumbling crime writer Lalmohan Ganguly (Jatayu), Feluda travels from Puri to Kedarnath, from Kathmandu to London in his pursuit of culprits; he tracks down Napoleon’s last letter, a forgotten painting by Tintoretto and a stolen manuscript.
A source of unlimited thrill as the trio traverse fascinating locales to unravel one devious crime after another. Nineteen gripping tales of suspense and mystery.
This omnibus edition features the ever-popular adventures of Satyajit Ray’s enduring creation, the professional sleuth Pradosh C. Mitter (Feluda). In his escapades, Feluda is accompanied by his cousin Topshe and the bumbling crime writer Lalmohan Ganguly (Jatayu). From Jaisalmer to Simla, from the Ellora Caves to Varanasi, the trio traverse fascinating locales to unravel one devious crime after another.
Indigo is a collection of stories about the supernatural, the peculiar and the inexplicable from Satyajit Ray, one of the best-loved writers of our times. There are tales here of dark horror, fantasy and adventure along with heart-warmingly funny stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
In ‘Big Bill’ Tulsi Babu picks up a newly-hatched chick from a forest and brings it home only to find it growing bigger and fiercer by the day; in ‘Khagam’ a man kills a sadhu’s deadly pet snake and invites a curse which brings about horrifying changes in his body; and in the title story, a young executive resting in an old abandoned bungalow for a night, finds himself caught up in a chilling sequence of events which occurred more than a century ago. Also included here is ‘The Magical Mystery’, a brand new Feluda story discovered amongst Ray’s papers after his death, and several tales featuring Uncle Tarini, the master storyteller who appears in translation for the first time. From Mr. Shasmal, who is visited one night by all the creatures he has ever killed, to Ashamanja Babu, who does not know what to do when his pet dog suddenly begins to laugh, the unforgettable characters in these stories surprise, shock and entertain us in equal measure.
Indigo is a veritable treasure trove especially for those who like a taste of the unusual in a short story and an unexpected twist at the end. Translated from the Bengali by the author and Gopa Majumdar.
This is the story of a tiger.
Once a helpless ball of fur, Genghis emerges as a mighty predator, the king of the forest. But the jungle isn’t just his kingdom. Soon, Genghis finds himself fighting for his skin against equally powerful predators of a different kind–humans.
The very same ones that Vikram and Aditya get embroiled with when they attempt to lay their hands on a diary that belongs to a ruthless tiger poacher. Worlds collide when one ill-fated encounter plunges the boys and their friend Aarti into a thrilling chase that takes them deep into the magnificent game park of Ranthambore.
Journey through the wilderness, brimming with tiger lore, with a tale set in one of India’s most splendid destinations.
Shashi Tharoor began reading books”Enid Blyton’s Noddy series”when he was three. By the time he was ten, he had published his first work of fiction, Operation Bellows, a credulity-stretching saga of an Anglo-Indian fighter pilot. In between were years when he read a book a day. And in the years since, he has published eight books and written for many Indian and foreign publications. Bookless in Baghdad brings together pieces written over the past decade by this compulsive reader and prolific writer on the subject closest to his heart: reading. In these essays on books, authors, reviews, critics, literary festivals, literary aspirants, Empire, and India, Tharoor takes us on a delightful journey of discovery. He wanders the -book souk’ in a Baghdad under sanctions where the middle-class are selling their volumes so that they can afford to live; analyses the Indianness of Salman Rushdie; discusses P.G. Wodehouse’s enduring popularity in India; and drives around Huesca looking to pay an idiosyncratic tribute to George Orwell. There are excursions into the pitfalls of reviewing, explorations of the -anxiety of audience’ of Indian English writers, and a wicked account of how Norman Mailer dealt with a negative review.
