Lt Gen. Satish Dua’s tryst with Kashmir has spanned nearly four decades (from 1980 to 2018), during which, he has observed the changing social, political, security and religious landscape of the region.
In A General Reminisces, he reflects upon this time, his interactions with bureaucrats and experiences about the atmosphere at the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. He mulls the change, the way it has taken over the citizens and the army stationed there—at the same time, he pens his thoughts about how militancy sprung up in the Valley in 1990s and how the Indian Army evolved to respond to it. A counter-terrorism force called Rashtriya Rifles was created to counter the rising threat. Then there was a bold response of creation of Ikhwan, a rehabilitation programme that allowed young Kashmiri men to convert from militancy and work with the Indian Army. This eventually led to a bolder experiment of raising the Territorial Army battalion, comprising of surrendered terrorists.
In these events, Lt Gen. Dua weaves in the context to tell a story of a terrorist-turned-soldier, Nazir Wani, who ended up becoming the very beacon of change that Lt Gen. Dua has witnessed and hopes for.
Nazir, the son of a farmer, was born at a time when teenagers of Kashmir heard strident voices, fiery speeches, and more than occasional gunfire. Nazir strayed on the wrong side as a teenager, starting with running errands for terrorist groups to more. Fortunately for him, Ikhwan was started just then. He joined the programme and proved himself as a cool and confident operative in the field. As an Ikhwan and later as a soldier of Territorial Army (TA) Battalion of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI), Nazir earned his spurs in several operations. He was awarded the Ashok Chakra for his ultimate sacrifice in a daring operation.
An inspiring tale of Nazir’ s operations and valour, this book also goes to the man behind the hero and shows the humble aspirations of a father.
इस शानदार किताब के जरिए विनीत गिल ने आधुनिक हिंदी साहित्य के शिखर पुरुषों में गिने जाने वाले एक लेखक के साहित्यिक संसार की गहरी पड़ताल की है और निर्मल वर्मा के जीवन के बिखरे हुए तत्वों को एक ऐसी सामग्री की तरह देखा है जिसने एक लेखक के रूप में उन्हें गढ़ा। जिन जगहों पर निर्मल वर्मा रहे, जिन लोगों को वे जानते थे और जिन पुस्तकों को वे पढ़ते थे, गिल की राय में, ये सब कुछ वर्मा की कहानियों और उपन्यास में परिलक्षित होता है। यह किताब गहन पाठकीय विश्लेषण और बेहद सोच समझकर की गई पड़ताल का नतीजा है- वर्मा के साहित्यिक कृतित्व और विश्व साहित्य में उनके स्थान के बारे में एक चिंतन।
The Golden Touch lays out the extraordinary story of Kalyan Jewellers and the life of its founder, T.S. Kalyanaraman. It is the very personal account of a visionary with humble beginnings from Thrissur who set up one of the largest jewellery stores in the country—a Rs 17,000 crore behemoth employing over 8000 people.
This captivating autobiography offers an intimate glimpse into the transformative moments that shaped the life of a remarkable individual who dared to dream big and turn those dreams into reality. Through the pages of this compelling autobiography, you’ll follow the author’s evolution from a curious and ambitious young mind to a seasoned business leader who has left an indelible mark on the world of entrepreneurship.
The Golden Touch provides a novel perspective on building a business empire and inspiring generations of entrepreneurs and dreamers.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, ‘the most remarkable woman’ Eleanor Roosevelt had ever met, was a pioneering politician and diplomat celebrated internationally for her brilliance, charm and glamour. Marlon Brando called her the woman he admired most in the world, while ordinary American men gave up watching football to come hear her speak.
Pandit’s life straddled the twentieth century, her own story intertwined with that of the modern world. She was India’s first woman cabinet minister, first ambassador to the United Nations and first ambassador to the Soviet Union. She was also the first woman elected President of the U.N. General Assembly. And yet her influence extended well beyond these formal roles. She grew to be one of the most influential international voices of peace while also paving the way for women across the world in many fields.
Madame Pandit, as she was widely known, moved easily in global aristocratic circles, even as she worked tirelessly to improve the lives of suffering millions. She traded barbs and quips with Winston Churchill, out-debated Jan Smuts and garnered more attention than James Cagney. She was arrested for the attempted assassination of Benito Mussolini and later told John F. Kennedy not to go to Dallas. At the end of her career, she came out of retirement to battle her own niece, Indira Gandhi, in an epic clash of democracy vs. authoritarianism.
Based on eight years of research and using material in five languages from seven countries and over forty archives, Manu Bhagavan has written the definitive biography of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
Goa’s magnetism and its promise of a relaxed, almost bohemian lifestyle, have always attracted admirers and colonizers. Before the locals could make up their minds about such interlopers, Covid-19 brought hordes of them to town—Michelle Mendonça Bambawale was one of them. In June 2020, Michelle found herself moving to the 160-year-old house she had inherited in Siolim, a village in North Goa, with her human and canine family.
Having never lived in Goa before, she couldn’t help but wonder if her Goan ancestry made her an insider or if she would forever remain an outsider. In this memoir, she confronts her complex relationship with her Goan Catholic heritage and explores themes of identity, culture, migration, stereotypes and labels.
She also uncovers some of the uncanniest legends that pervade Siolim, including those of St. Anthony and the Snake, Sao Joao, and the statue of Beethoven. She also takes us back to Siolim and Goa in the 1970s and 1980s, where she spent her summer vacations without paved roads or electricity, pulling water from a well. Today, she dodges reeking septic tankers, earth movers and piling plastic garbage while walking her Labrador, Haruki.
Becoming Goan is a heartfelt and charming story of Michelle’s love for this land that her grandparents left her. She cares deeply about Goa’s biodiversity and is distraught about the environmental impact of tourism, construction and mining. Her devotion to Mother Earth deepens as she learns more about her roots, steeped as they are in syncretic traditions.
Subverting an ableist India’s expectations from a disabled person to be ‘inspirational’ and an ‘underdog who made it’ despite their illness, Abhishek Anicca writes about everyday stories of living with disability and chronic illness in this memoir-in-essays.
With piercing mindfulness and radical vulnerability, Annica writes sparse and compelling essays on the self, questions of care and dignity, dating and navigating desire as a queer-disabled man, self-hatred, moving about with a crutch, chronic pain and shame, the chilling lack of representation in the media and reflections on nearing death.
Conversational and informal, truthful and unflinching, Anicca’s wry and urgent essays in The Grammar of My Body compel the reader to become at once distant from and proximate to their inner experiences.
Deeply personal and intimate, this absolutely magical culinary memoir by Tabinda Jalil-Burney combines recipes and memories from the idyllic summers of her childhood which she spent with her grandparents in Aligarh. There, presided over by Amma—her formidable grandmother—the extended clan gathered and as the women concocted delicious dishes, they exchanged family stories and lore, embroidered, knitted and crocheted, while the children played games free of distractions.
Family entertainment included bait bazi, involving people reciting couplets in a chain. Some family dishes were prepared by talented home cooks and some by the women from extended family. Over the years, recipes began to be associated with a particular aunt or grand aunt. No one used a recipe book or measured quantities when cooking. They cooked with the seasonal produce available at home and measurements were by andaaza. Everyone would eat sitting cross-legged by a courtyard with tamarind and guava trees and the large thorny bushes of the sour kakronda berries.
In here are family secrets for the best shami kebabs, qormas, chuquandar gosht and desserts. This richly textured, densely peopled memoir conjures the vanished world of an Aligarh family in the sixties and seventies through food and cooking, and of India long gone.
It is rare to see a lawyer from a district court occupy centre stage in the Supreme Court but M.K. Nambyar achieved this remarkable feat. Starting his practice in a district court in Mangalore, M.K. Nambyar rose to become an eminent constitutional lawyer. Written by his son K.K. Venugopal, a legal luminary himself, this biography provides a fascinating account of Nambyar’s life. It not only describes the man but also recapitulates India’s legal history from the pre-Independence era. The book includes some landmark cases argued by Nambyar that have significantly contributed to the development of constitutional law in India such as A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras and I.C. Golak Nath v. State of Punjab, where he sowed the seeds of the ‘basic structure’ doctrine. These cases continue to guide and inspire lawyers and judges today.
A must-read for scholars and practitioners of constitutional law, this book is a tribute to the man whose deep understanding and visionary interpretation of law continue to inform judicial thinking.
MT, as he is popularly known, is one of the most illustrious writers and film-makers from modern Kerala. His life’s work has won him the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award, the National Film Award and the Padma Bhushan, among others.
MT grew up in the village of Kudallur in Kerala and his writings constantly evoke the landscape of the years he spent there. Many of the characters in his stories are based on people who lived in this region and the stories themselves often retell incidents that happened there.
The memoirs as well as the stories in this volume were chosen by MT himself. They pay homage to his childhood, his craft and most importantly, his Amma, whose restful presence they beautifully and poignantly capture.
Unlike traditional biographies of combat leaders, which focus primarily on military operations or regimental histories, in this book Major General V.K. Singh concentrates on personal accounts, anecdotes and reminiscences in order to highlight these leaders’ personalities, and to draw out the human face behind the military facade. Through the stories of these twelve military leaders, the book also throws new light on several historical events and the role of political leaders during India’s fight for independence and the partitioning of the subcontinent. He gives an overview of India’s military history after independence, including major operations, and describes many hitherto unknown or little-known incidents concerning smaller operations like Nathu La in 1967 and Goa in 1962.
Written records tend to glorify the actions of battalions as well as individuals, Singh says, magnifying achievements while suppressing the mistakes and glossing over failures. Leadership in the Indian Army provides a truer picture of the strength of character and convictions of each of these leaders. A must-read for anyone interested in India’s military history.
