Lieutenant General K.J.S. ‘Tiny’ Dhillon, an Infantry veteran from the Rajputana Rifles with about four decades of military service, has served multiple tenures in Kashmir.
In this book, ‘Tiny’ Dhillon opens a hitherto-closed window, not only to his life but also to Kashmir. He recounts fascinating tales about the toughest challenges he encountered, from age three right up to those from his multiple tenures in Kashmir from 1988 to 2020, where it was his responsibility to maintain a balance between counter-terrorism operations on the one hand and to use military soft power on the other. Dhillon retraces his entire journey, from being a young boy to becoming the Commander of the Chinar Corps, with Kashmir as an inseparable part of this story.
As a first-hand account, the book touches on and demystifies the myths, half-truths, whats, ifs and whys of the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits; the barbarous attack on an Indian security convoy in Pulwama district, in which forty CRPF personnel were killed; the Balakot air strikes; and the abrogation of Article 370 and its impact on the socio-political, economic and law-and-order situation, among other incidents. It takes us behind the scenes to bring out the nuances of various intriguing developments at a critical juncture in the history of J&K.
Anecdotal, candid and evocative, Kitne Ghazi Aaye, Kitne Ghazi Gaye brings to light the true stories from this Army veteran’s life. It focuses on the personal, professional and, most importantly, family life of a soldier in the Army, and will not only provide an insight into the trials and tribulations he faced but will also inspire a wide spectrum of readers, especially young defence aspirants.
Find Tiny Dhillon online:
Twitter: @Tiny_Dhillon
Instagram: @tinydhillon
Facebook: @TinyDhillon
This is the unfettered story of Ashneer Grover-the favourite and misunderstood poster boy of Start-up India.
Raw, gut-wrenching in its honesty and completely from the heart, this is storytelling at its finest.
A young boy with a ‘refugee’ tag growing up in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar outpaces his circumstances by becoming a rank-holder at the pinnacle of academic excellence in India-IIT Delhi. He goes on to do an MBA from the hallowed halls of IIM Ahmedabad, builds a career as an investment banker at Kotak Investment Banking and AmEx, and is pivotal in the making of two unicorns-Grofers, as CFO, and BharatPe, as co-founder.
As a judge on the popular TV show Shark Tank India, Ashneer becomes a household name even as his life turns upside down. Controversy, media spotlight, garrulous social media chatter descend, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.
The Creation of Wealth is R. M. Lala’s bestselling account of how the Tatas have been at the forefront in the making of the Indian nation-not just by their phenomenal achievements as industrialists and entrepreneurs but also by their singular contributions in areas like factory reforms, social welfare, medical research, higher education, arts and rural development.
In The TCS Story and Beyond, S. Ramadorai, one of the country’s most respected business leaders, recounts the steps to the extraordinary success of Tata Consultancy Services, one of the world’s largest IT software and services companies, and outlines a vision for the future where the quality initiatives he undertook can be applied to a larger national framework.
Tatalog: Eight Modern Stories from a Timeless Institution provides readers with an insider’s glimpse of the challenges faced by the Tata companies and how they rose above it all and carved a name for themselves.
SD, or Sachin Dev Burman, the man who gave Hindi film music its grammar, is perhaps the most enigmatic figure in Indian cine history. As the young scion of the Tripura royal family, SD struck out into the world of cinema and popular music. The early years were difficult, professionally and personally. His unconventional choice of profession and marriage to a ‘commoner’ caused his family to ostracize him, and his formal training was not enough to stave off rejections. This well-researched biography is both a tribute to a great artist, and a deep inquiry into what made his music great. Going well beyond merely listing his greatest songs, it explores hitherto unknown stories about the creation of each gem: ‘Mera sundar sapna beet gaya’ (Do Bhai, 1948); ‘Thandi hawaein’ (Naujawan, 1951); ‘Yeh raat yeh chandni’ (Jaal, 1952); ‘Babu samjho ishaare’ (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, 1958); ‘Meet na mila re mann ka’ (Abhiman, 1973), and more. The book is packed with insights into SD’s life, work and his astute understanding of Hindi cinema. Despite the fact that he was an outsider who spoke little Hindi or Urdu, SD was the man who introduced Sahir Ludhianvi to the world, and the one who gave Kishore Kumar’s musical brilliance its due. His readiness to adapt to modern sounds and techniques, his unwavering faith in Lata Mangeshkar’s virtuosity, his closeness to Dev Anand that was seen as nepotism, charges of plagiarism-S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician provides unmatched insight into both the genius of one of India’s most significant composers and a crucial aspect of its glorious cinematic history. An essential addition to every film music aficionado’s library.
Karan Johar is synonymous with success, panache, quick wit, and outspokenness, which sometimes inadvertently creates controversy and makes headlines. KJo, as he is popularly called, has been a much-loved Bollywood film director, producer, actor, and discoverer of new talent. With his flagship Dharma Production, he has constantly challenged the norms, written and rewritten rules, and set trends.
But who is the man behind the icon that we all know? Baring all for the first time in his autobiography, An Unsuitable Boy, KJo reminisces about his childhood, the influence of his Sindhi mother and Punjabi father, obsession with Bollywood, foray into films, friendships with Aditya Chopra, SRK and Kajol, his love life, the AIB Roast, and much more. In his trademark frank style, he talks about the ever-changing face of Indian cinema, challenges and learnings, as well as friendships and rivalries in the industry.
Honest, heart-warming and insightful, An Unsuitable Boy is both the story of the life of an exceptional film-maker at the peak of his powers and of an equally extraordinary human being who shows you how to survive and succeed in life.
‘One doesn’t plan one’s life fully. Some of it is planned, but some of it is purely accidental. Much of my life is a matter of circumstance,’ says C. Rangarajan.
In this book, the veteran economist and policymaker provides a captivating account of his professional journey, starting with his purely accidental entry into the RBI in 1982. Rangarajan, regarded as one of the tallest figures in the history of India’s economic reforms, provides crucial insights into the role he played as part of the team which initiated far-reaching reforms in India’s economy in the early 1990s. The path-breaking reforms that he implemented during his tenure as governor of RBI included deregulation of interest rates, strengthening of the banking system by a gradual tightening of prudential norms, creation and nurturing of financial markets, giving them depth and vibrancy, shifting to market-determined exchange rates, making the rupee convertible on the current account and the cessation of automatic monetization of budget deficit.
Rangarajan describes the key events between 1982 and 2014, particularly in the areas of money and finance, explaining not only what happened but also the motivations and processes behind them. As a public figure and an architect of economic change in India, he also ruminates about his interactions with both political and economic actors. Forks in the Road is not only a memoir of a man who shaped India’s economy and positively impacted the lives of many, but also a fascinating account of India’s growth story. It is a description of what we did and what we did not, and where we succeeded and where we failed.
There is perhaps no political figure in modern history who did more to secure and protect the Indian nation than Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. But, ironically, seventy years after Patel brought together piece by piece the map of India by fusing the princely states with British India to create a new democratic, independent nation, little is understood or appreciated about Patel’s enormous contribution to the making of India. Caricatured in political debate, all the nuances of Patel’s difficult life and the daring choices he made are often lost, or worse, used as mere polemic.
If Mahatma Gandhi was the spiritual core of India’s freedom struggle and Jawaharlal Nehru its romantic idealism, it was Sardar Patel who brought in the vital pragmatism which held together the national movement and the first ideas of independent India. A naturally stoic man, Patel, unlike Gandhi or Nehru, wrote no personal history. He famously argued that its was better to create history than write it. This is why even his deepest misgivings and quarrels have been easily buried. But every warning that Patel left for India-from the dangers of allowing groups to create private militias to his thoughtful criticism on India’s approach to Kashmir, Pakistan and China-are all dangerously relevant today. It is impossible to read about Patel, who died in 1950, and not feel that had he lived on, India might have been a different country. It is also impossible to ignore Patel and understand not only what the idea of India is but also what it could have been, and might be in the future.
The Man Who Saved India is a sweeping, magisterial retelling of Sardar Patel’s story. With fiercely detailed and pugnacious anecdotes, multiple award-winning, best-selling writer Hindol Sengupta brings alive Patel’s determined life of struggle and his furious commitment to keep India safe. This book brings alive all the arguments, quarrels and clashes between some of the most determined people in Indian history and their battle to carve out an independent nation. Through ravages of a failing body broken by decades of abuse in and outside prison, Patel stands out in this book as the man who, even on his deathbed, worked to save India. Hindol Sengupta’s The Man Who Saved India is destined to define Patel’s legacy for future generations.
Screenwriter and fame-child Shaheen Bhatt has been a powerhouse of quiet restraint-until recently. In a sweeping act of courage, she now invites you into her head.
Shaheen was diagnosed with depression at eighteen, after five years of already living with it. In this emotionally arresting memoir, she reveals both the daily experiences and big picture of one of the most debilitating and critically misinterpreted mental illnesses in the twenty-first century. Shaheen takes us through the personal pendulum of understanding and living with depression in her privileged circumstances. With honesty and a profound self-awareness, Shaheen lays claim to her sadness, while locating it in the universal fabric of the human condition.
In this multi-dimensional, philosophical tell-all, Shaheen acknowledges, accepts and overcomes the peculiarities of living with depression. To anyone with mental health disorders, I’ve Never Been (Un)Happier stretches out its hand to gently provide solace and solidarity
Didda, princess of Lohara, is beautiful, intelligent–and lame.
Despised by her father and bullied by his heir, Didda’s childhood is miserable and her future, bleak.
When she is married off to the dissolute ruler of Kashmira, she must learn to hold her own in a court ridden with factions and conspiracies. But Didda is no ordinary queen. Ruthless and ambitious, she wants to rewrite history. Will she succeed?
Queen of Ice is a compulsive read that brings alive the turbulent history of tenth-century Kashmir with an exquisite balance of fact and fiction. This is award-winning author Devika Rangachari’s finest novel yet.
