An intimate peek into the life of the soldier-turned-lyricist Anand Bakshi, from his formative years in undivided Punjab to eventually moving to Bombay and landing his first film Bhala Aadmi in 1958. Along the way, he lost his mother, his place of birth, and his home and wealth, but his zeal to stand up and walk after every stumble and his desire to become a film artist never abated. He eventually rose to become one of the most revered and sought-after lyricists in Hindi cinema, writing nearly 3300 songs in about 630 films over the next five decades. Written by his son, this is an inspiring story of faith, dreams, success and, above all, human values.
Catagory: Biographies, Diaries & True Accounts
India and Asian Geopolitics
Tracing India’s approach to the shifting regional landscape since its independence in 1947 to the Modi era, Shivshankar Menon addresses the many questions, which perplex India as the nation seeks to find its way in the increasingly complex world of Asian geopolitics. From its leading role in the ‘nonaligned’ movement during the Cold War to its current status as a perceived counterweight to China, India often has been an after-thought for global leaders-until they realize how much they needed it.
Examining India’s own policy choices throughout its history, Menon focuses in particular on its responses to the rise of China, as well as other regional powers. He also looks to the future and analyses how India’s policies are likely to evolve in response to current and new challenges. As India gains new stature across the globe, both its domestic preoccupations and international choices become more significant.
Authoritative, comprehensive and deeply engaging, in India and Asian Geopolitics Menon makes a powerful geopolitical case for an India increasingly and positively engaged in Asia and the broader world in pursuit of a pluralistic, open, and inclusive world order.
The book is a must have for the students and scholars of international relations, India and Asian geopolitics, Indian history and political science. Besides, it will attract policymakers, diplomats, politicians and general readers.
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How to Raise a Feminist Son
How to Raise a Feminist Son is a love story that will resonate with feminists who hope to change the world, one kind boy at a time. From teaching consent to counteracting problematic messages from the media, well-meaning family, and the culture at large, we have big work to do when it comes to our boys. This empowering book offers much-needed insight and actionable advice. It’s also a beautifully written and deeply personal story of struggling, failing, and eventually succeeding at raising a feminist son.
Informed by the author’s work as a professor of journalism specializing in social-justice movements and social media, as well as by conversations with psychologists, experts, and other parents and boys, this book follows one mother’s journey to raise a feminist son as a single parent. Through stories from her own life and wide-ranging research, Sonora Jha shows us all how to be better feminists and better teachers of the next generation of men in this electrifying tour de force.
Life in the Uniform
Amit Lodha is a decorated IPS officer holding the rank of inspector general. But before he rose the ranks in the service, he was an IIT graduate who was struggling to find his true purpose. In this book, Lodha tells us how he turned his life around and studied for the UPSC exams. He also tells us how he trained to be an officer and had the most memorable beginning to his career, in Bihar.
Punctuated with his signature humour and adventure-packed stories on everything from solving a kidnapping to handling a mob, Life in the Uniform gives us a chance to experience an IPS officer’s life through his own eyes.
Ruttie Jinnah
Did Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s wife, Ruttie, impact the creation of Pakistan? Did she have a posthumous influence on Pakistan’s polity? Does her legacy still affect Indo-Pak relations?
Ruttie Jinnah was a fierce nationalist in her own right and a proactive political companion to her husband. According to Jinnah’s contemporary political leader Sarojini Naidu, Ruttie was the only one with whom he could truly be himself. Much to the dismay of her family and the Parsee community she hailed from, she had a love marriage with Jinnah. However, despite her undisputed influence on him, she remains an understudied figure in history.
This vivid biography-put together over twelve years of research, interviews with historians, family members and lawyers of Jinnah’s descendants, and visits to every place associated with the couple in India, Pakistan and England-provides an incisive look into Ruttie’s life and legacy, bringing forth a novel and fresh understanding of Jinnah and the freedom movement.
The Rana Cookbook
The Rana name has been synonymous with the history and culture of Nepal for centuries. The beautiful palaces of Nepal were known not only for their glamour and architecture but also for their royal feasts. The recipes of the food served were exclusively with the cooks of the palaces and a lucky few who inherited them from earlier generations. In this exquisite book, for the first time ever, the doors to the palace kitchens are opened and we get a glimpse into the mouthwatering cuisine of the royals. Nepali food is famous for its fresh and light flavours in the staple rice, daals, meat and vegetables. The food of the Ranas, however, is vastly influenced by Indian flavours. While Indian food is renowned for its rich, thick gravies, Nepali cuisine tends to prefer lighter jhols and dry bhutans and kawafs. Though raw materials such as meat and vegetables can easily be found in the Indian kitchen, the style of preparation and spices such as jimbu and timur are unique in their Nepali flavour. With help and inputs from numerous family members, Rohini Rana has collected and documented the recipes precious to each Rana prime minister’s family. Showcasing magnificent food from the palaces, this luxurious and beautifully illustrated cookbook attempts to preserve these recipes for future
generations, and posterity.
Making Excellence A Habit
One of the few practising doctors in India who contributed to research, education and charity in such a large measure, the book documents the fundamentals of what makes a person achieve meaningful success. While hard work, passion and focus emerge as winning lessons, delicate and tender learnings from Dr Mohan’s life, such as empathy or spirituality, are not forgotten.
Written in Dr Mohan’s sagacious and affable voice, and peppered with examples of his bold and unusual ideas such as planning a diabetes expo or conducting a country-wide diabetes study, this book is a behind-the-scenes account of a person honoured internationally for delivering path-breaking care to hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes.
Karunanidhi
The most definitive biography of one of the most popular Indian politician, Karunanidhi.
Writer-turned-politician Muthuvel Karunanidhi is amongst the most important political figures India has ever seen. He was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for over five decades. Still remembered for his controversial but fruitful career as a regional leader, his contribution to Tamil history and culture has been invaluable. Meticulously researched and deeply engrossing, Karunanidhi: A Life delves into the life and times of this unforgettable man and his contribution to Indian politics.
Finding the Raga
By turns essay, memoir and cultural study, Finding the Raga is Amit Chaudhuri’s singular account of his discovery of, and enduring passion for, North Indian music: an ancient, evolving tradition whose principles and practices will alter the reader’s notion of what music might – and can – be. Tracing the music’s development, Finding the Raga dwells on its most distinctive and mysterious characteristics: its extraordinary approach to time, language and silence; its embrace of confoundment, and its ethos of evocation over representation. The result is a strange gift of a book, for musicians and music lovers, and for any creative mind in search of diverse and transforming inspiration.
Unscripted
Starting in Wazir Bagh, a small mohalla in Kashmir, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s life has been well and truly unscripted. Over the last thirty years, he has blazed a trail in Hindi cinema-even going on to direct a film in Hollywood. From someone who once released his student film though it was incomplete, because he ran out of money and film stock, he now has the distinction of heading one of the key production houses in India, VVC Films. The company has made some of the biggest blockbusters in recent times. Not only is he a film-maker par excellence, but he has also nurtured some of the brightest talents in the Hindi film industry, including directors Rajkumar Hirani, Pradeep Sarkar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
In Unscripted, Vidhu Vinod Chopra speaks to his long-time collaborator and scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi about his exceptional journey. Engaging and illuminating, the book provides a glimpse into the mind, method and madness of one of contemporary Hindi cinema’s best film-makers.