यह पुस्तक भारत में पर्यावरण आंदोलन की जड़ों को समझने का एक महत्त्वपूर्ण प्रयास है। रामचंद्र गुहा इसमें दिखाते हैं कि कैसे भारत में प्रकृति के प्रति संवेदनशीलता केवल आधुनिक विचार नहीं, बल्कि सदियों पुरानी सामाजिक, सांस्कृतिक और आर्थिक परंपराओं से जुड़ी हुई है। पुस्तक में भारतीय इतिहास से जुड़े नौ पर्यावरणविदों के माध्यम से यह बताया गया है कि आम लोगों—विशेषकर ग्रामीण समुदायों—ने अपने जीवन और आजीविका की रक्षा के लिए पर्यावरण संरक्षण को एक संघर्ष के रूप में अपनाया। गुहा यह भी स्पष्ट करते हैं कि भारतीय पर्यावरणवाद पश्चिमी मॉडल से अलग है, क्योंकि यह केवल प्रकृति की रक्षा नहीं, बल्कि सामाजिक न्याय और संसाधनों के समान वितरण से भी जुड़ा है।
Catagory: Crafts, Home & Lifestyle
A Quest for the Perfect Rice
The story of rice—bigger, older and richer than you think. A Quest for the Perfect Rice is not a cookbook—it’s a cultural epic served on a plate
This is biryani as you’ve never encountered it before: not a recipe, but a civilization in a pot. Blending history, food writing and storytelling, the book takes you on a richly layered journey through the origins of biryani, khichadi, pulao, tehari and India’s enduring rice traditions.
Framed as a surreal midnight conversation with the spirit of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the last ruler of Awadh, the narrative unfolds like a grand, ghost-hosted durbar. As the night deepens, legendary figures from history arrive—bringing with them stories of royal kitchens, forgotten rituals, culinary rivalries and the evolution of India’s most beloved dish.
Part food history, part cultural anthropology and part whimsical storytelling, this book traces over 5000 years of culinary evolution—exploring Persian influences, regional adaptations and the emotional role rice plays in Indian homes and celebrations. From Muradabadi to Anglo-Indian variations, each chapter reveals how geography, memory and identity shape what ends up on our plates.
Witty, immersive and deeply researched, A Quest for the Perfect Rice is a feast of stories where flavour meets folklore. If you love biryani, food history, Indian culture or simply a great story well told, this book will change the way you see every grain of rice.
Ghosts on Peepal Trees
Ghosts on Peepal Trees is the memoir of Swami Prem Parivartan, known to millions as Peepal Baba: one of India’s most respected environmentalists.
Drawn from his handwritten notes, scattered across diaries, napkins, in the margins of newspapers and waste sheets of paper, the stories transport you into his childhood’s lanes of Dehradun and the green cantonment of Pune where two remarkable women – his grandmother and a primary school teacher- inculcated the curiosity and respect for life that led him to becoming Peepal Baba.
While travelling across 220 Indian districts, he finally understands how his grandmother’s stories about ghosts on trees were actually lessons in how faith protects forests. How simple, honest acts of care, rooted in devotion rather than ambition, can draw millions into a movement, even when it has no structure and no name.
Honest and quietly transformative, Ghosts on Peepal Trees is a reminder that we already know how to listen to the earth, to the stories that the soil tells us, and to feel the love in the shade of a tree and the poetry in the rustle of its leaves.
We just need to remember.
The Orissan | 2500 Years of Odisha’s Culinary Heritage Rooted in Temple Traditions, Culture and Authentic Recipes
In the cradle of India’s eastern coastline lies a land where civilization learned to pray through food. Odisha, or ancient Kalinga, has witnessed dynasties rise and tides retreat, yet its essence endures in the quiet dignity of its kitchens.
The Orissan traces this unbroken lineage of taste and tradition. Each recipe is a fragment of history, born in temple offerings, royal feasts, and humble hearths, carried forward by generations who understood that nourishment is both art and devotion. Interwoven with personal recollections, myths, and forgotten lore, these pages become a chronicle of identity—a journey through time where flavours are the language of memory and every meal a hymn to the land.
To open this book is to rediscover an unsung state—glorious, graceful, and eternal.
Root Leaf Fire
Root, Leaf, Fire is a transformative journey that begins with a simple plate of food and unfolds into a profound philosophy. It restores food to its true essence: nourishment, energy, art, and medicine. Helmed with recipes that are simple yet extraordinary, it is a guide, a conversation starter, and a companion. It blends timeless health principles with the beauty of well-crafted food, reminding us that true health resides in being present in joyful rituals that bring rhythm and meaning to everyday life.
Root, Leaf, Fire combines Luke Coutinho’s extensive experience in guiding people towards health through sleep, movement, emotional balance, and mindful eating with Sheeba De Souza’s passion for creating beautiful, nourishing meals, offering a distinctive approach to nourishment.
Memories on a Platter
This book—Rohini’s third foray into the world of gastronomy—takes the reader through her encounters with Indian cuisine back in her childhood and later, recipes from the Rana heritage when she was a young bride in Nepal. In this book, she has tried to combine recipes from India and Nepal with the taste and flavours of cuisines encountered during her travels accompanying her husband on global postings. Rohini has woven these culinary memories into her craft, reviving the flavours of her childhood, recipes once nurtured by the khansamas of the British Raj, as well as forgotten and lost dishes of feudal India.
In Memories on a Platter, these treasured heritage culinary delights are combined with food prepared by the Bajais of Nepal’s Rana households and dishes from other parts of the world. Each of these beautiful recipes are either original or artfully marinated, sautéed, simmered and fused to harmonize with the modern palate and today’s lifestyle.
From Chaos to Clarity
In her transformative book Cancer: From Chaos to Clarity, acclaimed nutritionist Shonali Sabherwal provides a beacon of hope for those affected by cancer. Whether you are newly diagnosed, undergoing treatment or caring for someone with cancer, this essential guide offers a wealth of knowledge to help you and your loved ones navigate this challenging journey.
With detox diet plans, a variety of nutritious recipes and crucial health tips, Shonali presents a holistic dietary approach for the prevention, remission and treatment phases. Drawing on her extensive experience and expertise, Shonali empowers readers with practical advice and actionable strategies to enhance their well-being.
More than just a guidebook, The Cancer Diet is the ultimate diet manual, empowering you to take control of your health and well-being during one of life’s toughest battles.
The Great Indian Tiffin Box
India’s food is as diverse as its people, changing dramatically in taste, technique and ingredients every few kilometres. One of our first introductions to this wide range of cuisines is through the tiffin boxes of our classmates. Carrying flavours from different families and cultures, these boxes hold many stories—of history, tradition and the country itself.
The Great Indian Tiffin Box is a delightful exploration of this culinary diversity, featuring a curated list of popular and unique dishes from each Indian state and union territory. Peppered with lesser-known facts and interesting recipes, this beautifully illustrated book is a celebration of India’s rich food heritage and is a perfect read for food enthusiasts and cultural explorers alike.
Itihas Ki Thali / इतिहास की थाली
कोलंबस भारत नहीं आ सका, लेकिन उसके चक्कर में आलू आ गया और उस आलू ने हमारी आबादी को जिस रफ़्तार से बढ़ाया कि दुनिया देखती रह गई। ईसाई पादरी ‘क्रिसमस नहीं मनाएँगे’, कहते रह गए मगर बाज़ार ने उसे दुनिया का त्योहार बना डाला। कभी हीर और रांझे की प्रेम कहानी ने बासमती को अमेरिका की संपत्ति बनने से बचा लिया, तो कहीं परंपरा के नाम पर महिलाओं का पोषण ही रोक दिया गया। कभी एक फ़ास्टफ़ूड कंपनी ने कहा कि फ़ेमिनिस्ट होने का मतलब है खाना न पकाना, तो कभी केलों के व्यापार ने सरकारों को तानाशाह बना दिया। अगर अब्राहम लिंकन की वजह से बंबई को उसकी पावभाजी मिली, तो कोला कंपनियों ने खेल को धर्म और खिलाड़ियों को भगवान बनाया। रोटियों से क्रांति करने और नमक से सत्ता गिराने वाले देश में इतिहास की थाली इन तमाम घटनाओं के साथ-साथ, बिरयानी से लेकर 1947 के बँटवारे तक को एक नई नज़र से देखने की क्षमता देती है। क्योंकि हमारे हर निवाले में स्वाद के साथ-साथ इतिहास, व्यापार, संस्कृति, पहचान और साज़िशों की पूरी दुनिया छिपी होती होती है।
Tell My Mother I Like Boys
Tell My Mother I Like Boys is a memoir of appetite—for food, for love, for belonging. Suvir Saran,
one of India’s most celebrated chefs, traces a life lived between continents and cultures, where the kitchen becomes both a sanctuary and a crucible. From the spice-laden streets of New Delhi to the pressure-cooked world of Michelin-starred New York dining, he reveals how cooking is never just about taste but about memory, survival and the making of the self.
Saran writes of the exhilaration of opening Devi, the first Indian restaurant in North America to earn a Michelin star, and of the loneliness that trailed even the brightest success. In his hands, food becomes a vocabulary: the slow patience of a biryani, the intricate layering of a galouti kebab, the quiet comfort of dal simmered at home. Each dish carries a memory and meaning, stitching together the fragments of exile, grief, desire and return.
At once an intimate kitchen story and a reckoning with identity, Tell My Mother I Like Boys is about the hungers that shape us and the meals—lavish and humble—that teach us how to live.