A divorce rate of around 1 per cent is often boasted about with pride in this country, without much critical thought spared for what it actually means. When Shasvathi Siva decided to end her marriage, she realized exactly how difficult getting a divorce was in our society and legal system. Since then, she has been working towards ensuring that others have it easier, and this book is an endeavour to share her learnings with great empathy and sagacity. Divorce Is Normal is an invaluable companion for anyone contemplating separation and divorce, and a necessary reminder for everyone else that divorce is normal. Through her story, Siva brings to readers fresh insights on unhappy marriages and divorce in the Indian context, helping expand perspectives so that people can overcome societal stigma and accept a brighter, happier future. Filled with practical tips, comforting stories and endless compassion shaped by a lived experience, this book acts like a warm hug and a stern friend all at once.
Catagory: Non Fiction
non fiction main category
Common Yet Uncommon
Meet these people: Bundle Bindu, so named because he likes his truth with a little embellishment, Jayant the shopkeeper who doesn’t make any profit, and Lunchbox Nalini, Sudha Murty herself, who brings her empty lunchbox-to be filled with food-wherever she goes!
Written in Sudha Murty’s inimitable style, Common Yet Uncommon is a heartwarming picture of everyday life and the foibles and quirks of ordinary people. In the fourteen tales that make up the collection, Sudha Murty delves into memories of childhood, life in her hometown and the people she’s crossed paths with. These and the other characters who populate the pages of this book do not possess wealth or fame. They are unpolished and outspoken, transparent and magnanimous.
Their stories are tales of unvarnished humans, with faults and big hearts.
Testament to the unique parlance of a small town, Common Yet Uncommon speaks a universal language of what it means to be human.
Sunderkand (Illustration)/सुन्दरकाण्ड (Gift Edition)
सुंदरकाण्ड गोस्वामी तुलसीदास कृत श्रीरामचरित मानस का सबसे अधिक लोकप्रिय खण्ड है।
सुंदरकाण्ड में हनुमान जी द्वारा किए गए महान कार्यों का वर्णन है। रामायण पाठ में सुंदरकाण्ड के पाठ का विशेष महत्व माना जाता है। सुंदरकाण्ड में हनुमान का लंका प्रस्थान, लंका दहन से लंका से वापसी तक के घटनाक्रम आते हैं। इस सोपान के मुख्य घटनाक्रम है—हनुमान जी का लंका की ओर प्रस्थान, विभीषण से भेंट, सीता से भेंट करके उन्हें श्री राम की मुद्रिका देना, अक्षय कुमार का वध, लंका दहन और लंका से वापसी। इसी के साथ इस पुस्तक में हनुमान चालीसा, आरतियाँ और बहुत कुछ देखने को मिलेगा।
A House of Rain and Snow
It’s so real. It must have happened. Or it’s happening. Or, it’s bound to happen. I trust Srijato’s every word in this novel–Gulzar
Pushkar, an offspring of the most incredible of times, has next to nothing to call his own. Except for a seasoned but out-of-work and disheartened father, and a defiant, uncompromising mother with a truly astounding gift for music. It is only in the gradually widening chasm between his parents that he discovers his world of poems, which he desperately tries to hide from everyone.
Everyone else except Saheli that is, only she gets to read his poems. Saheli, his schoolfriend who he is in love with. Abhijit, another friend from school, is unwilling to leave it all up to fate and insists on dragging Pushkar to meet Nirban and their independent publishing house—at least to ensure that Pushkar’s poems manage to see the light of day.
In this entirely strange, magical and leisurely course of life swirling all around Pushkar, there is but one entity with whom he shares all his secrets. A milkwood tree, a chatim is privy to everything in his life. And so time moves on, leading him to eventually confront a truly secret equation of life—the change made possible by the transformative power of love.
A House of Rain and Snow is a testament to an era, a witness to an astounding journey of a young poet.
Puffin Mahabharat (Hindi)/Mahabharat/महाभारत
‘प्राचीन भारत भूमि को भारतवर्ष के नाम से जाना जाता था। उस समय दो परिवारों के बीच एक झगड़ा शुरू हुआ, जो धीरे-धीरे रक्तपात में बदल गया। कुरु वंश के चचेरे भाइयों के बीच लड़ा गया यह भयानक युद्ध अब भारत की पौराणिक कथाओं और इतिहास का हिस्सा बन चुका है। तब से लाखों बार बताई और दोहराई गई महाभारत की यह कथा हार और जीत के बारे में तो है ही, साथ ही विनयशीलता और साहस के बारे में भी है। यह अब तक सुनाई गई सबसे महान गाथा है।’
नमिता गोखले भारत के सबसे समृद्ध साहित्यिक खज़ाने में से मनुष्यों और देवताओं की इस कालातीत कहानी को नई पीढ़ी के लिए साफ-सुथरे ढंग से फिर सुनाकर उसमें छिपी वीरता, छल, महिमा और निराशा की कहानियाँ सामने लाती हैं। चित्रकार और एनिमेटर शुद्धसत्व बसु की बनाई विचारशील चित्रों की शानदार कड़ी मनोहारी दृश्यों के ज़रिए इस महाकाव्य को साकार करती है। अपनी सामग्री और प्रस्तुति में बेजोड़, महाभारत – नई पीढ़ी के लिए हर पाठक को पसन्द आएगी।
Fugitive of Empire
In 1912, Rash Behari Bose made his dramatic entrance into India’s anti-colonial freedom movement when he orchestrated a bomb attack against the British viceroy during a public procession in Delhi. Forced to
flee his homeland, Bose settled in Japan, becoming the most influential Indian in Tokyo and earning the affectionate title ‘Sensei’ among Japanese youth, military personnel, and far-right ultranationalists.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Bose remained a perpetual thorn in the side of the British Empire as he built
and maintained a global network of anti-colonialists, radicals, smugglers, and intellectuals. After siding with Imperial Japan against his British adversaries during the Second World War, Bose died in 1945-just two years before India gained independence.
A complex, controversial, and often contradictory figure, Bose has been described as a committed democrat, an authoritarian, an advocate of religious harmony, a Hindu chauvinist, an anti-communist, a political pragmatist, an idealist, a Japanese collaborator, an anti-racist, a cultural conservative, a
Pan-Asianist, an Indian nationalist, and much more. Drawing on extensive archival research
from India, Japan, and the UK, this refreshing new biography brings to life the largely forgotten story of one of twentieth-century Asia’s most daring revolutionaries.
The Art of Habits
Such has been the transformative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic globally that, today, we have begun to describe events in the world as pre-Covid and post-Covid. As we brace ourselves for life in the new world order, cultivating conducive and sustainable habits has become more important than ever before.
As the final book in the three-volume series (after The Art of Resilience and The Art of Focus), The Art of Habits presents forty simple stories filled with deep revelations. What will enthral the readers is the engaging narration, the dynamics of the situations that manifest and the deep learnings from such episodes.
While The Art of Resilience presented ingredients for the reader to inculcate resilience in challenging situations manifested at the beginning of the pandemic, The Art of Focus inspired the resilient heart to develop a focused mind during the multiple Covid waves. Now, The Art of Habits provides ideas for the focused reader to cultivate conducive and sustainable habits to adapt with the paradigm shift created by the pandemic, instilling in the reader a resolute mindset to handle multiple such unexpected transformative events in the future.
Poorna Swaraj
It contributes to current analyses of the health of liberal democracies-Rajmohan Gandhi
An impressive contribution to Gandhian studies-Bhikhu Parekh
This work merits attention-Gopal Guru
An extremely valuable and timely work-Prabhat Patnaik
Time and again, Mahatma Gandhi’s life, work and philosophy have played pivotal roles in bringing positive change in society. Poorna Swaraj, through its reading of the Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place, opens a window to his vision of attaining real and complete independence or ‘swaraj’ for India. With his ideas on communal unity, prohibition, basic education, emancipation of women, advisasis’ concerns, farmers’ distress, removal of untouchability, demystification of leprosy, the role of khadi, charkha, village and small-scale industries, among others, this book brings to light Gandhi’s road map for an egalitarian society.
This first critical edition, with a comprehensive contextual introduction by Dhananjay Rai, sets the backdrop for readers to understand Gandhi’s thoughts on making an ideal society. Amazingly relevant and thought-provoking, Poorna Swaraj is a must-read for students and scholars of history, social science, politics and Gandhian studies. An invaluable companion for policymakers and general readers, this book is a treasure trove.
To Be Human
To Be Human presents Krishnamurti’s radical vision of life in a new way. At the heart of this extraordinary collection are passages from the great teacher’s talks that amplify and clarify the nature of truth and those obstacles that often prevent us from seeing it.
Besides presenting the core of Krishnamurti’s message, the book alerts the reader to his innovative use of language, the ways in which he would use “old words with new interpretations,” then gives practical examples, showing that we can clarify our understanding of life itself-and how we can act on this new understanding.
The splendid introduction by David Skitt discusses Krishnamurti’s philosophy as a guide to knowledge and experience, the roles knowledge and experience should play in our lives, and the times when it is best to cast them aside and “look and act anew.”
To Be Human is more than just a book; it’s an invitation to elevate your consciousness, to contemplate life’s mysteries, and to embark on a path of self-discovery. Whether you’re a seasoned follower of Krishnamurti’s teachings or a newcomer seeking wisdom, this book promises to be a source of guidance, inspiration, and transformation. Embrace its pages and unlock the profound potential of being human.
Better Small Talk
That first conversation, while networking or socially, can be quite daunting! What do you say to connect and make a memorable impression?
For everyone who ends up at the usual “weather talk” and struggles to start interesting conversations, here you’ll find ways, from hello to goodbye, on how to simply go deeper.
Better Small Talk is a unique read. Imagine the following situation: you’ve just put on your name tag, and you’re approached by a stranger. What do you say? Nice weather today.
No, we can do better than this. Learn better small talk to avoid awkwardness, put people at ease, and build real rapport.
You’ll learn exact dialogues, responses, phrases, and questions to use.
-How to tell captivating stories and what to actually focus on.
-Four ways to warm yourself up and prepare for even the most unpredictable conversations.
-Instantly setting a tone of friendship and openness with strangers.
-Common and subtle conversational habits you need to stop right now.
Become someone who is magnetic and who can make new friends in any situation.
Simple conversation is the gatekeeper to friendships, your dream career, romance, and overall happiness. The ability to connect with anyone is an underrated superpower. People will be more drawn to you without even knowing why, and never again will people be bored talking to you. You’ll never run out of things to say when you master these conversation tactics.