How easy or difficult is it to be a single father in India?
How does the world react when a Bollywood celebrity becomes the first man to have a child via surrogacy?
1998
A superstar dad
A successful sister
A growing production empire
Yet a young Tusshar Kapoor was sitting far away from the arc lights in the US, working as a financial analyst, until circumstances led him to return to India to pursue a career in entertainment.
Little did he know that a totally different journey was awaiting him in the years to come; that he would make a life altering choice while on a car journey that would eventually make him India’s first celebrity single dad.
Written in a frank, fun, no-holds-barred and incisive first-person narrative, Tusshar reveals interesting childhood anecdotes, the process of raising a child as a single man in India, how the search for the perfect soulmate doesn’t stop after having a child and finally how, his son, Laksshya, changed his life forever.
Society tends to glorify the get-rich-quick entrepreneur–who builds a company, takes it public and then (maybe) contributes to charity.
In Leadership to Last, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna interview iconic leaders in India who have demonstrated leadership to last. There are leaders from South Asia and other emerging markets as well to illustrate that the ideas Indian entrepreneurs speak about are echoed by their counterparts in the Global South. All these magnates–Ratan Tata, Anu Aga, Adi Godrej, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Devi Shetty and Rahul Bajaj, to name a few–have built, to general acclaim and acknowledgement, organizations that are seen as forward-looking and innovative. They subscribe to a code of ethics and contribute to the betterment of society. The authors demonstrate that this is a lot harder to achieve than unicorn status.
The authors corroborate how these stories are less about building a get-rich-quick organization and much more about triggering foundational and institutional change in society. These interviews, encapsulating the history of recent decades, eloquently lay out the opportunities and challenges of today and the future. The profiled leaders inspire awe by displaying audacity of intent, humility of demeanour and steadfastness of purpose.
‘This fine translation has once again returned Yashpal’s story to that fraught arena where every warrior appears exhausted today’-Ravish Kumar
‘A daring and unusual novel’-Vasudha Dalmia
‘A remarkable contribution to literary translation in English’-Apoorvanand
Harish, a young revolutionary in pre-Independence Lahore, upsets his party by questioning its credo of underground armed resistance. Escaping the party’s wrath, he becomes a labour activist, but is soon framed by the British government. Meanwhile, Shailbala, his comrade and lover, must take a decision about her pregnancy. As she courageously defies social norms and stands up to her influential father, can she find an ally within the revolutionary party-with Dada–Harish’s erstwhile mentor and antagonist–as its autocratic leader?
Yashpal’s first and semi-autobiographical novel, Dada Comrade is considered the pioneering political novel of Hindi literature. It raises questions about freedom and equality, as well as about sexuality and marriage-subjects as urgent today as in those times. In this first-ever English translation, Simona Sawhney brilliantly captures the force and intensity of the original, which had heralded the arrival of a literary genius.
As the fourth phase of the twenty-six-year-long civil war in Sri Lanka was about to begin, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living, visited the island nation with a singular aim: to bring peace to its citizens while trying to mediate between Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the government. The Tiger’s Pause chronicles Gurudev’s time in a highly strung country and also offers an exclusive look into the final chapters of Sri Lanka’s deadly conflict.
Swami Virupaksha, who spent nine years in the country expounding the Art of Living courses and organizing Gurudev’s visits, expertly charts the enormous hope of the Tamil and Sinhalese people against overwhelming misery. In prose that is both concise and empathetic, Swami Virupaksha gives readers a sweeping view of Gurudev’s endeavours towards a ceasefire agreement, and the ups and downs of a country’s quest for peace. The Tiger’s Pause is the narrative of the Sri Lankan people, and gives us a sense of what it takes to understand and address a shared trauma.
In Open House, Piyush Pandey takes the readers on a journey into his mind-his work, thoughts and experiences. He answers questions posed to him by people over the decades. Serious questions, incisive questions and frivolous questions. Is advertising a good career option? Should ad agencies work for political parties? Why does Ogilvy work for the BJP? Should citizens take the law into their own hands if they don’t like the advertising? Is Ogilvy a lala company? What is the future of advertising? Is Piyush Pandey too old to be in this business?
Honest, irreverent and informative, this is a roller-coaster ride with Piyush Pandey and Anant Rangaswami who has skilfully curated the book. With its practical wisdom and deep insights,
Open House will both entertain and enlighten you.
‘Chahe Chir Gayan So Jaye,
Aur Hriday Murda ho Jaye,
Kintu Mujhe ab Jeena Hi Hai–
Baith Chita Ki Chhati Par Bui, Madak Geet Suna Lunga Main!
Har Na Apni Manunga Main!’
Padmshree Gopal Das Neeraj’s Name comes in front of the veteran poet of India. He has been a successful lyrics in films for many years. Today also remember his song ‘Karwan Guzar Gaya..’
His son Milan Prabhat ‘Gunjan’ is doing unveil many un-known and un-touching aspects of his father. He tells how the childhood life of Neeraj Ji’s was lackluster and struggling under his father’s shadow and how his poetry reading spread slowly and in such a way he started getting offers for films.
His astrology knowledge was so strong that he predicted correctly the death time of Late Shri Atal Bihari Bajpayee and himself.
There is given an interesting memoire and inspirational story of Aacharya Chatursen, the other side his historical interview has been given in this book. This book is price-less with history and literature point of view.
Rebels Against the Raj tells the story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who across the late 19th to late 20th century arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence from British colonial rule.
Of the seven, four were British, two American, and one Irish. Four men, three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work in a variety of fields: journalism, social reform, education, the emancipation of women, environmentalism.
This book narrates their stories, each renegade motivated by idealism and genuine sacrifice; each connected to Gandhi, though some as acolytes where others were often infuriated by his views
; each understanding they would likely face prison sentences for their resistance, and likely live and die in India; each one leaving a profound impact on the region in which they worked, their legacies continuing through the institutions they founded and the generations and individuals they inspired.
Through these entwined lives, wonderfully told by one of the world’s finest historians, we reach deep insights into relations between India and the West, and India’s story as a country searching for its identity and liberty beyond British colonial rule.
The Art and Science of Frugal Innovation comes at a time when the world is grappling with unprecedented issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic that has left all humanity in the eye of the storm. In this book, Malavika Dadlani, Anil Wali and Kaushik Mukerjee deftly explore the scientific underpinnings and social gains of frugal innovations. They also explain how these frugal innovations can help the world overcome a variety of obstacles.
While differentiating between frugal and low-cost innovations, this straightforward book also picks the common thread between the two and demonstrates how durable solutions to problems can be found through scientific planning and systematic testing.
All in all, The Art and Science of Frugal Innovation is about breaking boundaries and sharing knowledge, expertise and ideas that can lead to sustainable development for all.
“…a narrative that is controversial, explosive and unputdownable.” KABIR KHAN
“…a stark, compelling portrait of our times.”
ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN
The great poet Ghalib, part of a long tradition of eclectic liberalism, found Benaras so compelling that he wrote his longest poem on the holy city. If we take Ghalib and his myriads of followers out of the equation, will Hindustan be left with a gaping hole or become something quite new? The Muslim Vanishes, a play by Saeed Naqvi, attempts to answer that question.
A Muslim-free India, as a character speculates naively in the play, would be good for socialism, since what the 200 million Muslims leave behind would be equitably shared by the general population. Meanwhile, another character, a political leader, is traumatized by the sudden disappearance of the Muslim voter base and the prospect of a direct electoral confrontation with the numerically stronger Dalits and other backward classes.
Caste, the Hindu-Muslim divide, Pakistan and Kashmir-the decibel levels on these subjects are too high for a conversation to take place, with each side fiercely defending their own narrative. What is the way out of this trap?
How to douse the social and political flames? In this razor-sharp, gentle and funny play, Saeed Naqvi draws on a mix of influences-from grandma’s bedtime stories to Aesop’s fables and Mullah Nasruddin’s satirical tales-to spring an inspired surprise on us, taking us on a journey into the realms of both history and fantasy.
