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Catagory: Non Fiction

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Indians

‘Deepens our sense of the wonder that was India’ ~ Pankaj Mishra

‘A gem of a book that is a joy to read . . . You can almost touch and feel the centuries and millennia as they pass by’ ~ Tony Joseph

‘Arora explores how Indians lived, ate, loved, built, fought and made sense of the material, rational and spiritual world down the ages . . . [A] mega-ambitious project’ ~ The Hindu

‘A wonderfully evocative book. Arora invites the reader to reflect on the past, without overwhelming her with dry historical facts but luring her in with vivid human stories’ ~ Prof. Mohan Rao

A BRILLIANT, ORIGINAL BOOK THAT REVEALS INDIA’S RICH AND DIVERSE HISTORIES

What do we really know about the Aryan migration theory and why is that debate so hot?
Why did the people of Khajuraho carve erotic scenes on their temple walls?
What did the monks at Nalanda eat for dinner?
Did our ideals of beauty ever prefer dark skin?

Indian civilization is an idea, a reality, an enigma. In this riveting book, Namit Arora takes us on an unforgettable journey through 5000 years of history, reimagining in rich detail the social and cultural moorings of Indians through the ages. Drawing on credible sources, he discovers what inspired and shaped them: their political upheavals and rivalries, customs and vocations, and a variety of unusual festivals. Arora makes a stop at six iconic places — the Harappan city of Dholavira, the Ikshvaku capital at Nagarjunakonda, the Buddhist centre of learning at Nalanda, enigmatic Khajuraho, Vijayanagar at Hampi, and historic Varanasi — enlivening the narrative with vivid descriptions, local stories and evocative photographs. Punctuating this are chronicles of famous travellers who visited India — including Megasthenes, Xuanzang, Alberuni and Marco Polo — whose dramatic and idiosyncratic tales conceal surprising insights about our land.

In lucid, elegant prose, Arora explores the exciting churn of ideas, beliefs and values of our ancestors through millennia — some continue to shape modern India, while others have been lost forever. An original, deeply engaging and extensively researched work, Indians illuminates a range of histories coursing through our veins.

Maverick Messiah

‘Excellent political biography of NTR. I enjoyed reading it. There is a lot of good stuff here’
SANJAYA BARU, author, political commentator

‘A very objective, lucid, truthful biography’
DR JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN, founder, Lok Satta

‘…fair, even-handed and objective in assessing NTR’s political journey’
PARAKALA PRABHAKAR, author, political commentator

‘Found it impossible to put down the book till I completed it’
K. PADMANABHAIAH, chairman, Administrative Staff College of India

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, widely known as NTR, was not merely a film star who strayed into politics and captured power in Andhra Pradesh. The actor-politician redefined the political culture in the state and scripted a new political idiom.

His rather dramatic entry into politics, the profound impact he left on the people of Andhra Pradesh and the vital role he played in national politics during his relatively short political life, however, have not received deserving recognition.

Maverick Messiah captures the different facets of NTR’s life in all their varied hues and puts in perspective the significant contribution of the actor-politician to the Indian political tapestry.

Ghalib: A Wilderness at My Doorstep

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born in Agra in the closing years of the eighteenth century. A precocious child, he began composing verses at an early age and gained recognition while he was still very young. He wrote in both Urdu and Persian and was also a great prose stylist. He was a careful, even strict, editor of his work who took to publishing long before his peers. His predilection for writing difficult, obscure poetry peppered with complex metaphors produced a unique commentarial tradition that did not extend beyond his work. Commentaries on his current Urdu divan have produced a field of critical writing that eventually lead to the crafting of a critical lens with which to view the classical ghazal.
The nineteenth century was the height of European colonialism. British colonialism in India produced definitive changes in the ways literature was produced, circulated and consumed. Ghalib responded to the cultural challenge with a far-sightedness that was commendable. His imagination sought engagement with a wider community of readers. His deliberate switch to composing in Persian shows that he wanted his works to reach beyond political boundaries and linguistic barriers.
Ghalib’s poetic trajectory begins from Urdu, then moves to composing almost entirely in Persian and finally swings back to Urdu. It is nearly as complex as his poetry. However, his poetic output in Persian is far more than what he wrote in Urdu. More important is that he gave precedence to Persian over Urdu. Ghalib’s voice presents us with a double bind, a linguistic paradox. Exploring his life, works and philosophy, this authoritative critical biography of Ghalib opens a window to many shades of India and the subcontinent’s cultural and literary tradition.

The Little Book of Encouragement

His Holiness The Dalai Lama, a perennial source of inspiration, is one of the most eminent spiritual leaders in the world. Recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, His Holiness’s life and works have inspired millions of lives throughout the world. In this specially curated companion volume, His Holiness shares words of encouragement to deal with new realities in a pandemic stricken world.

The Hidden Garden

Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810), known as the god of Urdu poesy (Khuda-e Sukhan), is widely admired for his poetic genius. The most prolific among all Urdu poets, he produced six divans. His deceptively simple poetry had an unusual mellowness and natural flow.Mir was the first poet to demonstrate the hidden beauty and genius of the Urdu language. From the raw Braj of Agra to the sophisticated Persian of Delhi and the mellow Awadhi of Lucknow, he wove them all into his verse. He took the half-baked Rekhta of the mid-eighteenth century to new heights, reaching the pinnacle of literary Urdu’s poetic and creative journey.
With a substantial selection of Mir’s most memorable ghazals, The Hidden Garden introduces readers to the life and poetry of the grossly misunderstood poet. This book is the perfect read for lovers of poetry and Urdu alike.

I Am No Messiah

Sometimes, a little nudge from the universe pushes one to find his raison d’etre in life. If actor Sonu Sood had given in to the celebrity syndrome of sitting in his ivory tower and expressing his generosity by remote control, he would have never come face to face with the trauma of India’s migrant labourers or understood that a food packet was a woefully inadequate substitute for a ride back home.

During the nationwide lockdown, imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a wave of poverty-stricken migrants set out on foot to make their arduous journey back home, the value of seva, service to mankind, instilled in him by his parents, spurred Sonu Sood into action. From taking to the streets and reaching out to the stranded, to setting up a dedicated team and making arrangements for national and international transport, Sonu managed to help thousands of helpless and needy workers. Thus, began his ‘Ghar Bhejo’ programme, carried out like a humanitarian mission. Chartered flights, buses and trains were sanitized and paid for. Distress calls from all over the world were answered. Soon, the movement snowballed into a campaign for providing jobs, medical facilities and educational aid to workers. The silver-screen villain transitioned into a real-life superhero.

In his memoir, I Am No Messiah, Sonu Sood combines the extraordinary experiences of his journey from Moga to Mumbai with the writing skills of veteran journalist and author Meena K. Iyer. Honest, inspirational and heart-warming, this is the story of Sonu Sood and of the people whose lives he continues to transform.

Still Life

Pinky is a recluse who rarely leaves the suburbs. When her husband, Pasha, goes missing-everyone assumes the worst, but she sets off to find him. In her search, she encounters a dream-like landscape: the ancient interior of the city she was born in; the bright farms and fields of Pasha’s childhood and the dark wilderness of the mountains, she must finally confront her fears.
Still Life is an experiment with visual storytelling, using pictures and words to create a world that is unsettling and extraordinary. Part road trip, part existential thriller, it seeks new ways to look at love, isolation, memory and loss, asking what connects us to each other and to the natural world, and how we are governed by impulses we barely understand.

Bike Ambulance Dada

Twenty-five years ago, Karimul Hak lost his mother because he could not afford an ambulance and there was no other way to take her to a hospital. However, when his co-worker fell sick, Karimul resolved to ensure that history did not repeat itself.

Bike Ambulance Dada, the authorized biography of Padma Shri awardee Karimul Hak, is the most inspiring and heart-warming story you will read this year. It documents the extraordinary journey of a tea garden worker who saved thousands of lives by starting a free bike-ambulance service from his village to the nearest hospital in an attempt to fill the gap the insufficient rural healthcare created.

This book, about the extraordinary life of a man who has devoted his entire life to helping those around him and putting others before himself, is a must-read today, serving as an inspiration for us to do and be better.

The Good Girls

One night in the summer of 2014, two teenagers disappeared from their home in the village of Katra Sadatganj in Uttar Pradesh. The next morning, India woke up to the devastating image of their dead bodies hanging from a tree in a mango orchard.

The girls’ names were Padma and Lalli, but they were so inseparable that people in the village called them Padma Lalli. Sixteen-year-old Padma sparked and burned. Fourteen-year-old Lalli was an incorrigible romantic. Who were they and what had happened to them? In the ensuing months, the investigation into their deaths would implode everything that their small community held to be true and instigate a national conversation about sex and violence.

Slipping deftly behind political manoeuvring, caste systems and codes of honour in a village in northern India, The Good Girls returns to the scene of Padma and Lalli’s short lives and tragic deaths, and dares to ask: What is the human cost of shame?

Indian Economy’s Greatest Crisis

‘Desperate times call for desperate measures.’ The outbreak of COVID-19 aptly justifies this expression as the world faces an unprecedented situation. But what is so unusual about the coronavirus, especially since viral attacks-H1N1, Ebola and Nipah-have taken place earlier as well? How has it affected India and the world? What are the socio-economic implications for India? How has India’s response been to the coronavirus? What is more important-life or livelihood? How can India recover from the sudden economic shock caused by the pandemic?
This book is an attempt to answer these and many more such questions.
The coronavirus hit the world in December 2019 like a hurricane. What started as a medical emergency soon turned into an economic one. No global financial crisis has ever hit humanity as hard as COVID-19. The world, therefore, was caught ill prepared when the pandemic struck. The situation, to say the least, is worse than a war. The situation in India is no different: In terms of the number of cases reported, it is second only to the United States.
This book highlights the enormity of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on India. It critically examines the government’s efforts to control the disease and mitigate its adverse effects on Indian economy and society. Making a compelling argument that an economy is not like a rubber ball, which, if dropped on a hard surface, will bounce back to its original position, the author provides incisive reasons to why economic recovery will be slow and not ‘V-shaped’. He, however, cogently suggests that good governance, a robust public-health system, and clean and representative politics are key to bringing India’s economy back on track.

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