Catagory: Non Fiction

Bimal Jalan has closely followed the path of India’s economic policies across its changing trajectories, from before the time the economy was liberalized to the present. The pieces in Emerging India study the relationship between political and economic reforms and inclusive and incremental growth.

The Untold Story of USA’s secret War The Way of the Knife is the untold story of how the USA has been waging a new kind of war across the world against Islamic extremism. It is a shadow war that is spreading from Pakistan and Afghanistan into Yemen and Africa, where the next phase of battle has begun. The CIA today has become, more than ever, a paramilitary agency, ordered by the White House to kill off its enemies. It is increasingly using private security firms and drones to conduct proxy killings and Pakistan is the most prominent battlefield for this secret army to conduct its war. In The Way of the Knife, Mark Mazzetti tells this incredible story tracking an astonishing cast of characters. Here are ISI chiefs deadlocked against CIA officers, Islamic terrorists playing double games, and bitter rivalries between the CIA, the Pentagon and the White House. Superbly reported and rivetingly told, The Way of the Knife is an absolute revelation.

In March 2009 Manvendra Singh, the BJP’s candidate for the Barmer Lok Sabha constituency, launched his election campaign to retain the seat that he had won with a record margin in 2004 and lovingly nurtured as a member of Parliament for five years. Over two months, he criss-crossed his sprawling constituency straddling Rajasthan’s Thar desert, covering 34,000 kilometres in temperatures often nearing 50°C, to meet his constituents. They included herders and headmen; communities of traditional balladeers and craftsmen; youth groups and hoary old political fixers; Muslim pirs, Jain munis and Hindu priests. Campaign Diary, a daily record of those gruelling weeks of canvassing voters, is a compelling portrait of democracy in action in one corner of India, and shows the impact of local, national and international issues and policies at the grass-roots level. Vividly bringing to life the heat and dust, the intrigues and infighting, the moving personal encounters and comic episodes that make up the Great Indian Election Circus, Campaign Diary is also an honest and insightful account of the rewards— and the heartbreak—of a life in politics.

A superb collection of stories from a modern Indian master!
One of the most versatile and innovative among contemporary Tamil writers, Sundara Ramaswamy’s early stories, written between 1951 and 1966, focus on ordinary people leading ordinary lives and are full of gems by way of characterization: the policeman and the priest of the Nadi Krishna temple in ‘Prasadam’, and Varadan and Joswyn in ‘True Love’ remain unforgettable, in spite of their pedestrian lives. Written in the 1970s, clouded by the aftermath of the Bangladesh war and the Emergency, in the later stories—‘Intoxication’, ‘Waves’—the plots turn darker and more complex.
Surprising us with their twists and turns, raising uncomfortable questions, and yet touched by a fine sense of humour and humanity, the stories in this collection belong with the best in the genre.

In recent years, the remote kingdom of Bhutan has increasingly attracted the attention of the world. In 2008, it emerged as the world’s youngest democracy and in the same year crowned the world’s youngest monarch. This was followed by the new King’s colourful wedding in 2011. Today, it continues to enchant the rest of the world with its policy of Gross National Happiness and has become a very popular destination for travel. But, despite its growing popularity and the rising scholarly interest in the country, Bhutan remains one of the most poorly studied places on earth.

Karma Phuntsho’s The History of Bhutan is the first-ever attempt to cover the entire history of Bhutan in some detail in English, combining both traditional perspectives and modern academic analysis. Written by a leading expert on the country, the book tells the story of Bhutan in a narrative style interspersed with some analytical and topical discussion, and numerous citations and translations from earlier writings. It is primarily a historical account, but it also includes substantive discussions of Bhutan’s geography, culture and society to give the readers an incisive introduction to the country.

Julia Robinson’s bored. Her job at a top London ad agency is starting to feel a bit same-ish, her London rent is killing her and she’s been rained on one time too many to find the British weather amusing any longer. More importantly, everyone but her seems to be paired off in cosy twosomes.Julia wants to shake things up—and to the horror of friends and family jumps at the chance of a new job in Mumbai. Armed with nothing but a travel guide, fondness for curry and a vague awareness of Bollywood, she finds herself bang in the centre of one of the most chaotic, energetic cities in the world. But will she be able to navigate the potholes in the street, the glitzy nightlife of exclusive clubs and expensive cocktails, and the customs and traditions of a whole new world to find her way to Mr Right?