Catagory: Non Fiction

What if you decided to do what you love instead of working at someone else’s desk every day?
That’s exactly what the men and women in this book did. They took the conventional route but slowly gathered the skills, resources and strength to make their own path. Featured here, among other incredible people, are Mahesh and Suresh Ramakrishnan, IT and banking professionals turned bespoke suit makers, former corporate lawyer Piya Bose, who now owns a travel company, and Raghu Dixit, a microbiologist turned rock star. Success, to them, is in earning a living from their passion, having a strong sense of purpose and learning from the challenges they face every day.
Their lives and sterling tips for success are not only inspiring but also empower you to muster up the courage and make a go of your new life.

A scintillating collection from one of our most original minds
Eminent philosopher, professor and public intellectual, Ramchandra Gandhi (1937-2007) was regarded as a sage in his lifetime. This book brings together some of his long essays and hitherto unpublished talks and writings on themes ranging from non-violence and karma to svaraj, brahmacharya and modern Indian spirituality, that are contextualized in an introduction by close disciple A. Raghuramaraju.
Bridging the moral, religious and social, the book offers many original insights: on how Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi’s catholic vision of religion annihilated exclusivism; the manner in which Gandhi’s martyrdom broke the prevailing power of evil and violence worldwide; how going beyond celibacy, brahmacharya is a joyous renunciation of sex; and on svaraj being ‘a struggle for the kingdom of self and autonomy’, not mere political independence.
Brilliantly argued and inspiring, The Seven Sages brings Ramchandra Gandhi’s ideas to a new audience, beyond his admirers.

Christopher, a young travel writer, arrives at a riverside resort in Kerala to meet Koman, a famous kathakali dancer. Immediately he is sucked into a world of masks and repressed emotions. Koman is instantly drawn to the enigmatic young man with his incessant questions about the past-but so is his niece Radha. Excluded from this triangle is Shyam, Radha’s husband, who can only watch helplessly as she embraces Chris with a passion that he has never been able to draw from her. As the drama unfolds, the nuances and contradictions of the relationships being made-and unmade-come alive in this searing novel of art and adultery.

The greatest long poem in classical Sanskrit, by the greatest poet of the language
She with her beautiful face at once was in the power
of Siva and of drunkenness, taking her shyness away,
both eagerly drawing her toward the bed
and both now turned into kindled desire.
The greatest long poem in classical Sanskrit, Kumarasambhavam celebrates the love story of Siva and Parvati, whose passionate union results in the birth of their son, the young god Kumara. Beginning with a luminous description of the birth of Parvati, the poem proceeds in perfectly pitched sensuous detail through her courtship with Siva until the night of their wedding. This poem plays out their tale on the immense scale of supreme divinity, wherein the gods are viewed both as lovers and as cosmic principles.
Composed in eight cantos by the greatest Sanskrit poet of all time, the verses of Kumarasambhavam continue to enchant readers centuries after they were first written. Hank Heifetz’s sparkling translation brings to life the heady eroticism and sumptuous imagery of the original.

Her left hand rests on her hip, the bangle motionless at her wrist
while the other arm falls freely like a fig branch.
Lowering her eyes to the tiled floor, where her big toe caresses a flower,
her curved body is more beautiful than her dance.
Believed to be Kalidasa’s first work, Malavikagnimitram is the love story of King Agnimitra and the court dancer Malavika. The tale unfolds through humorous palace interludes, vivid descriptions of fine arts and the cunning machinations of court players. Even in this early work, Kalidasa’s characteristic penchant for romance, art and natural beauty is evident at every delightful turn of the plot. He transforms a simple tale of forbidden love into an engrossing courtly drama filled with beauty, humour and wit.