On 17 June 2013, a normally calm Mandakini came crashing down from the hills in Uttarakhand and destroyed everything in its path: houses, bridges, dams and the town of Kedarnath. Thousands of people perished and lakhs lost their livelihood.
Three years after the disaster, stories from the valley-of pain and sorrow, the state government’s indifference and the corporate goof-ups, and the courage and heroism shown by the locals in the face of an absolute catastrophe-still remain largely unheard of.
While the government continues to remain in denial and chooses to ignore the environmental issues in Uttarakhand, the ravaged Kedarnath valley continues to haunt us-though the temple has been restored, given its religious importance and centrality to the local economy.
NDTV journalist Hridayesh Joshi covered the floods in 2013, exposing the government’s apathy and inefficiency. He was the first journalist to reach Kedarnath after the disaster and brought to light the stories from the most-remote parts of the state: areas cut off from the rest of the world.
Woven into this haunting narrative is also the remarkable history of the ordinary people’s struggle to save the state’s ecology. Rage of the River is a riveting commentary on the socio-environmental landscape of Uttarakhand and is filled with vivid imagery of the calamity.
Catagory: Non Fiction
non fiction main category
Hashimpura
The forgotten story of India’s biggest custodial killing
Searching for survivors among the blood-soaked bodies strewn around the canal and between the ravines near Makanpur village, on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, on the night of 22 May 1987, with just a dim torchlight-the memories are still fresh in Vibhuti Narain Rai’s mind. On that fateful night, when Rai first heard about the killing, he could not believe the news until he, along with the district magistrate and a few other officials, went to Hindon canal. He quickly realized that all of them had become witnesses to secular India’s most shameful and horrendous incident-personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) had rounded up dozens of Muslims from riot-torn Meerut and had killed them in cold blood in Rai’s area of jurisdiction.
Offering a blow-by-blow account of the massacre and its aftermath, Hashimpura is a screaming narrative of the barbaric use of state force and the spineless politics in post-Independent India.
Who Moved My Interest Rate
Duvvuri Subbarao’s term as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2008 to 2013 was by all accounts an unusually turbulent period for the world and for India. The global financial crisis erupted within a week of his assuming office. Then, just as the impact of the crisis on India ebbed, the action shifted to combating a decade-high, stubborn inflation during 2009¬¬¬¬-11, which segued into a battle against a sharp depreciation of the rupee starting mid-2012. Who Moved My Interest Rate is an insider’s account of the dilemmas and quandaries Subbarao confronted while leading the Reserve Bank through these extraordinary economic and political challenges.
Subbarao’s five years at the Reserve Bank also marked an intellectually vigorous period for central banking around the world. Not only did the global financial crisis test the policy force of central banks, but it also raised several questions about the breadth of their mandates and the limitations of their autonomy and accountability. While much of the existing debate is set in the advanced economy context, Who Moved My Interest Rate places these issues squarely in an Indian and emerging market perspective.
This is also a compelling chronicle of Subbarao’s attempts to demystify the Reserve Bank and explain to the public its impact on their everyday lives. Honest, authoritative and deeply insightful, this book enhances our understanding of what is, arguably, one of India’s most trusted institutions.
Applied Minds
Growing up in a remote village in Bengal, Rekha Kalindi was always made to believe that being born a girl was a burden. A feisty, intelligent child, she was aware of the horrific consequences of forced marriages on the young girls in her village. Having observed how her friends were married off and sent to live with their mothers-in-law, where they were often treated like slaves, she was determined not to suffer the same miserable fate.
At the age of eleven, Rekha caused a sensation when she refused to be a child bride. Furious, her mother locked her up and even starved her, but the young girl’s spirit could not be broken. It took an incredible amount of bold determination for Rekha to persuade her family not to marry her off against her will. Ever since, she has actively campaigned for the rights of young girls, and has emerged as a crusader for justice. She also went on to become a recipient of India’s National Bravery Award in 2010.
The Strength to Say No is a powerful portrait of one girl’s monumental struggle against oppression as well as a heartrending and inspiring story about the triumph of the human spirit.
Bhujia Barons
In the early twentieth century, young Ganga Bhishan Agarwal, aka Haldiram, gained a reputation for making the best bhujia in town. Fast-forward a century and the Haldiram’s empire has a revenue much greater than that of McDonald’s and Domino’s combined.
In Bhujia Barons, Pavitra Kumar manages to tell the riveting story of the Agarwal family in its entirety-a feat never managed before. It begins in dusty, benign Bikaner and traces the rise and rise of this homegrown brand which is one of the most-recognized Indian brands in the world.
The Haldiram’s story is not an average business story, it’s chock-full of family drama with court cases, jealousy-fueled regional expansion, a decades-old trademark battle, and a closely guarded family secret of the famous bhujia. Fast-paced and riveting, this book provides a delicious look into family business dynamics and the Indian way of doing business.
Red Lipstick
The world keeps taunting him as girlish but the fact is that, biologically, he is a boy. And, he is always attracted to guys. Is Laxmi both a man and a woman? Or, perhaps, neither a man nor a woman? The first inklings and stirrings of lust that Laxmi remembers came from noticing big, strong arms, the hint of a guy’s moustache over his lips, billboards that advertised men’s underwear. Laxmi found this puzzling initially. Was there a woman inside him who couldn’t really express herself because of some last-minute mix-up that god did at the time of his birth? Struggling with such existential questions, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, eminent transgender activist, awakens to her true self: She is Laxmi, a hijra.
In this fascinating narrative Laxmi unravels her heart to tell the stories of the men-creators, preservers, lovers, benefactors, and abusers-in her life. Racy, unapologetic, dark and exceptionally honest, these stories open a window to a brave new world.
Sleepwalking to Surrender
Khaled Ahmed is Pakistan’s most respected columnist, and his formidable expertise on the ideologies of extremism is internationally acknowledged. In Sleepwalking to Surrender he explores why, despite the horrifying toll that terrorism has taken on Pakistan, the civil and military establishments continue to uphold a variety of conspiracy theories in place of the facts on the ground. In a situation where the writ of the state is fraying in the face of Taliban–al-Qaeda terror, it continues to view the USA and India as its designated enemies, rather than the extremists holding the state to ransom.
In this powerful and insightful analysis of the state of Pakistan today, Ahmed examines a wide spectrum of events, ideologies and personalities and appraises the portents for the future.
The Assassinaton of Rajiv Gandhi
On 21 May 1991, journalist Neena Gopal had finished just one part of an interview with Rajiv Gandhi-the last of his life-when his car reached the election rally at Sriperumbudur. Moments later, Rajiv Gandhi was dead, blown up by suicide bomber Dhanu, irrevocably changing the course of Indian politics, as Neena Gopal, just yards behind him, watched in horror.
In this gripping, definitive book, Gopal reconstructs the chain of events in India and at the LTTE’s headquarters in Sri Lanka where the assassination plot was hatched, and follows the trail of investigation that led to the assassins being brought to justice.
Drawing on extensive interviews, research and her own vast experience as a journalist, she deftly establishes the background-the shortsightedness of India’s Sri Lanka policy; the friction between the intelligence agencies and between the agencies and the external affairs ministry; the many warnings that went unheeded; and the implacable hatred that LTTE supremo Prabhakaran felt for Rajiv Gandhi. Bringing all these complex threads together, Gopal takes us step by step to Sriperumbudur as Rajiv Gandhi walked inexorably to his death on that tragic May evening twenty-five years ago.
Economics without Tears
If you are a layman wondering what economics is all about or a freshman student of the subject, this is a book you cannot afford to miss. Starting from the first principles and stripped of mathematics and almost all jargon, it introduces you to all the basic concepts of economic theory as well as to some of its more surprising depths.
Economics pervades every aspect of our lives and our world. This book shows how anyone can acquire an understanding of its key principles while finding the exercise not only an exciting intellectual adventure but also great fun.
The Hidden Life of Trees
In this beautifully illustrated narrative peppered with scientific facts, Peter Wohlleben tells the story of his journey from city boy to the world’s most famous forester, sharing his insights into trees and the challenges they face. Take a guided tour through the extraordinary life of the forest, where you’ll meet trees that communicate through their root systems, protect each other from danger, and even live together like human families. A portal to an astonishing yet fragile world, and a call to protect it for future generations.