DIDDA, PRINCESS OF LOHARA, IS BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT—AND LAME.
Despised by her father and bullied by his heir, Didda’s childhood is miserable and her future, bleak. When she is married off to the dissolute ruler of Kashmira, she must learn to hold her own in a court ridden with factions and conspiracies. But Didda is no ordinary queen. Ruthless and ambitious, she wants to rewrite history. Will she succeed?
Queen of Ice is a compulsive read that brings alive the turbulent history of tenthcentury Kashmir with an exquisite balance of fact and fiction. This is awardwinning
author Devika Rangachari’s finest novel yet.
Catagory: Non Fiction
non fiction main category
Vijyant at Kargil
‘By the time you get this letter, I’ll be observing you all from the sky. I have no regrets, in fact even if I become a human again, I’ll join the army and fight for my nation.’
This was the last letter Captain Vijyant Thapar wrote to his family. He was twenty-two when he was martyred in the Kargil War, having fought bravely in the crucial battles of Tololing and Knoll. A fourth-generation army officer, Vijyant dreamt of serving his country even as a young boy. In this first-ever biography, we learn about his journey to join the Indian Military Academy and the experiences that shaped him into a fine officer.
Told by his father and Neha Dwivedi, a martyr’s daughter herself, the anecdotes from his family and close friends come alive, and we have a chance to know the exceptional young man that Vijyant was. His inspiring story provides a rare glimpse into the heart of a brave soldier. His legacy stays alive through these fond memories and his service to the country.
Checkmate
On 28 November 2019, Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief, was sworn in as the eighteenth chief minister of Maharashtra. This event marked the culmination of a high-voltage political drama that had the entire nation glued to their television sets for days on end. With no party being able to claim a majority in the assembly, President’s Rule was imposed in the state. This book takes its readers through the twists and turns of the dramatic political crisis that unfolded as Maharashtra waited for its chief minister.
What really went on behind the scenes?
With access to inside sources and private conversations, this book reveals the hitherto untold story of this political drama, with a comprehensive overview of the state’s politics in the last few decades.
Rajinikanth
Rajinikanth is, quite simply, the biggest superstar cinema-crazy India has ever seen. His stylized dialogues and screen mannerisms are legion, and his guy-next-door-cum-superhero image has found a hysterically appreciative following among millions of moviegoers.
Naman Ramachandran’s marvellous biography recounts Rajini’s career in meticulous detail, tracing his incredible cinematic journey from Apoorva Raagangal (1975) to Kochadaiyaan (2013). Along the way, the book provides rare insights into the Thalaivar’s personal life, from his childhood days to his times of struggle—when he was still Shivaji Rao Gaekwad—and then his eventual stardom: revealing how a legend was born.
The Pregnant King
‘I am not sure that I am a man,’ said Yuvanashva. ‘I have created life outside me as men do. But I have also created life inside me, as women do. What does that make me? Will a body such as mine fetter or free me?’
Among the many hundreds of characters who inhabit the Mahabharata, perhaps the world’s greatest epic and certainly one of the oldest, is Yuvanashva, a childless king, who accidentally drinks a magic potion meant to make his queens pregnant and gives birth to a son. This extraordinary novel is his story.
It is also the story of his mother Shilavati, who cannot be king because she is a woman; of young Somvat, who surrenders his genitals to become a wife; of Shikhandi, a daughter brought up as a son, who fathers a child with a borrowed penis; of Arjuna, the great warrior with many wives, who is forced to masquerade as a woman after being castrated by a nymph; of Ileshwara, a god on full-moon days and a goddess on new-moon nights; and of Adi-natha, the teacher of teachers, worshipped as a hermit by some and as an enchantress by others.
Building on Hinduism’s rich and complex mythology-but driven by a very contemporary sensibility-Devdutt Pattanaik creates a lush and fecund work of fiction in which the lines are continually blurred between men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. Confronted with such fluidity the reader is drawn into Yuvanashva’s struggle to be fair to all-those here, those there and all those in between.
The Essential Delhi Cookbook
The Penguin Essential Cookbooks are a pioneering attempt to keep alive the art of traditional Indian cooking. Each of the books is written by an expert chef who brings together the special recipes of a region or community along with a detailed introduction that describes the rituals and customs related to the eating and serving of food.In the Essential Delhi Cookbook recipes are drawn from the different communities who have made Delhi their home, including the Khatris and Kayasths, in addition to Mughlai and Punjabi dishes. The recipes include: Raan, Bheja, Methi Dal ki Pakori, Muthanjan Pulao, Mathri, Papri, Chaat, Sharbat-e-Ghulab.
The Princess and the Political Agent
The Manipuri writer Binodini’s Sahitya Akademi Award-winning historical novel The Princess and the Political Agent tells the love story of her aunt Princess Sanatombi and Lt. Col. Henry P. Maxwell, the British representative in the subjugated Tibeto-Burman kingdom of Manipur. A poignant story of love and fealty, treachery and valour, it is set in the midst of the imperialist intrigues of the British Raj, the glory of kings, warring princes, clever queens and loyal retainers. Reviving front-page global headlines of the day, Binodini’s perspective is from the vanquished by love and war, and the humbling of a proud kingdom. Its sorrows and empathy sparkle with wit and beauty, as it deftly dissects the build-up and aftermath of the perfidy of the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. Binodini is the supreme stylist of contemporary Manipuri literature and an icon of Manipuri modernism, and her tale of a forbidden love and ostracism vividly brings to life the court and manners of a little-known Asian kingdom. In doing so, she recovers its little-known history, its untold relations with India and Great Britain, and a forgotten chapter of the British Raj.
The Essential North – East Cookbook
If there is one part of this country that is still to be discovered, at least in terms of its cuisine, it is the North East. Those who live in, or have visited the seven sister states” Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura” would tell you that the kitchens of the North East are the source of an extraordinary range of dishes that blend tradition and innovation in unexpected ways. The basic tribal diet of jungle produce has over the years been shaped by the influence of various other communities: the Thais, who once ruled over some parts of the territory the Chinese, because of their proximity and the Bengali migrants, and it is this unusual combination that makes the food of the region unique in India. Lightly spiced, with hardly any oil, and flavoured with herbs that are now available in stores across the country, the stews, chutneys and curries in this book can transform the most ordinary meal into an exotic experience.
Home Remedies
Even before Charaka compiled the Samhita, his treatise on Ayurveda, in the second century B.C., women and men were using herbs from their kitchens, fields and forests to alleviate pain and cure sickness. But with the coming of Western medicine, such indigenous practices were condemned out of court as ‘unscientific’. This book, the outcome of over three decades of journeying and interactions with barely recognized vaids, ohjas and small community physicians, attempts to document these practices, while presenting also the findings of Western science that has only recently begun to acknowledge and legitimize them. Forty of the most common herbs in every Indian kitchen, including well-loved familiars such as garlic, ginger and pudina and the more special saffron, almonds and figs, are described here as known in local, specialized healing traditions. The botanical profile of each herb is followed by an extensive record of its medicinal uses in particular ailments, with detailed notes on the preparation and dosage of each remedy and an extensive bibliography of research articles. Comprehensive and separate glossaries of English and non-English technical terms and unfamiliar herbs, a multi-language index of plant names, and detailed illustrations make Home Remedies a unique reference guide to rediscovering a host of remedies for the most commonly encountered ailments.
Home Remedies Vol. 4
The use of herbs from kitchens, fields and forests to alleviate pain and cure sickness has been known in India for centuries. Researched over three decades, the volumes in this series meticulously document many parallel and ancient traditions and systems, bringing together medicinal and cosmetic recipes, and the uses of individual plants to cure and comfort. Each herb is described in meticulous detail through its botanical profile, uses in particular ailments and notes on the preparation and dosage of each remedy. Forty common plants such as tea, amaltas, periwinkle, aparajita, coffee, custard apple, ash gourd, lemon grass, cotton, water lily and ashoka along with the not-so-familiar Jamaican thyme, Indian sorrel, ponnanganni and jujube are included in this book. A comprehensive bibliography of scientific articles, separate glossaries for English and non-English technical terms and detailed illustrations make it an easy-to-use reference guide for cures to common ailments. The final volume in the best-selling series.