Zahir Dehlvi, an accomplished poet and official in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar, lived through the cataclysmic Revolt of 1857 that changed the course of history, marking the end of Mughal dominion and the instatement of the British Raj. Dehlvi’s memoir, written on his deathbed, not only chronicles the fading glory of the Mughal court and his entry into a vanishing way of life, but also, most importantly, pivots on the horrifying spectacle of the Revolt and its aftermath—from the violent siege of Shahjahanabad to the bloody reprisals that followed. We learn about the brutal murder of the British Resident and the ensuing deaths of the European men, women and children who were sheltering inside the Qila. We also glimpse the emperor’s pleas to the rebels and his helplessness as they took over the Qila. Moreover, Dehlvi crucially elaborates on the plight of those who managed to escape the slaughter and carnage.
Translated into English for the first time, Dehlvi’s memoir is intensely vivid and moving, filled with incidents and rich in insight. An immensely significant historical record of the Revolt as it unfolded, Dastan-e-Ghadar is also a compelling personal account that conjures the dramatically changing world Dehlvi lived in.
From tracing the possible first arrival of man in India to writing about love, sex, money, parenting and values in Indian society and discussing nationalism, religion and democracy, Miniya Chatterji presents an accessible yet brilliant intellectual treatise about issues that affect Indians the most. Indian Instincts is a seminal and deeply philosophical work, presented tactfully with entertaining and memorable instances. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to know what makes an Indian. The vivid and insightful examples make us reflect: Are we willingly entrapped in the institutions of our own making? Have these institutions-the government, corporations, religion-become sources of the problem in India, increasing economic inequality?
This book, a collection of fifteen powerful essays that argue for greater equality and opportunity in contemporary India, holds up a mirror to what we Indians have become.
Sri Lanka , 2001. Sam, a poor, dim-witted boy, ekes out an existence with his mother, brothers and sisters in a tiny village too remote for maps. His fortunes change when he gets a job as a housboy in Colombo. But life ins’t all perfect; marring Sam’s peace is Leandro the cook. Sam hates Leandro, not only because he teases him but also because Leandro belongs to the other side- the side that is killing Sam’s people in the war in the North.
With brutal honesty and a wry sense of humour that seems from his simplicity, Sam tell us about the days in life that he never wants to forget and the days he wishes he didn’t remember. Funny and sad at once, this is the tale of contemporary Sri-Lanka about rural and urban life, poverty and corruption, egg hoppers and Christmas parties, boxing dogs and gin and tonics. Sam’s joys are pure, his tragedies heart-wrenching. But he takes them all in his stride, telling at it is.
Set in a country that has been war -ravaged for fifteen years, Elmo Jayawardana’s Sam’s Story is a poignant, powerful and unforgettable debut novel.
‘ A VASTLY SENSITIVE AND GRIPPING EXPERIENCE OF THE “OTHER”…WHOLLY ABSORBING
– Carl Muller
A group of nine are trapped in the visa office at an Indian Consulate after a massive earthquake in an American city. Two visa officers on the verge of an adulterous affair; Jiang, a Chinese-Indian woman in her last years; her gifted teenage granddaughter Lily; an ex-soldier haunted by guilt; Uma, an Indian-American girl bewildered by her parents’ decision to return to Kolkata after twenty years; Tariq, a young Muslim man angry with the new America; and an enraged and bitter elderly white couple. As they wait to be rescued—or to die—they begin to tell each other stories, each recalling ‘one amazing thing’ in their life, sharing things they have never spoken of before. Their tales are tragic and life-affirming, revealing what it means to be human and the incredible power of storytelling.
Aurangzeb Alamgir (r. 1658-1707), the sixth Mughal emperor, is widely reviled in India today. Hindu hater, murderer and religious zealot are just a handful of the modern caricatures of this maligned ruler. While many continue to accept the storyline peddled by colonial-era thinkers-that Aurangzeb, a Muslim, was a Hindu-loathing bigot-there is an untold side to him as a man who strove to be a just, worthy Indian king.
In this bold and captivating biography, Audrey Truschke enters the public debate with a fresh look at the controversial Mughal emperor.
WITH A NEW AFTERWORD
Winston Churchill has been venerated as a resolute statesman and one of the great political minds of the last century. But, as Madhusree Mukerjee reveals in this groundbreaking historical investigation, his deep-seated bias against Indians precipitated one of the world’s greatest man-made disasters — the Bengal Famine of 1943 — resulting in the deaths of over four million Indians. Combining meticulous research with a vivid narrative, Churchill’s Secret War places this overlooked tragedy into the larger context of World War II, India’s freedom struggle and Churchill’s legacy.
Journalist Neena Gopal was interviewing Rajiv Gandhi in the car en route to the rally and was only yards behind him when the suicide bomber Dhanu blew herself up, killing him and many innocent bystanders.
Drawing on extensive interviews, research and her own vast experience as a journalist, Gopal tracks the assassination plot hatched by LTTE supremo Prabhakaran in Sri Lanka and takes us step by step to Sriperumbudur to that tragic May evening as Rajiv Gandhi walked inexorably to his death.
After nearly seven decades of its existence, there is a pervasive feeling that India’s democracy is in crisis. But what is the nature of this threat? In this essay, republished now with a new foreword from the author, Pratap Bhanu Mehtareminds us what a bold experiment bringing democracy to a largely illiterate and unpropertied India was. He argues that the sphere of politics has truly created opportunities for people to participate in society. Looking at various facts, he also finds that persistent social inequality on the one hand and a mistaken view of the state’s proper function and organization on the other have modified and hindered the workings of democracy and its effects in innumerable ways. Posting the quest for self-respect as democracy’s deepest aspiration, this essay explores how inequality and the crisis of accountability have together impeded collective action to achieve such an end. To recover this sense of moral well-being and responsibility, Mehta suggests, is the core of the democratic challenge before us.
Optimistic, lively and closely argued, The Burden of Democracy offers a new ideological imagination that throws light on our discontents. By returning to the basics of democracy it serves to illuminate our predicament, even while perceiving the broad contours for change.
Start-ups are the fountainheads of innovation that power this world. However, they lose the plot when they do not have access to timely, contextual and good quality advice based on a deep understanding of the real issues on the ground that comes with experience in the trenches. It is sad to see intrepid and tenacious entrepreneurs fail because of small things. This book is as much about these as it is about some of the more complex navigational skills required to avoid major pitfalls. A practical book for every entrepreneur, Cut the Crap and Jargon will make an interesting read for a global audience.
Indira Gandhi – Tryst with Power is a book that focusses on the life of one of India’s most popular politicians – Indira Gandhi. How did she come to power? Did the nation blossom under her rule? for people who have been pondering on such questions, this book has the answers that they have been looking for. Indira broke the conventional, democratic ruling method that her family had been using and adopted a somewhat authoritarian way of ruling the nation.
The emergency that was declared during her reign is shown in this book to be a means of bringing in her son Sanjay into the political scene as her obvious successor. However, after Sanjay’s death, Rajiv Gandhi entered politics and gained almost immediate popularity. All of these political changes showed just how determined Indira Gandhi was to ensure that her family retained its right to rule.
This book offers unparalleled detailing concerning the personal life and political life of Indira Gandhi from the author, who is her own cousin. Owing to this close family link, the book is filled with accounts that could only be told by a family member who knew the Nehru family for a long time. Indira Gandhi’s highly individualized style of functioning in politics has been spoken about at length in this book, along with the countless changes that took place in the political scene of the nation when it was under her rule.
An in-depth portrayal of the life and times of one of India’s greatest political leaders, Indira Gandhi – Tryst with Power has been published by Penguin India in the year 2012 and is available in paperback.
