The Imam and the Indian is an extensive compilation of Amitav Ghosh’s non-fiction writings. Sporadically published between his novels, in magazines, journals, academic books and periodicals, these essays and articles trace the evolution of the ideas that shape his fiction. He explores the connections between past and present, events and memories, people, cultures and countries that have a shared history. Ghosh combines his historical and anthropological bent of mind with his skills of a novelist, to present a collection like no other.
Catagory: Non Fiction
non fiction main category
Dancing In Cambodia And Other Essays: From bestselling author and winner of the 2018 Jnanpith Award
New in paperback!Through extraordinary first-hand accounts Amitav Ghosh presents a compelling chronicle of the turmoil of our times. Dancing in Cambodia recreates the first-ever visit to Europe by a troupe of Cambodian dancers with King Sisowath, in 1906. Ghosh links this historic visit, celebrated by Rodin in a series of sketches, to the more recent history of the Khmer Rouge revolution. The Town by the Sea records his experiences in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands just days after the tsunami; and in September 11 he takes us back to that fateful day when he retrieved his young daughter from school in New York, sick with the knowledge that she will be marked by the same kind of tumult that has defined his own life.
Countdown: From bestselling author and winner of the 2018 Jnanpith Award
On 11 May 1998 the Indian government tested five nuclear devices some forty kilometers from Pokaran. Seventeen days later Pakistan tested nuclear devices of its own. About three months after the tests, Amitav Ghosh went to the Pokaran area, after which he visited Kashmir as part of the defense minister’s entourage. He also went to the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram Mountains where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have been exchanging fire since 1983. Ghosh then travelled through Pakistan and Nepal.
Countdown is partly a result of these journeys and conversations with many hundreds of people of the subcontinent. In its description the book is haunting and evocative; and its analyses of the compulsions behind South Asia’s nuclearization, and the implications of this, are profound, deeply disturbing and, ultimately, chilling.
‘A writer of formidable learning and intelligence’ – Indian Express
‘What do you say about a writer like Amitav Ghosh? That he is a social anthropologist, a novelist, a commentator on events, a critic? He is all these; if anyone comes close to a modern renaissance man, it has to be him’ – India Today
‘Ghosh has established himself as one of the finest prose writers of his generation of Indian writing in English’ – Financial Times
‘Ghosh is a traveller in the physical as well as the metaphysical, a writer of formidable learning and intelligence’ – Indian Express
The Mughal World
‘It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than Abraham Eraly’ —William Dalrymple, Sunday Times, London
In The Mughal PBI – World Abraham Eraly continues his fascinating chronicle of the grand saga of the Mughal Empire. In Emperors of the Peacock Throne he gave us the story of the lives and achievements of the great Mughal emperors; in this book, he looks beyond the momentous historical events to portray, in precise and vivid detail, the agony and ecstasy of life in Mughal PBI – India.
Combining scholarly objectivity with artful storytelling the author presents a lively panorama of the Mughal PBI – World—emperors and nobles at work and play; harem life; the profligacy and extravagance of the ruling class juxtaposed with the stark wretchedness of the common people.
Meticulously researched and lucidly narrated The Mughal PBI – World offers rare insights into the state of the empire’s economy, religious policies, the Mughal army and its tactics, and the glories of Mughal art, architecture, literature and music.
Moral Materialism
‘Masculine’ is most commonly defined in direct contrast to ‘feminine’. Masculinity is thus often seen as an antithesis of femininity, the two ideas apparently locked in a tussle over the allocation of characteristics. Joseph Alter bypasses this opposition altogether in his original exploration of the concept of masculinity in modern India. He offers a strikingly new interpretation of Indian ‘maleness’, one that refers to itself, and not to an ‘other’. Through the distinct yet interrelated lenses of nationalism, yoga, wrestling, the concept of brahmacharya and male chastity, Alter examines the moral, material and biological roots of Indian masculinity. Unusually, it is the ideal of the celibate male that is the basis for this exploration. Moral Materialism: Sex and Masculinity in Modern India offers an elegant and inventive perspective on the multiple meanings of Indian masculinity.
I Saw Myself
I saw myself
I was the Beloved
I made the world
I myself seek it
Travelling into the stark deserts of Kutch, I Saw Myself explores the contemporary presence of epic love legends of the region, such as Sohini-Mehar and Sasui-Punhu, brought to throbbing verse by the powerful eighteenth-century Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. As the authors travel to villages to meet folk singers and lovers of Latif’s poetry, immersing in sessions that stretch into the night, they unearth a unique, thriving love-soaked ethos in which the call to oneness rings out like a defiant manifesto for our divisive times.
Retelling epics along with other tales and historical events that created the field of experience from which Shah Latif’s poems sprang, I Saw Myself brings into English a selection of his finest poems. A spell is cast, of story and song, of metaphor and meaning. The insights that emerge are subtle, even startling, radical at times, solace-giving at others, but always deeply meaningful.
Unstoppable
What makes some young Indians more successful than others?
Is the secret to their success a gifted mind or an affluent background?
The answer is-neither.
With in-depth interviews and analysis of what makes champions tick, Manthan Shah identifies the attributes that make them who they are-grit, courage, determination, creativity and empathy. In short, they are unstoppable!
This book chronicles the journeys of the best and the brightest Indians in business, sports, music, academia and entertainment. The stories are assisted by research from renowned experts in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, genealogy, social sciences and leadership.
Unstoppable not only provides inspiration to create something extraordinary from ordinary circumstances
and resources, but also highlights important factors and provides a ‘plan of action’ for achieving one’s goals.
The Making of Star India
When Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman, News Corporation, blew up more than $870 million buying Star TV from Richard Li in the early 1990s, analysts were dismayed. Why on earth had Murdoch invested in a pan-Asian broadcaster that was neither fish nor fowl?
More than twenty-five years later, with revenues of over $2 billion, Star India is one of the country’s three largest media firms. Murdoch’s instinct had done what a hundred investor summits could not: showcased the potential of the Indian media market to the world. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar tells the thrilling story of Indian television through its most notable protagonist: Star TV. The narrative is peppered with delicious anecdotes and a fascinating cast of characters that includes Rathikant Basu, Peter Mukerjea, Uday Shankar, Sameer Nair and the Murdochs, who loom large over every scene.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Bureaucracy But Were Afraid to Ask
Whatever its faults, the Indian bureaucracy cannot be accused of bias when it comes to confounding those who have to deal with it. Veteran insiders who return to it with their petitions after retirement are as clueless about how it functions as freshly minted supplicants. Outsiders in any case have little knowledge of who is responsible for what and why or how to navigate that critical proposal through the treacherous shoals of the secretariat.
At the top of the heap is the fast-tracked elite civil servant, who belongs to a group of generalist and specialized services selected through a competitive examination. The aura of the Indian Administrative Service has remained intact over the years.
Lack of awe, bordering on civilized disrespect, is a most effective learning tool. In this humorous, practical book, T.R. Raghunandan aims to deconstruct the structure of the bureaucracy and how it functions, for the understanding of the common person and replaces the anxiety that people feel when they step into a government office with a healthy dollop of irreverence.
The Tata Saga
How did Jamsetji Tata win over British resistance to start Tata Steel?
How did JRD lose control of Air India?
Why did Ratan Tata face opposition to become the chairman of Tata Sons?
What happened inside the Taj Hotel on 26/11?
The Tata Saga is a collection of handpicked stories published on India’s most iconic business group. The anthology features snippets from the lives of various business leaders of the company: Ratan Tata, J.R.D. Tata, Jamsetji Tata, Xerxes Desai, Sumant Moolgaokar, F.C. Kohli, among others. There are tales of outstanding successes, crushing failures and extraordinary challenges that faced the Tata Group.
These riveting business stories, by some of India’s top writers on the subject, bear testament to the ruthless persistence and grit of the Tata Group and make for an incredible collector’s edition.