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Catagory: Non Fiction

non fiction main category

Caged …

This is my Abbu…my father. I never used to call him Abbu … I love to call him by this name in my memories of him…always.

There’s so much ‘mamta’ in the word ma. More than in a mother herself. Just saying the word starts off a churning in the navel.

Intimate, subtle and deeply personal, Caged … Memories Have Names is probably Gulzar Saab’s first autobiography in verse.

Gulzar Saab ruminates and writes in rainbow colours. From Rumi to Pablo Neruda and Jibananda Das, among others, have coloured him in myriad of hues. With this he has painted the portraits of Birju Maharaj, Mehdi Hasan, Pancham, Asha Bhosle in words. Their palpable presence, thoughts and words are etched in Gulzar Saab’s existence. Then there are people, who have showered his life with love, affection with multitude of emotions: Meghna, Raakhee ji, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Javed Akhtar Saab, to name a few. And, words that remained unsaid to Abbu, search for his Ma within his own existence, they are the silken bonds of life. Gulzar Saab has ‘caged’ them deep inside his heart.

They are for now … and … forever.

The Power Of Imperfect Eating

Dr. Bhatnagar’s book offers us timely and effective guidance on how to change our eating habits if we want to move away from a lifestyle of ”living to eat” to a lifestyle of ”eating to live well”. Professor Das Narayandas, Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

In Power of Imperfect Eating, Dr. Kavita Bhatnagar introduces readers to a unique journey through the lens of a food technologist, nutritionist, and psychologist who is deeply passionate about food choices and consumer behaviour.

Rather than dictating which foods are good or bad, this book offers a different perspective. It’s not about laying down dietary rules or giving nutrition advice. Instead, it weaves together stories—stories that mirror the intricate, emotional, and often imperfect connection we all share with food. Through these narratives, it invites you to reflect, not just on what you eat, but on how food fits into the broader journey of your life.

Through these stories, you’ll explore how food shapes our lives, our behaviours, and our choices in ways that go far beyond the plate. You’ll meet characters navigating real dilemmas around food, health, and lifestyle—whether it’s reading food labels, balancing health goals, or simply understanding why they eat the way they do.

The book encourages readers to embrace imperfection in their relationship with food, finding peace in progress rather than perfection. Challenging the conventional habit of categorizing food as either “good” or “bad,” she guides readers to re-evaluate how they engage with food in their everyday life without guilt, without judgment—just curiosity and understanding.

And just when you think you’ve learned it all, the author unveils something truly transformative at the end—a powerful tool that will become the reader’s greatest asset in creating lasting, positive change in their relationship with food and health. This revelation makes Power of Imperfect Eating an essential guide for anyone ready to take control of their well-being.

Premium, Luxury, Special Edition of The Bhagavad Gita by Bibek Debroy

The foundational text on dharma and Hindu philosophy, exquisitely rendered by one of our most eminent Sanskrit translators

As a spiritual guide, the Bhagavadgita is a mesmerizing account of the debate between right and wrong, and the bond between action and consequence. One of the core Hindu scriptures, it is part of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata, and unfolds in the form of a dialogue between Krishna and the Pandava prince, Arjuna.

This beautifully produced bilingual edition is a masterful verse-for-verse translation, providing the original Sanskrit verses alongside the English rendition. Bibek Debroy’s deep familiarity with the text yields a treasure trove of insights that will delight the scholar and the lay reader alike, making this essential reading for anyone with an abiding interest in Indian scriptures.

On Beauty

What does it mean to be in the presence of beauty? And how can one explore and understand this through the filmography of writer, director, editor, music composer and choreographer Sanjay Leela Bhansali?

In this sweeping text, Prathyush Parasuraman walks the reader through the auteur’s films—those hailed, those hauled—like Gangubai Kathiawadi, Padmaavat, Devdas, Ram-Leela, and Saawariya. With sensitivity and finesse, On Beauty examines beauty as an idea, and aesthetics as a philosophy, while simultaneously shedding light on the making of Bhansali’s painstaking frames through conversations with his cinematographers, composers, choreographers and production and costume designers. In these pages, Bhansali’s cinema comes alive.

Gods, Guns and Missionaries

When European missionaries first arrived in India in the sixteenth century, they entered a world both fascinating and bewildering. Hinduism, as they saw it, was a pagan mess: the worship of devils and monsters by a people who burned women alive, performed outlandish rites and fed children to crocodiles. But soon it became clear that Hindu ‘idolatry’ was far more complex than white men’s stereotypes allowed, and Hindus had little desire to convert.

But then, European power began to grow in India, and under colonial rule, missionaries assumed a forbidding appearance. During the British Raj, Western frames of thinking gained ascendancy and Hindus felt pressed to reimagine their religion. This was both to fortify it against Christian attacks and to resist foreign rule. It is this encounter which has, in good measure, inspired modern Hinduism’s present shape. Indeed, Hindus subverted some of the missionaries’ own tools and strategies in the process, triggering the birth of Hindu nationalism, now so dominant in the country.

In Gods, Guns and Missionaries, Manu S. Pillai takes us through these remarkable dynamics. With an arresting cast of characters—maharajahs, poets, gun-wielding revolutionaries, politicians, polemicists, philosophers and clergymen—this book is ambitious in its scope and provocative in its position. Lucid and exhaustive, it is, at once, a political history, a review of Hindu culture and a study of the social forces that prepared the ground for Hindu nationalism. Turning away from simplistic ideas on religious evolution and European imperialism, the past as it appears here is more complicated—and infinitely richer—than popular narratives allow.

Enlightenment

Much is being said, asked, and questioned about enlightenment. The modern world has turned yet another simple, natural process into something to feel complicated about. Enlightenment: A Homecoming is a collection of discourses by Sadhguru, in which he talks about enlightenment as a natural process to be engaged with, rather than something that can be “given” to us as a practice. With easy wit and charm, he challenges the myths and beliefs surrounding this subject, guiding one in the right direction by simply changing the origin of thought. Along the way, Sadhguru also answers some commonly asked yet pressing questions regarding enlightenment. Refreshingly simple and simply deep, Enlightenment encourages the seeker to experience life to the fullest and to live it in its purest form.

Play to Potential

Now a national bestseller!

Play to Potential offers a refreshing exploration of human potential, emphasizing discovery through play rather than work. Deepak Jayaraman weaves insights from his eponymous podcast, his coaching work and his lived experience to share a powerful yet simple framework (FLAVOUR) that can act as a guide to navigate the pulls and pressures of life.

This book is a guide to living a fulfilled life, integrating family, aspirations, value creation, and deep relationships. It transcends traditional career advice, providing actionable insights for personal growth and fulfillment.

While there are many books that act as a North Star for people to navigate their journey, this book strives to be a torch light that can show people the way through the imperfections and the messiness to lead a full life and unlock their human potential.

Parde ke Peechhey

Ila Arun burst into public view with the controversial song from Khal Nayak (1993), Choli Ke Peechhey. But several years before that, she was already well known for her contribution to Rajasthani folk music.

Mumbai soon became her home, and it was in this city of glamour that Ila made a name for herself in every genre of the performing arts—film, television, music and playback singing—and also as a composer and lyricist. In the course of her creative journey of almost fifty years, Ila has been associated with several of the best-known names in this field—actors and directors, singers and music directors, classical and folk singers, who appear as characters in her story. Her passion however remains theatre.

A writer herself, with several original plays and many adaptations to her credit, this is her first book, an autobiography, which records her life from childhood to the present. It is an honest depiction of her successes and disappointments in the world of theatre, film and music.

Told in her inimitable style, with sincerity and a touch of humour, this is Ila at her candid best, sharing a glimpse into her life and experience onstage and backstage, parde ke peechhey.

The Power of Decision-Making

As they say, ‘Life is a series of choices’. It may sound too simplistic, but it really is true . . . We all make decisions, big or small, almost everyday, and each of the decisions we make impacts us in varying ways. Our decisions, therefore, determine our destiny. The Power of Decision-Making is a collection of powerful learnings that will change the way you think about making choices. It will help you make decisions for the better to achieve lasting success in different walks of life. Conceived as a self-help guide, the book includes stories and quotes from some of the most successful people, whose decisions have changed their lives for the better.

Your life is an outcome of your decisions and it is never too late to make the rights ones.

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