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Category: Excerpts

Meet the characters from Aftertaste

Posted on by Penguin India

Aftertaste follows the Todarmal family during the early Eighties. Mummyji, the matriarch of a mithai business family, lies comatose in a hospital in Bombay. Surrounding her are her four children. Each of them is different but has something in common . . .
Read on to find out more about this baniya family.
Mummyji
Bimla Kulbhushan Todarmal a.k.a Mummyji is the matriarch of the family. She runs the family business and believes money and food can solve all problems.

Rajan Papa
Weak and ineffectual, the eldest son is not the smartest tool in the shed and is in desperate need of cash. While originally he was in charge of the family mithai shop, his younger brother replaces him.

Samir
The youngest son, Samir or Sunny always wanted to be in the limelight. He is the dynamic business head who helps expand the family business. He is a business whizz but his personal life is a mess. 

Suman
The spoilt beauty of the family who is obsessed with getting her hands on her mother’s best jewels. Suman’s cushy life changes dramatically because of her marriage.

Saroj
The ugly duckling of the family, Saroj is ever compliant and gentle but extremely unlucky.

Each of them wants Mummyji to die…Find out why in Aftertaste.

Dilip Kumar Made Me Do It – An Excerpt from Ways of Being Desi

Posted on by Penguin India

Ziauddin Sardar, the author of Ways of Being Desi boldly says that his identities draw on antecedents from all parts of the subcontinent. From the beauty of Bharatanatyam, to the poetic genius of Amir Khusrau and Faiz; from the universes created by Dilip Kumar and Guru Dutt to the untranslatable, indescribable taste of a perfect golgappa.
Here is an excerpt from his book, from the chapter titled ‘Dilip Kumar Made Me Do It’.

On my twelfth birthday, I was burdened with two responsibilities: one was a chore, the other a pleasure. In the early sixties, the British Asian community was still in an embryonic stage of development. In Hackney, my part of East London, there were neither halal meat shops nor cinemas that showed Indian films. So every Saturday afternoon, I took a bus to Aldgate East to buy the weekly supply of halal meat. On Sundays, I took my mother to either the Cameo Theatre in Walthamstow or the Scala at Kings Cross to see ‘two films on one ticket’.
The weekly visit to the cinema was a full day affair. My mother would start her preparation for the ritual early in the morning. The latest issue of the Urdu weekly Mashriq (now defunct) would be scanned to discover the current offering at our regular theatres. Should we opt for the latest Dilip Kumar double bill at the Cameo or see Guru Dutts’ Payisa once again at the Scala? The decision was never an easy one; but the strategy followed by my mother was always the same. First, she would try and coax my father both to join in the outing and take a lead in making the decision. This ploy seldom worked. Next, Mrs Mital and Mrs Hassan, the Asian families of the neighbourhood, would be consulted. Intense discussion would follow on the merits of the offerings, minds and positions would change frequently, before a consensus was reached. We would leave for the cinema at around twelve, my mother carrying a bag laden with sandwiches, stuffed prathas, drinks and a generous supply of tissues. Sometimes Mrs Mital, or Mrs Hassan, or both, would be in tow. The long wait for the bus, often in bitterly cold or relentlessly rainy conditions, would be rewarded by an equally long wait to get inside the cinema. I would queue for the tickets while my mother and our neighbours would eagerly look around for faces they could recognise. They had made numerous friends during these weekly excursions; friends whom they saw only at the cinema and chatted to only during the intervals. I would always return from the ticket office to discover that my mother had bumped into a veritable horde of friends and that they all wanted to sit together. The logistics of finding the appropriate seating pattern in the midst of hundreds of similar networks with identical aspirations would have truly taxed the ability of a beach master at the Normandy landings. The performance started promptly at two o’clock and while my mother and her friends watched the films with rapt attention, most of the men in the audience would participate in each film, expostulating vociferously with hoots or hisses as circumstances demanded. During memorable dance sequences, notably those involving Helen, the participants would hurl money at the screen. And like a throbbing tidal undertow to the film’s dialogue and music, and breaking through the hubbub of the audience, would rise and fall the inconsolable heartwrenching gasps of sobbing women. In the midst of all this I would intersperse avidly watching the film with servicing my mother, Mrs Mital and Mrs Hassan with a generous supply of tissues to staunch their unending tears. We would leave the cinema somewhere after eight-thirty in the evening, exhausted, emotionally drained but thoroughly entertained.
Yet all this was only the prelude, the day was far from over. On her return, my mother would insist on telling the stories of both films to my father. His protests would have no effect on her; locking himself in the bathroom was ineffectual; stuffing his fingers in his ears brought no relief: she just would not rest until she had related the narratives of the films in all possible detail. Then came the moment we all cherished: once she had the narrative off her chest, my mother would move on to the songs. She would hum the lyrics to us, taking great pleasure in reiterating the poetic imagery of the songs. At this point, my father would forget that he was tired, that he loathed films, and would sit up at full attention. ‘Wah, wah’, he would exclaim. ‘Repeat the first verse’. ‘Umm! The second verse does not do justice to the first’. This would go on for a while before my father would jump up in excitement and declare that the first verse would become the basis of our next mushaira.

Ways of Being Desi is a brilliant, provocative and deeply honest exploration of the ingredients that make us who we are. For more posts like this one, follow Penguin India on Facebook!

Kama: Should You Trust Someone Who Has Never Been Tempted?

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Kama is both cosmic and human energy, which animates life and holds it in place. In Kama: The Riddle of Desire, Gurcharan Das examines how to cherish desire in order to live a rich, flourishing life, arguing that if dharma is a duty to another, kama is a duty to oneself.
Everyone has temptations…right? Would you trust someone who has never been tempted? In the book, we come across these quotes that talk about temptation…and the author’s views on the topic!
 

“There are no easy answers in ethics and it often comes down to one’s own judgment and self-image. Of course, one should do right by others, but it is also important to do right by oneself.”
 
“The pleasures of adultery may be momentary and often mixed with fear, but they are clearly worth it, according to poets (of the classical Gupta age that persisted in the medieval courts)”
 
“When conflicts of temperament of tastes surface (in a marriage), you ask insistently, ‘Why did I marry?’ And since you are brainwashed by romantic propaganda, you seize the first occasion to fall in love with somebody else.”
 
“Infidelity is merely a matter of the flesh—a weakness that humans are prone to, like needing to pee. Loyalty is a matter of the heart.”
 
“It is a false myth that there will be only one great love in your life. To believe thus is either a sign of emotional immaturity or a wish on your part to make you believe your life is more interesting than it is.”
 
“We should not praise celibacy—it is not natural or particularly admirable. I believe that we should praise fidelity instead, which helps to make marriages endure. Fidelity is an achievement, worthy of dignity and praise.”
 
“My life has taught me that human desire never seems to end; as soon as you have what you want, a new and unforeseen desire emerges.”

Gurcharan Das weaves a compelling narrative soaked in philosophical, historical and literary ideas in the third volume of his trilogy on life’s goals. Available Now!

Six Untold Stories that Give Us a Glimpse into Ruskin Bond's Life

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There is no doubt that Ruskin Bond is one of India’s most beloved writers. At least three generations have grown up reveling in the exquisite simplicity of his writing and aspiring to the carefree childhood among the hills, to the tales that he weaves with all the soft, natural magic of the mountains themselves.
All his stories, fiction and non-fiction, have such tantalizing hints of autobiography that many of us have often wondered as to the sources of his characters-those ordinary people with the very slight idiosyncrasies that he has elevated beyond the mundane to a magical place in his readers memories. And just like reading a Ruskin Bond book takes his readers go back to a place in their mind unique to their own reminiscence, The Beauty of All My Days is no ordinary chronological autobiography but a piecing together, a remembrance of things past, an aggregation of the incidents, friends, books and movies that have shaped him to become the person he is.
Read on for six untold stories that give us a glimpse into Ruskin Bond’s life

When his first moment of literary glory funded a party for a crew that sounds like the gang from A Room on the Roof

“And then I sold a story to The Illustrated Weekly of India, the country’s premier English magazine, editedby C.R. Mandy. It was a trifle, a school story or skit called ‘My Calling’, but it brought me fifty rupees, a princely fee in those far-off days (August 1951). I gave a party for my friends—Somi, Chottu, Haripal, Kishen, Ranbir and Co.—and declared myself to be a fully established writer, although it would be several months before I sold another story!”

The elusive woman who features in different forms in so many of his stories

“Maplewood. I take Sushila and her cousin down to the stream. We’ll picnic near running water, I tell them. Down comes the rain! It comes rushing down the hill—running water everywhere! We run for it, run for home. Get home drenched. Sushila, beautiful with her hair dripping and her blouse clinging to her slender figure.”

The first venue for his literary output seems a combination of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Gerald Durrell’s My Family And other Animals!

“My first real writing room was that tiny room on the roof, a barsati on top of a rambling old building in Dehradun, which had once been the Gresham Hotel and later the Station Canteen and was now occupied by various tenants, among them my mother and stepfather and my three small brothers and sister, not forgetting an Alsatian and a dachshund.”

The hotel from hell that he inhabited as a broke teenager en route to London

“Ah! Lamington Road . . . Sometimes I see you again in my dreams, or rather my nightmares, for youand your seedy little hotel were indeed a nightmare for a pimply seventeen-year-old without friends ormoney. They gave me a small bare room with a rickety chair and table and a bed made of wooden slatscovered with a lumpy mattress. There was no window, not even a skylight. The toilet served several rooms. This wouldn’t have mattered, but within an hour of taking up residence I was making frequent trips to the lavatory.”

The great escape from school that is referenced in the evocative story The Playing Fields of Shimla’

“‘I think it was Brian, searching for a cricket ball, who discovered the tunnel…The great escape! It hadn’t taken us anywhere, really, but to be outside the school instead of inside, made a lot of difference to us from a psychological viewpoint. That feeling of being hemmed in was no longer there. We returned to our dormitories the conventional way—through the open school gate—but we had broken bounds, and that made us feel special.’”

A steady diet of MGM musicals

“I was paid about £12, a useful amount, and I had planned to spend it on clothes, but just then a number of big musical shows were running in London’s theatres, and all my spare money went on seeing them. Paint Your Wagon, Guys and Dolls, Pal Joey and others. And having grown up on a rich fare of Hollywood musicals, I couldn’t resist going to see these stage performances; but they did eat into my income.”

There, but for the grace of God, go I, his fear at almost having become one of the ‘lost boys’

“There were many Fishers and Spreads ‘left behind’ across the country, left to fend for themselves, forthere was no godfather or fairy godmother on hand to support them. And they come to mind while I am writing this memoir because they remind me of how close I came to being one of them. I was luckyin that I had a small talent, a talent with words.”

Each chapter of this memoir is a remembrance of times past, an attempt to resurrect a person or a period or an episode, a reflection on the unpredictability of life. For more posts like this, follow Penguin India on Facebook!

Not Just Grades- An Excerpt

Posted on by Penguin India

In the race to admit more and more children in privately run, English-medium schools and orient them to a world of cut-throat competition and grades-based performance, the quality of education is suffering.
Not Just Grades by Professor Rajeev Sharma, is about schools that have proved that it is possible to yield positive personal development together with academic excellence. This book aims to show how these schools achieve overall development of their student as well as establish a healthy learning environment with creative and innovative ideas.
Here is an excerpt from the book:

Education is a lifelong process and schooling provides the foundation for it. One needs to articulate the objectives of education that can be achieved through schooling. Our difficulty begins here. There is a diversity of views regarding the goal of education and how schools should teach children. This may be part of the reason why schools differ so widely from one another. Additionally, there may also be a variance between the stated purposes of schools and what they actually attempt to deliver or are able to deliver.
SOME VIEWS ABOUT EDUCATION

  1. Education has large, consistent returns in terms of income; it counters inequality. For individuals, it promotes employment, earnings, health, and helps in reducing poverty. For societies, it drives long-term economic growth, spurs innovation, strengthens institutions and fosters social cohesion. (World Bank, 2017)
  2. Every individual has a unique potential, regardless of their physical or psychological inequality. The goal of education is to aid every individual to achieve their unique potential so that they may make their unique contribution to society. (Dewey, as cited in Garrison and Neiman, 2003, 27)
  3. Education is ‘the practice of freedom’, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the ‘transformation of the world’. (Freire, 1977, 13)
  4. The function of education is ‘to bring about a mind that will not only act in the immediate but go beyond . . . a mind that is extraordinarily alive, not with knowledge, not with experience, but alive’. (Krishnamurthy, 2003)
  5. Education should be the stepping stone to knowledge and wisdom that ultimately helps the seeker on the spiritual path. It should not be seen as a narrow means of making careers and achieving social status, but for seeking a larger role for self and society. (Mahatma Gandhi on education, Gandhi Research Foundation, accessed 2016)

The points of view shared above represent a diverse and wide spectrum of goals: from removing inequality in society through skill building to seeking knowledge and wisdom for pursuing a spiritual path to developing capacity to help people participate in transforming the world. There is yet another view that education should help individuals in discovering their true potential and contribute to society. Some others emphasize that education should aim at building moral values; develop a thinking mind and soul. The goals of acquiring skills to make a living, of developing the full potential of an individual or to transform society are all positive and worth pursuing, but they are very different from each other. If the goals of education are so different, will their pursuit require a different curriculum and process of teaching, learning and evaluation? Will it make schools different from one another? Probably, it will. That is one of the reasons why a school aiming to provide ‘necessary skill to children so they can earn a living and also help remove poverty’ (World Bank, 2017) will be very different from a school that aims to educate ‘not only for making careers, but equipping the individual for a larger role for self and society’ (Gandhi). These could be some of the reasons why schools differ with respect to what they teach and how they teach. However, there are many historical, political and economic reasons that have shaped schools and their practices in current times. Some of these are reviewed briefly in the following section.
Centrality of Schooling
Schooling covers a substantial period of an individual’s life, from the formative years till adolescence or early adulthood. During this period, a whole range of physiological, psychological and sociological changes take place in children that may cause the overall experience of schooling to be both exciting and turbulent at the same time. Once past, this cannot be undone; it is not plausible to go back to school. If time, resources and circumstances permit, one can go for new or additional courses/studies to acquire additional competencies or gain knowledge, but this is for a much shorter duration as compared with the time spent in school.
With schooling, the time which is gone cannot come back. The experiences one has had cannot be relived. The impact that schooling might have on a growing child is long-lasting. The experience at school can be extremely positive and remain an inspiration throughout life or it could be a traumatic one and leave a lasting scar on an individual’s life. Or it can just be ordinary and unexciting. Whatever the case may be, the fact remains that schooling is an important part of one’s life and the experience stays with us for a long time afterwards.

Not Just Grades is about schools that have proved that it is impossible to weave positive personal development together with academic excellence.
AVAILABLE NOW!

A Love, Take Two Bonus: Dhal Gaya Din

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Love, Take Two by Saranya Rai sees Vicky Behl and Kritika Vadukut meeting on the sets of the period drama Ranjha Ranjha, where everyone agrees they have serious chemistry–and not just on screen. As they dance to romantic numbers and spend time between takes on the glamorous sets of Sudarshana Samarth’s film, they find it hard not to give in to their attraction to each other.
But will the pressure and scrutiny of Bollywood allow them a happy ending or will there be a twist in the tale? We won’t tell you that, but we will tell you this: Don’t be disappointed when you get to the end…Saranya has a bonus chapter waiting for you.
One we’d love to share with you!

The little feathered shuttle whizzed by, less than an inch out of her reach, while her opponent whooped victoriously. Kriti feigned an air of mild disappointment and fatigue, as she picked it up. If only the critics who called her “consistently wooden” and “ethereal but ineffective” could have seen her pretend to lose this woefully easy game of badminton by the skin of her teeth. Thank goodness it was nearly at an end. Another point and Vicky would win this round, and thereby, the match.
“Yeesh Kriti, you’re so rusty.”
“I’m not rusty! I’m just…having a bad day,” Kriti protested with as much indignation as she could muster, under the circumstances.
She expertly maneuvered the shuttle to land within easy reach of Vicky’s racquet and watched in disbelief as he missed, bringing their score to an even 20-20.
Vicky, of course, reacted like he’d missed winning the All England Open, scrunching his face in displeasure and slapping his forehead. Kriti snorted. There was no question she was being compensated for losing this match in pure entertainment.
And also…eye-candy.
As Vicky retrieved the shuttle, she gave him a discreet once-over. The harsh fluorescent lights of the indoor court were not flattering on anyone, but Vicky’s sun-browned skin glowed with good health and exertion. His hot pink shorts showed off an impressive set of quads and a very shapely pair of glutes. Not that anyone had asked, but Kriti appreciated men who didn’t cheat on leg day. Buff arms and chicken legs were a dreadful combination.
“Oye! What are you dreaming about?”
Wouldn’t you like to know? Kriti smothered a smile and caught the shuttle for her serve. She had to somehow ensure he scored another two points without giving her one and thereby prolonging this already tedious match. She deserved a National Award for this match alone. And possibly an Arjuna Award too. It took skill to lose to someone as enthusiastic but terrible at badminton as Vicky.
The next point was a relatively easy play. She hit the shuttle with force, knowing it would sail far above her opponent’s head and land outside his court. Not that Vicky didn’t still try to hit it, flailing wildly with his racquet. It was a miracle he hadn’t injured himself that morning.
Kriti made a great show of hanging her head back and sighing heavily. It was Vicky’s turn to serve and unless he flubbed it, she could ensure he won in the next few minutes. She couldn’t pretend to miss right away, of course. It would be too many errors in too short a time and he might become suspicious.
However, luck smiled at her and she found an opening quickly. As the rally picked up speed ever so slightly, she put on an increasingly frazzled air and hit her final volley straight into the net. Crying out in faux-disappointment, Kriti grimaced and dropped her racquet.
Vicky was a graceful winner. He only punched the air once and gravely held out his hand for her to shake, as though they’d played a high stakes professional match. Kriti took it, hyper-aware of the strength latent in his grip and the warmth of his skin. His hand lingered in hers for just a moment too long.
No longer faking her fluster, Kriti bent at the waist, breathing loudly, and stretching her sore calf muscles. She unclipped her topknot, shaking her hair out gracefully.
“This was beyond embarrassing and I am so glad my old coach wasn’t here to witness this.”
Vicky lowered the bottle he’d been drinking from and studied her, the tiniest smile playing at the edge of his mouth.
“Yeah, I can’t imagine what he’d say to Kritika Vadukut intentionally throwing a match like that.”
Aghast, Kriti stopped mid-stride and turned to face him.
“How could you possibly tell? I was so careful.”
“You did almost fool me. But the thing is, I’ve seen you run half a marathon without dropping a beat, on a treadmill in this very hotel’s gym. You overdid the exhausted-panting. Anyway, I’m starving and need my dinner. Shall we?”
He held the frosted glass door of the indoor badminton court open for Kriti, eyebrows raised in faint challenge and an irrepressible twinkle in his eye.
Gathering her things, Kriti followed him to the elevator, all her award-hopes crushed.
“You go on, I want to shower first.”
Vicky nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. The elevator dinged open and Kriti walked in, regretting the whole ploy. She didn’t even know why she’d decided to let him win. She was viciously competitive otherwise!
Luckily, Vicky continued with his contemplative silence until the elevator descended to her floor. Relieved, Kriti marched out, towards her room, when his voice stopped her.
She turned. He was holding the doors open, a wicked grin on his face.
“I told you how I knew you’d let me win, but you didn’t tell me why you did it, Kritika?”
Clearing her throat, Kriti gathered the tattered pieces of her dignity. “It was to save your precious male ego, of course. What if you threw a tantrum after losing and it affected our equation on set? It was for the greater good.”
Vicky’s grin widened. “Riiiiiiight. You’re so thoughtful, ya. Ek aur game toh banta hai. On the next evening off. And this time, I promise not to be a sore loser—if you let me lose, that is.”
Kriti sternly quelled the quivering corners of her mouth before replying. “I’ll think about it.”
With a wink, he let the doors close and Kriti’s stomach executed a clumsy but exuberant flip-flop.

Love, Take Two is now available! For more fun articles like this one, follow the Penguin India Facebook page!

Meet the Characters from Smoke and Ashes

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Sam Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee, two extraordinary officers in the Calcutta police, share a great bonding as a team and as friends. They’re on a mission to solve two suspiciously similar murders, while keeping their personal lives and secrets aside.
Set against the historical backdrop of the Non-cooperation movement and the intense battle for independence, Smoke and Ashes is a pacy historical fiction packed with mystery and action.
Right from the beginning till the very end, these two enthralling characters, though not perfect, will have you rooting for them:
 
Meet Captain Sam Wyndham

 

 

 

 
 
Meet Surendranath Banerjee

 

 

 

 
———-
With the British Raj and the political tensions during the fervent fight for Independence at its heart, Smoke and Ashes is a thought provoking read that will transport you to a different place and time.
Abir Mukherjee has beautifully juxtaposed real people like Subhash Chandra Bose and Prince Edward, in this captivating fiction in a way that feels authentic to their real lives.
AVAILABLE NOW!

What Happens When India Moves – The Long Term Impacts of Migration in 6 Points

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Chinmay Tumbe is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science; the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore; Ruia College, Mumbai; and Rishi Valley School Mandapalle. He is passionate about migration, cities and history. He is currently a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. He has published widely on migration for a decade and has served on policymaking groups. India Moving is his first book.
Here are the impacts of migration as listed in the book:
 
1. The influence of mobility and globalization on migration

 
 
2. Rural – urban divergence in natural growth rates ( difference between birth rate and death rate)

 
 
3. Migration helped in reducing social inequalities. 

 
 
4. The story of brain drain.

 
 
5. Link between migration and gender.

 
 
 
6. The impact of the partition of India and Pakistan.

 
 

Timeline on the Life of the Enigma: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

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With his phenomenal gumption as wicketkeeper, batsman and captain, Mahi has captivated the hearts of billions of Indians. He dealt with his career, both on and off field, with common sense, a lot of practical ingenuity and some unmatched foresight.
Here are some key milestones in Dhoni’s journey in life, that made him the maestro he is today:

2004: The year of ‘smashing’ new beginnings

India meets the new star of Indian cricket and witnesses his unique repertoire of breathtaking strokes.
“It was late 2004. There had been talk of an exciting twenty-four-year-old from Ranchi who had been making waves in domestic cricket with his big-hitting, but there was little evidence of his prowess, especially when he made a quiet entry in his first few international games.”
There wasn’t much scope left for debate when Dhoni smashed 148 in the next game he played.

‘The India A tour to Kenya in 2004 is correctly identified as the tipping point for Dhoni’s graduation to international cricket. This was one of the first A series to be shown live on TV back home.’

2005: India’s new wicketkeeper

Dhoni makes his international debut and his all-rounder traits come to life through his expert wicketkeeping and explosive batting skills.
‘They’re in the city for the 2004-05 edition of the Challenger Trophy. Dhoni, who made his international debut only two months earlier, is part of the India Seniors team led by Sourav Ganguly.’
‘Dhoni had crossed single figures only once in his first three ODI innings. So, when India met Pakistan in the second ODI in Vizag on 5 April 2005, India’s new wicketkeeper had a lot to prove. Dhoni had batted at No. 7 in all those previous innings.

It’s an area of the ground where he rarely scores. But it was a shot that had both oomph and a bit of arrogance.
‘I saw that boundary and thought, today he’ll score a century. His career hasn’t looked back since that boundary,’ recalls Chhotu about the 123-ball 148 that set the Dhoni career off with a bang.

2006: To chop off or not to chop off?

Dhoni sports his mane with confidence and gets Pakistan’s nod on it.
In other news, he becomes a record holder of the highest ODI score by any wicketkeeper.

The mane was there to stay. Even dictator Pervez Musharraf agreed. He, in fact, ordered Dhoni to not even think about chopping his locks off. By then, Dhoni had also smashed two blitzkrieg centuries, including the highest one day international (ODI) score by any wicketkeeper, established himself among the most destructive batsmen in world cricket and was just a year away from taking over as India’s T20 captain and winning the inaugural World T20, and chopping off his hair.

2007: Shows exemplary captaincy through his unexpected decisions

Thanks to Dhoni’s trailblazing leadership and shrewd judgement, India becomes the first-ever world champions in T-20 cricket.
‘The Joginder Sharma example, of course, stands out, when on that famous night in Johannesburg in 2007, Dhoni handed the inexperienced medium-pacer the final over in the grand finale against Pakistan, a move that shocked the world and also eventually made India the first-ever world champions in T20 cricket.’

2008: Becomes a ‘Super King’

It’s time for IPL players auction and the most popular cricketer in the country is in high demand, so much so that his predictive market rate was going up by USD 100,000 almost every fifteen minutes.
‘The first-ever IPL players’ auction took place on 20 February 2008 at a plush hotel in Mumbai.
Then the CSK management had to take a call on how much they would be willing to pay for Dhoni.
When Mumbai took it up to USD 1.4 million, Chandrasekhar hesitated for so long that he recalls that the Ambani-led auction table almost began to celebrate, and that’s when he pulled the trigger again and took the price up to 1.5 million. That was it. Mumbai backed out.

2014: The legend calls it quits

India is flabbergasted. Conspiracies start floating around, no one understands the reason behind his decision to quit test cricket in the middle of a series.
‘Dhoni quit test cricket in the middle of the series against Australia in 2014-15. I had no inkling – nobody did – that this thought was even churning in his mind. When he announced his retirement, everybody was stupefied.’
————
Bharat S Sundaresan’s The Dhoni Touch focuses on breaking into the life of a cricketer extraordinaire, who has remained a mystery wrapped in a million dollar bubble. This is not the story of where M.S. Dhoni has come from or where he’s reached. It’s about how he got there.

5 Things to know about 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

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21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari calls to attention some of the most relevant predicaments of today. It asks about what we should teach the younger generation today in order to prepare them for the world of tomorrow. Spanning from nuclear war and environmental crisis to the disruptions caused by the swiftly developing technology in today’s time, this book gives a sweeping look at the future.
Here are five things you need to know about Harari’s upcoming book:
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

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