Everyone has a dark, ugly side-some of us just choose to hide it better than others
She’s a young woman going through a mid-twenties crisis, trying to deal with the dark and intoxicating side of life with haunting memories of an abusive ex-boyfriend, remnants of a broken family and obvious mental health issues.
We all find something that is therapeutic, that is personal and special to us, that helps us cope. For her – it’s art.
Find an excerpt below that talks about how she found art and how it helps us be her in the present time.
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Goner || Tazmeen Amna
I gave the test and begged my teacher to score me the minute I submitted that piece of paper. I was so sure I’d get a 10 out of 10. I just wanted the formality of knowing out of the way, because the sooner I knew my marks the sooner I could get those crayons. My hands were itching to pull those gorgeous crayons out of the box and actually feel them gliding over paper, filling up the bland blank sheet with their colours.
The teacher raised her eyebrows at my worksheet and handed it back to me. She also patted my shoulder slightly.
Dang.
My stomach fell.
8/10.
I cried the whole bus ride back home. Or stared pointedly out of the window without even blinking.
I went home and dejectedly walked up to my mom and handed her the worksheet. She saw the score and stooped down to me and said, ‘You know what? I think you did well and I’m going to buy you those crayons anyway.’ Then she handed me fifty bucks and I ran to the shop, wild with excitement. Not only would I be the proud owner of that set of crayons, I also realized at that moment how much of a rockstar my mom was.
It was on that day that I decided that I would never put down the paintbrush, for as long as I lived, because of the faith that my mom showed in me. Sometimes it really just takes one empathetic glance, one touch of tenderness, and a teeny, tiny, minute sliver of hope to, I don’t know, set things rolling.
And since then, it’s been a pretty stable relationship (between me and my art). The only stable relationship I’ve ever had in my entire life, fortunately and unfortunately. I went from pastels to watercolours, pencils to charcoals, acrylics to oil paints, paper to canvas, and many other mediums. It is the only thing that helps me connect with myself. Not the me that is sedated with antidepressants and high on mood-booster pills. Not the me that is a lifeless machine running on tablets and capsules and surviving (barely) on therapy. But the me that’s . . . just me.
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A hard-hitting narrative of a young woman’s struggle with mental illness, Goner is a voice that needs to be heard today.
Can she defeat her infamous trait of self-sabotage and manoeuvre her way through some hard-hitting truths?
On 26 July every year India remembers its brave heroes of the Kargil war. Today we are bringing to you eleven books that speak of the sacrifices and valour of the Indian Armed Forces.
Vijyant at Kargil || Col. V.N Thapar, Neha Dwivedi
Vijyant at Kargil
Vijyant 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, he 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.
1965: Stories from the Second Indo-Pakistan War
On 1 September 1965, Pakistan invaded the Chamb district in Jammu and Kashmir, triggering a series of tank battles, operations and counter-operations. It was only the bravery and well-executed strategic decisions of the soldiers of the Indian Army that countered the very real threat of losing Kashmir to Pakistan. Recounting the battles fought by five different regiments, the narrative reconstructs the events of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, outlining details never revealed before, and remembers its unsung heroes.
Shoot, Dive, Fly: Stories of Grit and Adventure from the Indian Army
SHOOT, DIVE, FLY aims to introduce teenagers to the armed forces and tell them about the perils-the rigours and the challenges-and perks-the thrill and the adventure-of a career in uniform. Ballroom dancing, flying fighter planes, detonating bombs, skinning and eating snakes in times of dire need, and everything else in between-there’s nothing our officers can’t do. Read twenty-one nail-biting stories of daring.
The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories
Twenty-one riveting stories about how India’s highest military honour was won. Talking to parents, siblings, children and comrades-in-arms to paint the most vivid character-portraits of these men and their conduct in battle and getting unprecedented access to the Indian Army, Rachna Bisht Rawat takes us to the heart of war, chronicling the tales of twenty-one of India’s bravest soldiers.
Kargil: Untold Stories from the War
Rachna Bisht Rawat takes you into the treacherous mountains where some of Indian Army’s bloodiest battles were fought. Interviewing war survivors and martyrs’ families, Rachna Bisht Rawat tells stories of extraordinary human courage, of not just men in uniform but also those who loved them the most. With its gritty stories of incomparable bravery, Kargil is a tribute to the 527 young braves who gave up their lives for us and the many who were ready to do it too.
Despatches from Kargil
The Kargil war in the summer of 1999 was a tale of brutality and courage. Here was war in its essence: barren, icy peaks held by a strongly entrenched enemy, and the only way to dislodge the intruders was to climb up in the face of overwhelming fire. By the end of the war many more heroes were added to the list of the nation’s brave. Their exploits in this harrowing battle read like the stuff of legend. In Despatches from Kargil, Srinjoy Chowdhury, who covered the war for the Statesman, recounts what it was like for journalists to battle against deadlines, shellfire–and particularly vicious bedbugs–to transmit their reports.
India’s Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes
The book covers fourteen true stories of extraordinary courage and fearlessness, providing a glimpse into the kind of heroism our soldiers display in unthinkably hostile conditions and under grave provocation. The Army major who led the legendary September 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC; a soldier who killed 11 terrorists in 10 days; a Navy officer who sailed into a treacherous port to rescue hundreds from an exploding war; a bleeding Air Force pilot who found himself flying a jet that had become a screaming fireball, the book narrates their own accounts or of those who were with them in their final moments.
India’s Most Fearless 2: Untold Accounts of the Biggest Recent Anti-Terror Operations
First-hand reports of the most riveting anti-terror encounters in the wake of the 2016 surgical strikes, the men who hunted terrorists in a magical Kashmir forest where day turns to night, a pair of young Navy men who gave their all to save their entire submarine crew, the Air Force commando who wouldn’t sleep until he had avenged his buddies, the tax babu who found his soul in a terrifying Special Forces assault on Pakistani terrorists, the highly anticipated sequel to India’s Most Fearless brings you fourteen more stories of astonishing fearlessness,and gets you closer than ever before to the personal bravery that Indian military men display in the line of duty.
My Mother is in the Indian Air Force
Rohan thinks his mom is a bit like a a superhero-she flies in to save the day, she loops and swoops between the clouds, she even jumps off planes wearing parachutes! But her job demands that she keep moving from place to place, and Rohan doesn’t want to move again. Not this time. Can he find a way to stay? Read on to find out about the people in the uniform and their families whose big and small acts sacrifices make the Indian air force formidable!
My Father is in the Indian Army
Beena’s dad is in the Indian army, which means that when duty calls, he’s got to get going at once. Beena knows her dad’s job is important, but her birthday is coming up. She really, really wants her dad to be at home to celebrate with her. Will he be able to make it back in time?
My Sister is in the Indian Navy
Nikky’s sister is in the navy. When her ship is in port, she and Nikky get to do lots of fun things together. Nikky would like to spend more time with his sister, and he doesn’t want her to leave, but he knows that, eventually, her sailing orders will arrive. Read on to find out about the people and their families whose big and small acts of heroism make the Indian navy exemplary!
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We salute our soldiers and their indomitable spirit to serve the nation!
The cover art of Binodini’s “The Princess and the Political Agent” by Shruti Mahajan of Penguin Random House India features, bloody and broken, the leogryphs called the Kangla Sha that stand today in Kangla Fort in Imphal. In the back, a little anachronistically, is painted the palace in Manipur, built for Binodini’s father Maharaja Churachand, himself a major presence in his daughter’s historical novel. It represents the new order in Manipur under the eponymous Political Agent after the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. The beasts themselves represent the destruction of the sovereignty of Manipur in the fort where the Princess spent her childhood and youth – and the setting of Binodini’s tales of love, rivalries, and intrigues. Here is the little-known story of these chimerical beasts of Kangla Fort.
Somi Roy, translator.
Today, one hundred and seventy-six years ago, on the 24th of July, 1844, Maharaja Narasingh of Manipur inaugurated the two giant leogryphs that stood guard at Kangla Fort in the heart of Imphal. About fifty years later, they were destroyed by British cannon fire.
Known as the Kangla Sha, the pair of mythical lionesque beasts was made of brick and stood eighteen feet tall. They guarded the entrance to the fort’s inner citadel called the Uttra. The citadel was the innermost enclosure housing the royal residences in the heart of the Kangla, the double moated palace fort of the kings of Manipur. The Meiteis called these guardian beasts Nongsha, literally Heavenly Beasts, retronymically translated as lions which they resembled. They became known as Kangla Sha after the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891.
The first pair of these leogryphs was constructed by Maharaja Chourjit in 1804. They were Manipuri adaptations of the splendid Burmese mythical beasts called chinthe that guard the entrance of the pagodas of Burma. Ties between Manipur and the glorious and more powerful Burmese kingdoms of Ava, Shan and Mon Burmese – matrimonial alliances, wars, tributes and so on – were well established by the middle of the 18th century. As one of several Manipuri princes who stayed with the Burmese king in the 1760s, Chourjit would have seen the Burmese chinthe in front of their pagodas.
The powerful court of Ava had made remonstrance with the kings of Manipur for profusely gilding and decorating their palaces with royal Burmese emblems and multistage roof buildings. It was looked upon as evidence of the rise of the kings of Manipur. So in 1819 the Burmese invaded Manipur, destroyed the Kangla Fort, and occupied the kingdom for the next seven years.
Kangla Fort was not only the abode of the kings of Manipur but also the symbol of their ancestral roots back to Pakhangba, founder of the Ningthouja dynasty that still exists today. The citadel’s hall was also sometimes referred as the House of Pakhangba, as he was crowned here as the first Meitei king in 33 CE according to the Court Chronicles of Manipur.
For nearly 20 years after Manipur was regained from the Burmese, Kangla remained an abandoned old palace. The monarch after the Burmese expulsion, Maharaja Gambhir Singh, reigned from his capital at Langthabal, eight kilometres from Imphal down the Burma Road. At this time, Manipur was acknowledged as an independent power by the Burmese and the British in the Treaty of Yandabo of 1826. In 1844, Gambhir Singh’s cousin and comrade-at-arms in repelling the Burmese, Regent Narasingh became the king of Manipur and moved the capital back to Kangla. He reconstructed the pair of leogryphs in front of the citadel in Kangla upon the ruins of the old foundation of the previous leogryphs of 1804. The court chronicle of Manipur records that the construction of the two new leogryphs began on June 2, 1844. The Maharaja inaugurated the statues, dedicating them to the royal deity Shri Shri Govindajee on July 24, 1844.
No pictorial representations of the first leogryphs of 1804 exist nor do we know what happened to them after the Burmese destroyed Kangla Fort in 1819. The leogryphs rebuilt in 1844 stood guard at the foot of the citadel, facing west towards the fort’s main entrance, the western gate of the Kangla Fort. They were made of brick, and painted white. They crouched upon their hind legs and stood upright on their forelegs. The tails curled back towards their spines. Their mouths opened wide. The two bifurcated horns, adorning their heads unlike the leogryphs of East and Southeast Asia, were derived from the sangai or the brow-antlered deer (Rucervus eldii eldii) of Manipur. The chimerical beasts bear similarity to the antlered dragon boats of Manipur and to the coat-of-arms of Gambhir Singh engraved above his footprints on the stone he erected at Kohima (now in Nagaland) in commemoration of his victory over the northern tribes in 1833. Therefore, we can surmise that the Manipuri adaptation of the Burmese chinthe was already an addition to the religious and state iconography even before the leogryphs raised by Narasingh.
Leogryph used in the 1833 as commemorative stone in Kohima
The leogryphs built in 1844 were destroyed in 1891 after the Anglo-Manipuri War that year. In the events leading up to the outbreak of the war in March, five British representatives had been taken prisoner by the king of Manipur, tried in military court, and executed for their crime for invading the palace of Manipur. The execution of the British men took place in front of these leogryphs and their blood was smeared over the mouths of the two statues. In this, Manipuris saw the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy in Manipur that white men’s heads would fall in front of the beasts. After British retaliation in battle, the Manipuris were defeated and the British occupied Kangla Fort in April 1891.
On June 20, 1891, the Kangla leogryphs were destroyed by cannon fire upon the order of General H. Collett, the commander of the British army, as retribution, symbolic political vengeance, and display of imperial power and dominance.
The British occupied Kangla Fort as a British reserve until their departure in 1947. When young prince Churachand was installed as the new king by the British in 1891, a new palace of Manipur, commonly known as Chonga Bon, was constructed in 1908 about two kilometres away. The fort remained closed to the Manipuri public. Newly independent India succeeded to the Kangla and the fort was occupied by the Indian paramilitary forces. Manipur acceded to the Indian Union in 1949 and in 2004 Kangla Fort was returned to the people of Manipur after a series of public agitations. In 2007 two replicas of Kangla Sha were reconstructed on the original site where they had stood before being destroyed by the British on July 20, 1891.
Wangam Somorjit is the author of The Chronology of Meitei Monarchs (2010), the first edited version of the Court Chronicle of Manipur with corresponding CE dates; and Manipur: The Forgotten Nation of South-East Asia (2016), an anthology of publications from different countries of the region.
The Princess and the Political Agent || Binodini Devi (Author), L. Somi Roy (Translator)
I think of the stories I heard growing up. Of women with shadowy faces and daggers glinting in their hands. Women who wear their saris like fisherfolk, who knock down doors and slash into enemies with knives and swords and spells. The Sisterhood of the Golden Lotus.
Gul has spent her life running. She has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, and in the kingdom of Ambar, girls with such birthmarks have been disappearing for years. In fact, it is this very mark that caused her parents’ murder at the hand of King Lohar’s ruthless soldiers and forced her into hiding in order to protect her own life.
But a group of rebel women called the ‘Sisters of the Golden Lotus’ rescue her, take her in, and train her in warrior magic. Here are some quotes from Tanaz Bhathena’s book that tells us more about the Sisters of the Golden Lotus
Who are they?
“No one is quite sure if the Sisters are legends or common brigands, and no one ever quite remembers what they look like. Appearing and disappearing from villages and towns with a stealth that rivals King Lo- har’s Sky Warriors, the Sisters have no permanent home, successfully melding into their surroundings like color-changing lizards.”
*
Introducing themselves
“People who do not know us think we are ordinary Ambari women. Seamstresses. Midwives. Farmers. Mothers. Daughters. People like your zamindar will offer us food and shelter in exchange for a walk through the fields or a night in their beds.” Juhi’s eyes harden. “Of course, deceptive appearances are a must in our line of work.” She holds up a hand. There, right in the center of her palm, I see a golden tattoo shaped like a lotus.”
*
They have birthmarks.
“To my surprise, Kali lifts her sari petticoat up to the knee. Amira turns around, pushing down the shoulder of her blouse. The woman holds up the lantern to each exposed body part, one after the other.
Each girl has a birthmark. A brown one in the shape of a diamond right next to the dagger strapped to Kali’s calf; a black one in the shape of a falling star on Amira’s shoulder blade.”
*
But not all of them
“Do the Sisters . . . do you all have birthmarks?”
Juhi lowers her hand. “No. Only Amira and Kali. But I don’t limit the Sisterhood to marked girls. There are other women as well who need saving, who need to escape their pasts.”
*
Their current home
“The Sisters live on the street behind the temple—in a two-story building that once housed the village orphanage. Some of the novices mock the villagers for not guessing that it no longer functions as one, for never questioning why we don’t take in boys.”
*
Mealtimes with the Sisters
“I’m unable to keep the envy out of my voice. At mealtimes, some of the Sisters occasionally boast about their exploits. Magically tying up zamindars who deceive farmers into signing over their land—and not releasing the former until the land is restored. Rescuing girls who get harassed by men in marketplaces. Standing up to women who beat their daughters-in-law.”
*
Why are they called Sisters of the Golden Lotus?
“Yes. Amira told me that she and Kali would feel like thorns in my side. Kali countered that they were like the gold lotuses of Javeribad, the kind that bloomed in the mud. That’s how we came up with the name.”
*
Hunted by the Sky || Tanaz Bhathena
Inspired by medieval India, Hunted by the Sky is the first in a stunning fantasy duology by Tanaz Bhathena, exploring identity, class struggles and high-stakes romance against a breathtaking magical backdrop.
Perumal Murugan’s body of work boasts of several novels, short story collections and poetry anthologies. An author and scholar, Murugan writes in Tamil. His works have not only garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success but also have been translated in many languages.
Here are 6 books by him, that are the perfect introduction to his work.
Rising Heat
Rising Heat || Perumal Murugan
Murugan’s first novel, which launched a splendid literary career, is a tour de force. Now translated for the first time, it poses powerful questions about the human cost of relentless urbanization in the name of progress.
Young Selvan’s family’s ancestral land has been sold in order to make way for the construction of a housing colony. In the ensuing years, as the pressures of their situation simmer to a boil, Selvan observes his family undergo dramatic shifts in their fortunes as greed and jealousy threaten to overshadow their lives.
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One Part Woman
One Part Woman || Perumal Murugan
Kali and Ponna’s efforts to conceive a child have been in vain. Hounded by the taunts and insinuations of others, all their hopes come to converge on the chariot festival in the temple of Ardhanareeswara, the half-female god. Everything hinges on the one night when rules are relaxed and consensual union between any man and woman is sanctioned. This night could end the couple’s suffering and humiliation. But it will also put their marriage to the ultimate test.
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Songs of a Coward: Poems of Exile
Songs of a Coward || Perumal Murugan
By turns passionate, elegiac, angry, tender, nightmarish and courageous, the poems in Songs of a Coward weave an exquisite tapestry of rich images and turbulent emotions. Written during a period of immense personal turmoil, these verses are an enduring testament to the resilience of an imagination under siege and the liberating power of words in one’s darkest moments.
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Trial by Silence
Trial by Silence || Perumal Murugan
In Trial by Silence-one of two inventive sequels that picks up the story right where One Part Womanends-Kali is determined to punish Ponna for what he believes is an absolute betrayal. But Ponna is equally upset at being forced to atone for something that was not her fault. In the wake of the temple festival, both must now confront harsh new uncertainties in their once idyllic life together.
Trial by Silence was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Fiction 2019
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A Lonely Harvest
A Lonely Heart || Perumal Murugan
In A Lonely Harvest– one of two inventive sequels that pick up the story right where One Part Woman ends -Ponna returns from the temple festival to find that Kali has killed himself in despair. Devastated that he would punish her so cruelly, but constantly haunted by memories of the happiness she once shared with Kali, Ponna must now learn to face the world alone.
A Lonely Harvest was longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019 and shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Fiction 2019
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Current Show
Current Show || Perumal Murugan
Slick, visceral and startlingly inventive, Current Show unfolds in a manner that simulates rapid cinematic cuts. Murugan’s keen eye and crackling prose plumb the dark underbelly of small-town life, bringing Sathi’s world and entanglements thrillingly to life.
An Extraordinary Life showcases Manohar Parrikar’s rise in politics from the son of a grocery store owner in a nondescript town, a sanghachalak in Mapusa town, an Opposition MLA and leader, to a chief minister (on multiple occasions) and, finally, to a defence minister.
Over the last two decades, the exploits of one man, an IIT-Bombay alumnus, changed the way mainstream India looked at Goa and the political goings-on in the country’s smallest state.
In An Extraordinary Life, Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar explore daily battles of a gifted individual are brought to the fore as he encounters love and vices.
Alongside his public feats and persona, Parrikar was also an intriguing man with some personality quirks that contributed to his political career. We take a look at some of these below:
Finding a way out
‘Falling into trouble isn’t rare when one is young. But even at the age of eight, Manohar had the temperament to find a way out of it.
Avdhoot was nine, a year older than Manohar, when the latter fell into a deep, dry rainwater ditch near their ancestral house in Parra village. The gutter was deep enough to make Manohar’s efforts to climb out of it futile. Like in many rural homes at the time, the Parrikar household also reared a few head of cattle.
‘Manohar told me to fetch at least five bundles of straw. They weren’t too heavy, so I brought them one by one and, on his direction, threw them into the gutter. He piled them one on top of the other and managed to climb out,’ Avdhoot recalled.’
IIT-Bombay
‘A year after the release of the Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha–starrer Bombay to Goa, seventeen-year-old Parrikar left Goa to go to Bombay in 1973. And just like Bachchan was a superstarwaiting-in-the-wings in the S. Ramanathan film, IIT-Bombay gaveParrikar the fertile breeding ground for his personality to blossom and allowed him to come into his own.
As far as Parrikar was concerned, he was to give IIT-Bombay the privilege of having on its rolls the first IITian chief minister in India, and his hostel-mates the pleasure of better meals at the mess at that time.’
Resourcefulness and Keen Eye
‘Even his mother was often stumped by Manohar’s resourcefulness. Radhabai once had enough of her son’s brattish behaviour. So she locked him up in a room one day.
According to Walavalkar, Manohar escaped by breaking the glass windowpanes. Another time Radhabai decided to teach her younger son a lesson once again. She decided to play dead to get Manohar worked up. Avdhoot, who was nearby, saw her lying still and not responding to his call. He called out to Manohar for help. ‘I thought Aai was dead and started crying. But Manohar was obviously smarter than me. He told me not to cry because he could see Aai’s stomach moving with her breath. Her plan to rattle him was foiled,’ Avdhoot said.’
Calligraphic Skills
‘Apart from his special talent at maths, he was regularly complimented by his teachers for his immaculate handwriting, something the media also noticed decades later when his handwritten noting related to the Rafale deal as the defence minister merited a news feature story in February 2019.
‘Cursive font. Sentences so perfectly stacked you wonder if a ruler was involved. No strikethroughs. No smudged ink. A written reply by Manohar Parrikar to India’s defence secretary in 2015, accessed by ANI, would put any schoolteacher’s pet to shame,’ stated an India Today online story headlined ‘Rafale Row Rages.’
Appetite for Reading
‘When he was in school, he loved reading storybooks, instead of ‘boring’ school texts.
‘Often he would pretend that he was reading a textbook when our parents were around, but cached inside was a storybook. Once, a relative got suspicious because Manohar had been going hard at this coursebook for hours and yanked it from his hands. The hidden storybook fell out too,’ said Avdhoot.
Manohar also developed another habit early on. A habit that would hold him in good stead in his later years. Reading newspapers. So obsessed was he with reading newspapers that his parents started worrying about it.’
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An Extraordinary Life || Sadguru Patil, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
An Extraordinary Life showcases Manohar Parrikar’s rise in politics from the son of a grocery store owner in a nondescript town, a sanghachalak in Mapusa town, an Opposition MLA and leader, to a chief minister (on multiple occasions) and, finally, to a defence minister.
It is 1995. Tara Taneja lives in the small town of Siyaka, running Ultimate Mathematics Tuition Centre and working for Lalaji, her grandfather, at Lallan Sweets, his famous sweet shop. The laddoos sold at the shop are made using a secret family recipe that contains a magic ingredient known only to Lalaji.
When Lalaji chooses to retire, he decides that Lallan Sweets will not be inherited but earned. He devises a quest for his three grandchildren-Tara, Rohit and Mohit-to discover the magic ingredient.
Tara’s long-time crush and neighbour, fun-loving and good-natured Nikku Sabharwal, returns to Siyaka after years. Within the ensuing competition, we see Tara going through some regular challenges of womanhood – broken hearts and budding romance being at the forefront!
Find a glimpse of this in the excerpt below:
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‘Can you imagine how things would have turned out if I had stayed here in Siyaka? I would have remained stupid, not knowing anything of the world outside.’
Affronted, I raised my eyebrows. It was classic Nikku to say something like that. ‘What do you mean? You think just because I never went away from Siyaka I am stupid?’
‘No, that’s not what I meant at all. I meant, for me, I needed to go out, I couldn’t have stayed here, I knew that I had to go out and see the world.’
I nodded at him and looked away, trying to fight off the wave of indignation that came over me. He always spoke about going out there as if the rest of us were lazy idiots tonot want to do the same as him, as if our minds were smaller.
‘You turned out completely fine, Taru Taneja,’ he said,almost as if reading my thoughts. ‘It’s a battle I had, or stillhave, with myself. I’m so proud of what you have done,building a name for yourself, Ultimate Mathematics Tuition Centre. But my mother always wanted me to go, she told meto go and make a bigman out of myself, in Delhi or Bombay.’
I still didn’t look at him, continuing to stare at the lakeinstead. It was that time in the afternoon when everything fell quiet. He looked towards me once more.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch,’ he spoke abruptly.
I swallowed my tears. ‘You said you would call every week, but you even stopped writing nice letters after a point.’
Out of the corner of my eyes I saw him hang his head.
‘I’m really sorry.’
Of course I wasn’t going to forgive him. Years and yearsof broken promises. I simply got up and ignored whatever he said, putting on a bright smile and walking towards the Kinetic. ‘Come on now, we are yet to have the orange ice cream.’
He looked like he was going to say something, but then thought the better of it and sat behind me.
**
Lallan Sweets || Srishti Chaudhary
What will this journey bring forth for Tara and Lalaji’s grandchildren? And what exactly is the magic ingredient? Join Tara in her quest to find out!
Former Defence Minister and four-time Goa Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar was one of the most reported personalities in India’s smallest state. But the privilege of researching for his biography ‘An Extraordinary Life: A biography of Manohar Parrikar’ gave us several fresh insights about his personality. And some lesser known nuggets too.
Listed below are ten lesser known facts about Parrikar. And no, this piece doesn’t mention his fetish for fish curry… For that nugget and more, read the book!
By Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Lucky number 13
Shunned and feared by many, Parrikar, a passionate contrarian, considered ‘13’ as his lucky number. Born on December 13, the number, he would often say, brought him good luck in politics. The registration plate of his last official ride, a Hyundai Santa Fe, bore the number 1313. His mobile phone numbers ended in 1313 and 131213. In 2000, he formed a government and was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Goa for the first time with the help of 13-non BJP MLAs. In 2017, he cleverly manoeuvred his way to the top post yet again with the help of… you guessed it right: 13 BJP MLAs!
Never a full term
Despite being sworn-in as Chief Minister of Goa on four different occasions from 2000-02, 2002-2004, 2012-2014 and 2017-2019, Parrikar never completed a full five-year term in office. Anxious about a revolt brewing within his government, Parrikar got the state assembly dissolved in 2002. In 2004, he was ousted by a resurgent Congress. In 2014, he was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the central cabinet as Defence Minister. And in 2019, he died in office, after just two years in office as CM.
Accidental electoral debut
This fact has managed to duck attention altogether. After his initial grooming in the RSS, Parrikar’s initial role in the BJP was that of an organizer, as one of the secretaries of the party’s state unit. In 1991, BJP leader late Pramod Mahajan entrusted him with the responsibility of selecting a candidate for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat in the general elections. Parrikar could not shortlist a single credible candidate for his party, because contesting a popular election on a BJP ticket at the time was considered synonymous with certain defeat, and a poor defeat at that. With no candidate available, Mahajan directed Parrikar to contest the election. Parrikar’s defeat in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls was the only electoral loss in his political career.
Bookworm
Parrikar was known to read just about everywhere. In the front seat of his official car, in hotel lobbies, at the airport and even on the seat of his loo. He devoured books like he customarily devoured his political opposition. In 2013, at a book release event, he confessed that his house had two toilets. “I am currently reading a book on the Mahabharata. It’s in one toilet. There’s another book in the other toilet,” Parrikar said then.
Music to the soul
Amid spasms of pain while undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in New York, Parrikar looked to Hindustani classical singer Jitendra Abhisheki for solace. He loved to listen to Marathi bhavgeets (devotional songs) too. His favourite singers were Sudhir Phadke, Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Abhisheki and Rahul Deshpande. Phadke’s ‘Dehachi Tejori’ (God’s vault) and Veer Savarkar’s ‘Sagara Prana Talmala’ (O Ocean, my heart is restless) topped his list of favourite songs. In his later years, he liked listening to Rahul Deshpande, whose songs were downloaded to his Ipad.
Mercedes mania
As a young businessman, when his political journey was still some distance away, Parrikar ambition was to own a Mercedes car. Once he walked the political path however, he realised that owning a Mercedes would impair public perception of him. After all he was beginning to be known for his ‘common man’ identity. So he dropped the idea altogether.
Control-freak
Parrikar’s style of governance was marked by a chronic disregard for existing administrative systems, with excessive power wrested in his person. Ministers were mere puppets in his abrasive style of governance, as Parrikar, his few handpicked bureaucrats and upper caste coterie members pulled all the strings. There was a key reason why Parrikar kept stalling his departure to Delhi as a cabinet minister. Because Modi mirrored his traits, when it came to governance-style and control. “I was a king in Goa. In Delhi, I am just one of the many princes,” Parrikar lamented to his friends.
Tech travails
For an IIT alumnus, Parrikar shied away from using new technology for communication. Apart from using a mobile phone to make and receive calls, he had no other use for the instrument. According to those close to him, accessing emails reluctantly was as far as Parrikar would go, when it came to embracing technology.
Money management
For a man, who is often lauded for planning and vision, Parrikar was pretty much financially broke when he returned to Goa, soon after passing out of IIT-Bombay and marrying Medha. He was so short on money, that his mother, Radhabai, paid some of his insurance premiums for a while.
Swachch Goa
India woke up to the ‘virtues’ of co-branding Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary with a cleanliness gig, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachch Bharat Mission in 2014. But the initiative was first launched by Parrikar as Chief Minister of Goa on October 2, 2002. He preferred to call it ‘Clean Offices Day’, when government servants were called to their respective offices on the national holiday and directed to spruce up the premises and immediate surroundings.
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An Extraordinary Life || Sadguru Patil, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
With the monsoon season coming up, there is nothing better than opening your windows and sitting down with a good book and the soothing smell and sound of rain filling your house. Don’t have a good book? We can help you with that, all you have to do is check out the bookshelf below!
An Extraordinary Life
An Extraordinary Life || Sadguru Patil, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Over the last two decades, the exploits of one man changed the way mainstream India looked at Goa and the political goings-on in the country’s smallest state. An Extraordinary Life traces the times of Manohar Parrikar through the informed voices of people in his life. His daily battles are brought to the fore as he encounters love and vices, showcasing his rise in politics from the son of a grocery store owner in a nondescript town, a sanghachalak in Mapusa town, an Opposition MLA and leader, to a chief minister (on multiple occasions) and, finally, to a defense minister.
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Goner
Goner || Tazmeen Amna
She’s a young woman trying to deal with the dark and intoxicating side of life with haunting memories of an abusive ex-boyfriend, a broken family, and obvious mental health issues. Finding herself on a consistent downward spiral, she tries to grapple with her incessant attraction to all things that are bad for her, ultimately culminating in the form of a medical emergency.
With no job, months of expensive therapy, and a mystery man in her life will she be able to recover from her embarrassing wastefulness?
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Hunted by the Sky
Hunted by the Sky || Tanaz Bhathena
Gul has spent her life running. She has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, and in the kingdom of Ambar, girls with such birthmarks have been disappearing for years. So when a group of rebel women called the ‘Sisters of the Golden Lotus’ rescue her, take her in and train her in warrior magic, Gul wants only one thing: revenge.
Cavas lives in the tenements, and he’s just about ready to sign his life over to the king’s army to save his father who is terminally ill. As the chemistry between the two grows undeniably, he becomes entangled in a mission of vengeance, bringing Gul and Cavas together in a world with secrets deadlier than their own.
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Rising Heat
Rising Heat || Perumal Murugan
Young Selvan’s life is no longer the same. With his family’s ancestral land sold to make way for the construction of a housing colony, his childhood has been denuded. In the ensuing years, as the pressures of their situation simmer to a boil, Selvan observes his family undergo dramatic shifts in their fortunes as greed and jealousy threaten to overshadow their lives.
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Lallan Sweets
Lallan Sweets || Srishti Chaudhary
Tara Taneja lives in the small town of Siyaka, running a Maths Centre and working for Lalaji, her grandfather, at the famous Lallan Sweets. The laddoos sold are made using a secret family recipe that contains a magic ingredient known only to Lalaji. Choosing to retire, Lalaji decides that Lallan Sweets will be earned, devising a quest for his three grandchildren. With the help of her long-time crush and neighbor, Nikku, Tara pursues the quest to battle old secrets, family legacies, and unexpected dangers.
Will this journey bring them together or lead to a bittersweet end?
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Girl, Woman, Other
Girl, Woman, Other || Bernardine Evaristo
Grace is a Victorian orphan dreaming of the mysterious African father she will never meet.
Winsome is a young Windrush bride, recently arrived from Barbados.
Amma is the fierce queen of her 1980s squatters’ palace.
Morgan, who used to be Megan, is blowing up on social media, the newest activist-influencer on the block.
Twelve very different people, mostly black and female, more than a hundred years of change, and one sweeping, vibrant, glorious portrait of contemporary Britain. Bernardine Evaristo presents a gloriously new kind of history for this old country: ever-dynamic, ever-expanding, and utterly irresistible.
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Sex and Vanity
Sex and Vanity || Kevin Kwan
The iconic author of the bestselling phenomenon, Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan returns with the glittering tale of a young woman who finds herself torn between two men: the fiancé of her family’s dreams and the man she is desperately trying to avoid falling in love with. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story. Here’s a daring homage to A Room with a View, a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.
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Yes to Life In Spite Everything
Yes to Life In Spite of Everything || Viktor E. Frankl
Just months after his liberation from Auschwitz, renowned psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl delivered a series of talks revealing the foundations of his life-affirming philosophy. The psychologist, who would soon become world-famous, explained his thoughts on meaning, resilience, and his conviction that every crisis contains an opportunity. Despite the unspeakable horrors in the camp, Frankl learned from his fellow inmates that it is always possible to say ‘yes to life’ – a profound and timeless lesson for us all.
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Always Day One
Always Day One || Alex Kantrowitz
At Amazon, ‘Day One’ is code for inventing like a startup with little regard for legacy. Day Two is, in Jeff Bezos’s own words, ‘stasis, followed by irrelevance, followed by an excruciating, painful decline, followed by death.’ Through 130 interviews with insiders, from Mark Zuckerberg to hourly workers, top tech journalist Alex Kantrowitz drills down into exactly how each CEO has implemented their own radically innovative culture – and how your business, startup or team can do the same
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A World Without Work
A World Without Work || Daniel Susskind
New technologies have always provoked panic about workers being replaced by machines. In the past, such fears have been misplaced, and many economists maintain that they remain so today. In A World Without Work, Daniel Susskind shows why this time really is different. Advances in artificial intelligence mean that all kinds of jobs are increasingly at risk and Susskind argues that machines no longer need to reason like us in order to outperform us.
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The End of October
The End of October || Lawrence Wright
At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons–microbiologist, epidemiologist–travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city, in this race-against-time thriller that predicted it all.
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Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar
Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar || Oliver Craske
Over eight decades, Ravi Shankar was India’s greatest cultural ambassador who took Indian classical music to the world’s leading concert halls and festivals, charting the map for those who followed. Indian Sun is the first biography of Ravi Shankar. Benefitting from unprecedented access to family archives, Oliver Craske paints a vivid picture of a captivating, restless workaholic, who lived a passionate and extraordinary life – from his childhood in his brother’s dance troupe, through intensive study of the sitar, to his revival of the national music scene; and from the 1950s, a pioneering international career that ultimately made his name synonymous with India.
As we collectively grapple with unprecedented challenges, crises and uncertainties, mental health struggles have become more important to address than ever. In a socially distanced world, it is easy to feel cut-off and lonely. But taking care of ourselves and our minds is priority.
As our most trusted companions, finding the right books can go a long way in us helping ourselves feel better and understand how to take care of ourselves. We reached out to some experts and authors for their recommendations for books that can help us cope with our mental health struggles.
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Option B || Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
This is a wonderful book for overcoming setbacks and building resilience in these trying times
M is for Mindfulness by Carolyn Suzuki
M is for Mindfulness || Carolyn Suzuki
A book I refer to all my clients for introducing children to concepts of mindfulness.
My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel
My Age of Anxiety || Scott Stossel
This one is revealing memoir of life with anxiety.
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Anjali Chhabria, Psychiatrist
With the world going through a pandemic and a resulting economic crisis, we are going to see a lot of emotional upheaval. Mental health has never been as significant as it is today. It is important that each one of us learns to pick up signs and symptoms of distress in people around us so that we can give them the necessary emotional first aid immediately.
In a time like this, I recommend reading:
Inside a Dark Box by Ritu Vaishnav
Inside a Dark Box || Ritu Vaishnav (Author), Rujuta Thakurdesai (Illustrator)
How to Travel Lightby Shreevatsa Nevatia
How to Travel Light || Shreevatsa Nevatia
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Himanjali Sankar, Author and Editor
I wouldn’t call my recommendations essential mental health reads as much as stories that have stayed with me, because of the intensely troubled, attractive and sensitively drawn protagonists in each. From the young neurotic woman in the very powerful 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, to the wild and marvelous Antoinette in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea – a feminist, anti-colonial response to the representation of the mad woman in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre – to more recent explorations of troubled minds as with Theodore Finch (charming, volatile, wise, yet ultimately unable to help himself in a way that is both tragic and life-affirming) in All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. These are books that are special to me and I would love for everyone I know to read them if they haven’t done so already.
All the Bright Places || Jennifer Niven.Jane Eyre || Charlotte BronteWide Sargasso Sea || Jean RhysThe Yellow Wall-Paper || Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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Nandhika Nambi, Author
Gone are the days where mental health was stigmatized, misunderstood, cast aside and ignored. Now, more than ever, we need to be conscious of our mental health and its undeniable importance.
What better way to delve into these pressing problems than through the pages of a book? Read to understand, read to help and read to heal. Here are my recommendations:
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Turtles All the Way Down || John Green
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Fish in a Tree || Lynda Mullaly Hunt
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story about Anxiety by Sarah Wilson
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story about Anxiety || Sarah Wilson
Straight Jacket by Matthew Todd
Straight Jacket || Matthew Todd
This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets
This Too Shall Pass || Milena Busquets (Author), Valerie Miles (Translator)
Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living by Glennon Doyle
Untamed || Glennon Doyle
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Ritu Vaishnav, Author and Journalist
Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through The Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh
Fear || Thich Nhat Hanh
This is the book that I turn to whenever I need to find some calm within. The perspective it offers might be great for your mental health too. I tend to gift this one a LOT!
How to Travel Light by Shreevatsa Nevatia
How to Travel Light || Shreevatsa Nevatia
This is a memoir about living with bipolar disorder. It talks about both depression and mania. The candour and humour keep it from turning too heavy or intense despite the subject matter.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar || Sylvia Plath
This one is dark and disturbing, made even more painful by the fact that its brilliant author died by suicide shortly after it was published. This one is not for everyone, but pick it up if you can handle a hard and gut-wrenching look at the mind’s capacity to torment.
The Rabbit Listenedby Cori Doerrfeld
The Rabbit Listened || Cori Doerrfeld
I would especially recommend this picture book to those who wish to support someone going through a difficult phase. Go ahead and be their rabbit!
After the Fallby Dan Santat
After the Fall || Dan Santat
What happened to Humpty Dumpty after his great fall? This beautiful picture book talks about recovering from trauma and getting back on your feet.
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Tazmeen Amna, Author
My life in the recent past has been extremely fast-paced. I often find myself experiencing depressive symptoms, or in an emotionally excessive hyper state. Honestly, there is no better way for me to calm myself down and feel good about myself than reading. There are certain books that smell and feel like home- they’re like a warm cup of hot chocolate, like melting marshmallows over a bonfire on a winter night!
My go-to feel-good books are Penguin Classics: Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, David Copperfield.
David Copperfield || Charles DickensGreat Expectations || Charles DickensLittle Women || Louisa May AlcottPride and Prejudice || Jane Austen
Sometimes, for fun, I read children’s fiction such as Sleepovers by Jacqueline Wilson– that book takes me back to childhood days of sincere friendships and miniscule struggles.
Sleepovers || Jacqueline Wilson (Author) Nick Sharratt (Illustrator)
Contemporary Fiction is always relatable and fun to read too; I am a fan of Namita Gokhale, (Paro: Dreams of Passion, Priya: In Incredible Indyaa), and I love me some Sophie Kinsella (My Not-So-Perfect-Life), and Jojo Moyes. I recently enjoyed Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin too!
Ayesha at Last || Uzma JalaluddinParo || Namita GokhalePriya || Namita GokhaleMy Not So Perfect Life || Sophie Kinsella
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Jane De Suza, Author
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
A Long Way Down || Nick Hornby
A hilarious, life-affirming book about four people who set out to commit suicide. An incisive look at missed opportunities, being left out and finding others like you.
Wild Child and Other Stories by Paro Anand
Wild Child || Paro Anand
Riveting stories about children’s reactions to abuse, loneliness, failure, racism. The story cores down fearlessly to issues that should be discussed with the young.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time || Mark Haddon
A young teen who the world dismisses as autistic, triumphs over his disabilities to find the truth.
Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
Em and the Big Hoom || Jerry Pinto
A brave account of a mother swayed from manic highs to lows.
