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7 Things you Did Not Know About Nain Singh Rawat

Posted on by Penguin India

Indian history is rich with men and women trailblazers, without whose contributions we would not know the world as it is today. Learning about these important historic figures is as important in our childhood as it is when we are adults. Deepa Agarwal, in her latest book Journey to the Forbidden City, brings to the forefront one such figure of Indian history – Nain Singh Rawat.

If you are wondering who Nain Singh Rawat is look no further than this book – and here are 7 things you may not know about him to accompany your reading:

 He was a trailblazing Indian Explorer

Nain Singh Rawat was one of the first 19th century Indian explorers who explored the Himalayan region, and most importantly that of rigorously guarded Tibet. His accolades consist of putting Lhasa on the map, and accurately locating the source of the Brahmaputra river.

‘All the geographical facts he gathered over his missions were by calculating distance through the steps he had walked – a formidable and burdensome task. Apart form other significant discoveries, he put Lhasa accurately on the world map, which had never been done earlier. All in all, an impressive list of achievements, accomplished at great risk to his life.’

 

He was a charming and effective conversationalist

‘The Pundit had one very useful quality that was to stand him in good stead through his challenging journeys. He was a good conversationalist and possessed the ability to charm people into seeing his way’

He took risks for his work

Getting to Tibet was no easy feat, and Nain Singh faced many obstacles and dangerous situations on his way there. He knew the risks and was willing to take them in order to do his best

‘Nain Singh insisted on travelling by land. After all, he had to measure the distance by foot, take readings of the altitude and plot the location of the various geographical features. He knew well that he was taking a chance and exposing himself to danger by joining the smaller group. But what  choice did he have? His mission demanded these risks.’

 

He was a skilled cartographer 

Nain Singh covered 1200 miles, almost all on foot, over a multitude of terrains, in order to correctly map the locations he visited.

‘Nain Singh Rawat’s name is permanently engraved in the annals of Indian exploration. He features in every volume that records the mapping of Tibet and his incredible expeditions have been the subject of films and television programmes.’

 

He was a school teacher at heart 

Before taking on his role as a legendary hero, Nain Singh was a school teacher before a school inspector saw his intelligence and suggested he train to become an explorer.

‘Stratchey helped Nain to find employment as a schoolteacher when a new school was set up in Milam. But he soon realised that his meagre salary of Rs 15 per month would never be enough to clear his debts. Fortunately, the school inspector Major Smyth, who had noticed that Nain Singh was far more intelligent than the average schoolmaster, suggested that he enroll for training as an explorer’

 

He combined both his pursuits

After his last expedition, Nain Singh combined his teaching skills with  the skills he picked up while exploring the vast expanse and went on to train a new generation of explorers.

‘Nain Singh spent many years grooming a new generation of explorers. After he retired, he spent summers at his native villages of Milam and Madkote and winters at the jagir the government had granted him in the plains.’

 

He was honoured and commemorated round the world

His contributions and findings were recognised by instituitions like the Royal Geographical Society and the Paris Geographical Society. In 1877 he was awarded a jagir in Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh.

Based on his actual diaries, Journey to the Forbidden City is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of this fascinating man. Filled with rare details about his travels to uncharted territories, this book is a must read for both children and their parents who are interested in learning about one of the great figures in Indian history.

Meet the Characters from ‘Jaipur Journals’

Posted on by Penguin India

Jaipur Journals is a unique, metafictional novel by Namita Gokhale, one of the founder-directors of Jaipur Literature Festival. Set against the backdrop of the festival itself, the book brings together a rich cast of characters and their even richer stories.

We introduce you to some of the characters whose lives intersect and collide within these pages.

 

Zoya Mankotia

A writer who identifies herself as pan-sexual and non-binary, Zoya Mankotia is an icon of queer literature and representation. Her most recent novel, The Quilt, created waves, occasioning both outrage and intense appreciation. Her voice holds a mélange of accents.

In the world of Jaipur Journals, we meet her in a panel, where she introduces herself:

‘I am by discipline a novelist […] as passionate about crossover genres as I am about gender fluidity. I am nonbinary and pan-sexual, and I am committed equally to my writing, my raison d’être, and my wife, my monogamous partner. We can be who we are, write as we like. Sexuality, as a narrative, is a freeflowing river.’

Raju Srivastava

Born in Bijnor, Raju Srivastava is a burglar who is passionate about poetry. He is the son of an unsuccessful tailor-master. He arrives in Jaipur to fulfil two purposes: meeting India’s greatest poet, Janab Javed Akhtar, and covering the cost of the trip through some well-executed burglaries.

Raju nurses a deep-seated desire to become a poet, and is an avid reader of poets like Nirala and Dushyant Kumar, Muktibodh and Firaq Gorakhpuri and Faiz Ahmad Faiz. He writes prolifically, and his preferred form of poetry is the ghazal. His hero and idol in the poetry world, however, is Javed Akhtar.

Anura

Anura is short for Anuradha, a twelve-year-old student en route to Jaipur on a school trip. She is a prodigy, having been selected for a Young Adult panel in the Jaipur Literature Festival. She has self-published a dystopian novel.

As is evident from her preference for the shortened form of her name, she is quite taciturn, and likes to save her words for important things.

Anna Wilde

Anna Wilde is a writer from America, who primarily publishes books on meditation and reflection. Anna is quite renowned for her association with the Beat Poets, especially Allen Ginsberg. She is attending the Jaipur Literature Festival to talk about her books The Inner Eye, which was very successful, and The Third Way, which has recently been reissued.

Anna teaches theology at the University of Colorado. She calls herself a Hindu, by ‘dharma and karma’, and has spent many years in India before returning to America.

Rudrani Rana

Rudrani Rana is a woman in her seventies, who sees herself as a ‘failed novelist’. She always carries around a handbag that contains her unpublished magnum opus; which she refers to as UNSUBMITTED.  The novel is actually titled The Face by the Window and is a dedicated to Alice Walker and her book, The Colour Purple.

Rudrani is an alumna of Waverly Girls School in Dehradun. Alongside her unpublished semi-fictional novel, she also writes anonymous letters as a means to express herself.

She is a huge fan of Oprah Winfrey, which is what had drawn her to the Jaipur Literature Festival for the first time, back in 2012. She is often fatigued and lonely, and feels like an outsider within the literature circuit at the festival.

Gayatri Smyth Gandhy

Gayatri Smyth Gandhy is fifty-two, single, divorced and is a self-proclaimed ‘citizen of the world’. She is a  historian and cultural anthropologist with an American green card.  She is also an aspiring novelist.

She is stuck in her novel, struggling to understand herself what it is about. She lived in Jaipur as an adolescent when her father Brig. Gandhy was stationed there. She considers herself a Jaipurite in many respects, and makes annual trips to the city during the festival. She often feels divided between her Indian and Western selves.

Namita Gokhale’s Jaipur Journals  brings together these characters within the setting of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and their stories are as vibrant and diverse as the largest free literary festival in the world!

There’s More to Life than Cricket

Posted on by Penguin India

Jai is fourteen and dreams of owning a café in Delhi. Inaya is fifteen and dreams of playing cricket for Pakistan.

In 2008, their worlds collide. What unfolds is a story that started way back in 1947 – with the drawing of a line.

Inaya lives with her father in Rawalpindi. Her cricket ambitions don’t always go down well with her family.

Find a glimpse of her story in the excerpt below. 

*

Rawalpindi, Pakistan

A loud crash announced Inaya’s misjudged attempt at hitting a sixer in the tape-ball cricket tournament taking place in the street adjoining Haider Mansion. It startled Mudassar, the Haiders’ elderly help, almost causing him to drop the figurine of the ballerina that he was dusting. A tennis ball covered in insulation tape had shot through the open French windows in the drawing room, bouncing off a painting over the mantelpiece and knocking over a crystal photo frame. The ball deftly made its way through the shards of glass that now covered the floor to finally disappear beneath the large leather sofa. Moments later, a breathless fifteen-year-old burst into the room.

‘Sorry, sorry, Mudassar Chacha,’ Inaya panted, pushing away the mop of unruly curls from her eyes. Impenitently, she crouched down and retrieved the ball. ‘Please blame this on Zain. Please!’

There was the sound of footsteps and Inaya spun around.

‘What are we blaming on Zain, Inaya?’ asked her father, Irfan, as he strode in, followed at a more sedate pace by her grandparents. Inaya gulped and looked at them sheepishly. The trio surveyed the scene in silence. Inaya clutched the ball behind her back, hoping they wouldn’t notice the smashed photo frame.

Inaya’s grandmother straightened the painting that had tilted leftwards with the ball’s impact. ‘If you don’t like your grandfather’s paintings, you should just tell him so, Inaya. As I do,’ said Humaira. ‘Why go to all the trouble of taking potshots at them through windows?’

‘But I do like Daada’s paintings—that was an accident,’ muttered Inaya.

Inaya’s father retrieved the photograph that was on the floor. He carefully removed the fragments of glass and propped the photograph against the ballerina on the mantelpiece.

‘Inaya, look at your great-grandmother—she was . . . the epitome of grace. She would be appalled by all this,’ he said, gesturing at the destruction that lay before him. ‘There’s more to life than cricket, you know.’

* 

­­

In Across the Line, Nayanika Mahtani presents a powerful story of borders and beliefs, shaped by the games people play. Lauded by Vidya Balan as a story that “lingers long after the last page is turned”, Jai and Inaya’s story brings together unlikely worlds across time and borders.

Books to Read This February!

Posted on by Penguin India

Whether it’s fiction, non-fiction or a picture book on the theme of depression. We have an exciting range of books for you this February. You’ll run out of days before you run out of books to read this month!

Here’s the list of books you should look out for:

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Nine-year-old Jai drools outside sweet shops, watches too many reality police shows and considers himself to be smarter than his friends Pari and Faiz. When a classmate goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from TV to find him.

But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighbourhood. Jai, Pari and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force and rumours of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again.

 

Undertow

The tale of the troubled relationships of a family and what it might take to put the pieces back together.

Years ago, Torun Goswami and his charismatic, formidable wife cast their Rukmini away from their home and their lives for marrying out of her community.

Now, Rukmini’s daughter, Loya, twenty-five, solitary and sincere, arrives at Torun’s old yellow house. Will she be able to change her nonexistent relationship with her grandfather and in the process figure out who she is?

 

Soar

A laugh-out loud book by the author of Sitayana and Godsong. 

Bholanath and Khudabaksh are two soldiers in the British Indian Army, sent off to Europe to fight in World War I.

When a mission in a surveillance balloon goes awry, these two gentle soldiers-along with an exceptionally ill-tempered squirrel-are set adrift high above the Western Front. Follow their grand tragicomic adventure!

The World Between Us

The bestselling queen of romance is back!

When Amal finds out that her disastrous Tinder match is now going to be her boss, she can’t be more annoyed. Qais Ahmed is everything she never wants to be: narcissistic, manipulative and arrogant.

However, despite her relentless efforts, she is unable to resist his charm. Will a disturbing secret tear them apart or bind them together forever?

Calligraphies of Love

Inspired by timeless poems from around the world, Hassan Massoudy’s calligraphy takes us on a visual journey through love in its many forms.

Through his signature broad strokes and vibrant colours, this master calligrapher brings to life the words and wisdom of some of our greatest poets, from Ibn Zaydoun and Rumi to John Keats.

 

With Love: A Collection of Letters 

Dear Reader,

Letters change people.

They turn forty-year-old men into helpless fathers.
Scared mothers into fierce fighters.
Long-lost pets into possessive exes.
And old lovers into best friends.

They make you spell help.
Give someone a second first chance.
Make you leave behind a home.
And find another in someone.

Sometimes, they’re warnings.
Sometimes, confessions.
And sometimes, a story left untold.

Letters change people, they say.

Let’s hope these change you too.

With love,
Us

Terribly Tiny Tales and Penguin come together on the same page with this book!

The Girl Who Disappeared

The bestselling author of The Girl Who Knew Too Much is back!

At the onset of her getaway to the hills of Himachal Pradesh, Nisha knew something terrible was going to happen. Less than seventy-two hours later, she goes missing under mysterious circumstances.

With barely any leads, the police know they have to work doubly hard if they want to find her, but with each passing day, the mystery around her disappearance gets murkier.

Where is Nisha?

Inside A Dark Box 

A pertinent picture book on depression.

When you get trapped in darkness, finding your way out can be a long and lonely battle, especially when the war is within your own mind. Here’s a peep inside a mind struggling with itself.

Fearless

One girl can change everything.

Through the ages, strong, inspirational women and girls have risen in response to uncertainty and injustice. A timeless call to arms that many like Fatima Jinnah, Asma Jehangir and Malala Yousafzai have always been answering.

Fearless chronicles the lives of fifty such incredible women-scientists, lawyers, politicians, activists and artists-who incite hope, inspire action and initiate dialogue.

Not All Those Who Wander

Quirky and heartfelt, this is a story of millennial friendship that is #litAF.

Seventeen-year-old Gehna Rai has normal friends and belongs to a normally dysfunctional family. Everything about Gehna is normal-except she just found out that she’s going to be a mom.

Eram, a nerdy high-school dropout, dreams of becoming a poker pro while trying to keep his dad, who has Parkinson’s disease, from going completely mental. He has little time for much else-until a chance meeting with a girl blows his life to pieces.

The Crown of Seven Stars

Aum is under attack. The enemies are not external; rather, they are within the kingdom, each obsessed with the Crown of Seven Stars. Early one morning, Destiny rolls her dice. General Saahas, heir to the throne, becomes a hunted man and Aum plunges into chaos, submitting meekly to the tyranny of the self-appointed Raja Shunen and the wily Queen Manmaani.

Rolling the dice once more, Destiny prepares to bend Saahas to her will. She, not Saahas, must decide the winner of the Crown of Seven Stars.

The Other Side of the Divide

A fresh perspective on Pakistan, how Indians view Pakistan and how Pakistanis view India and Indians.

Pegged on journalist Sameer Arshad Khatlani’s visit to Pakistan, this book provides insights into the country beyond what we already know about it. The Other Side of The Divide attempts to present a contemporary portrait of Pakistan as a complicated and conflicted country suspended between tradition and modernity.

Chanakya Niti

Chanakya’s numerous sayings on life and living — popularized in the wake of his successful strategy to put Chandragupta Maurya on the throne, if legend is to be believed — have been compiled in numerous collections and anthologies over time. This entire corpus was referred to as Chanakya Niti.

A.N.D. Haksar’s wonderful translation places this work into context, showing how these verses have endured in the popular imagination for so long.

Endless Song

The Tiruvaymoli is a grand 1102-verse poem, composed in the ninth century by Sathakopan-Nammalvar, the greatest of the alvar poets. Ingeniously weaving a garland of words-where each beginning is also an ending-the poet traces his cyclical quest for union with the supreme lord, Visnu.

In this magnificent translation, Archana Venkatesan transports the flavour and cadences of Tamil into English, capturing the different voices and range of emotions through which the poet expresses his enduring desire for release.

Nava-e-Sarosh

 

Delhi established a legacy of poets whose words set hearts ablaze for the times to come. Love, with all its wine-infused passions and experiences of yearning, has preoccupied classic poets of the city.

As a patron of Urdu poetry and a resident of Delhi, Sanjiv Saraf’s personal investment in preserving and furthering the arts in the Urdu world led to the creation of this book.

Desire, longing and the complexities of love are therefore open to exploration for you, dear reader and lover, through the words laid out in these ghazals by the ‘voices from beyond’.

An Officer and His Holiness

In 1959, the Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet into India, where he was granted refuge. Few know about the carefully calibrated operation to escort him safely from the Indian border. An Officer and His Holiness narrates how political officer Har Mander Singh successfully managed this assignment in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) with limited resources, and despite a treacherous terrain and external threats.

The Story of Yoga

How did an ancient Indian spiritual discipline turn into a GBP 20 billion-a-year mainstay of the global wellness industry?

This comprehensive history sets yoga in its global cultural context for the first time. From arcane religious rituals and medieval body-magic, through muscular Christianity and the British Raj, to the Indian nationalist movement and the arrival of yoga in the twentieth-century West.

The importance of gratitude in everyday life

Posted on by Penguin India

Making a conscious effort to count one’s blessings adds to physical and psychological well-being of a person. Mandira Bedi’s book Happy for No Reason affirms the beneficial effects of expressing appreciation for what one has. She illustrates how gratitude can be achieved by minimizing the possibility of mulling over negative emotions of resentment, envy, and depression.

Why is gratitude an important facet of being happy for no reason? Here’s Mandira Bedi telling you why!

 

Gratitude is the key

“Wherever there is gratitude, there is no room for unhappiness. The two are mutually exclusive.”

*

Biggest learning: being grateful, not entitled

“When we receive something on a regular basis, we start taking it for granted. Even if it is a gift, eventually we come to expect it. Going by natural human tendency, if we receive a gift long enough, we come to view it almost as entitlement.”

*

The real transformation

“I can see now that it wasn’t really an epiphany, but I know it had everything to do with gratitude, that it came about when I started feeling and experiencing sincere thankfulness at the very core of my being. For all the small things. For my home, my body, my son, my husband, my family, for the love I receive, the car I drive, the muscles that show, the food I eat, the good single malt . . . for every single thing.”

*

The truth of life

“Gratitude is a state of being, literally! When we simply are, with all-encompassing awareness, we are opening up to appreciate the wonderment of life and nature and existence itself.”

*

Gratitude is the state of being

“One can never run out of gratitude. I can look back at every single moment of my life—the good, the bad, the ugly—and give thanks. Because all of that has brought me to this very moment. Right here, right now, writing these words. I feel great right now. And if this moment feels aligned and full and content, everything is perfect.”

If you’ve resonated with any of these, then pick up your copy of Happy for No Reason to walk further into Mandira Bedi’s journey of eternal gratitude (and of course, happiness!).

5 Beautiful Lines from ‘The Yogini’

Posted on by Penguin India

The Yogini is a thought provoking and sensual novel by acclaimed Bengali writer Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay. It is the story of a modern woman, Homi who encounters a mysterious yogi on the street. The yogi, visible only to her, begins to follow her everywhere. Convinced that the yogi is a manifestation of fate, Homi embarks on a series of increasingly desperate attempts to prove that her life is ruled by her own free will.

Set in Kolkata, this tale is both unique and unsettling, philosophical and beautiful!

Here are some lines that mesmerised us:

 

‘…niyati also refers to a state in which the individual is under the illusion of being bound to a particular time and space, when in fact they are not. So, in its earthly manifestation for human beings, niyoti/ niyati is a constraining factor for the individual but still not real, only illusory.’

*

‘”fate isn’t just the big things. It isn’t only the sorrows and suffering, the pain and torture, the grief and accidents. Fate is every single footstep. When you wake up and yawn or stretch, that’s fate too. It’s predetermined. If you set off on a journey, and make it safely to the end, then that’s what was predestined.”’

*

‘A game, nothing but a game. Everyone in this immense land of India was engrossed in a game with their gods.‘

*

‘“All our childhoods are actually forms of madness”’ Lalit said. “There’s just one thing you have to remember. We’ve built a relationship, a beautiful relationship, which has an existence in reality, where there is room for reason and evidence. As long as you can hold on to that reality, that reason, everything will be fine, you’ll see.”’

*

‘“Only birth and death are inevitable – everything else is in your hands. Circumstances play a huge role in our lives, but we ourselves can make or break those circumstances. What you’re forgetting is that we’re human beings, we have no choice but to believe in the power of work.”’

Grab your copy of The Yogini to read more such incredible words!

What is the Human Impact of War?

Posted on by Penguin India

Vanni is a powerfully illustrated story of war, survival and trauma suffered by countless Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. A story that is crucial to unbury and remember, the graphic novel format makes it accessible to an even wider range of audience.

Here are some heartrending ways in which Vanni makes a statement on the brutal human impact of war and trauma:

Becoming an Orphan

On 22nd January 2009, as Selvi and Prem get caught in a gunfire that sfinds them witnessing the brutal death of a mother with an infant boy. They take the boy with them, who has now lost his mother and become an orphan.

Mass Casualties

Loss of life on a large scale is always a by-product of war. “In August 2006, Sri Lankan Army (SLA) shelling killed 61 children.”

Displacement

War uproots homes. Not only do the people have their security and safety taken away from them, they are also displaced from their own homes. “Entire villages and communities took to the road with all they could carry. On the main arteries between jungle, fields, and lagoons, they came together in vast crowds – a mass of weary, desperate people in search of a safe haven.”

Fear

“With shells flashing across the lagoon and falling like rain behind them, Indran and his family had fled their home in Pooneryn. […] Indran had dug their bunker on the first day. […]When he heard explosions, they would scramble for the bunker. In seconds, they would be under the ground. Sometimes they stayed there for hours, listening for gunfire or shelling.”

Safety

A sentiment that consumes civilians during war is a perpetual desperation for safety.

“On 21st January 2009, a ‘safe zone’ was announced. The government declared that an area of 35 Square kilometres – within territory still nominally held by the Tigers – would not be shelled.

Desperate civilians hurried to follow the government’s instructions.”

Emotional Numbing

Consumed and driven by a basic need for day-to-day survival, war also concurrently breeds an arguable numbness to sights of pain and suffering, since they become so commonplace. “The weeks dragged past. It became unremarkable to see people shuffling past with horrible injuries. Despite their fears, the Ramachandrans were often bored. In the same dense jungle around them, the battle pounded on.”

Forced Labour

Forced recruitment is also commonplace within ranks of the army, since war needs as many people as possible to fight on the battlefields. Civilians fall victim to this in large numbers. “Some Tiger soldiers used coercion, threats (and some were even alleged to have shot at civilians) to prevent [the civilians’ leaving the conflict zone and fleeing to the Army. Civilians were also used for forced labour, building military defences and children were forced into the dwindling LTTE ranks.”

Estrangement

Towards the end of the narrative, we see the main character, Antoni, forced to leave behind his wife Rajini and daughter Theepa in Chennai, India – in an arrangement he hoped was temporary – to go to London with the help of a people-smuggler in an effort to seek permanent asylum for his family. Familial separation is a painful reality in the aftermath of war, driven by a desperation to find a new home and start life afresh. “We [Rajini, Theepa and I] talked, we cried a lot. I didn’t want to leave them ever again but –

What choice did we have?

There was no other way.”

These instances give just a glimpse into the life-long horrors and human impact of war through the ordeal of The Ramachandrans in the 2009 war in Sri Lanka. Join them in an emotionally impactful narrative in Vanni.

Don’t Worry, Be Sappy

Posted on by Penguin India

We are in love with Alicia Souza’s book of love!

An artistic (and mushy) ode to all the little moments that she shares with her husband George, Allcia Souza has given us the literary #couplegoals we have been waiting for.

We are looking at (read: squealing about) some of our favourite moments from the book that made us go weak in the knees!

 

George’s Closeted Romantic Tendencies

 

Alicia Souza wants you to believe it! And she has put this on paper now. George is a closeted romantic and loves the little kisses as much as our illustrator. We are especially fond of the kisses in the study room.

 

All the Reasons Alicia Loves George

We have a soft spot for love declarations (couldn’t you tell?). And this one is one of the best we have read – and we have read many! We also highly approve of George and Alicia’s shared love of food.

Secret-Sharing with the Dog

We always love some cuddles with the dog. And they are the best secret-keepers. AND we are absolutely in love with Alicia’s furry child!

Family Portrait

Do we need to say more? They are a family! (We are not crying, just got the sniffles.)

Cure for the Bad Days

As we said before, we love our hugs and cuddles too. This one had to be on the list!

What Makes a Strong Marriage (Featuring: Husbands’ Blind Spots)

We all want to know the secret behind their happy marriage – and Alicia Souza gives it to us! (Is anyone else sobbing over Alicia falling in love with George every day? Just us? Okay.)

Morning Routine

 

WE TOLD YOU WE LOVE CUDDLES!

We didn’t know we had a capacity to feel THIS mushy! Dearest George has us scrambling to proclaim our love to everybody in our lives!

What do Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Sunil Mittal have in common?

Posted on by Penguin India

What do you think Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Sunil Mittal have in common? They started out just like you and me—with nothing but empty wallets and strong ambition. It is indeed time for a far more unique, practical and effective approach to success. There has got to be a better way, and there certainly is.

As the first and only opportunity consultant in the world, author Richard M. Rothman presents to us a very simple and accessible answer to this question.

The answer of course is: opportunity. As  How, you ask? We take a look!

 

Opportunity Is The Universal Starting Point

It’s the essential factor in all business and career success. Opportunities are the seeds from which all wealth grows. Regardless of where you are in life, whether you’re a businessperson, an employee earning wages, an aspiring entrepreneur, a student or a professional, your ability to capture the best opportunities will be the most crucial factor that determines your success.

*
Capture, Build And Take

All five of the aforementioned successful men captured a series of breakthrough opportunities. They built upon opportunities that others had ignored. They took opportunities that even industry insiders ignored. And, they capitalized on them.

*
Hard Work, Diligence And Persistence Are Insufficient

Hard work, diligence, persistence and a positive attitude are all very useful if you want to succeed. They’re essential, and business gurus are right to talk about them and explain how to develop them. But they’re insufficient. None of them will deliver success unless you also harness the power of opportunity.

*
Opportunities Need A Process

To leverage the immense value of opportunities, you can’t wait for opportunities to knock at your door. What if opportunity never knocks? What if you don’t hear it knocking? And what if the opportunity that does turn up isn’t right for you . . . but you take it anyway because you waited so long? Opportunity is far too important to leave to chance. It needs a process.

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The wisdom of crowds rarely applies to opportunities

The wisdom of crowds rarely applies to opportunities any more than it does to investing. Buying a stock after everyone else has bought it rarely makes you money. The same logic applies to opportunities. You need to find opportunities yourself and turn them into the foundation of your success.

Many times, we overlook an opportunity sitting right before our eyes, whilst we’re on a quest for something bigger- it could be uncertain, but still, bigger! The Power of Opportunity helps you recognize that opportunity sitting right before you which could eventually end up becoming your ladder to success. We hope you like reading the book as much as we did! Don’t forget to tell us what you think.

 

 

 

 

Meet Ikhlaq from Intizar Husain’s ‘The Chronicle’

Posted on by Penguin India

The decade spanning 1978 to 1988 saw the terrifying rule of Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan. In a Lahor under Martial Law, we meet Ikhlaq and his family, who are struggling to build a home in the city.

Set in a troubled time and leadership, The Chronicle by the celebrated Pakistani author Intizar Husain – translated by Matt Reeck – tells the epic story of a family and its illustrious homes. The reader is introduced to a dramatic and darkly comedic chain of events through Ikhlaq’s voice.

We are here to introduce you to our main character! Read on to meet Ikhlaq:

A Storyteller

When he finds the manuscript of the tazkirah, his family chronicle, he decides to continue writing the story as the last chapter has become illegible. Ikhlaq is both a reader and storyteller, and we are introduced to his world entirely through his voice.

‘I thought that, in the end, I was of the same blood as my ancestors, so why wouldn’t I want to continue writing the chronicle? Why hadn’t I seen any such desire in my father? All he had done was to make sure that the chronicle had not been destroyed.’

*

A Family Man

His desire to continue the chronicle in an effort to safeguard and maintain his family’s history also presents Ikhlaq as a family man. His excitement and engagement with the family chronicle also reaffirms this point.

‘…I began to find some pleasure in deciphering [the chronicle]. I began to feel that I should see what the pages contained so as to figure out what it was about my family that in every generation someone took it upon himself to sit down with an inkpot and start writing. With such concentration they had written down the histories of the family—as though they were leaving for their children a valuable piece of property.’

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Nostalgic for What his City Used to be

With Haq’s rule, Ikhlaq’s life and environment have become very dynamic, and we often find him reminiscing about his home and how much the world around him has changed.

‘I got the feeling that the world had really changed, and the city was something altogether new. I thought about how the city used to be. I remembered a fall afternoon. There was a carpet of yellow leaves on the street […]How many city streets from the Red House to Mall Road did I imagine in this way, each one covered with fall leaves?’

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Restless for Home

His search for a house, struggles with the rising rent, and eventual attempts to build a house for him and his family tell us of his inherent desire to find a home, stability and peace in his ever-changing life.

‘Maybe I felt restless because I didn’t have a house.

Maybe if I had a place to lay my head and rest my feet, I would find some peace of mind. So building a house, which would soon drive me crazy, became something to think about. I started to share the worries of my co-workers. These men had been going back and forth to their housing development’s offices.’

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Desire for Freedom

Ikhlaq’s life and feelings act as microcosms for the larger desire of freedom in Haq’s Pakistan. His act of building a new house and neighbourhood give Ikhlaq a powerful insight into both the desire and the fear of freedom.

‘Finally I understood why people were fleeing the alleys for the new neighbourhoods. I had thought they were doing so just to show off their new wealth. But I realized that they were tired of alleys. after hiding from the land and the sky, they grew weary of the tight alleyways and the tall houses. It’s so difficult. The one doesn’t let you breathe, but neither does the other. People are scared of the open land and the endless sky. But they also grow tired of the claustrophobia of alley after alley and house after house. So after having left behind the fear of the open land, we grew of tight quarters.’

Step into the lanes of Lahore and Ikhlaq’s ever-changing life in The Chronicle!

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