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The Life and Times of Banka Harichandan
by Dipti R PattanaikA tremendous portrait of the hopes and horrors, the threads of delicate perception and the pangs of fear and illusion, of a growing boy's life in a provincial town in Odisha. Banka Harichandan returns us to the unique atmosphere, at once particular and universal, of our own childhood. - Chandrahas Choudhury, Author of Arzee the Dwarf and My Country Is Literature Dipti Ranjan Pattanaik creates a masterly tale of coming of age in Odisha&’s pious, rustic, heartlands. Deftly translated into English from Odia, "The Life and Times of Banka Harichandan" carries the reader into a delightfully immersive experience of young Banka&’s heady confrontation with adolescence—and with the relentless world of grown-ups…. Dispassionate and compassionate at the same time, &‘Banka Harichandan&’ is a heart-warming tribute to the eternal reenactment of growing up.- Paul Zacharia, Author of Bhaskara Patellar and Other Stories and The Reflections of a Hen in Her Last Hour and Other Stories In this tour-de-force of a coming-of-age narrative, the story of an ordinary but precocious boy named Banka Harichandan is told afresh, using a mixture of childhood perception, idiolect, and anecdotes. The stories evoke a child&’s restless and questioning mind constantly pushing against the restrictive limits of his placid and conformist times. Presented in a series of discrete tales, the narrative—best thought of as a &‘composite novel&’—takes the reader on an odyssey through the whole gamut of emotions that light up the passage from innocence to experience in a small-town, lower-middle-class setting. Unfolding at a leisurely pace and studded with epiphanies, The Life and Times of Banka Harichandan is a remarkable contribution from Odisha to literature centred on children.
Bahadur Shah of Gujarat: A King in Search of a Kingdom
by Kalpish RatnaTime has forgotten Bahadur Khan. History has condemned him as a drunken wastrel and overlooked his military genius. Part man, part horse; part Hindu, part Muslim; part Rajput, part Gujarati; what was he like, really, this rebellious young man? A warrior born, why did he refuse the most vital battle in history? Why did he surrender the islands of Bombay to two centuries of Portuguese rule? This is the story of that renegade prince, Bahadur, Shah of Gujarat. When Vasco da Gama lands near Kozhikode on 20 May 1498, he seems scant more than a visiting trader, just another discourteous barbarian, hardly a threat. But the aughts of the new century bring seismic change. Portuguese violence on the coast escalates and piracy menaces the Spice Route. Gujarat, richest among Indian kingdoms, nourished by her eighty-seven ports, feels the tremors. It is a time of shifting loyalties. Sultans wage war on land and forge uneasy entente at sea. Borders are redrawn, new kingdoms and principalities take shape. In Dilli, the throne of Hindustan is up for auction, and everybody is bidding. Alliances form and dissolve between Rajput, Lodhi, and Sharqi, while from across the mountains glares the Chagtai, Zahiruddin Babar. Into this tense arena strolls a teenager, Bahadur, Prince of Gujarat, exiled for his wildness; at nineteen, famous already for his prowess in battle. As battle lines are drawn at Panipat, veterans hold their breath. They know the fortunes of Hindustan depend on this untried youngster. In this powerfully imagined narrative, Kalpish Ratna recreates the obscure signposts of Bahadur's life drawing facts from Indian histories. The language sparkles, filigreed with lapidary skill. In various narrative styles, myth and legend blend metamagically with the tragic events of medieval history. Bahadur, masterfully delineated in chiaroscuro, reflects the confused loyalties of young Indians today. The story of this medieval prince belongs in our own times.
Krishna: Maha Vishnu Avatar
by Kevin MissalWhat happened after the great war? After the bloody war in which many heroes won and lost, Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu and the king of Dwarka, stood tall as a divine figure of justice and Dharma. But forty years have passed since that day, and now little is known of the elusive god. Pradhyuman, his firstborn son, now rules with an iron fist but his personal ambition seems to come in between. Will it redeem him or corrupt him further? Balaram, the brother of Krishna, and the Prime Minister of Dwarka, must find a way to form an alliance between warring clans. But delusions of a giant snake haunt him at night. Will he learn more about himself or lose a part of his consciousness in the process? Samva, Lord Krishna's secondborn son, has absconded from the pitiful duties of the empire to plan vengeance against someone he personally hates. But, to achieve his goal, he has to first find his father and learn the truth about his heritage. Will he forgive or pursue further? And in the thick of it, stands as a majestic beacon, none other than Krishna--haunted by his past, weary of his future. Can he break the curse and free himself from the shackles of time? From the chapters of the Mausala Parva, bestselling author Kevin Missal reimagines the life and times of Lord Krishna in a brand new avatar.
The Song of the Sky Tree
by Nandita Basu&“Our worlds separated in that one moment. Nothing was enough, not even the heart.&” Those moments that define our lives, those times when we lose someone we love, or those when we realise who we really are as people. Set in the times when there were no cell phones and cassette players belted out your favourite songs, Vedika grows up with a brother who she battles with fiercely and often, a best friend in school who leaves with his family for another country so she has to learn to be alone once again, a sense of aloneness that comes from a sense of alienation and difference that she can never get rid of. A warm, funny, heartbreaking story of growing up in the 1980s and 90s, moving cities and becoming a vet which means so much to her because she understands animals more than she does human beings. Vedika meanders through life, trying to make sense of work, friendships, love and sexuality. But when things take a turn for the worse and she realizes she might lose more than she ever bargained for, she tries to grapple with all that&’s gone wrong till she can learn to make her peace with the life she has.
Inquilab: Bhagat Singh on Religion and Revolution
by Syed Irfan HabibExtolled for his extraordinary courage and sacrifice, Bhagat Singh is one of our most venerated freedom fighters. He is valourised for his martyrdom, and rightly so, but in the ensuing enthusiasm, most of us forget, or consciously ignore, his contributions as an intellectual and a thinker. He not only sacrificed his life, like many others did before and after him, but he also had a vision of independent India. In the current political climate, when it has become routine to appropriate Bhagat Singh as a nationalist icon, not much is known or spoken about his nationalist vision. Inquilab provides a corrective to such a situation by bringing together some of Bhagat Singh's seminal writings on his pluralist and egalitarian vision. It compels the reader to see that while continuing to celebrate the memory of Bhagat Singh as a martyr and a nationalist, we must also learn about his intellectual legacy. This important book also makes a majority of these writings, hitherto only available in Hindi, accessible for the first time to the English-language readership.
Becoming Gandhi: Living the Mahatma's 6 Moral Truths in Immoral Times
by Perry GarfinkelThe fascinating and timely quest of a longtime New York Times contributor to follow Mahatma Gandhi&’s code of ethics in today&’s world. In Becoming Gandhi, veteran journalist and author Perry Garfinkel sets out on a three-year quest to examine how Gandhi&’s ideals have held up in a world beset with troubling trends. In one chilling admission, one of Gandhi&’s own grandsons tells Garfinkel that humans will always retain a degree of violence. Where does this leave modern society? &“When I despair,&” the Mahatma had said, &“I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won.&” To many he was a beacon of hope, a true moral compass; to others, a divisive lightning rod for controversy. Garfinkel takes to heart one of Gandhi&’s most famous sayings―&“Be the change you want to see in the world&”―and attempts a personal transformation. Committing to practice the Mahatma&’s six main principles―truth, nonviolence, vegetarianism, simplicity, faith, and celibacy―he seeks to better himself, facing successes and failures that at times lead to self-effacing humour. Perry undertook a unique journey of self-discovery by tracing Gandhi&’s footsteps from India to England to South Africa and even American communities where Gandhi&’s spirit endures. Featuring inspiring interviews, provocative reflections, and remarkable encounters, Becoming Gandhi shares new perspectives on this pivotal figure and why his teachings are needed like never before.
Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell: Caste as Lived Experience
by Perumal Murugan AmbaiCaste, as it is experienced in everyday life, is the pièce de résistance of this book. Thirty-two voices narrate how from childhood to adulthood, caste intruded upon their lives—food, clothes, games, gait, love, marriage and every aspect of one's existence including death. Like the editor Perumal Murugan says, caste is like god, it is omnipresent. The contributors write about the myriad ways in which they have experienced caste. It may be in the form of forgoing certain kinds of food, or eating food at secluded corners of a household, or drinking tea out of a crushed plastic cup, or drinking black coffee in a coconut shell or water poured from above into a cupped hand. Such experiences may also take the form of forbidden streets, friends disapproved of and love denied. And when one leaves behind the fear of caste while living one's life, there is still death to deal with.
A Woman Burnt
by ImayamRevathi, an engineer, is besotted with Ravi, an auto driver, and marries him against her family&’s wishes. As her life unravels, we are brought face-to-face with the realities of narrow-minded, small lives, where it remains impossible for people to rise above the societal chains that shackle them. The novel explores one&’s helplessness and vulnerability in prose that is deceptively simple, it lays bare the insidious ways in which class, caste and misogyny infiltrate our lives and eat away at our humanity. Relentless and intense, most of the story unfurls in the hospital to which Revathi is brought as a burn victim. Her father, mother, brother and sister-in-law are in turns enraged, sorrowful, aggressive; her father carries around lakhs of rupees in the hope that he can use it for his daughter&’s treatment but is the money worthless now? Can it bring his daughter back to him? Imayam&’s is a voice to watch out for – he writes with clinical precision, laying threadbare the hypocrisies of family life and the society at large in a manner that spares no one and offers little redemption.
Be the Smarter You @ Workplace
by Rasikraman DasIn the competitive work environment today, irrespective of who you are–a start-up entrepreneur, a C-level executive, a manager or an entry-level employee–if you are unable to shape up, the only option left is to ship out! This is probably why the global corporate training industry is in high demand and is one of the fastest growing sectors with a valuation of $300 billion and growth of 8% per annum. While employees joining organisations are reasonably trained for the work, they are often not sufficiently trained for the workplace. In this book, IITian-turned-ISKCON-monk, Rasikraman Das, tries to plug in this gap with a unique blend of ethics from the ancient epics such as the Ramayana and also the Bhagavad Gita as well as techniques of successful tycoons of our times such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. He shares success hacks for crucial workplace skills such as communication, decision making, teamwork, leadership, strategic planning, change management etc. which shall make you stand out and succeed at your workplace. Each chapter comes armed with ready-to-apply models and worksheets to use the knowledge as we go along. Be the Smarter You @ Workplace is the book you need to be your best self professionally.
Another India: Events, Memories, People
by Chandan Gowda&‘A product of immaculate scholarship, refined rumination and humane sensibility — drawing upon little known or forgotten bits of history, mythology, literature, and personal encounters with exceptional individuals, this excellent book urges us to reflect on our predicament as a people.&’ GEETANJALI SHREE &‘Another India is a metaphor for rich cultural diversity. It is a tapestry that lucidly marks the criss-crossing of intellectual currents which run through people, memories and events — between the regions and the nation, between the particular and the universal.&’ GOPAL GURU &‘This collection of essays, informed by an immersion in the texture of South Indian literary life and a vigorous humanism, provides an unusual and wonderful introduction to the diverse lineages of Indian cultural and intellectual experiences.&’ PRATAP BHANU MEHTA &‘Few books in the social sciences can connect culture, policy, politics and folklore and yet remain playful. Chandan Gowda&’s Another India represents such a cultural anthropology at its best. Effortlessly weaving the topical and the classical, and traversing the world of women Sufis, barbers, akhadas and also providing wonderful anecdotes and insights about legends like Ambedkar, Kuvempu and Lohia, this anthology is a festival of Indian diversity at its best. This is a brilliant book of insights, a book that elaborates how culture, people and creativity add to the making of the democratic imagination.&’ SHIV VISVANATHAN &‘This playful assemblage of slices of local and translocal cultures of India — including the mythic and the folk — are accompanied by glimpses into some of the country's finest minds. Together they give the book a certain charm that is matched by the author's easy, empathic, non-judgemental style.&’ ASHIS NANDY&“Ram is the perfection of the limited personality, Krishna of the exuberant personality and Siva of the non[1]dimensional personality.&” Lohia&’s elaboration of these &“categories of perfection&” is an absolute delight. During his entire career, Sir M Visversvaraya carried two pens on him, one of which belonged to the government and the other to him. He always used the former pen for office work and the latter for personal work. After possessing a devotee, a deity called Doddaswamy would start whistling with his fingers in his mouth. His devotees are to address him only through whistles. Another deity from Gulbarga district, Gajalakshmi, expected her devotees to bare all their teeth in her presence. Free ranging, delightful and erudite, Another India opens up the varied dimensions of the past, discloses the subtle facets of religious cosmologies, reveals the plurality within Hinduism and suggests ways of reengaging tradition. It shares exciting stories about lesser-known and well-known figures in our country, from Bhimavva and Mastani Maa to Gandhi and Tagore. This book brings to you the many events, thoughts and people that have been waylaid in our frequent quests for single, mainstream narratives. It brings to you the intricate cultural universe of India, where creative dissent has shaped the ethos, where rich visions and values of living together continue to hold sway in our constant striving to be a better, more just polity and society.
How to Fall Out of Love Madly
by Jana Casale&“Three relatable thirty somethings drive this ode to womanhood. Learning the hard way to love themselves, the women teach invaluable lessons.&”—People &“Everyone who loves Sally Rooney should be reading Jana Casale!&”—Julie Buntin, author of Marlena Three women confront the compromises they&’ve made to appease the men they love. Joy and Annie are friends and roommates whose thirty-something lives aren&’t exactly what they&’d imagined. To make ends meet, they decide to rent their extra bedroom to Theo, who charms Joy with his salt-and-pepper hair and adoration of their one-eyed cat. When Annie goes to live with her boyfriend, Theo and Joy settle into a comfortable domesticity. Then Theo brings home Celine, the girlfriend he&’s never mentioned, who is possibly the most stunning woman Joy has ever seen. Joy resolves to do whatever it takes to hold on to him, falling ever deeper into an emotional hellscape of her own making. She is too obsessed to realize that Celine&’s beauty doesn&’t protect her from pain. Haunted by an event from her past, Celine can&’t escape her shame and finds herself in an endless cycle of self-sabotage. Annie is baffled by Joy&’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she&’s consumed by her own obsessions: she can&’t stop parsing her commitment-phobic boyfriend&’s texts in an exhausting mission to maintain his approval. At work, where she fully embraces her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But when an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, she is forced to decide who and what she&’s willing to stand up for. Perceptive, mordantly funny, and full of heart, How to Fall Out of Love Madly examines women&’s many relationships—with one another, their mothers, their work, men, and themselves—to reveal their underlying power and complexity. It asks, why do so many smart, compassionate, otherwise empowered women tolerate egregious behavior from the men they love? And what will it take for them to reclaim control?
Boulder
by Eva BaltasarWorking as a cook on a merchant ship, a woman comes to know and love Samsa, a woman who gives her the nickname "Boulder." When Samsa gets a job in Reykjavik and the couple decides to move there together, Samsa decides that she wants to have a child. She is already forty and can't bear to let the opportunity pass her by. Boulder is less enthused, but doesn't know how to say no—and so finds herself dragged along on a journey that feels as thankless as it is alien. With motherhood changing Samsa into a stranger, Boulder must decide where her priorities lie, and whether her yearning for freedom can truly trump her yearning for love. Once again, Eva Baltasar demonstrates her preeminence as a chronicler of queer voices navigating a hostile world—and in prose as brittle and beautiful as an ancient saga.
The Coincidence Plot
by Anil MenonOnce there was a man who believed, like the philosopher Spinoza, that all things happen for a reason. Once there was a woman who found the idea nonsensical, even repulsive. They met. Perhaps for a reason, perhaps by chance. What happens next transforms their lives and those of the people they love. Anil Menon&’s novel The Coincidence Plot weaves the tale through multiple cities, circumstances and lives. Some characters seem to be the heroes of their own lives, while others seem to serve other designs. However, they are all connected by subtle parallels and strange coincidences. This ingenious novel, by a writer of remarkable originality, addresses one of life's simplest yet hardest questions: to what extent are we truly free? Once there was a reader who picked up this novel…
Breakup: A Marriage in Wartime
by Anjan SundaramAfter ten years of reporting from central Africa for The New York Times, Associated Press, and others, Anjan Sundaram finds himself living a quiet life in Shippagan, Canada, with his wife and newborn. But when word arrives of preparations for ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic, he is suddenly torn between his duty as a husband and father, and his moral responsibility to report on a conflict unseen by the world. Soon he is traveling through the CAR, with a driver who may be a spy, bearing witness to ransacked villages and locals fleeing imminent massacre, fielding offers of mined gold and hearing stories of soldiers who steal schoolbooks for rolling paper. When he refuses to return home, journeying instead into a rebel stronghold, he learns that there is no going back to the life he left behind.Breakup illuminates the personal price that war correspondents pay as they bear witness on the frontlines of humanitarian crimes across the world. This brilliantly introspective, grounded account of one man&’s inner turmoil in the context of a dangerous journey through a warzone is sure to become a modern classic.
R.A.W. Hitman: The Real Story of Agent Lima
by S. Hussain ZaidiIn September 2011, the double murder of gangsters Raju Pargai and Amit Arya rocked the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Pargai, who was well on his way to become a national security threat by smuggling weapons into India, had risen up the ranks of criminal quickly—but that also made him the target of Indian intelligence agencies, which then ordered the covert assassin named 'Agent Lima' to put him down. The day after the murder, Laxman 'Lucky' Bisht—an NSG commando who had also been the personal security officer for politicians such as L.K. Advani and then CM of Gujarat, Narendra Modi—was arrested from his home in Haldwani, accused of the double murder. Thereafter begins a tale shrouded in mystery and suspense. Was Agent Lima and Lucky Bisht one and the same person? And if they were not the same person, why did Lucky Bisht languish in prison for more than five years, being transported from jail to jail, his bail application denied, if he was working for the government?Master thriller writer S. Hussain Zaidi is back with a tale of intrigue and deceit in R.A.W. Hitman: The Real Story of Agent Lima. Based upon true events, this book will keep readers on their toes right till the end.
Unspoken
by Sharmistha GooptuThe summer of 2024. Sixty-four-year-old Mrs G starts to reminisce about her love affair with a man she calls &‘A&’. To Aisha, her daughter, &‘A&’ appears to be a figment of her mother&’s dementia-afflicted mind. &‘Miu, there was no A. You were happily married to Boy,&’ an exasperated Aisha tells her mother. Even as it starts to seem that her mother had, for years, lived a whole other life. A life peopled by those who had together played out the obsession of love, morbid jealousy, hurt, harm and finally death. &‘Shree&’s death,&’ her mother whispers to Aisha. But how could it be? Her father had been so deeply in love with her mother and theirs was almost the perfect marriage. Who were these people that her mother now spoke about at odd hours? And the death that seemed to weigh so deeply on her mind… a death that leads Aisha to the holy city of Varanasi where people go to die.
In the Body of a Woman: Essays on Law, Gender and Society
by Aaliya Waziri&‘From the enduring shame of the marital-rape loophole to online abuse and the horror of superstition-driven murders, Waziri&’s thoughtful collection of essays reminds us that despite our progress, it is a grim landscape for Indian women, with so much left to be done.&’ SHASHI THAROOR &‘The author brilliantly lays bare for the reader the emergent, new societal responses towards sexual attitudes and gender justice and competently captures with nuance and sensitivity the attempts of the legal system to keep pace without being overwhelmed.&’ SALMAN KHURSHID &‘An incisive and mindful analysis of gender and parity through the intersection of legal frameworks and societal perspectives. Aaliya Waziri draws upon a vast canvas to present an articulate and thoughtful case for gender-responsive lawmaking.&’ NAMITA GOKHALE From important contemporary issues like the changing landscape of marital rape laws to the inadequacy of the current cyberbullying laws, from historical milestones such as the women who helped draft the Indian constitution after Independence to examining religious laws and international obligations, Aaliya Waziri writes a deeply researched, informative and powerful book. Her attempt is to address the many questions that a lay person or even a lawyer might have about what lies at the intersection of law, gender and society.In the Body of a Woman, with its focus on gender justice, pivots on the idea that feminism is contextual. There may not be any straightjacket formula to fix all the woes of women but we can start by strengthening our institutional responses and not treat half the country&’s population as second class citizens. Occasionally acerbic yet deeply compassionate, hopeful yet sometimes despairing, Waziri doesn&’t pull her punches in these essays where she looks clinically at the judicial system but in her own unique, empathetic way that makes this book an engaging read for—it must be stressed—men and women who are interested in probing the intersection of law and gender.
Spirit Nights
by Easterine Kire&‘Tiger has eaten the sun!&’ screams Tola the seeress when darkness suddenly descends at midday, and the great spiritual struggle begins to restore the light.An ancient prophecy is fulfilled when darkness envelops a number of villages for days on end. The only thing they know is that a terrible taboo has been violated in the spirit world. Only by crossing the borders between the natural world and the spirit world, and acting with wisdom and courage can they get the light back, but who will dare to do that? Accounts of sudden darkness descending on the land exist in at least two tribal histories of the Naga people, the Rengma and the Chang. The story of Spirit Nights is inspired by a story of darkness narrated by the Chang Naga tribe. Names and incidents are borrowed from the original tale, but it follows the path of fiction to achieve its telling.
Homeless: Growing Up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India
by K. VaishaliAfter discovering she&’s lesbian and dyslexic at 20, Vaishali begins to untangle her anxieties around reading and writing. She comes out to her mother at 22 and leaves her Bombay home to make her own way. In a dingy, insect-ridden yet rent-free hostel room in Hyderabad with a door that doesn&’t quite close, she tries to make the best of the situation by writing a book about her experiences. As she writes, she finds the past has a way of catching up with her, even as she explores her dyslexia, homosexuality, and the clitoris; falling in love and recovering from a harrowing breakup; academic failure, loneliness, and homophobia; living with sickness, anxiety, depression, and her caste, gender, and body. This is the story of Vaishali's relationship with her many truths and the truths of many young people in India.
The Blind King's Wrath
by Ashok BankerThe Blind King's Wrath brings the tumultuous Burnt Empire Trilogy to a thrilling end. Krushni, the prophesied Dark Queen, has risen in the East, determined to have her vengeance on Jarsun, her father in her past life and murderer of her mother and grandfather. She is joined in her quest by the five children of Shvate, Karni and Mayla, now grown to young adulthood, and a host of other champions all burning with righteous rage against the God Emperor.As old foes emerge and new allies reveal themselves, the stage is set for the greatest clash of all. A great war. On one side are the valiant but hopelessly outnumbered forces of justice and righteous vengeance led by Krushni and the Shvate Five. Looming against them are the brutal, demonic forces of their enemies led by Jarsun and the tyrant king Dronas.In a shocking turn, Emperor Adri despatches the vast armies of the Burnt Empire, countless tens of millions of brutally efficient killing hordes, against the brave champions. On this bloodsoaked field, the fate of the Burnt Empire will be decided once and for all.
One Man, Many Lives: Bhagwan Singh and the Early South Asians in America
by Anuradha KumarTwo men, near-identical names, and their intertwined lives. On one side is Bhagwan Singh, an itinerant religious preacher, a rebel on the run, poet, writer, and even a self-help guru. On the other is Bhogwan Singh, turban-wrapper, occasional actor, and one of the first Indians in Hollywood. When one appears on historical records, the other goes off the radar. This is a story of their journeys, intersecting, meshed, and melded mysteriously with each other.Anuradha Kumar plays armchair detective as she courses through books, newspapers, pamphlets and films to uncover the trajectories of these two lives and the times they inhabited. As much as it is about Bhagwan and Bhogwan Singh, this book tells the larger and more remarkable story of how the first South Asians adapted, adjusted and remade themselves to a life in the New World.
Geeta Rahman at Championship Point
by Saskya JainA young girl's fight to live her dream in a country trying to break free from its past.It's 1993 in New Delhi, the Babri Masjid demolition has just happened, and India is on the verge of opening its economy to the world. Growing up in this new, fast-changing India, Geeta is caught between her great wish — to become India's biggest badminton star — and the grief she is experiencing along with her father. Geeta Rahman at Championship Point is the story of twelve-year-old Geeta Rahman, a badminton prodigy on one hand and an aspiring servant of the Government of India on the other, she is also trying to come to terms with the recent death of her mother.In this moving and distinctively original novel, Saskya Jain brilliantly weaves the personal and the political — as Geeta&’s life within her tightly-knit community unfolds, the story of a liberalized India desperate to channel its newfound ambitions to finally silence the ghosts of Partition also comes to the fore. The answer to whether or not Geeta succeeds, and at what price, is tied to this constantly changing landscape. By using the game of badminton as a metaphor, Jain&’s inventive prose establishes a strong sense of place and meticulously explores the sense of a young girl&’s unique mindset, presenting us with an unforgettable narrator learning to find her place under the sun.
The Mauryas: Chandragupta to Ashoka: The Backstories, The Sagas, The Legacies
by Devika RangachariFrom c. 324 BCE to c. 185 BCE, the Mauryas controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent with efficiency and administrative finesse. Beginning with the origins of Magadha in the sixth century BCE, this definitive book on the Mauryas captures the drama, the colourful betrayals and the intrigues of the Mauryan dynasty in Magadha, starting with its enigmatic founder, Chandragupta Maurya, and his even more enigmatic mentor, Chanakya/ Kautilya, who helped him to get the throne. Chandragupta&’s son and heir, Bindusara, is an extremely shadowy, elusive figure in the historical narrative of the Mauryas. Sandwiched between his well-known father and his even more well-known son, Ashoka, Bindusara has slipped through the cracks of known history. Yet the little bits of evidence that we glean about him from varied sources suggest a ruler of power and foresight. A man of eclectic and whimsical tastes, even, who ensured that his heir would inherit a vaster empire than he did. Ashoka, Bindusara&’s son, was not only the most powerful Mauryan ruler but also one of the best-known monarchs in Indian history. There are several wildly imaginative tales that document his transition from Ashoka the Fierce to Ashoka the Contrite, consequent on the battle of Kalinga in c. 261 BCE where, horrified at the bloodshed, he underwent a radical personal and spiritual transformation and documented this fact all over his empire through inscriptions on pillars and rocks that have endured till today—a brilliant, pioneering method of communication. An incisive wit and humour makes Devika Rangachari&’s The Mauryas sparkle even when it is disentangling grave accounts of significant battles or tedious details of city planning. Culling details from secular and religious literary traditions, Graeco-Roman accounts and archaeological evidence to elucidate this lesser-known period of our ancient past, The Mauryas concludes with an analysis of the enduring legacy of this remarkable dynasty and its strong resonances in our present.
The Hijab: Islam, Women and the Politics of Clothing
by PK Yasser Arafath G ArunimaHistorically, in India, we have instances of both unveiling and veiling that have been initiated by Indian Muslim women. The early 20th century saw many Muslim women joining the national movement, giving up veiling, feeling this was the only way for them to change their own, and the country's, future. Almost a hundred years later, the hijab continues to be a bone of contention in India, though in very different ways. On one hand, the rape threats that hijabi/non-hijabi women frequently encounter in the cyber world reflect the extreme desperation of the aggravated Hindutva millennials who are made to believe that unveiling Muslim women is their right while a large segment of Indian Muslim women are increasingly convinced that wearing the hijab is their constitutional prerogative. This collection of essays, primarily from India but also with a couple from Bangladesh and Iran, complicates the relationship between Muslim women and the hijab. Moving away from predictable interpretations that see the hijab merely as an instrument of Muslim women&’s oppression, the essays here, from a variety of perspectives including historical, ethnographic, and political, demonstrate that not only have Muslim women covered/ or uncovered their heads for different reasons, but the head cloth itself has had different forms depending on the region or period of history. The essays track the reasons why clothing, especially women&’s attire, is very often a site of contestation and provide ways to hear and understand the ways in which Muslim girls or women make their own sartorial choices. They also offer ways of interpreting the stakes in banning the hijab in different parts of the world, and the implications of the ban on Muslim women, the wider community and the very idea of citizenship itself.
The Middle Finger
by Saikat MajumdarNever afraid of taking risks, Saikat Majumdar has taken his place as one the most striking novelists writing today.– SHASHI DESHPANDE In prose of spare elegance and understated precision, Saikat Majumdar explores an ethical conflict around mentorship, as well as a welter of questions around creative compromise, cultural privilege and entitlement, including the insidious pressures on poets to be &‘snarky and snappy&’. Here is a storyteller whose language is writerly yet beautifully unmannered, supple enough to combine irony with gentleness, finely-modulated observation with axiomatic ease. – ARUNDHATHI SUBRAMANIUM A novel of love and friendship, pleasure, pain and jealousy. – R. RAJ RAOWhat are the ethical boundaries of friendship and intimacy between a student and a teacher? Megha, a young writing lecturer in New Jersey struggles to finish her thesis and find full-time employment even as she begins to find underground fame as a poet. Restless and disenchanted, she lets her professor and friends persuade her to take up a position at a new university in Delhi. Moving continents, resettling in the city she knew as a teenager, she discovers that the university is an island of wealth and privilege, and that her mandate is to teach and train some of the key members of India&’s ruling class. But her life as a teacher is disrupted as she makes a new friend who unsettles her and asks for unexpected support. In sharp and lyrical prose, The Middle Finger tells the story of a poet grappling with questions about mentorship and belonging, disrupting boundaries set by society and the hierarchies hidden in the world of education.