Karachi Halwa


Prabhu Dayal - 2015
    Ambassador Prabhu Dayal shares his recollections of that period and keeps you laughing throughout his account of the bumpy ride of Pakistan’s domestic politics and its relationship with India. He tells you how a Sahiwal cow was brought into the equation, and where an elephant comes in.He says, ‘The past, the present and the future are in one continuous motion. Whatever I witnessed in Pakistan during Zia’s rule extends its long shadow not only over the present times but will do so well into the future also’. He poses the ultimate question whether the two South Asian giants can live as friends, offering his own suggestions.

Let Bhutto Eat Grass


Shaunak Agarkhedkar - 2022
    India tested a nuke just months earlier, and Pakistan is desperate to acquire a few for themselves. Unfortunately for Bhutto, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, his scientists are nowhere close to building a nuclear weapon.Capt. Sablok, an intelligence analyst, is convinced that the Pakistani agent in Europe is passing sensitive weapons technology to back to Pakistan.But his evidence is weak. His inexperience and reputation for alcoholism conspire against him, and his Section Chief declines to authorise an operation.Sablok, however, has finally found a sense of purpose after two miserable years, and he will not give up without a fight. The only other person he trusts in R&AW is a washed-up Case Officer who was an outstanding field agent once.But can the two of them rein the ISI in before Pakistan steals all the technology it needs?

Four Miles To Freedom: Escape From A Pakistani POW Camp


Faith Johnston - 2013
    On 13 August 1972 Parulkar, along with Malvinder Singh Grewal and Harish Sinhji escaped from a POW camp in Rawalpindi. Four Miles To Freedom is their story.Based on interviews with eight Indian fighter pilots who helped prepare the escape and two who escaped, as well as research into other sources, Four Miles is also the moving, sometimes amusing, account of how twelve fighter pilots from different ranks and backgrounds coped with deprivation, forced intimacy, and the pervasive uncertainty of a year in captivity, and how they came together to support Parulkar's courageous escape.

Courage and Conviction: An Autobiography


V.K. Singh - 2013
    K. Singh served in the Indian Army for forty-two years, retiring as Chief of Army Staff on 31 May 2012. His distinguished career saw him on the front lines of combat in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 which led to the creation of Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. Considered one of the worlds foremost experts in counter-insurgency operations, he is also known for the principled stand he took on many issues during his tenure, from arms procurement to the deployment of the army against the Maoists.Trained at the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, VK Singh served in regions (and in roles) crucial to Indias security. From his early days as company commander on the Line of Control in Poonch, to commanding elite formationsVictor Force in Jammu and Kashmir and the vast Eastern Command that shares international boundaries with Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh to his experience of military operations and exercises such as Blue Star, Brasstacks and Trident, General Singhs story makes for fascinating reading. Candid, compelling and occasionally controversial, this is the story of a straight-talking soldier not afraid to stand by his convictionsInteresting Facts About the BookGives the reader hitherto untold stories about the Generals experiences during the IPKF operation in Sri Lanka, the 1971 Bangladesh War with Pakistan, Operation Bluestar and anti-insurgency operations in Kashmir and the NortheastReveals information about bribery and corruption scandals in the armed forces during his tenure as Chief of Army StaffGives the full story about various lobbies who tried to victimize him over the issue of his falsified date of birthGives a worrying picture of how senior officers in the armed forces are constantly harassed by top bureaucrats.About the AuthorA third-generation army officer, General V. K. Singh served with both the 2nd and 25th Battalion of the Rajput Regiment. A highly decorated soldier, he was the twenty-fourth Chief of the Indian Army. In the course of his tenure he took a principled stand on multiple issues and this often brought him into conflict with powerful lobbies both inside and outside government. Writer and filmmaker Kunal Verma has produced many critically acclaimed films for the Indian armed forces that include The Standard Bearerson the NDA and a documentary on the Kargil War. He has also authored The Long Road to Siachen: The Question Whyand the Northeast Trilogy.

Line of Control


Mainak Dhar - 2009
    Revolutions have swept aside one Middle Eastern regime after another. A regime allied to Al Qaeda has swept to power in Saudi Arabia, and uses its oil wealth and modern arsenal to further spread Jihad around the world. Yet another military coup brings a fundamentalist regime to power in Pakistan, which initiates an audacious plan to strike the first blow in this new global Jihad. As unprecedented terror attacks stun India, the stage is set for a conflict that brings the Indian subcontinent to the brink of a nuclear...

Daughters of Jorasanko


Aruna Chakravarti - 2016
    Rabindranath cannot shake off the disquiet in his heart after the death of his wife Mrinalini. Happiness and well-being elude him. His daughters and daughter-in-law struggle hard to cope with incompatible marriages, ill health and the stigma of childlessness. The extended family of Jorasanko is steeped in debt and there is talk of mortgaging one of the houses. Even as Rabindranath deals with his own financial problems and strives hard to keep his dream of Santiniketan alive, news reaches him that he has been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Will this be a turning point for the man, his family and their much-celebrated home?Daughters of Jorasanko sequel to the bestselling novel Jorasanko explores Rabindranath Tagore’s engagement with the freedom movement and his vision for holistic education, brings alive his latter-day muses Ranu Adhikari and Victoria Ocampo and maps the histories of the Tagore women, even as it describes the twilight years in the life of one of the greatest luminaries of our times and the end of an epoch in the history of Bengal.

Prabhakaran: The Story of his struggle for Eelam


Chellamuthu Kuppusamy - 2013
    This book provides an account of the life of LTTE chief Prabhakaran, who led an armed struggle against the Sri Lankan state to create Eelam, a separate nation for the Sri Lankan Tamils.The book begins from Prabhakaran’s childhood days in the aftermath of India’s and Sri Lanka’s independence from Britain. The Sri Lankan Tamils were following Gandhi’s non-violent methods to fight for their rights as citizens of Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran, an ardent fan of Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose, felt that non-violence would not work against a Sinhala dominated government and began experimenting with violent acts against the Government to send a message. His initial success became the nucleus for the formation of LTTE, which became the quintessential guerrilla organization fighting the State.The book details various incidents of Prabhakaran’s life including terror attacks, assassination of politicians, heads of States and militant leaders; India’s role in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict; Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka; the Eelam wars, negotiations, betrayals and elections; through to his killing in May 2009.

Headley and I


S. Hussain Zaidi - 2012
    David Headley: the dashing, intriguing Pakistani with one brown and one green eye, a man who could pass himself off as an American quite easily, a charmer of men and women alike.Headley inveigled his way into Rahul’s simple world and, in no time, swept him off his feet. It is only when ten men made a mockery of Mumbai in a well-planned act of terrorism that Rahul realized how close he had come to being a part of the careful plotting and the innumerable recces that Headley had carried out.This is a complex tale of human relationships and the deceit therein. It is the story of Rahul Bhatt, an aspiring Bollywood actor, and his encounter with David Coleman Headley, the man who was responsible for a ruthlessly executed carnage in which 166 people were killed and over 300 injured in 59 hours that brought Mumbai to despair and shook India.A pulse-racing narrative told in the voices of Bhatt and Headley, HEADLEY AND I traces the months leading up to the horrors of 26/11 and the interrogation that followed.Author BIOS. Hussain Zaidi is a veteran of investigative, crime and terror reporting. He has worked for The Asian Age, Mumbai Mirror, Mid-Day and The Indian Express. His previous books include bestsellers like Black Friday, Mafia Queens of Mumbai and the more recent Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia. Zaidi is also associate producer for the HBO movie, Terror in Mumbai, based on the 26/11 terror strikes. He lives with his family in Mumbai.

Anita Gets Bail: What Are Our Courts Doing? What Should We Do About Them?


Arun Shourie - 2018
    But recent events remind us of the cracks that have formed: the quality of individuals apart, even the institutional arrangements that had been put in place to preserve the purity and independence of the institution—the collegium, conventions governing the way cases are to be assigned among judges—have frayed. These cracks provide a dangerous opportunity to political rulers to suborn this institution also.Through actual cases and judgments—of subordinate courts, High Courts, the Supreme Court—Arun Shourie enables us to see how frail and vulnerable this ‘last pillar standing’ has become.A judge who by a brazen manipulation of facts lets a prominent politician off … Events and a judgment that let the convicted choose the prosecutor who is to conduct the case against them … Courts that turn a blind eye to life-and-death reforms even as they preoccupy themselves with trivia … Courts that deliver ringing judgments and then do not care to look if their directions are being implemented … Courts that disregard their own judgments on penalizing persons for perjury, for dragging out cases … Courts that do not think through the consequences, even the predictable consequences of their judgments … Judges who prevaricate, who look the other way when some of their own fraternity come under a cloud … A judge who is manifestly unbalanced, judges whose knowledge of the most elementary facts of science is laughable, a judge whose prose even the Supreme Court is unable to comprehend—all of them continue to hand down rulings that affect the fortunes and lives of thousands … Judges who disregard well-settled principles to such an extent that their colleagues are compelled to make their grave misgivings public…And the non-bailable warrants that are issued for the arrest of Anita, Arun Shourie’s ailing wife, for evading summons that were never served, summons that were ostensibly issued for their having built a house that was never built, on a plot they did not own…Through the meticulous examination that is a hallmark of his writing, Arun Shourie leads us through judgments and instances-some hilarious, so many infuriating-and points to things that each of us-judges, lawyers, laypersons like us-can do to retrieve this most vital of institutions.

Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths: Civil Disobedience, Nonviolence, and Satyagraha in the Real World (Plus Why It's 'Gandhi,' Not 'Ghandi')


Mark Shepard - 1989
    In this Annual Gandhi Lecture for the International Association of Gandhian Studies, Mark Shepard tackles some persistently wrong-headed views of Gandhi, offering us a more accurate picture of the man and his nonviolence.///////////////////////////////////////////////// Mark Shepard is the author of "Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths," "The Community of the Ark," and "Gandhi Today," called by the American Library Association's Booklist "a masterpiece of committed reporting." His writings on social alternatives have appeared in over 30 publications in the United States, Canada, England, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, and India. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// SAMPLE I suspect that most of the myths and misconceptions surrounding Gandhi have to do with nonviolence. For instance, it's surprising how many people still have the idea that nonviolent action is passive. It's important for us to be clear about this: There is nothing passive about Gandhian nonviolent action. I'm afraid Gandhi himself helped create this confusion by referring to his method at first as "passive resistance," because it was in some ways like techniques bearing that label. But he soon changed his mind and rejected the term. Gandhi's nonviolent action was not an evasive strategy nor a defensive one. Gandhi was always on the offensive. He believed in confronting his opponents aggressively, in such a way that they could not avoid dealing with him. But wasn't Gandhi's nonviolent action designed to avoid violence? Yes and no. Gandhi steadfastly avoided violence toward his opponents. He did not avoid violence toward himself or his followers. Gandhi said that the nonviolent activist, like any soldier, had to be ready to die for the cause. And in fact, during India's struggle for independence, hundreds of Indians were killed by the British. The difference was that the nonviolent activist, while willing to die, was never willing to kill. Gandhi pointed out three possible responses to oppression and injustice. One he described as the coward's way: to accept the wrong or run away from it.

Hindus Under Siege: The Way Out


Subramanian Swamy - 2007
    Religious, in the denigration of Hindu icons:2. Psychological; -e.g. in the foisting of a fraudulent version of our history;3. Physical- e.g. the Islamic terrorist-driven ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir and nBangladesh, and the money-induced conversion of Hindus to Christianity;4. Cultural- e.g. through globalisation of tastes, dress and interpersonal morality that are determind in the Anglo-saxon white Christian world ("The West").

The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace


A.S. Dulat - 2018
    Dulat and Asad Durrani. One was a former chief of RAW, India's external intelligence agency, the other of ISI, its Pakistani counterpart. As they could not meet in their home countries, the conversations, guided by journalist Aditya Sinha, took place in cities like Istanbul, Bangkok and Kathmandu. On the table were subjects that have long haunted South Asia, flashpoints that take lives regularly. It was in all ways a deep dive into the politics of the subcontinent, as seen through the eyes of two spymasters. Among the subjects: Kashmir, and a missed opportunity for peace; Hafiz Saeed and 26/11; Kulbhushan Jadhav; surgical strikes; the deal for Osama bin Laden; how the US and Russia feature in the India-Pakistan relationship; and how terror undermines the two countries' attempts at talks. When the project was first mooted, General Durrani laughed and said nobody would believe it even if it was written as fiction. At a time of fraught relations, this unlikely dialogue between two former spy chiefs from opposite sides-a project that is the first of its kind-may well provide some answers.

Learning from Lincoln: Leadership Practices for School Success


Harvey B. Alvy - 2010
    The authors identify 10 qualities, attributes, and skills that help to explain Lincoln's effectiveness, despite seemingly insurmountable odds:1. Implementing and sustaining a mission and vision with focused and profound clarity2. Communicating ideas effectively with precise and straightforward language3. Building a diverse and competent team to successfully address the mission4. Engendering trust, loyalty, and respect through humility, humor, and personal example5. Leading and serving with emotional intelligence and empathy6. Exercising situational competence and responding appropriately to implement effective change7. Rising beyond personal and professional trials through tenacity, persistence, resilience, and courage8. Exercising purposeful visibility9. Demonstrating personal growth and enhanced competence as a lifetime learner, willing to reflect on and expand ideas10. Believing that hope can become a realityChapters devoted to each element explore the historical record of Lincoln's life and actions, then discuss the implications for modern educators. End-of-chapter exercises provide a structure for reflection, analysis of current behaviors, and guidance for future work, so that readers can create their own path to success--inspired by the example of one of the greatest leaders of all time.

The World's 100 Greatest Speeches


Terry O'Brien - 2016
    These speeches−by kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, freedom fighters and political leaders, dictators and writers−have made a mark in world history. These speeches not only give us an insight into the past, but also inspire us with their demands for equality, cries of freedom, a call to arms, rooting for the cause of the individual or the nation.Learn from the inspirational words of King Charles, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Mohandas K. Gandhi, George Washington, Rabindranath Tagore, Anne Besant, Theodore Roosevelt and Subhas Chandra Bose, among many others.

Twenty Stories


Satyajit Ray - 1992