Book picks similar to
Nation of Fools: Or Scenes from Indian Life by Balraj Khanna
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There Are Other Rivers: On Foot Across India
Alastair Humphreys - 2011
Walking alone and spending the nights sleeping under the stars, in the homes of welcoming strangers or in small towns and villages, he experienced the dusty enchantment of ordinary, real India on the smallest of budgets. There Are Other Rivers tells the story of the walk through an account of a single day as well as reflecting on the allure of difficult journeys and the eternal appeal of the open road. Alastair Humphreys is a National Geographic 'Adventurer of the Year'. Reviews for previous books"Believe me, he can write, and rather well" - Geographical"...displays a tendency for Big Hairy Audacious Goals that is almost unnerving." - Treehugger.comAmazon Reviews"This book has it all: it's a great travel read, a look into the human soul and how most people, given enough determination, could attempt something like this.""No expensive equipment or 'fastest, strongest, quickest'; just a brilliant, understated story.""Simply outstanding.""If you prefer the comfort of your armchair these books will still stir your imagination and curiosity for the world.""An absolute must-read or any passionate traveller." GoodReads Reviews "Wow... another great book by Alastair Humphreys.""One of the best adventure travel books I've read."www.alastairhumphreys.com@al_humphreys
Insider
R.V. Raman - 2016
But sometimes, there is a price to be paid ...– A SOFTWARE ENGINEER goes missing in the Baltic.– AN UNSCRUPULOUS STOCKBROKER is audaciously murdered in a crowded bar room.– A HOTSHOT CEO is accused of insider trading.When Shashi Kurva, one of the country's most successful CEOs, is named in an insider trading scandal, he is stunned. Utterly blindsided, he makes desperate attempts to prove his innocence and identify the real culprit, only to stumble upon a conspiracy that hits far too close to home.Racing between the boardroom, a stockbroking firm and a shattered family, Insider is a tale of duplicity and avarice, manipulation and murder, that takes you into the murky depths of the Indian stock market and data analytics, where profit is the only object, and money the only language.While comparisons to veteran thriller writer John Grisham are inevitable, Raman's writing is more inspired by the older canon of crime writing - The New Indian Express RV Raman picks a crime fiction to make a debut and weaves a tight plot and a clear narrative to keep you engrossed.- The Hindustan Times If art imitates life, then we all need to be very worried ... an insider's account of the less than salubrious side of the corporate world. - Deccan Chronicle
What the Body Remembers
Shauna Singh Baldwin - 1999
So she is elated to learn she is to become the second wife of a wealthy Sikh landowner in a union beneficial to both. For Sardaji’s first wife, Satya, has failed to bear him children. Roop believes that she and Satya, still very much in residence, will be friends. But the relationship between the older and younger woman is far more complex. And, as India lurches toward independence, Sardarji struggles to find his place amidst the drastic changes.Meticulously researched and beautifully written, What the Body Remembers is at once poetic, political, feminist, and sensual.
Never Let Go
Graysen Morgen - 2016
She loves her job, is well respected by her peers, and has been given an opportunity to take her career to the next level. The only thing missing is the love of her life, who walked out, taking their daughter with her, seven years earlier. When Finley gets a call from her ex, saying their teenage daughter is coming to spend the summer with her, she’s floored. While spending more time with her daughter, whom she doesn’t get to see often, and learning to be a full-time parent, Finley quickly realizes she has not, and will never, let go of what is important.
How the BJP Wins: Inside India s Greatest Election Machine
Prashant Jha - 2017
Puffball
Fay Weldon - 1980
While Richard sows wild oats in London, pregnant Liffey has to face alone the mysterious workings of her body — and the terrifying, primitive malevolence of her witch-neighbour, Mabs.
The Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib: Selected Poems
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib - 1998
In The Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib: Selected Poems of Ghalib, poet Robert Bly and Urdu scholar Sunil Dutta collaborate to bring the delicacy and intensity of Ghalib's poetry to readers of English. This collection of thirty ghazals by Ghalib also serves as an introduction to the ghazal, the elegant and amazing poetic form revered for centuries in the Muslim world.
Small Remedies
Shashi Deshpande - 2000
Savitribai Indorekar, born into an orthodox Hindu family, elopes with her Muslim lover and accompanist, Ghulaam Saab, to pursue a career in music. Gentle, strong-willed Leela, on the other hand, gives her life to the Party, and to working with the factory workers of Bombay.Fifty years after these events have been set in motion, Madhu, Leela's niece, travels to Bhavanipur, Savitribai's home in her last years, to write a biography of Bai. Caught in her own despair over the loss of her only son, Aditya, Madhu tries to make sense of the lives of Bai and those around her, and in doing so, seeks to find a way out of her own grief.
The Sialkot Saga
Ashwin Sanghi - 2016
and pathos... and blood... and rare moments of almost exalted happiness. So, can it be that a man is both sinner and saint, victor and victim, black and white?Ashwin Sanghi, master storyteller, and spinner of yarns weave together threads of the past and present, fact and fiction, history and mythology, business and politics, love and hatred while dangling you ceaselessly over the cliff with this chilling multi-layered narrative, keeping you guessing till a totally unguessable end.And you’re left wondering whether it's a matter of faith... or fate?
India: The Siege Within: Challenges to a Nation's Unity
M.J. Akbar - 1985
Operation Deep Strike: An India-Pakistan Covert Ops Spy Thriller
Rahul Badami - 2017
Sneak onto a submarine full of hostile crew members. Sabotage a top-secret weapon. What could go wrong? "Had my heart in my mouth from beginning to end. There were twists in every chapter." - Shabnam "I believe that it would make a great movie." - Barbara "What a book it has been! Such a solid plot with new twists that keeps the page turning and your curiosity burning. This book is one of the best books I ever read." - Ayush "Finished cover to cover in one sitting. Gripping pace!" - Ankur "Full of surprises, suspense, and action." - Helen When a top-secret military program in Pakistan is discovered, the Indian Prime Minister launches a covert operation to neutralize it. The plan is simple. Infiltrate Pakistan, penetrate the heavily-guarded secret facility and sabotage the weapons. Veteran operative Armaan and his Covert Ops team are called into action. But such a daring mission was never going to be easy and as the Ops team find themselves outnumbered, outgunned and surrounded in hostile territory, will all be lost? Or will they be able to pull off the objective despite insurmountable odds, and the risk of discovery and execution? Armaan and his team are experienced field agents, but as their plan threatens to spiral out of control, they realize that they may not make it out of this one alive. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the disbanded Al-Qaeda has regrouped and is more powerful than ever. They have conceived a blood-chilling attack that will make 9/11 pale in comparison. From the dense jungles of Bangladesh to Afghanistan's Desert of Death to the snowy peaks of Gilgit-Baltistan, Operation Deep Strike is a pulse-pounding adrenaline rush that will leave action thriller fans white-knuckled. Please scroll up and grab your copy now. Or continue reading below. Prologue Hunza Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan Bang! Abdul knew he was about to die as soon as he heard the gunshot. Bang! The second gunshot was as loud as the first, reverberating in the tiny hotel room. Abdul watched in horror as his security guard who had opened the door crumple down on the floor. Two small holes blot red on his beige uniform. The body lay motionless. Dead. Abdul couldn’t see the assailant. He was in one corner of the hotel room and the half-open door blocked his view of the killer outside the door who had shot his guard. This also meant that the assailant hadn’t seen him. Yet. He only had a second before he too would be gunned down. Abdul’s eyes darted around the room searching for an escape route. The window. It was open. It was the only way. But he hesitated. “He should be in here.” He heard shouts beyond the door. Abdul glanced back. The assailant walked past the door. Abdul could see him now. A smoking 9mm was in his hand, the face masked by a black cloth. Only the eyes showed. Dark. Furious. Deadly. The killer’s gaze burned with such intensity, Abdul felt his soul shiver. “There.” More men poured into the room. All masked. All of them carried weapons. Abdul had seen enough. His decision was made. He turned and jumped through the open window. He fell through fifteen feet and landed on the snow-covered ground. His room was on the first floor of the hotel and the snow cushioned the impact of his fall. He was alive, but he wasn’t safe. Abdul scrambled to his feet and ran.
Goshtich_Goshti (Marathi)
D.M. Mirasdar
Babu of Bhokarwadi dons the mantle of magician (‘Jadugaar’) to prove this point! Bajaba makes a complaint about a robbery in the hotel; but then also gives a written submission that the theft never took place (‘Chori zalich nahi’)! Fed up with the local politics (‘Gavgundi’), the newlyappointed lady teacher decides to quit her job and leave the village! Babu and Chengtya too face the same travails (‘Vanvaas’) as Rama had to. The Government issued an Ordinance legalizing corruption (‘Bhrashtaachar’); but this only serves to double Balu’s workload since he is a government servant! Bapu Patil did complete the adoption formalities (‘Dattakvidhi’) for his son, but Babu and Chengta manage to mess things up! Dagadu Gawali one conducts the class (‘Taas’) otherwise taken by the Std. IV Maths teacher who took pleasure in caning the boys! Siva Jamdade, Rama Kharat, Gana Mastar, Nana Chengat, and Babu Pailwan go for a picnic (‘Company’)! Fun…Irony…Advice…Sharp criticism…and tragedy too…such is the nature of this collection of stories.
Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished
Anand Neelakantan - 2012
The enthralling story of Rama, the incarnation of God, who slew Ravana, the evil demon of darkness, is known to every Indian. And in the pages of history, as always, it is the version told by the victors that lives on. The voice of the vanquished remains lost in silence. But what if Ravana and his people had a different story to tell? The story of the Ravanayana has never been told. Asura is the epic tale of the vanquished Asura people, a story that has been cherished by the oppressed castes of India for 3000 years. Until now, no Asura has dared to tell the tale. But perhaps the time has come for the dead and the defeated to speak. “For thousands of years, I have been vilified and my death is celebrated year after year in every corner of India. Why? Was it because I challenged the Gods for the sake of my daughter? Was it because I freed a race from the yoke of caste-based Deva rule? You have heard the victor’s tale, the Ramayana. Now hear the Ravanayana, for I am Ravana, the Asura, and my story is the tale of the vanquished.” “I am a non-entity – invisible, powerless and negligible. No epics will ever be written about me. I have suffered both Ravana and Rama – the hero and the villain or the villain and the hero. When the stories of great men are told, my voice maybe too feeble to be heard. Yet, spare me a moment and hear my story, for I am Bhadra, the Asura, and my life is the tale of the loser.” The ancient Asura empire lay shattered into many warring petty kingdoms reeling under the heel of the Devas. In desperation, the Asuras look up to a young saviour – Ravana. Believing that a better world awaits them under Ravana, common men like Bhadra decide to follow the young leader. With a will of iron and a fiery ambition to succeed, Ravana leads his people from victory to victory and carves out a vast empire from the Devas. But even when Ravana succeeds spectacularly, the poor Asuras find that nothing much has changed from them. It is then that Ravana, by one action, changes the history of the world.
The Public Intellectual in India
Romila Thapar - 2015
Should we care? In this well-argued book, Romila Thapar and others tell us why we should. Thapar begins by defining the critical role that such individuals play in our societies today. Collectively, they are the objective, fearless, constructive voice that asks the awkward questions when government, industry, religious leaders and other bulwarks of society stray from their roles of ensuring the proper functioning of a country whose hallmarks are (or should be) social and economic equality, justice for all, and the liberty to say, think and profess the fundamental requirements of good citizenship. Through the lens of history, philosophy, science, and politics, she shows us the key role enlightened thinkers and activists have played in India, Europe and elsewhere. Today, as the liberal space in India is threatened by religious fundamentalism, big business, and, worryingly, a government that appears to be tacitly (and sometimes overtly) encouraging the attack on freedom of expression, secular values and rational readings of history, there could be no book as timely as this one. With contributions from writers and scholars in the fields of philosophy, science, history, journalism and social activism, The Public Intellectual in India shows us why it is important to have independent voices to protect the underprivileged, ensure human rights and social justice, and watch over the smooth functioning of our liberal, secular democracy.
In Custody
Anita Desai - 1984
An impoverished college lecturer, Deven, sees a way to escape from the meanness of his daily life when he is asked to interview India’s greatest Urdu poet, Nur – a project that can only end in disaster.