Book picks similar to
Sarasvati's Gift by Kavita Kané
indian
mythology
adult-fic
indian-literature
Eleventh Hour
S. Hussain Zaidi - 2018
It is nine years since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai and the wounds have still not healed. Especially not for Superintendent of Police Vikrant Singh, who ends up landing a slap on the High Commissioner of Pakistan's face when he meets him at an event. Meanwhile, in Bhopal, five members of the Indian Mujahideen, arrested by Vikrant, break out of the Central Jail. Vikrant, suspended for the diplomatic disaster, is unofficially asked to assist the team tracking the escaped terrorists. In another part of the country, a retired tycoon, a heartbroken ex-soldier and a young woman dealing with demons of her own embark on a journey of self-discovery aboard a cruise liner from Mumbai to Lakshadweep. Fate, however, has other plans, and the cruise liner is hijacked. Racy and riveting, this is Hussain Zaidi at his best.
Girl in the Green Villa (Mansol Mysteries)
Yash Pawaskar - 2021
Their honeymoon plans go puff as India announces a nationwide lockdown.Months after living under the pressures of joint family, social distancing rules, and work-from-home stress, they get an opportunity to venture out. Viraj plans a trip to the inviting Green Villa for an intimate weekend getaway. But something is lurking beneath the surface.Will it pan out to be the exciting honeymoon that Viraj thinks they desperately need?What is Jhanak scared about?Who is the girl in the Green Villa?Key highlights of the story:• Fast-paced narration• Non-linear storytelling• Interesting twists and turns• Flavours of the supernatural• Imminent dread, doom, and deceit
Surya: How the Sun God was Tamed
Mayah Balse - 1974
But sometime, the sun's glare got uncomfortably fierce, and Sanjna could not bear it. She devised the perfect cover for herself - Chhaya, her mirror image! Away from the blazing Surya, the lonely Sanjna pined for her beloved. Eventually, a way had to be found to ensure everyone's happiness.
Alphabet Soup for Lovers
Anita Nair - 2015
Her marriage to KK is perfect precisely because she is not in love with him, and their life on a tea plantation in the picturesque Anamalai hills is idyllic. Then, one rainy morning, a man arrives to take up temporary residence in the homestay they run. Shoola Pani is south Indian cinema's heartthrob, an actor in flight from his own superstardom, and the last thing he is looking for is emotional entanglement. But when Lena and he meet, something flares between them that neither could have anticipated. She becomes his Lee and he her Ship, and the place they inhabit Arcadia. Told partly from the point of view of Komathi, whose own relationship with Lena is fraught with buried truths from the past, this searing tale of unexpected passion and adultery reaffirms the magical power of love in all our lives.
The Great Indian Novel
Shashi Tharoor - 1989
Chronicling the Indian struggle for freedom and independence from Great Britain, Tharoor directs his hilarious satire as much against Indian foibles as the bumbling of the British rulers.
Last Man in Tower
Aravind Adiga - 2011
Tower A is a relic from a co-operative housing society established in the 1950s. When a property developer offers to buy out the residents for eye-watering sums, the principled yet arrogant teacher is the only one to refuse the offer, determined not to surrender his sentimental attachment to his home and his right to live in it, in the name of greed. His neighbours gradually relinquish any similar qualms they might have and, in a typically blunt satirical premise take matters into their own hands, determined to seize their slice of the new Mumbai as it transforms from stinky slum to silvery skyscrapers at dizzying, almost gravity-defying speed.
PUNARBHAVA : Rise of the legend of Panini - the Yogi warrior
Ashutosh Jain - 2020
Afterlife Ghost Stories from Goa
Jessica Faleiro - 2012
The Fonseca family gathers in the Carvalho mansion for the birthday of Savio Fonseca. for his 75th birthday, Savio Fonseca's two daughters Joanna and Carol, who are settled abroad, come down to celebrate his birthday with Savio's son-in-law Sam. On this occasion, Eduardo, who is Savio's cousin drops in with his wife.On the night before Savio's birthday, when the family is spending time together, the electricity fails, because of which the entire place is in darkness. In this dark setting, the occasion seems right for sharing ghost stories. Soon the entire family starts to swap ghost stories, which revolve around the history of the Fonseca family. These stories range from mysterious sightings to lonely buildings and magic spells.The stories are split up into two sections and every character has a story to narrate. These stories have their roots in the Fonseca family and give readers a look into the happenings of the family members in the past. The hopes, dreams, personalities and traits of all the members of this family are revealed through the course of this book. Even the family name is a topic of speculation, with Savio's wife Lillian being keener on safeguarding its honor than Savio himself. This interest raises a number of doubts. The secret that Savio and his wife have been guarding from their daughters is soon to be unravelled.
Yakshini
Neil D'Silva - 2017
Down on Earth, a couple in Maharashtra is expecting their seventh child and is performing a special yajna to fulfil their desires. By a strange quirk of fate, these two distinctly different lives are soon to be intertwined. Fifteen-year-old Meenakshi is no ordinary girl. Blessed with celestial attributes, she has beauty that would rival a goddess’, a unique communion with nature and a supernatural being living inside her. Even so, Meenakshi lives amongst men and eventually, the evil eye falls upon her. That’s when the Yakshini inside her awakens. As the Yakshini takes control, Meenakshi is catapulted into a world of passion and violence that even threatens her husband life. Neil D’Silva’s Yakshini is a toe-curling, spine-tingling tale where mythology comes deliciously alive on the page. With its fantastic creatures and unforgettable characters, the book highlights the tussle between the supernatural and the human, sure to enchant all readers.
Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince
Anuja Chandramouli - 2013
These pages retell in riveting detail the story of the Pandava Warrior-Prince who has captured the imagination of millions across centuries. This is the intense and human story of his loves, friendship, ambitions, weaknesses and follies, as well as his untimely death and revival, his stint as a eunuch, and the innermost reaches of his thoughts. Told in a refreshingly modern and humourous style and set against the staggering backdrop of the Mahabharata. Arjunas story appeals equally to the average, discerning reader and the scholar. It spans the epic journey from before his birth, when omens foretold his greatness, across the fabled, wondrous landscape that was his life.
Salim Must Die (Lashkar, #2)
Mukul Deva - 2009
The Middle East is a tinderbox waiting to ignite, while Afghanistan and Iraq are already exploding as the guns continue to boom and bombs go off with unfailing regularity. Pakistan is in flames as its besieged military dictator clings to power in the face of increasing opposition. Then the two besieged leaders come together to strike a secret deal. The prize: the most wanted man in the world. It is at this point that Salim, old ISI hand and former Brigadier in the Pakistan army, jumps into the fray. Egged on by the rogue ISI leadership, his terror cohorts fan out to unleash a global strike of unthinkable proportions. Caught in the eye of the impending storm, the Indian Prime Minister turns yet again to Force 22, the secret Indian strike action group and the final barrier between Salim's secret weapons and the death of thousands of innocent civilians...
Mumbaistan
Piyush Jha - 2012
A prostitute, her lover and a policeman play for high stakes in BombDay. Injectionwala exposes chilling medical malpractices and a lovelorn vigilantes twisted game plan. In Coma Man, a man awakens from coma after twenty years, and sets out in search of his wife and himself. Gritty love stories, manipulative cops and hard-boiled slumlords form the backdrop of this unputdownable thriller. Its MUMBAISTAN all the way. Mumbai, a city of dreams for many. But for others, a nightmare. Behind the façade of lustre and glamour churns a seething underbelly of squalor, corruption and crime. Mumbaistan’s three explosive crime novellas unravel the subterranean secrets of maximum city—from the teeming maw of Dharavi and the wanton streets of Kamathipura to the swank high-rises of Bandra. A prostitute, her lover and a policeman play for high stakes in Bomb-Day. Injectionwala exposes chilling medical malpractices and a lovelorn vigilante’s twisted game plan. In Coma Man, a man awakens from coma after twenty years, and sets out in search of his wife— and himself. Macabre love stories, conniving cops and hard-boiled slumlords form the backdrop of a schizophrenic city that is brooding...dying. Welcome to Mumbaistan; a gritty, compelling take on the megalopolis that lives on the edge.
Pradyumna - Son of Krishna
Usha Narayanan - 2015
‘One of these newborns will ravage the world and erase the name of Krishna from the face of the earth.’As the world trembles on the threshold of Kali Yuga—4,32,000 years of unprecedented evil—it waits for a saviour to rise. Meanwhile, in the dark netherland of the asuras, the meek Vama shudders as he learns that he is actually Pradyumna,the son of Krishna. And that his journey has just begun.From the asura kingdom to Dwaraka and then Kurukshetra, destiny forces him to battle monsters, angrygods and blazing weapons, and overpower his own weaknesses. Will he be able to rise to the challenge in time to savethe world? Or is he the destroyer prophesied by Narada?Pradyumna is the gripping saga of the rise of this mighty, swashbuckling hero whom all of humanity awaits.
Difficult Daughters
Manju Kapur - 1998
Virmati, a young woman born in Amritsar into an austere and high-minded household, falls in love with a neighbour, the Professor--a man who is already married. That the Professor eventually marries Virmati, installs her in his home (alongside his furious first wife) and helps her towards further studies in Lahore, is small consolation to her scandalised family. Or even to Virmati, who finds that the battle for her own independence has created irrevocable lines of partition and pain around her.
Saraswati's Intelligence
Vamsee Juluri - 2017
The era of peace marked by the parama dharma, a rigorous code that forbids the spilling of blood, seems about to end. A new and deadly race of beings that destroy and devour anything that lives is gathering outside Kishkindha’s northern frontiers, and invasion is imminent. Hanuman, meanwhile, has been exiled by the intrigues of his aunt, the empress Riksharaja, in order to make way for Vali. Only his cousin Sugreeva, and wise guru Vishwamitra, can help Hanuman as his destiny takes him onward to face himself and a world no one in Kishkindha has known about until now.‘The Kishkindha Chronicles’ re-imagines the ancient prehistory of India from a startlingly new perspective that will make us rethink what it means to be human and animal. Saraswati’s Intelligence is the first book in the trilogy.