Book picks similar to
The Heart Divided by Mumtaz Shah Nawaz
fiction
india
partition
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The Collaborator
Mirza Waheed - 2011
Indian soldiers appear, as if from nowhere, to hunt for militants on the run. Four teenage boys, who used to spend their afternoons playing cricket, or singing Bollywood ballads down by the river, have disappeared one by one, to cross into Pakistan, and join the movement against the Indian army. Only one of their friends, the son of the headman, is left behind. The families in the village begin to think it's time to flee, to search for a place of greater safety. But the headman will not allow his family to leave. And, whilst the headman watches his dreams give way beneath the growing violence, his son, under the brutal, drunken gaze of the Indian army captain, is seemingly forced to collaborate, and go into the valley to count the corpses, fearing, each day, that he will discover one of his friends, lying amongst the dead. 'The Collaborator' is a stunningly humane work of storytelling, with a poignant and unpredictable hero at its heart. In one of the most shocking and brilliantly compelling novels of recent times.Mirza Waheed lights our way into the heart of a war that is all too real.
A Lovesong for India: Tales from the East and West
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 2011
Set in India, England, and New York City, A Lovesong for India reveals what unites us across oceans, cultures, and lifetimes.In “Innocence,” an older couple, whose social standing is marred from a decades-old scandal, rent out rooms in their Delhi home for both companionship and income. Isolated and battling blame and guilt, the couple becomes deeply invested in the lives of their two tenants. With the addition of a third renter—a beautiful and provocative woman from India—tensions in the household push the story to its feverish conclusion.The story “Talent” finds Jhabvala in New York City reflecting on the friction between family and societal expectations. Magda is a talent scout whose entire life is her work until she meets Ellie, a singer whose immense ability and unguarded personality captivate Magda. Soon Ellie is integrated into Magda’s extended family for better or worse.Remarkable and unwavering, this collection is the hallmark of Jhabvala’s celebrated career and a testament to her “balance, subtlety, wry humor, and beauty” —The New York Times.
Two Chalet School Girls in India
Priyadarshini Narendra - 2006
The Robin is also in need of a break, after losing her father earlier in the year. The visit will change their lives forever, and the friendships they make will have long-lasting repercussions. This is the book that Chalet School fans across the world have been waiting for. Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s story of what happened when Joey Bettany and the Robin visited India was never published, and no trace of it remains. Readers seemed destined never to know the answers to questions ranging from how did Joey meet Erica Standish’s mother, to why Joey tore out the pictures from Mollie’s copy of Queechy? Now Priyadarshini Narendra has written her own version of the story, remaining as true to the Chalet School series as possible. Priyadarshini lives near Delhi, and has been a Chalet School collector since the age of six.With a foreword by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s biographer, Helen McClelland, explaining the history of the original book.
Why is My Hair Curly?
Lakshmi Iyer - 2020
How she wished her hair was straight and smooth like Amma’s and Appa’s and her brother Avnish’s. Their parents had adopted the two of them when she was three-and-a-half years old and Avnish a six-month-old baby. Avantika often wonders if their birth mother had curly hair.There are so many questions in her head, the school year has started with hair-raising troubles and Amma is busy at work. Avantika finds a confidante in the mysterious paati she meets in the park.
My Name is Gauhar Jaan!: The Life and Times of a Musician
Vikram Sampath - 2010
Vikram Sampath, in this remarkable book, brings forth little known details of this fascinating woman who was known for her melodious voice, her multi-lingual skills, poetic sensibility, irresistible personality and her extravagant lifestyle. From her early days in Azamgarh and Banaras to the glory years in Calcutta when Gauhar ruled the world of Indian music, to her sad fall from grace and end in Mysore, the book takes the reader through the roller-coaster ride of this feisty musician. In the process, the author presents a view of the socio-historical context of Indian music and theatre during that period.
The Curse of Mohenjodaro
Maha Khan Phillips - 2016
When footage of a team of archaeologists bursting into flames at the ancient site of Mohenjodaro goes viral, the world is horrified and shaken. While authorities suspect it to be an incendiary terrorist attack, Nadia Osbourne determines to find her archaeologist sister, Layla, convinced that she has survived. Her frantic search takes her to the ruins and forces her to confront her own demons – her inexplicable dreams about a woman named Jaya.3800 BC. The city of Meluhha is on the brink of a revolution and Iaf and his coterie of corrupt priests will do anything to maintain their power. Jaya is the only one who can read the Bloodstone, the heart of the Goddess Shakari, and divine the future. But with her daughter under Iaf’s control, will Jaya be able to prevent what is to come?Inspired by the legends surrounding the lost Indus Valley city, The Curse of Mohenjodaro is a gripping thriller about a powerful relic, a sinister cult, and family secrets that haunt generations.Maha Khan Phillips is a multiple award-winning financial journalist, and the author of Beautiful from This Angle and The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby. She grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. She has a bachelors degree in Politics and International Relations and a masters in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent at Canterbury. In 2006, she completed a masters degree in Creative Writing from City University in London, where she currently lives with her husband and son.
Sandeh (Marathi)
Ratnakar Matkari
I still think so… From within we are one and the same. Sometimes he wores the mask with my name while at others I do so to fool people.’ A jeep passed by speedily and very closely. It would have brushed up. ‘They are out to kill us!’ the terror in Shreenath’s voice was unmistakable. ‘They are out to kill us! Is this some kind of game that destiny is playing with us? It wants to kill us together; both the original and the duplicate, along with their fiancées.’ Once again the jeep passed by. It symbolized a kite swooping down from high skies upon its prey. As it misses the prey it goes back to get into action. What is going to happen now? We three are set upon the journey. Where? No one knows. How long? No one knows. We are mere puppets in the hands of destiny. Ten breathtaking stories! Each one creating doubt beyond imagination while piling up the tension. Ten stories that would really create doubt! Shaded with games played by human minds these stories take us to immeasurable height and fathomless depth at the same time. Matkari has once again proved that his stories are not just entertaining or pleasing. They take us beyond that where it is impossible to comprehend. They are terribly frightful. They are mysterious. These ten stories once again prove his command over words and themes and excellent manifestation of novel ideas. They underline his authority in writing such dubious stories.
लक्ष्यवेध
रणजित देसाई
Apart from this, many a times each state of each nation has role models from the past but not forgotten history. Maharashtra has its own idols. The greatest and most loved of them all is shivaji maharaj.
Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor
Thomas L. Masson - 2004
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems
Faiz Ahmad Faiz - 1991
His evening readings in Hindi/Urdu-speaking regions drew thousands of listeners. Associated with the Communist party in his youth, Faiz became an outspoken poet in opposition to the Pakistani government. This volume offers a selection of Faiz's poetry in a bilingual Urdu/English edition with a new introduction by poet and translator Agha Shahid Ali.
Fire and the Rain
Girish Karnad - 1998
This play by one of India's foremost playwrights and actors is based on a story from the Mahabharata which tellingly illuminates universal themes - alienation, loneliness, love, family, hatred - through the daily lives and concerns of a whole community of individuals.
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
Mohsin Hamid - 2013
His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a radically inventive storyteller with his finger on the world's pulse. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia meets that reputation, and exceeds it. the astonishing and riveting tale of a man's journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon, it steals its shape from the business self-help books devoured by ambitious youths all over "rising Asia." It follows its nameless hero to the sprawling metropolis where he begins to amass an empire built on that most fluid, and increasingly scarce, of goods: water. Yet his heart remains set on something else, on the pretty girl whose star rises along with his, their paths crossing and recrossing, a lifelong affair sparked and snuffed and sparked again by the forces that careen their fates along. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a striking slice of contemporary life at a time of crushing upheaval. Romantic without being sentimental, political without being didactic, and spiritual without being religious, it brings an unflinching gaze to the violence and hopes it depicts. And it creates two unforgettable characters who find moments of transcendent intimacy in the midst of shattering change.
The Shadow Lines
Amitav Ghosh - 1988
The narrator, Indian born and English educated, traces events back and forth in time, from the outbreak of World War II to the late twentieth century, through years of Bengali partition and violence, observing the ways in which political events invade private lives.
All About H. Hatterr
G.V. Desani - 1948
Hatterr is one of the most perfectly eccentric and strangely absorbing works modern English has produced. H. Hatterr is the son of a European merchant officer and a lady from Penang who has been raised and educated in missionary schools in Calcutta. His story is of his search for enlightenment as, in the course of visiting seven Oriental cities, he consults with seven sages, each of whom specializes in a different aspect of “Living.” Each teacher delivers himself of a great “Generality,” each great Generality launches a new great “Adventure,” from each of which Hatter escapes not so much greatly edified as by the skin of his teeth. The book is a comic extravaganza, but as Anthony Burgess writes in his introduction, “it is the language that makes the book. . . . It is not pure English; it is like Shakespeare, Joyce, and Kipling, gloriously impure.”
The Smoke is Rising
Mahesh Rao - 2014
It is this changing world of Mysore which Mahesh Rao's novel speaks about. In this story, Mysore is gearing for an international remake with the construction of HeritageLand, Asia's largest theme park. Citizens and government officials alike prepare themselves for a complete makeover, one that not everybody welcomes. An elderly widow finds herself forced into a secretive new life, and another woman is succumbing to the cancerous power of gossip as she tries to escape her past. Another woman must come to terms with reality as her husband's troubling behaviour steeps out of hand. In Mysore, where the modern and the eclectic fuse to become something else entirely, everyone must hang on to their own escapes or find themselves swept under the carpet of the sublime change called development.