Wilfred Thesiger, this century’s greatest living explorer, recalls his travels among the mountain ranges of Asia.Although Wilfred Thesiger is still largely associated with the Arabian deserts and the Marshes of Iraq, he has also travelled extensively at intervals, over the years, among mountains and mountain people in other remote areas of the Middle East and Asia.In 1987 Thesiger wrote: ‘I have always been attracted by mountains…’ And he observed more recently: ‘Had I done nothing else as a traveller except my journeys in Nuristan, these alone would have amounted to something worthwhile’.Eventful, interesting and remarkable achievements in their own right, the Asian journeys – among the Hindu Kush, the Karakorams and the Pamirs – have inspired many of the finest photographs Thesiger has ever taken and contribute significantly to his standing as a great traveller and explorer.Spanning a period of over 30 years (1951-1983) this book draws on Thesiger’s original diaries of his various journeys and his vivid memories of them, and includes some 80 or so previously unpublished photographs of the stunning mountain scenery he saw and the people he encountered.

    In this vibrant volume , the author in his own style tackles all issues related to religion, faith, new cults and new movements.

    The ‘invisible threads’ Nehru said held together an improbable union divided by language, religion and ethnicity have snapped under the burden of Modi’s Hindu-supremacist rule.In this blistering critique of post-Independence India from Nehru to Modi, K.S. Komireddi charts the unsound course of Indian nationalism: its cowardly concessions to the Hindu right, convenient distortions of India’s past and demeaning bribes to India’s minorities. He argues that the missteps of the nation’s founders, the mistakes of Nehru, the betrayals of his daughter and her sons, the anti-democratic fetish for technocracy inaugurated by Narasimha Rao and carried to the extremes by Manmohan Singh—all of them laid down the road on which Hindu nationalists rode to absolute power.Hindu bigotry, ennobled under Modi as a healthy form of self-assertion, has reopened old fissures that threaten to devour India’s hard-won unity. Yet bad times have also smashed the citizenly complacency that brought India to this point. There are multitudes who now realise how extraordinary and brave the idea of India was to begin with; there is a resurgent struggle against its extinction, and the assertion of new voices to wrest the republic from the forces of religious majoritarianism.A short history of the modern Indian nation, Malevolent Republic is also an impassioned plea for India’s reclamation. ‘Kapil Komireddi is one of the most thoughtful and thorough journalists writing today. His range of interests is impressive in its breadth and cosmopolitanism; his is a rare voice that can comment on global affairs from a truly comparative perspective.’ AMITAV Ghosh ‘Kapil Komireddi is a write of flair, originality and, above all, an absolute independence of mind … His ability to see through posturing and prejudice makes his work both distinctive and compelling. This book deserves to be widely read within India and beyond.’RAMACHANDRA GUHA

    From picking the best prison ward, befriending the people who can get him mobile phone access and upgraded food, and training for his upcoming marathon in the tiny prison yard, Chetan soon learns to work the prison system. In the process he makes unlikely friends, and discovers what India’s underbelly really looks like. A true story, The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail, is thought provoking, amusing and touching. It will show you the Indian prison as you have never seen it before.

    In order to reverse this trend, New Delhi must seriously reflect on its policy choices across a wide range of issue areas.Getting India Back on Track broadly coincides with the 2014 Indian elections to spur a public debate about the program that the next government should pursue in order to return the country to a path of high growth. It convenes some of India's most accomplished analysts to recommend policies in every major sector of the Indian economy. Taken together, these seventeen focused and concise memoranda offer policymakers and the general public alike a clear blueprint for India's future.ContentsForewordRatan N. Tata (Chairman, Tata Trusts)IntroductionAshley J. Tellis and Reece Trevor (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)1. Maintaining Macroeconomic StabilityIla Patnaik (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy)2. Dismantling the Welfare StateSurjit Bhalla (Oxus Investments)3. Revamping Agriculture and the Public Distribution SystemAshok Gulati (Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices)4. Revisiting Manufacturing PolicyRajiv Kumar (Centre for Policy Research)5. Generating EmploymentOmkar Goswami (Corporate and Economic Research Group)6. Expanding Education and SkillsLaveesh Bhandari (Indicus Analytics)7. Confronting Health ChallengesA. K. Shiva Kumar (National Advisory Council)8. Accelerating Infrastructure ModernizationRajiv Lall and Ritu Anand (IDFC Limited)9. Managing UrbanizationSomik Lall and Tara Vishwanath (World Bank)10. Renovating Land ManagementBarun S. Mitra (Liberty Institute) and Madhumita D. Mitra (consultant)11. Addressing Water ManagementTushaar Shah (International Water Management Institute) and Shilp Verma (independent researcher)12. Reforming Energy Policy and PricingSunjoy Joshi (Observer Research Foundation)13. Managing the EnvironmentLigia Noronha (Energy and Resources Institute)14. Strengthening Rule of LawDevesh Kapur (University of Pennsylvania) and Milan Vaishnav (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)15. Correcting the Administrative DeficitBibek Debroy (Centre for Policy Research)16. Building Advanced Technology Capacity for Competitive Arms AcquisitionRavinder Pal Singh (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)17. Rejuvenating Foreign PolicyC. Raja Mohan (Observer Research Foundation and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

    Paul. Now, in Once There Were Castles, he offers a richly illustrated look at another world of ghosts in our midst: the lost mansions and estates of the Twin Cities.Nobody can say for sure how many lost mansions haunt the Twin Cities, but at least five hundred can be accounted for in public records and archives. In Minneapolis and St. Paul, entire neighborhoods of luxurious homes have disappeared, virtually without a trace. Many grand estates that once spread out over hundreds of acres along the shores of Lake Minnetonka are also gone. The greatest of these lost houses often had astonishingly short lives: the lavish Charles Gates mansion in Minneapolis survived only nineteen years, and Norman Kittson’s sprawling castle on the site of the St. Paul Cathedral stood for barely more than two decades. Railroad and freeway building, commercial and institutional expansion, fires, and financial disasters all claimed their share of mansions; others succumbed to their own extravagance, becoming too costly to maintain once their original owners died.The stories of these grand houses are, above all else, the stories of those who built and lived in them—from the fantastic saga of Marion Savage to the continent-spanning conquests of James J. Hill, to the all-but-forgotten tragedy of Olaf Searle, a poor immigrant turned millionaire who found and lost a dream in the middle of Lake Minnetonka. These and many other mansion builders poured all their dreams, desires, and obsessions into extravagant homes designed to display wealth and solidify social status in a culture of ever-fluctuating class distinctions.The first book to take an in-depth look at the history of the Twin Cities’ mansions, Once There Were Castles presents ninety lost mansions and estates, organized by neighborhood and illustrated with photographs and drawings. An absorbing read for Twin Cities residents and a crucial addition to the body of work on the region’s history, Once There Were Castles brings these “ghost mansions” back to life.

    On September 5, 1856, a submerged walnut tree pierced her hull, sinking the Arabia one-half mile below Parkville, Missouri. In time the river changed course, leaving the Arabia and her priceless freight deep beneath a Kansas farm field...The Arabia and her treasure seemed lost forever. Then, in 1988, four men and their families dedicated themselves to achieve what others could not; to recover the treasure from the Great White Arabia. Treasure hunter Greg Hawley chronicles his amazing story of perseverance and discovery. Lavishly illustrated and carefully documented, this book is a page turning adventure that immerses the reader into the thrilling discovery of buried treasure.

    Without delving into either mythological or God-centric discourse, the book attempts to understand and explain various insights from the Gita through, in the author's words, derived theory and application. The Gita Way attempts to shed light on matters of self-realisation, and identifying and following the path to achieve the purpose of life. Within the framework of Vedic philosophy represented by Gita, this book explores:How to discover the swa-bhava, the inherent natural strength of our real-self?Is my profession aligned with my swa-bhava? What is my purpose of life?What is the real meaning of moksha, the liberation? How the realization of individual purpose leads us to attain supreme purpose we are born to achieve? Using the principles of Gita, this book presents innovative findings on theory of prarabdha, the luck or destiny, role of knowledge and karma, continuous improvement, yoga of universal harmony and yoga of devotion. To highlight few, in chapter combined discipline of knowledge and karma, authors introduce most important part of their research—Centring. Centring summarizes power of combined application of yoga of knowledge and karma along with simplified theory of spirit and supreme spirit. Chapter Vision of Universal Form and Yoga of Liberation simplifies the meaning of moksha, the state of liberation by linking it to the attainment of supreme purpose of life. Chapters on Yoga of Devotion and Continuous improvement focus on recipe of staying on the unique path of achieving individual goal. Unlike other books on Bhagavad Gita, the Gita Way is not a chapter wise discourse. Instead it presents deduced concepts in first place supported with relevant reference from the whole Gita. For example, in the first chapter of the Gita Way, you may get a reference of last chapter of Gita relevant to the topic of discussion.Contents:1. INTRODUCTION TO ‘THE GITA WAY’ 11Development of ‘The Gita Way’ 17 2. DEVELOPING A SENSE OF PURPOSE IN LIFE 25Goal 28Finding Unique Strength and Developing It 32Joy of the Self-Hobby vs Profession 35How to Set a Goal? 39Doubt in any form is the Biggest Enemyto Self-realisation 45The Story of Barbarika: Why was Barbarika Sacrificed? 47 3. YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE 51Knowledge of Self 54Elements of Self 56Consciousness of Self-Identity 57Intellect 60Primordial Matter 62Source of Perception and Action, One Mind and Five Senses 63Physical Body and Fitness 63False Goals such as Desire, Aversion and Pleasure 64Required Qualities in Self 64How Does One Achieve ‘Absolute Knowledge’? 67Lack of Knowledge is Ignorance which creates Fear 71 4. KARMA YOGA 74Prescribed Act and Prohibited Act 76Yoga and the Attributes of a Yogi 79How does One Achieve Equipoise? 80Desire-Entrap 84Hierarchy of Control 86Theory of Prarabdha or Destiny 88Butterfly Effect 90Hurdles in the Path of Karma-Yoga 93Vikarma 95Law of Growth 96Ultimate Dispassion: Nishkam Karma 97How to stay on the Path of Karma-Yoga? 99 5. COMBINED DISCIPLINE OF KNOWLEDGE AND KARMA 101Self-Realisation 102Wisdom 104Sacrifice 108Centring and Power of Real-Self 112Power of Real-self 113Centring 116Yoga of Self-Control 119 6. YOGA OF DEVOTION 121 The Cycle of Liberation 123How does devotion come to us? 127Devotion to Tame the Mind 129Relevance of Devotion to the Theory of Prarabdha 130Symptoms of Lack of Devotion 134 7. VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM 136Universal Form of Goal 140Concept of Self 147Redirecting the Purpose of Desire 150 8. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ON THREE MODES OF NATURE 152Inner Purification by Knowing Sattva, Rajas and Tamas 159Sattva 159Rajas 161Tamas 164The Gita Way of Continuous Improvement 165Elimination of Waste 166 9. YOGA OF LIBERATION 170How is Sattva linked with the Supreme Goal? 173How does one attain sattva? 174Non-violence in thoughts and Action. 175Absence of Pride 175Internal and External Purity 176Steadfastness of Mind 176Control of Body, Mind and Senses 176Sincerity 177Forbearance 177Uprightness of Speech and Mind 177Devout Service to the Preceptor 177 Austerity of Mind 178Sattvika Intellect 178Sattvika Sacrifice 179Leadership by Creating Order Around 180 Yoga of Liberation 182

    She is also unpredictable, enigmatic, funny and tragic. And then one day, she vanishes, leaving behind a heartbroken husband and desolate daughter. Irenie refuses to accept that Yasmeen is gone; she haunts the house with the scents and sounds of her dazzling mother in an effort to maintain the illusion of her presence. Five years after her mother's disappearance, Irenie discovers a box of letters, beautiful, intimate love letters, which reveal a different Yasmeen, a woman who, all her life, was in love with a man named Ahmed. Why did the two never get together? What really happened to Yasmeen? On a quest for answers she suspects her father, James, has long suppressed, she travels to Islamabad, where she uncovers a trove of secrets for which she may not be ready. Over the course of a summer, father and daughter find that they must help each other move out of Yasmeen's shadow and forge their own stories. Simultaneously intricate and expansive, shattering and uplifting, this is a sophisticated debut about obsessive love, family ties and a desperate search for closure.

    When Nadine learns that the Indian woman she thought her nanny is, in fact, her mother, she rebels against her English father and he arranges for her to be wed to an Australian merchant many years older. She is whisked off to her new husband's plantation in Malaya but as the Second World War rages throughout the East, Nadine is taken captive by the Japanese. She is held at a camp in Sumatra with other women and forced to entertain the soldiers and satisfy their desires. In the most unlikely circumstances, Nadine finds an ally and protector in a Japanese—American major caught up in the war. The two bond over their conflicted identities and gradually fall in love. But can Nadine survive long enough to find happiness? Don't miss this emotional and powerful saga about a woman's determination to beat the odds, perfect for fans of Renita D'Silva, Dinah Jefferies and Julia Gregson.

    The shift in focus towards tribals, peasants and workers is shown to involve important charges in our whole understanding of modern Indian history. Modern India contains reading list for those who wish to examine the plethora of research work on subject. (13th reprinted)

    Translated in Kannada by: Ravi BelagereOne of the best pieces of historical fiction. A very existential novel about the revolt of 1857 in British India.

    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

    This book examines the extraordinary contribution of Sardar Patel,from his unflinching support to Gandhi's satyagrahas and the Indian freedom struggle,to his farsighted and courageous approach in a strong,integrated India

    Instead, what he gets is a mentor who eventually transforms him into a cunning mafia boss.In 'Dawood's Mentor'. Dawood meets Khalid and they eventually forge an unlikely friendship. Together they defeat, crush, and neutralize every mafia gang in Mumbai. Khalid lays the foundation for the D-Gang as Dawood goes on to establish a crime syndicate like no other and becomes India's most wanted criminal.©2019 Hussain Zaidi (P)2019 Random House Audio