The Brass Notebook: A Memoir


Devaki Jain - 2020
    But there were restrictions too, that come with growing up in an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, as well as the rarely spoken about dangers of predatory male relatives. Ruskin College, Oxford, gave her her first taste of freedom in 1955, at the age of 22. Oxford brought her a degree in philosophy and economics—as well as hardship, as she washed dishes in a cafe to pay her fees. It was here, too, that she had her early encounters with the sensual life. With rare candour, she writes of her romantic liaisons in Oxford and Harvard, and falling in love with her ‘unsuitable boy’—her husband, Lakshmi Jain, whom she married against her beloved father’s wishes.Devaki’s professional life saw her becoming deeply involved with the cause of ‘poor’ women—workers in the informal economy, for whom she strove to get a better deal. In the international arena, she joined cause with the concerns of the colonized nations of the south, as they fought to make their voices heard against the rich and powerful nations of the former colonizers. Her work brought her into contact with world leaders and thinkers, amongst them, Vinoba Bhave, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Henry Kissinger, Amartya Sen, Doris Lessing and Iris Murdoch, her tutor at St Anne’s College, Oxford, who became a lifelong friend.In all these encounters and anecdotes, what shines through is Devaki Jain’s honesty in telling it like it was—with a message for women across generations, that one can experience the good, the bad and the ugly, and remain standing to tell the story.

Come Love with Me and Be My Life: The Collected Romantic Poetry of Peter McWilliams


Peter McWilliams - 1967
    It tells about love desired, love lost, love enjoyed, love lost and love -- a different kind of love -- found again.

रश्मिरथी


Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' - 1981
    It is one of the most appreciated works of Dinkar other than "Kurukshetra".Karna was first born son of Kunti whom she had abandoned at birth as he was an illegitimate son. Karna grew up in a lowly family, yet became one of the best warriors of his time. In the Great Mahabharata war, Karna was obliged to fight from the side of Duryodhana as Duryodhana recognizing his merits had made him a king and adopted him as a close friend. Karna fighting from Kaurava's side was a great worry of Pandavas as he was reputed to be unconquerable in war. The way Dinkar has presented the story of Karna with all hues of human emotions trapped in moral dilemmas, is simply marvelous. The rhythm and meter is lilting. Choice of words and purity of language is exhilarating. The work has a timeless relevance and is a must read.

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.

Yayati: A Classic Tale of Lust


Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar - 1963
    Yayati was a great scholar and one of the noblest rulers of olden times. He followed the shastras and was devoted to the welfare of his subjects. Even the King of Gods, Indra, held him in high esteem. Married to seductively beautiful Devyani, in love with her maid Sharmishtha, and father of five sons from two women, yet Yayati unabashedly declares, My lust for pleasure is unsatisfied. His quest for the carnal continued, sparing not even his youngest son, and exchanging his old age for his son s youth.

Witness to Blunder: Kargil Story Unfolds


Ashfaq Hussain - 2008
    Published in September 2008, it coincides with the passing of a decade since the military operation was initiated on snow-tipped mountains in the winter of 1998-1999.

Akhada: The Authorized Biography of Mahavir Singh Phogat


Saurabh Duggal - 2016
    In 2000, after the Olympic Games closed with much fanfare in Sydney, legendary wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat watched, dejected and heartbroken, as the prize reserved by his state government for winners of Olympic medals in wrestling was left unclaimed. Determined to never see this instance repeated, Phogat decided to do the unthinkable. Much to his neighbours’ curiosity he spent two days digging a pit in his courtyard and asked his young daughters and nieces to join him there at the break of dawn one day. Little did they know that this unusual command from him would change their lives forever.Yet, each of their wins in the ring, every ambition he had for them, came at great personal cost. In the small village of Balali in Haryana, a state infamous for its practice of female foeticide and low literacy rates, Phogat had to battle not just deep social stigma and an apathetic government, but also a disapproving family and personal tragedy, to train the girls in his sport. Due to his efforts, the girls have all gone on to win medals and acclaim at the national and international levels, including at the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.Akhada tells the remarkable story of a man of tremendous fortitude, of a father who fought against all odds to give his daughters a future they could not have dreamed for themselves.

Who Killed Osho


Abhay Vaidya - 2017
    Throwing fresh light on the controversial circumstances of their deaths, this book makes a case for investigations into the affairs of the Osho trusts as they exist today."

Dera Sacha Sauda and Gurmeet Ram Rahim


Anurag Tripathi - 2018
    It allegedly involved sexual exploitation, forced castrations, private militias, illegal trade in arms and opium, and land grab on an untold scale-until the self-styled godman was convicted for one of his many crimes in August 2017. The book opens with an anonymous letter which led to the first-ever journalistic investigation, in 2007-Tehelka's Operation Jhootha Sauda-into the reported criminal activities at the Dera. In the years that followed, the author continued to document the lonely battles for justice against the influential godman who had the might of the Dera's machinery and manpower behind him. This book is as much about the grit and determination of ordinary citizens fighting power systems as it is about the difficulty of investigating crimes committed by the rich and powerful in India today.

All Blacked Out & Nowhere to Go


Bucky Sinister - 2007
    His love affair with punk comes full circle as he learns to hate it and then learns to love it again. The pieces in this book take us from his Southern roots, his brief stay in St. Louis, and his journey to California on a quest for punk bliss. Sinister finds himself in Oakland, where he gets exactly what he wanted, but it may just kill him. From recounts of specific shows to metaphorical dreams of Abraham Lincoln to the tragic stories of circus elephants, All Blacked Out & Nowhere to Go mixes tragedy and comedy into a book that's louder and faster than any book of its kind.

The Plummeting Old Women


Daniil Kharms - 1989
    These texts are characterized by a startling and macabre novelty, with elements of the grotesque, fantastic and child-like touching the imagination of the everyday. They express the cultural landscape of Stalinism -- years of show trials, mass atrocities and stifled political life. Their painful, unsettling eloquence testify to the humane and the comic in this absurdist writer's work. The translator Neil Cornwall gives a biographical introduction to his subject, enlarged upon by the poet Hugh Maxton in a contextual assessment of the writing of Flann O'Brien, Le Fanu and Doyle, and of their shared concerns with detective fiction, terror and death. Daniil Kharms 91905-42) died under Stalin. Along with fellow poets and prose-writers of the era -- Khlebnikov, Biely, Mandelstam, Zabolotsky and Pasternak -- he is one of the emerging experimentalists of Russian modernism.

The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology


A.K. Ramanujan - 1994
    Ramanujan (who died in 1993) has rendered two services: he has introduced Indian and Western readers to an unfamiliar and fascinating literary tradition, and he has provided access to some examples of a mature classical poetry. In them, as the translator notes, passion is balanced by courtesy, transparency by ironies and nuances of design, impersonality by vivid detail, spareness by richness of implication. The poems come from one of the earliest surviving texts of Tamil poetry, the Kuruntokai, an anthology of love lyrics probably recorded during the first three centuries A.D. Seventy-six of these classical poems have here been given a modern language and form. In an effort at fidelity to the effect of the images and their placement in the original, Ramanujan has given a visual shape to the poems by typographic devices. This classic anthology of translations has long been out of print. It should interest all those who read poetry, as well as those who value Ramanujan's gift as a translator.

From The Murks Of The Sultry Abyss


Brandon Boyd - 2007
    The second book from Brandon Boyd which follows up the successful White Fluffy Clouds, From the Murks of the Sultry Abyss comes in a special outer box, a limited edition #d sheet of stickers of artwork from Boyd, and the book itself comes sealed.

10 Timeless Heroes


P.L. ParkerDonna Michaels - 2014
    From sweet to sizzling romances, 10 Timeless Heroes has a little something for everyone.P.L. Parker - FionaTime shifts in ever changing motion. But can love survive the ravages of time? Set against the backdrop of Ancient China, Fiona finds herself transported to a time of barbarian warriors and marauding nomads from the northern steppes. She discovers a new way of life in the arms of the handsome warrior Kellach, a man of noble stature among the Celtic settlements ringing the great Taklamakan. Desperate to return to the present while struggling against her mounting feelings, she finally accepts her fate, exulting in the rapture and delights to be found as Kellach’s mate. High Priestess Voadicia wants Lord Kellach for her own - and only the outsider Fiona stands in her way. Beth Trissel - Somewhere My Lass (Somewhere In Time #2) Will Mora and Neil be too late to save a love that began centuries before? '‘The MacDonald comes’ warns Mora Campbell when Neil MacKenzie finds the young Scotswoman lying unconscious at the top of his stairs after he discovers his murdered housekeeper slumped at the bottom. Mora’s claim that she’s his fiancé from 1602 and was chased to the future by clan chieftain, Red MacDonald, through ‘the door to nowhere’ seems utter nonsense. Neil thinks she’s addled from the blow to her head until his life spirals into chaos and the avenging Highlander shows up wanting blood. Mora knows the Neil of the future is truly her beloved Niall who disappeared from the past, but he must also remember. And fast. Although Niall’s kinsmen believe he’s dead, and Mora is now destined to marry his brother, she’s convinced that if she and Neil return to the past, all will be right. The balance of the present and future are in peril if she marries another, and the Neil of the present will cease to exist. The only problem is how to get back to 1602. An ancient relic, the ultimate geek friend, and a little Celtic magic help pave the way back to the enormous challenge that awaits them. If they’re in time. L.L. Muir - Going Back for Romeo (Muir Witch Project #1) Alone, with a Highlander, in his castle, on a cold dark night... (Okay, so it wasn't that cold.) Jillian MacKay is being conned by a pair of eighty-year-old lunatics. They’re convinced she’s the perfect sucker to test a prophecy and they’re willing to bury her alive to prove it. Once she escapes and finds herself in 15th Century Scotland, she believes her return home depends on a heroic deed - she must rescue a plaid-clad Romeo and Juliet before their romance can end in tragedy. The monster standing in her way, however, is a handsome Highlander who might just be her own Romeo... a Romeo she must leave behind. Rather than surrender his secrets, Montgomery Ross would prefer to go down in history as the heartless creature who betrayed one sister and buried the other alive. When he falls in love with the prophesied faery who has come to expose him, he'll have to learn a wee lesson from the star-crossed lovers or suffer the fate to which he once condemned them. Skhye Moncrief - Swordsong (Time Guardians #2) The most valiant time guardian saves his soul mate from an unorthodox time traveler wanting to steal her heart to gain control of the timeline. Murdo McEwen's stuck in present-day Scotland with a bent time-travel key and only swordsmith, Katie Innis, can repair it. Duty requires he return to his time. His ticket home relies on a lonely woman haunted by more than the apparitions visiting her. Her track record with men keeps her distant. And ghostly events keep pushing them closer together. Earning her trust will require the kind of patience only a valiant time guardian learns during his twenty years of apprenticeship. If time-travel duty, romance, and a bit of magic don't help them realize their destiny resonates in mysterious fairy SWORDSONG, all known history could change. Sky Purington - Highland Mystic (The MacLomain Series - Early Years #3)Alan Stewart loves the lasses. Beautiful all, he's never been one to settle. Until, that is, Caitriona appears. Shy yet alluring, her unexpected and rare gift gains his respect. Though his need to protect her grows, a dark ending looms. Only Alan knows that her death soon comes and he will not be able to save her. Caitriona Devereux is not who she seems. Her fate was foreseen long before birth and so important it will impact all future MacLomains. When dreams of Alan Stewart begin, she knows the time has come. But how to convince a Highland laird from another century that he must die for her? Especially when it soon becomes apparent that she couldn't bear his death. When their paths cross with Stephen and Arianna of the Broun clan, a powerful prophecy begins to unravel. Though promised to Iain MacLomain, Arianna Broun is in love with Stephen. They'll do anything to be together. Alan and Caitriona will afford them just such an opportunity. Betrayal and loss will intertwine with passion, friendship and new beginnings as the four race toward their destinies. All will discover how far they are willing to go for love. But will the journey be worth the ultimate sacrifice? Nancy Lee Badger - My Honorable Highlander (Highland Games Through Time #1)Bumbling present day herbalist, Haven MacKay, gets more than she bargains for when her love spell goes awry, is cast back in time, and meets her true love - Laird Kirkwall Gunn. Kirk’s plans go slightly off course when he falls in love with a woman wandering through the Scottish Highlands. After all, he has pledged to marry another, from an enemy clan, in order to end a century-old feud. Caroline Clemmons - Out Of The BlueDeirdre Dougherty never cursed at anyone, much less put a curse on the potato crop of her remote Irish village. She'd rather take her chances with the Atlantic lapping at the bottom of the cliff than the mob intent on burning her as they have her cottage. Deirdre leaps... and plops down over 160 years later in a Texas lake. She doesn't understand how she’s ended up with the man from her recent visions or why he has the same name as the saint to whom she prayed. She’s in danger of falling for the handsome policeman who rescued her, in spite of the fact that he thinks she’s lying to him. How can she convince him her story is true when she’s finding it difficult to believe the tale herself? Police Detective Brendan Hunter wants answers. Who shot him and killed his partner? Why? And why does Deirdre know details of the event? Her story has to be a colossal fabrication or else she’s a beautiful psycho. Either way, he wants her gone before he becomes even more fascinated with her. But he can't let her out of his sight until she confesses to how she learned details no one but he and his late partner knew. Bess McBride - A Train Through Time (Train Through Time #1)College teacher Ellie Standish thinks she's on a sleek modern train heading to a conference on women's studies in Seattle, but she awakens from a night's doze to find herself on a bizarre historical train full of late Victorian era reenactors who refuse to come out of character. When the leader of the group - one handsome, green-eyed Robert Chamberlain - finally convinces her the date is indeed 1901, a skeptical Ellie decries any eccentric theories of time travel and presumes she is smack dab in the middle of a very interesting historical dream. She turns the directorial reins of her dream over to one smitten and willing Robert, only to realize that dreams cannot last forever. Someday, she must wake up to reality, though Ellie no longer has any idea what reality is. She only knows that Robert must play an important part in her future. But how can he... if he's only a figment of her imagination or worse yet... a man who belongs to an era long past? Donna Michaels - Captive Hero (Time-Shift Heroes #1) Marine Corps pilot, Captain Samantha Sheppard changes history when a test flight takes her back in time, inadvertently saving the life of a WWII VMF Black Sheep pilot. To preserve the timeline, she abducts the flying Ace back to the present and hides him at her secluded cabin in the Colorado wilderness. Convincing her sexy, stubborn captive he’s now in another century proves harder than she anticipated - and soon it becomes difficult to tell who is captor and who is captive when the more he learns about the future, the more Sam discovers about the past, and their soul-deep connection. But as their flames of desire burn into overdrive, her flying Ace makes a historical discovery that threatens her family’s very existence, and Sam’s fears are taken to new heights when she realizes the only way to fix the timeline is to sacrifice her captive hero... or is it? Can love truly survive the test of time? Linda LaRoque - Desires Of The HeartLoren Fairchild longs for children, but is barren. At a cottage in Carlisle, UK, she puts her divorce behind her and begins a new life. In 1947 the former owner’s wife disappeared. That same week, according to local gossip, her husband took up with a dark-headed harlot. One morning in 2007, a simple-minded woman appears at Loren’s cottage and triggers events that change Loren’s life forever. Miles Chapeau misses the wife, the mother of his two children, he’d known before the war. When he returned from WWII in 1945, he learned she’d been hurt in an air raid and has the mind of a child. He loves her and would never forsake his duty, but misses the intimate side of marriage and a woman to share his life. One day she disappears and his existence is turned upside down

Birds, Beasts, and Bandits: 14 Days with Veerappan


Krupakar - 2011
    Veerappan responded in a soft voice: 'It has been many years since I killed elephants. But no one believes me if I say so.'