Growing up in Bangalore and then Madras, in a household that resolutely kept out any hint of her father's superstardom, she was a quiet, introverted child whose greatest pleasure was a visit to Marina Beach and an occasional meal out. It was not cinema but law that became a preoccupation when she started thinking about college and career - but fate, and her mother, had other plans for her.Aishwaryaa writes with disarming honesty about life as Rajinikanth's daughter, of falling in love and raising two boys with Dhanush, of fighting her own demons and finding satisfaction in a career of her choice. She reflects on the many roles a woman has to juggle at home and outside - in her case, under the watchful gaze of cameras and celebrity-watchers.Intensely personal, but also inspirational, Aishwaryaa's memoir is an unusually frank insight into growing up in cinema-land. A playful meditation on the joys and difficulties of being a woman in this age, Standing on an Apple Box is as much a celebration of individual fulfilment as it is of family.

    Reclaimed from the sea, these would become the modern city of Bombay. A marriage of affluence and abject poverty, where a grey concrete jungle is the backdrop to a heady potpourri of ethnic, linguistic and religious subcultures, Bombay, renamed Mumbai after the goddess Mumbadevi, defies definition. Bombay, Meri Jaan, comprising poems and prose pieces by some of the biggest names in literature, in addition to cartoons, photographs, a song and a Bombay Duck recipe, tries to capture the spirit of this great metropolis. Salman Rushdie, Pico Iyer, Dilip Chitre, Saadat Hasan Manto, V.S. Naipaul, Khushwant Singh and Busybee, among others, write about aspects of the city: the high-rise apartments and the slums; camaraderie and isolation in the crowded chawls; bhelpuri on the beach and cricket in the gully; the women's compartment of a local train; encounter cops who battle the underworld; the jazz culture of the sixties; the monsoon floods; the Shiv Sena; the cinema halls; the sea. Vibrant, engaging and provocative, this is an anthology as rich and varied as the city it celebrates.

    But when the shadows of the past, of a friend he has lost forever and of a woman he can never be with, finally catch up to him, Arjun finds himself fighting the biggest battle of his life. For at stake is not just his iron hold over the government, but something even bigger---- his family...and his soul.Spanning five decades and two generations, Sultan of Delhi: Ascension is an explosive saga of ambition, greed, love and passion

    It was outrage at this state of affairs that led Jarnail Singh, an unassuming, law- abiding journalist, to throw his shoe at home minister P Chidambaram during a press conference in New Delhi. He readily acknowledges that this was not an appropriate means of protest, but asks why, twenty-five years after the massacres, so little has been done to address the issues that are still unresolved and unanswered and a source of anguish to the whole community.? ? Who initiated the pogrom and why? ? Why did the state apparatus allow it to happen? ? Why, despite the many commissions and committees set up to investigate the events, have the perpetrators not been brought to book? ? I Accuse is a powerful and passionate indictment of the state's response to the killings of 1984. It explores the chain of events, the survivors' stories and the continuing shadow it casts over their lives. Because, finally, 1984 was not an attack on the Sikh community alone; it was an attack on the idea at the very core of democracy?that every citizen, irrespective of faith and community, has a right to life, liberty and security.

    These new poems mine the rich strain of inscrutability in ordinary life, until it is hard to know what is innocent and what ominous. There is something about his work that continues to be crystal clear and yet deeply weighted with violence and mystery. Reading it is like going undercover. The face of a girl carrying a white dress from the cleaners with her eyes half-closed. The Adam & Evie Tanning Salon at night. A sparrow on crutches. A rubber duck in a shooting gallery on a Sunday morning. And someone in a tree swing, too old to be swinging and to be wearing no clothes at all, blowing a toy trumpet at the sky.

    Smuggled into India from Bangladesh and given refuge by his uncle, a leader of the ruling Communist Party, he grows up in Zakaria Street—a Little Baghdad of the old—dreaming of becoming a pukka Kalkatta-wallah. When friendship with a local gang disqualifies him from school, he ends up as assistant to a passport forger, and then a masseur. Soon enough, innocent massage leads to ‘plus plus treatments’, and Kalkatta opens its doors, drawing Jami into the world of the rich and famous, housewives, tourists and travelling executives, and occasionally to high-paying and dangerous ‘parties’. Danger looms, too, from rivals and the police, and the ever-present risk of losing his cover. Jami’s shadowy double life takes a turn for the unexpected when he meets Pablo, a young boy who suffers from leukemia, and his single mother Mandira. Made to oscillate between his refugee family, the neighbourhood gang, his massage-parlour clients, even the cultured world of Bengali intellectuals inhabited by Mandira, he succeeds in becoming a true Kalkatta-wallah, but a stranger to himself. Until his love for Pablo threatens to destroy everything, and drive him away even from his beloved Kalkatta.

    In a few moons, the Goddess will claim me, and I do not have a fresh young virgin by my side to absorb my knowledge and take my place once I am gone. The Mysteries of Ganga and her Sight will vanish with me, and the Great River will become nothing more than a body of lifeless water … It is my intention, therefore, to tell you the story as it happened, as I saw it happen.’The Mahabharata is the story of women, even though men have focused far too much on the Great Battle. It is women who have set events in motion, guided the action and measured the men. The Winds of Hastinapur begins at the point that Ganga was cursed and sent to Earth. She lives among the mortals and bears Shantanu, the King of Hastinapur, seven children, all of whom she kills. With the eighth, she leaves. That boy, who returns to Earth, will prove to be the key to the future of Hastinapur.The story, as told through the lives of his mother Ganga and stepmother Satyavati, is violent, fraught with conflict and touched with magic.A lady of the river who has no virgin daughter to carry on her legacy, Celestials who partake of a mysterious lake they guard with their very lives, sages overcome by lust, a randy fisher-princess – these and other characters lend a startling new dimension to a familiar tale. SharathKomarraju does not so much retell the epic as rewrite it

    Discover the Om Puri no one knows about - the tongue-tied actor from Punjab with stars in his eyes; the incorrigible flirt in drama school; the connoisseur of food and expert cook; and the complete family man. Featuring amusing anecdotes with his family, shocking episodes with the stalwarts of Indian and British cinema, and the nail-biting suspense of his love life, the tale is complemented by rare and unusual photographs. Told with wit, honesty, and élan, this book is a fitting tribute to the inspirational tale of Om Puri - one of the most talented actors of India.

    "Tell me about your dreams, and if you have dared to follow them." This is the challenge for three members of the Vishavan family. Evita (real name Molu, but she's always had a tendency towards the theatrical) is stuck in a 9-to-5 job until she hears the irresistible beat of a drum, summoning her to follow her dream. It takes her to faraway places and people, but the rhythm of change is also to be found closer to home. Sheila and Bali have raised Evita as their own child. Yet their sadness has kept them apart; holding on to their separate secrets, they have rejected the possibility of following any dreams. Neither expects the disruption that follows Evita's return. From remote villages in Kerala to the heart of contemporary London, this is a story of discovery, love, and what might happen if you dare to live your dream.

    To save my existence, I must kill.”- The Psychopath“You know why I love to hunt? My mind interprets a human’s final breath as his apology: an apology of existence.”- The Cannibal“Can love and friendship push you to the brink of a murderous crisis? ”- The LoverRaj, an aspiring writer, and a full-time engineering student in Bangalore is given the chance of a lifetime; his best friend Ajay asks him to write the biography of a real-life serial killer based on a set of lost and found leather-bound diaries. A few months later, Raj meets Aaina, an accomplished marketer six years older than him, and falls in love. Things take a bizarre turn when the serial killer strikes again after years; and this time, it is in an engineering college in Bangalore.Welcome to the unruly world of The Psychopath, The Cannibal, The Lover. This story is about people who find joy and purpose not in life, but in death. Nostalgic, dark, gritty, and non-stop, The Psychopath, The Cannibal, The Lover takes you through the mangled life journey of two best friends, two lovers, and two serial killers. What happens when their lives coincide at a point from where is no turning back?

    But these visions that keep flashing through his mind are far from an ordinary fantasy-they are vivid episodes from the god's life. Through these scenes, as Krishna's mystifying schemes are revealed, Anirudh slowly comes to terms with his real identity . . .He is the last avatar of Vishnu, sent to restore the balance between good and evil. But an ancient and powerful nemesis, burning with the fire of revenge, has already started assembling a clan of mighty sorcerers to finally be rid of the protector god and unleash depravity on earth.Will Anirudh realize his potential before it's too late? Or will the enemy destroy everything in their wake before the avatar finally manifests? This gripping read is the first part in the Kalki Chronicles, which unveils the greatest legend of the Kali yuga.

    At first, the murder seems an open-and-shut case to Dechen, the tough, foul- mouthed, prickly lady cop in charge of the investigation. But as she begins to delve into the lives of Kamala and Puran, she discovers a world of lies, deceit and love gone wrong, where nothing is as it seems, and the guilt of murderers is difficult to establish.On a day of endless rain, a man emerges from thirty-two years of isolation to meet his king, whom he owes a share of the harvest from his fields. Journeying across leech-infested forests and forbidding valleys, he tells his children the story of his life one that has been full of drama and magic. But the biggest miracle of all awaits him in Gangtok...These two novellas, united by their strong sense of place, showcase Chetan Raj Shresthas enormous gifts as a storyteller. Magical, gritty, nerve-wracking and stylish in equal measure, this is an exceptional debut.

    His stylized dialogues and screen mannerisms are legion, and his guy-next-door-cum-superhero image has found a hysterically appreciative following among millions of moviegoers. Naman Ramachandran's marvellous biography recounts Rajini's career in meticulous detail, tracing his incredible cinematic journey from his very first film, Apoorva Raagangal, in 1975 to memorable forays into Bollywood like Andha Kanoon and Hum, from landmark films like Billa, Thalapathi and Annamalai to the mega successes of Baashha, Muthu, Padayappa, Chandramukhi, Sivaji and Enthiran. Along the way, the book provides rare insights into the Thalaivar's personal life, from his childhood days to his times of struggle-when he was still Shivaji Rao Gaekwad-and then his eventual stardom: revealing how a legend was born. Rajinikanth has not written his memoirs; this book is the closest we are likely to get to the definitive Rajini story.

    A lifetime ago. Before the murder of her father. Before she became Kota Rani, the wise regent who rules over Kashmir with a firm hand.As invaders and immigrants disturb the tranquillity of her land, Kota must find a way to protect her people. But at what personal cost? Can she weather the political intrigues and power-play of the court? Will she succeed in preserving the splendour and diversity of her society? Will social hypocrisy and notions of what a woman should be keep Kota from being the sovereign she knows she is?Set in fourteenth-century Kashmir, The Last Queen of Kashmir is the sweeping saga of a civilization in peril. It is also the tale of one of the greatest queens of the land - one that will speak to the men and women of today.

    In her story, she speaks about her struggles after her marriage, her insecurities and her pious nature that challenged her husband's growing aspirations. She narrates the rise of Ravana's power and the blunders he made that ultimately caused the downfall of Lanka.Despite her husband's faults, Mandodari loved him and advised him to follow the path of righteousness. Ravana's defeat in a thirteen-day war turned him into a villain. But what if he were the real hero on his side of the war? What if his downfall was a result of scheming to push him out of power? This is Mandodari's story.