Mums on Strike


Laura Kemp - 2014
    Perfect for fans of Pedigree Mum and The Mummyfesto.It was just a squashed grape on the kitchen floor. Hardly a reason to get upset, right? But six years of motherhood has left Lisa Stratton feeling like a skivvy. Every morning before she’s opened her eyes, she starts her mental inventory of jobs to do. And just like yesterday, the day before and every day since she became a mum, she’s woken up knackered. So when her husband deliberately steps over the grape because it’s ‘her responsibility’ to run the house, it tips her over the edge. He wasn’t always like this – they used to share everything. Then the kids came along and he saw it as an excuse to sit back. But this time things are going to change. Lisa has made a decision. She’s going on strike…

Kesari the Flying Thief


Kamala Chandrakant - 1982
    Vasudeva was in a quandary as to how much money would satisfy all his needs. And Jinadatta hoped that his father-in-law would help him out of bankruptcy. These tales told by Jain monks in ancient times are as relevant today as they were long ago.

Manhattan Mango


Madhuri Iyer - 2014
    What happens when three ambitious, high-achieving, 20-something Mumbaikars become New Yorkers?A. Madness.Zipping through life’s ups and downs like a high-speed elevator during rush hour, buddies Shri, Shanks, and Neel hold on to each other, and their sanity, with a bro-hood bonding that chipkos them together, fevicol se.Neel’s the driven hedge fund guy, with a weakness for scotch and women. Tam Brahm Shanks, a techie, falls for the "wrong” girl. Good Son Shri, a banker, holds a secret he means to take to his grave. Their intertwined lives buzz with high-voltage drama — explosive secrets, super-charged romances, and a-fuse-a-minute meltdowns.There’s alcohol-fueled passion, Devdas style. Inter-racial hook-ups. Even a fake affair, because money can’t buy the real thing. When their skyscraper-sized dreams are tested, this “desified” saga of friends in Manhattan is like the city’s rapid transit express subway line. You won’t want any stops in between.

Sari Caste


Catherine Kirby - 2001
     Manasa is abandoned by the man she should marry. He marries her sister instead. Meanwhile Manasa finds herself pregnant with his child. She flees her Bengali village wondering where to go. Eventually, she finds herself wandering the streets of Calcutta. Without money or food, life is a daily struggle. Finally, she is taken on by a brothel. She is desperately unhappy until she meets a different sort of man. This man she marries in secret and together they plan her escape from the brothel. Murder, corruption, and intrigue threaten to swallow up the new life they attempt to establish in the beautiful hill country of Darjeeling.

Mom Says No Girlfriend


Subhasis Das - 2010
    Unhappy with her constant interference in his life, Danny’s music classes become his only solace and as the years go by, make him realize that music is his true calling.There’s just one glitch: his parents have already planned his entire life for him, and it involves science and engineering. Music has no place in it. Now sixteen, and a rebel, Sam joins a new school far away from home and out of his mother’s reach. Life takes a hedonistic turn for him, with parties, alcohol, love and sex.A coming-of-age novel, Mom Says No Girlfriend is the heart-warming story of a boy trying to find his place in the world.

Never Say Goodbye


Rajiv Seth - 2012
    It is a story of an extra-marital affair and how it is looked at from a woman’s and a man’s perspective. It is a story of how the field of genetics can affect a person’s thoughts and approaches to ethics in science.The characters in the book are simple at times, complex at the other, but easy to relate with. The story is pacy and delivers unexpected twists at the most unexpected times. Anjali, is a young doctor, who is driven by an urge to do much more than just medicine. An infatuation leads to her marrying a businessman, and into a joint family, where studies and education take second place. Even her husband has a very different outlook to life. They are, literally, moving on different paths in life, and Anjali realises this only when she meets Aakash who, too, is a doctor. From being her mentor, Aakash gradually becomes her soul mate and their relationship reaches a flashpoint as they fight an outbreak of plague in a tiny village in north India. Anjali goes headlong into the relationship, not caring about the consequences but Aakash preaches to her about the strengths of the institution of marriage in India and how extra-marital affairs are, rightly or wrongly, frowned upon in India. Their approaches to the relationship reverse when Anjali gets pregnant with his child. Anjali goes on to study human genetics at an institution in the UK. At the end of the programme, she is entrusted with the task of setting up a laboratory in Shillong to research on therapeutic cloning. The institution is keen on the laboratory being located in a remote place where the laws on cloning research are less stringent than in the UK. Over a few years, without Anjali realising it, the laboratory moves towards successful research into techniques for human cloning. Anjali thinks this is unethical and resists pressure to actually clone a human being.What follows is an emotion-arousing sequence of events. At times you will just love Anjali, and at times you will hate her for the way she relates to people. But that regardless, you will never want to press the pause button until you finish the roller-coaster ride which the author takes you through.

Ladakh Adventure


Deepak Dalal - 2013
    On a visit to this remote, majestic outpost of India, Vikram and Aditya camp out on the lofty Changtang plateau. Here they meet a young Tibetan boy named Tsering. But Tsering is unexpectedly abducted and Aditya pulls off a daring rescue. Suddenly Vikram and Aditya are on the run. On the frozen plateau, often referred to as the "roof of the world", the schoolboys play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with a band of mysterious determined men. Traversing the barren wastes of Ladakh, the story moves to the mountain-city of Leh. Who is Tsering? Why is he being chased with such fierce resolve? Discover the fascinating secret of Tsering in this fast-moving adventure tale. "Ladakh Adventure" is another enthralling VikramAditya story, set in a wonderous land of startling contrasts and magnificent mountains.

Real Ghost And Paranormal Stories From India


Shalu Sharma - 2014
    

Servants of India


R.K. Laxman - 2000
    Laxman profiles ten hilariously idiosyncratic people, who are among the countless men and women who run the lives of the middle class in India. The tales are put together by Ganesh, a freelance journalist trying to write a feature article on servants he has known. As his chronicle progresses, what emerges is a richly embellished narrative starring unforgettable characters. There is Swami, the cook, who finds his true vocation as a godman; Kumar, who deserts his household duties to pursue his tinsel-town dreams; Anthony, the driver, who makes money on the side by giving lifts to strangers; the maid Shanti, whose lift is thrown into turmoil by the neighbour's servant who is besotted with her; and Ramaswami, a trusted retainer who reappears mysteriously, much to the consternation of his employer, long after he has been presumed drowned. Marked by Laxman's trademark wit, and including pencil sketches drawn especially for this edition, Servants of India is a delightful read.

Towards the silver crests of the Himalayas


G.K. Pradhan - 1963
    

Bravely Fought The Queen


Mahesh Dattani - 2003
    The family in focus is that of two brothers, Jiten and Nitin, who run an advertising agency and are married to sisters: Dolly and Alka. Their mother, Baa, moves between the two households, attached more to her memories of the past than to any present reality. Marital friction, sibling rivalry, the traditional tension between mother-in-law and daughters-in-law, the darker moments of business and personal dealings, the play takes us through the entire gamut of emotional experience as it winds to a climactic finish. With its relentless pace, crisp idiom and unflinching insight into the urban milieu, this is a play that confirms Mahesh Dattani's reputation as India's most influential playwright.

दो बैलों की कथा


Munshi Premchand
    He is one of the most celebrated writers from India. Born Dhanpat Rai, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand". His works include more than a dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi. Do Bailon Ki Katha (दो बैलों की कथा) is a touching and humourus tale of two bullocks - Heera and Moti who had lived together for a very long time and are passed on from one owner to the other. (Note: This story is in Hindi language and is rendered for Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle for iPhone and Ipad and all Kindle devices released after Kindle DX).

Everyday People: Tales of people you know


Salini Vineeth - 2019
    These are stories of ordinary people whom you have met - at work, during the daily commute, in your friend circles, or on social media. However, the stories have a twist or an element of thrill to them. They rip open the sheath of mundane lives and present you with raw, poignant, and profound vignettes of urban life. These stories attempt to capture the dramatic flipside of the banal existence of everyday people. As the editor defines them… The stories are the perfect mix of sensationalism out of the mundane, exhibitionism of what has been undercover, and the simple refinement of human thought perspectives. The words sway and dance, tantalizingly just out of reach, trying to entice the reader into that false lull of security until a twist comes that makes them wonder, ‘What did I just read?’

The Thirteen Year Old Monk


Himanshu Goel - 2020
    Yet there's something missing in his life, a purpose, an anchor. His life is completely set to change when he meets a 13-year-old monk in the mountains. From him, he learns the way of Wabi-Sabi, a Japanese way of living.