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Embrace October with Books That Warm Your Heart!

October is here, and it brings a fresh wave of literary treasures for readers to discover. From thought-provoking biographies to captivating poetry collections, this month’s releases offer a diverse range of reading experiences. Join us as we explore the exciting world of our newest releases.

 

Doctor Steel
Doctor Steel || J.J. Irani

 

In the 1980s, the steel produced in India was not cost-effective, plagued by quality issues and unable to meet the standards required to take India a step ahead in its development goals.

Enter Jamshed Jiji Irani, fondly known as ‘Doc’ to all, whose efforts aimed at modernizing Tata Steel changed everything. Today, Tata Steel produces low-cost, high-quality metal of international standards. Under his leadership, Tata Steel ushered India into a new age of economic growth. But his story doesn’t end there. A leading industrialist, Irani was keenly involved in the 1990s economic liberalization that put India on the global map. He held positions on various Tata boards, and was part of the Confederation of Indian Industry and several other government-appointed committees. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan and an honorary knighthood by the British government for his work.

 

The Art of Habits
The Art of Habits || Gauranga Das

As the final book in the three-volume series (after The Art of Resilience and The Art of Focus), The Art of Habits presents forty simple stories filled with deep revelations. What will enthral the readers is the engaging narration, the dynamics of the situations that manifest and the deep learnings from such episodes.

 

Anarchy or Chaos
Anarchy or Chaos || Ole Birk Laursen

Driven by the urge for complete freedom from colonialism, authoritarianism, fascism and militarism, which are rooted in the idea and politics of the nation-state, Acharya fought for an international vision of socialism and freedom. During the tumultuous opening decades of the 1900s—marked by the globalization of radical inter-revolutionary struggles, world wars, the rise of communism and fascism, and the growth of colonial independence movements—Acharya allied himself with pacifists, anarchists, radical socialists and anti-colonial fighters in exile, championing a future free from any form of oppression, whether by colonial rulers or native masters. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, private correspondence and other primary sources, Laursen demonstrates that, among his contemporaries, Acharya’s turn to anarchism was unique and pioneering in the struggle for Indian independence.

 

Restless Lives
Restless Lives || Harish Bhat

Restless Lives offers an oasis of quiet contemplation. In this beautiful poetry collection, author Harish Bhat contemplates various aspects that make up daily life. At times pleasing, at others disturbing, the lines within these pages promise to give pause, inspire and stir emotion.

This is Harish Bhat as you have never seen him before.

 

Fugitive of Empire
Fugitive of Empire || Joseph McQuade

A complex, controversial, and often contradictory figure, Bose has been described as a committed democrat, an authoritarian, an advocate of religious harmony, a Hindu chauvinist, an anti-communist, a political pragmatist, an idealist, a Japanese collaborator, an anti-racist, a cultural conservative, a Pan-Asianist, an Indian nationalist, and much more. Drawing on extensive archival research
from India, Japan, and the UK, this refreshing new biography brings to life the largely forgotten story of one of twentieth-century Asia’s most daring revolutionaries.

 

iParent
iParent || Neha J Hiranandani

Iparent decodes India’s app generation and elevates the discussion beyond ‘these kids and their phones!’ Based on research, candid conversations and personal reflection, this timely book is a witty meditation on parenting in a digital world. Hilarious and informative in equal measure, iParent empowers you to connect with the new generation and guide them to cyber-safety without being a helicopter parent. No judgement, no preaching.

 

Avatars of Brahma
Avatars of Brahma || Kaudinya Arpan, Pareekshit Dahal

In Avatars of Brahma, the authors, who run the popular website, Scientific Monk, delve into the lives of each avatar, their works and the philosophies presented by them. They explain how the avatars of Brahma help us understand the Indian thought process and India’s intellectual heritage, and give readers a view of the works of India’s greatest yogis from a twenty-first-century world view.

 

 

Heal your Gut, Mind and Emotions
Heal your Gut, Mind and Emotions || Dimple Jangda

With the gut as a central axis of vigour, health coach Dimple Jangda has helped people all over the world recover from chronic diseases through a powerful combination of ancient Ayurvedic science, modern research and nutrition with a special emphasis on food chemistry.
In this comprehensive book, she shares the tools that shaped her life and advises on how you can use food to preserve your health and reverse diseases. She outlines a five-step process that will help you unlock the huge potentials of the gut and improve your gut–brain axis so it can share critical information with you on what the body truly needs.
Dimple’s goal is to empower people to use nutrition to prevent disease, and through this accessible, exhaustive book, shows you just how you can do that.

 

Doing Business in Uncertain Times
Doing Business in Uncertain Times || Ramesh Nair

Doing Business in Uncertain Times is a groundbreaking book which offers a comprehensive exploration of the complexities and challenges faced during economic downturns. It is divided into fifty thought-provoking chapters that present a unique and multifaceted perspective on downturns, providing instrumental guidance to entrepreneurs and business leaders through Nair’s extensive research and expertise,. Shining a spotlight on three key perspectives: business, clients and people, it will teach you to unlearn and relearn, shun past notions, push limits, develop new strengths and realize the potential that lies within you.

 

Poorna Swaraj
Poorna Swaraj || M. K. Gandhi, Dhananjay Rai

Time and again, Mahatma Gandhi’s life, work and philosophy have played pivotal roles in bringing positive change in society. Poorna Swaraj, through its reading of the Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place, opens a window to his vision of attaining real and complete independence or ‘swaraj’ for India. With his ideas on communal unity, prohibition, basic education, emancipation of women, advisasis’ concerns, farmers’ distress, removal of untouchability, demystification of leprosy, the role of khadi, charkha, village and small-scale industries, among others, Poorna Swaraj brings to light Gandhi’s road map for an egalitarian society.

 

The Nirvana Express
The Nirvana Express || Mick Brown

From Edwin Arnold, whose epic poem about the life of the Buddha became a best-seller in Victorian Britain, to the occultist and magician Aleister Crowley; and from spiritual teachers Jiddu Krishnamurti, Meher Baba and Ramana Maharshi to the controversial guru Rajneesh, The Nirvana Express is an exhilarating, sometimes troubling journey through the West’s search for enlightenment.

 

Soul and Sword: https://penguin.co.in/book/soul-and-sword/

Soul and Sword
Soul and Sword || Hindol Sengupta

Hindol Sengupta is one of India’s most awarded and read historians. He is the winner of the Wilbur Award, the Valley of Words Award, the PSF Prize and the Kalinga Literary Award for his writing. He has been shortlisted for the Hayek Prize given by the Manhattan Institute in memory of the Nobel laureate economist F.A. Hayek. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and was trained in Indian history and international relations at the University of Oxford and the Geneva School of Diplomacy, and in business and finance at Columbia University. He is the author of ten previous books and lives in New Delhi.

 

Common Yet Uncommon
Common Yet Uncommon || Sudha Murty

Written in Sudha Murty’s inimitable style, Common Yet Uncommon is a heartwarming picture of everyday life and the foibles and quirks of ordinary people. In the fourteen tales that make up the collection, Sudha Murty delves into memories of childhood, life in her hometown and the people she’s crossed paths with. These and the other characters who populate the pages of this book do not possess wealth or fame. They are unpolished and outspoken, transparent and magnanimous.
Their stories are tales of unvarnished humans, with faults and big hearts.

 

Black Money and Tax Havens
Black Money and Tax Havens || R Vaidyanathan

In Black Money and Tax Havens, R. Vaidyanathan provides the reader with a brief overview of black money-its generation, its estimates and how and why it is spirited away to tax havens. He also lays bare the danger that is posed to world financial well-being on account of the lack of political will to tackle these issues. A unique and timely work, this book packs in much information in an accessible manner.

 

Roman Stories
Roman Stories || Jhumpa Lahiri

In ‘The Boundary’, one family vacations in the Roman countryside, though we see their lives through the eyes of the caretaker’s daughter, who nurses a wound from her family’s immigrant past. In ‘P’s Parties’, a Roman couple, now empty nesters, finds comfort and community with foreigners at their friend’s yearly birthday gathering-until the husband crosses a line.

And in ‘The Steps’, on a public staircase that connects two neighbourhoods and the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy’s capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city: visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home.

These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri’s adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz.

 

Another Sort of Freedom
Another Sort of Freedom || Gurcharan Das

Another Sort of Freedom is a funny, moving and honest memoir of a man’s struggle to break free from expectations. Gurcharan Das was born in Lyallpur, Punjab, during World War II, when Hitler, Churchill and Hirohito were bashing everyone around. His mother noted in her diary, ‘This is a restless baby.’ By age two he had become ‘a difficult child’, and by three she was calling him a ‘troublemaker’. He discovered one day that he could run, and he has been running ever since.

 

Sakina's Kiss
Sakina’s Kiss || Vivek Shanbhag, Srinath Perur

Exquisitely translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur, Sakina’s Kiss is a delicate, precise meditation on the persistence of old biases—and a rattled masculinity—in India’s changing social and political landscape. Ingeniously crafted, Vivek Shanbhag interrogates the space between truth and perception in this unforgettable foray into the minefield of family life.

 

COMING SOON

Triveni
Triveni || Gulzar

In Triveni are birds perched on branches, moonstruck musings, a house of straws, walking roses and unbridled desires of the heart. The poems are inhabited by lost lovers, unreturned books and bloodsucking rumours. A poetic form unique to Gulzar, Triveni is a confluence of three of India’s majestic rivers—the golden-hued Ganges, the deep green Yamuna and a third, the mythical one that lies beneath the former two, the Saraswati.
A form Gulzar began experimenting with in the 1960s, Triveni comes close to several classical Japanese forms of poetry such as the Haiku, Senryu and Tanka. The closest Indian forms to Triveni are the doha and shayari. In this stunning translation by Neha R. Krishna, Triveni have been transcreated as tanka and are ladled with musicality, breaking away from the charm of rhyme and metre. This collection, too, is a confluence or sangam of forms and nothing short of a gift from one of India’s most beloved poets.

A Glimpse into the Life of Chambalgarh’s Famed Tigress, Mallika

Step into the heart of the wild with Gargi Rawat in her latest book, Tiger Season. Join the suspenseful journey as the jeep navigates the wilderness, heartbeats racing, in search of the elusive tiger. Then, a breathtaking moment unfolds — Mallika, Chambalgarh’s iconic tigress, comes into view, embodying the essence of India’s majestic wildlife.

Read this excerpt to get a glimpse of the life of Tigress Mallika.

Tiger Season
Tiger Season || Gargi Rawat

***

The jeep lunged forward to reposition itself and my breathing accentuated with the change in gears. Jaya too was desperately checking her camera settings as our guide and driver moved the jeep for a more panoramic view.

 

I felt on edge and the constant shift of the gearbox, the braking of pedals and the sound of an ageing chassis was adding to my stress. The monkeys continued their chattering and occasional hooting, but they had stopped the alarm call. The sambar had stopped calling as well. Maybe the tiger had settled down? Not a good sign as I couldn’t spot it!

 

The vines on the banyan tree to our left suddenly moved and I jerked my head around for a closer look. It was only a peacock dislocating a broken shoot that dropped on its way down to those grey thick roots.

Everything was silent again and my heart sank. Time was running out. We had been filming for three days in this vast expanse of green with not so much as a sighting of even a sliver of tiger stripes.

 

I looked back to see Jaya scowl at me, her mouth pursed forlornly. In any case, we would have to be out of the park soon, and our team of driver and guide were becoming restless.

‘We have to leave soon,’ said the driver, Lakhan Singh. ‘I don’t want to lose my driving permit.’
I wish you would, I thought to myself unkindly but did not say it aloud. I was irritated and stressed. It also wasn’t the best-kept jeep in the world, and he hadn’t done much to help us in our quest anyway.

 

‘Chalo then, let’s go,’ I said resignedly after another few minutes.

He switched on the engine and, with one final look around, the jeep took off on the dirt road. Lakhan Singh had to swerve round the almost 180-degree bend in the track, only to brake suddenly. We nearly fell and just about managed to steady ourselves.

 

I was on the verge of scolding Lakhan but was rendered speechless.
There she was!

It was Mallika, sitting languidly, sprawled across the breadth of the road, barely metres away from where we were positioned. We hadn’t seen her because of the curve in the road and the tall grass had blocked our view. I gripped Jaya’s arm, only to realize she was already
filming.

 

The most overwhelming sensation at that moment was the hush of stillness that had descended around us. Here was perhaps the most famous tiger in the world, the greatest ambassador of her species. I felt a swell of emotion rising but suppressed it as it reached my throat.

Lakhan Singh and Faiz, our guide, appeared even more excited than I was. Relieved perhaps. I had to hold Lakhan Singh’s shoulder to calm him down as he took photos with his phone. Then I carefully took out my own phone to get some pictures as well.

 

For a tigress of her age, Mallika looked in good form. Her coat had yellowed with the onset of summer, and apart from a missing canine, there was little that suggested she was seventeen years old, by no means young for a species that seldom survives beyond fourteen years in the wild.

No other predator in the wild had been filmed, photographed or documented for as long and as much as Mallika. By observing her, scientists and writers, filmmakers and photographers had learnt much about the behaviour of tigers in the wild.

 

She had brought up no less than twelve tigers to adulthood, and her progeny now inhabited different parts of the Chambalgarh jungle in Rajasthan. According to some, even farther afield.

 

It was with good reason that Mallika had found such fame; India retained almost 70 per cent of the world’s wild tiger population, and within the country, Chambalgarh was considered the most accessible tiger reserve of them all. And its most famous inhabitant was Mallika, the grand dame of the park.

 

Tourists and journalists had flushed her with titles, each according to their experience of her behaviour. Some called her ‘the lady of the mountain’, basing their name on her frequent sightings atop the most prominent hill of Chambalgarh.

 

Others referred to her as ‘bear slayer’, following on her determined onslaughts against the formidable sloth bears that grant tigers only a cursory respect. One story claimed that a sloth bear had killed one of her cubs, sparking her lifelong, deadly feud against them. A particular video of her wounding and then killing a large sloth bear after a prolonged encounter had even gone viral on YouTube.

She was a photographer’s delight. Over the years, magazines had carried various prize-winning photographs of her, on a hilltop, looking down on the vast expanse of the forest, swimming across the lake with three cubs and fiercely facing down a bear.

 

Right now, she remained sitting on the road, licking a paw and casually looking about her, with a constant flicking of her tail.

***

Get your copy of Tiger Season by Gargi Rawat wherever books are sold.

Let’s Test the Special Theory of Indian Cooking! ​

Ever wondered how to whip up the essence of India’s diverse flavors in your own kitchen? Krish Ashok‘s The Illustrated Masala Lab has the answer! Dive into an inquisitive world where cooking algorithms meet urban ingredients, and unlock a symphony of irresistible tastes. Ready to revolutionize your cooking game? You might to test the special theory of Indian Cooking!

Read this excerpt to spice up your life, one recipe at a time!

The Illustrated Masala Lab
The Illustrated Masala Lab || Krish Ashok

***

Special Theory of Indian Cooking(Conditions Apply)

 

Let us first get the conditions out of the way. This generalized set of algorithms will not cover every single culinary tradition in India. It will, for the most part, restrict itself to urban, middle class India, the kinds of ingredients that are likely to be available and cooking techniques that are practical in a smallish apartment. So, no tandoors, no wood fire and no nomadic horseman-style dum cooking by burying meat and rice into the ground with coal embers.

 

The second condition is that culinary traditions in India not only vary across state and linguistic boundaries, but also by caste and community, which is why the examples here will largely be restricted to the kinds of dishes available in run-of-the-mill restaurants. So forgive me if I have missed out Cudappah cuisine while including Hyderabadi. The intent here is to arm you with a way of thinking that will help you make a specific dish from, say, Odisha with confidence. The algorithms themselves may not cover every single sub-cuisine in the country. If this chapter ignores your community and state’s cuisine, it’s not deliberate. The examples are for representative purposes only. You can instantiate a version of this for your cuisine rather easily.

 

The third and final caveat is that we shall keep aside that universe within a universe of starters, snacks and tiffin items, because trying to cram that in will be the equivalent of boiling the Indian Ocean. Instead, we shall stick to gravies, rice dishes, breads, chutneys/raitas and salads. These algorithms will give you a wide-enough repertoire to start with. The rest of the journey, as always, is up to you. Treat this like high-school science education. University is on you.

 

So, the special theory of Indian cooking starts with the all-important question: What do you want to cook? Depending on your answer, you can opt for the following paths:

1. The Indian gravy algorithm: This will present a generalized algorithm and metamodel for preparing vegetables, legumes, meat or eggs in a sauce-like gravy that is flavoured in a specific regional style, like Malabar, Punjabi or Bengali.

 

2. The rice dish algorithm: A generalized method for preparing steamed rice, flavoured rice, khichdi, pulao and rice for biryani. There are numerous other ways of cooking rice in the subcontinent, but these five are the most utilitarian.

 

3. The Indian bread algorithm: Standardized and consistent methods for preparing doughs for unleavened breads (chapatti and paratha), leavened breads (naan and kulcha) and non-gluten-based breads (bajra or jowar roti). We will stop at the dough stage because rolling and baking/tawa operations are better learnt by watching an experienced hand. You can’t learn it from a book.

 

4. The chutney and raita generator: A metamodel for generating your own chutney and raita recipes from whatever ingredients you have available.

 

5. The salad generator: A metamodel for generating your own salad recipes by hitting the right balance of greens, crunch, protein, acid and flavouring.

 

The second question to ask is: How do you want to make this dish?
1. I’d like to see what’s in my fridge and pantry and make the best of it.

2. It’s my wife’s birthday and she is from Panjim, so I am looking to make a dish that evokes a specific regional cuisine, say pork vindaloo.

 

Once you have the answer to this, you need to execute Step 0, which is prepping the ingredients, after all consistency and productivity require you to approach home cooking the way restaurants do it. Also, prepping is not just cleaning and chopping, it includes a whole range of activities from brining to marinating to steaming and sautéing, all of which will make you a better home cook. In fact, a lot of prep work is actually cooking for the most part.

 

***

Intrigued to know more?

Get your copy of The Illustrated Masala Lab by Krish Ashok wherever books are sold.

Translated Treasures for your Bookshelf!

India has twenty-two official languages and many dialects spoken across the country. As we gear up to commemorate International Translation Day on 30 September, we bring a selection of classics translated from Indian languages to English which promise to introduce readers to great writers who would be lost without their translators.

Celebrate the beauty of translation as we open the doors to diverse stories from Marathi, Sanskrit, Assamese, Bengali, and Hindi. While the books represented are a tiny representation of the classic works in these languages, we hope it gives you a flavour of the region and helps you appreciate our diversity.

 

Shyamchi Aai
Shyamchi Aai || Sane Guruji

Translated from Marathi by Shanta Gokhale

In the words of author Sathya Saran, ‘Shanta Gokhale’s translation carries within it what I believe is the spirit of the original. The prose runs softly like a smooth flowing river that, even as it meanders its way through tricky terrain, manages to avoid any hurdles.’

Narrated over the course of forty-two nights, Shyamchi Aai is a poignant story of Shyam and his Aai—a mother with an unbreakable spirit. This evergreen children’s classic is an account of a life of poverty, hard work, sacrifice and love.

 

Tales from the Kathasaritsagara
Tales from the Kathasaritsagara || Somadeva

Adapted from Sanskrit by Rohini Chowdhury

Do you know the story of Phalabhuti, who narrowly escaped a grisly fate?

Or of the kind-hearted Jimutavahana, who was willing to give his life to save a snake from death?

Or of young Shringabhuja, who married a rakshasa’s daughter?

These are just some of the many tales that make up Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara, a classic work of Sanskrit literature that is full of memorable characters. Within the pages of this book, you will encounter demons and demi-gods, faithful guards and foolish villagers, golden swans, magic pots and even automatons made of wood!

 

Taniya
Taniya || Arupa Patangia Kalita, Meenaxi Barkotoki

Translated from the Assamese by Meenaxi Barkotoki

From the pen of Sahitya Akademi-winning Arupa Patangia Kalita’s comes her only children’s novel to date — Tainya. A timeless classic in Assam, the book has been masterfully translated in English by veteran Assamese translator Meenaxi Borkotoki. 

Told in a non-linear format, the book traces Taniya’s journey from the foothills of Bhutan to her final resting place. The antics of this Bhutanese cocker spaniel captured in Kalita’s unmatched storytelling style tugs at all the right heart strings making it quite impossible for you not to react as you read long. An endearing story, the novel is a must-read for pet lovers and readers of Indian literature in translation, alike.  

 

Timeless Tales
Timeless Tales || Vijaydan Detha

Translated from Marwari by Vishes Kothari

Giving a new lease of life to Vijaydan Detha’s ‘Batan ri Phulwari’, Vishes’s is a hand-picked compilation of the much-loved Rajasthani folktales—a fourteen-volume collection written over a span of nearly fifty years.

Retold in Detha’s magical narrative style complete with imagery, this selection offers some of the oldest and most popular fables from the Thar Desert region. Discover tales of handsome rajkanwars, evil witches, exploitative thakars, miserly seths, clever insects, benevolent snakes and more.

 

Another Dozen Stories
Another Dozen Stories || Satyajit Ray, Majumdar Indrani

Translated from Bengali by Indrani Majumdar

A tribute to Ray’s immaculate literary genius, this collection of short stories brings alive the magical, bizarre, spooky and sometimes astonishing worlds created by Satyajit Ray.

Featuring an extraordinary bunch of characters, the book contains Ray’s original artworks that will leave you and the little ones asking for more!

 

A Winter's Night
A Winter’s Night || Premchand

Translated from Hindi by Rakshanda Jalil

The ten stories in this book are an ideal introduction to Premchand and his concerns and ideas that remain relevant to this day.

The world in the book is inhabited by people like Halku, forced to spend the bitterly cold winter night in the open, without a blanket; Kaki, the old invalid aunt, ill-treated by her own relatives; and Shankar, reduced to being a bonded labour for the sake of a handful of wheat. Premchand describes their plights with unflinching honesty. Yet all is not hopeless in this world. There is also little Hamid, who buys tongs for his old grandmother rather than toys for himself; Ladli, who saves her share of puris for her blind aunt; and Big Brother, trying in vain to remember the strange names of English kings and queens.

 

Learn the Power of Financial Planning with Abhijeet Kolapkar

Are you tired of financial uncertainty? Dive into Abhijeet Kolapkar‘s groundbreaking book, Money Works where he demystifies the art of financial planning. With a checklist that lays out practical steps, this excerpt hints at the transformational journey from money worries to money mastery.

Money Works
Money Works || Abhijeet Kolapkar

***

What Experience Reveals

Most of us live simple and straightforward lives; 90 per cent of our lives follow a pattern—school, college, job, marriage, life after marriage and retirement. We try hard to plan our lives. For example, in our twenties, we plan to finish our studies, buy a home by age twenty-seven, a car by age twenty-nine, and so on.

 

  • Our dreams need to be converted into goals to bring them to life. Pre-planning and execution are essential to achieve these goals.Also, backing our dreams with financial planning is important.

 

  • Most of us realize the importance of financial planning only as we cross our forties; however if we had realized the need for it in our twenties, a lot of our issues of the present might never have surfaced.

 

‘We do plan our finances but that does not last long.’

‘Is financial planning really necessary?’

‘Financial planning is not as easy as it seems.’

 

We hear such statements about financial planning.
Financial planning is clearly not unnecessary, and it is actually neither difficult nor impossible. It is a simple and straightforward process. What is really needed is to do it with the right intention and make sure you are proceeding with diligence.

 

Checklist for Successful Financial Planning

1. Plan your finances as early as possible: Delaying financial planning is injurious to your long-term financial health. Don’t start financial planning when emergencies arise.

 

2. Stay away from an extravagant lifestyle: Never celebrate by taking loans. Remember this line.

 

3. Avoid overuse of credit cards: One should use a credit card only when it is absolutely necessary. Using it just to avail of offers should be avoided.

 

4. Avoid comparing your situation with others: Know your limits. Instead of looking at what others are buying, think about whether those items are necessary and affordable for you. Understand your situation before spending.

 

5. Prioritize savings over spending: Expensive cars, gadgets and lifestyle choices may make you look rich, but will not make you a rich person. Prioritize saving and investing your earnings.

 

6. Save at least 5–10 per cent of your earnings every month: The first step in financial planning is to save every month and invest it to provide for emergencies.

 

7. Avoid financial investments you don’t understand: It is best to stay away from the type of investments you have no clue about.  In case you still want to go ahead, do so with the help of a financial adviser. Practise caution while investing.

 

8. Buying an insurance cover is a must: Insurance is not an investment but a productive tool to financially cover yourself or your family members in emergencies. That is why everyone should get health insurance, accident insurance and term insurance.

 

9. Invest for the long term: To get the benefit of compounding, invest a major portion of your savings in long-term options.

 

10. Regularly re-evaluate and review your financial strategies: You may have planned a robust financial strategy but failed to implement it or made a few wrong financial decisions. To understand this, you need to frequently review your financial strategies.

 

○ Re-evaluation: The goals based on which we decided on our investments in the past may change. For example, you may feel that saving money for your children’s higher education is more important than buying an expensive car, which was your earlier goal.

○ Review: We can re-prioritize our goals based on our current needs, after periodical reviews.

 

11. Discuss your strategy with your partner: Have a healthy discussion with your partner about your financial goals. Whether your partner is an earning member or not, you should consider their point of view as well.

 

12. Be ready for change: Life is full of surprises—be prepared, mentally and financially, to face any unexpected situations that may arise.

 

13. Read up on financial matters: You should regularly engage with financial newspapers, magazines, blogs and social media pages. Also, you should have books on the subject handy in your personal library.

 

14. Don’t be an emotional fool! Many a time we make decisions based on our emotions, which may lead to financial losses.  Hence, you should stay away from overconfidence, lack of confidence, haste, work, anger, greed, lust, jealousy, etc., while making your financial decisions.

 

15. Self-confidence is essential: No one can play your part better than you. That is why you need to study the subject of finance in depth and make the right decisions to get the most out of your wealth.

 

With this checklist, you can start financial planning based on the goals you want to achieve

***

Get your copy of Money Works by Abhijeet Kolapkar wherever books are sold.

Know Your Fitness Personality to find the Ultimate Fitness Happiness!

Ever felt lost in the fitness maze? Say goodbye to the confusion as we dive into Yasmin Karachiwala‘s latest fitness book. The Perfect 10 isn’t just a read – it’s your roadmap to fitness happiness. Experience the magic of matching your exercise style with your fitness goals. From easygoing routines to intense challenges, there’s a workout made just for you.

The Perfect 10
The Perfect 10 || Yasmin Karachiwala

***

Finding your fitness happiness is very important if you want to make a lifelong commitment to fitness because you cannot sustain something that doesn’t give you joy. Increasing the want factor is about identifying your exercise personality and customizing an active lifestyle for yourself. And while many people like the pushing, the shouting, the yelling, the looking into-the-mirror-and-pumping, not everyone does. As there are people, there are fitness personalities, and identifying yours could be key to you sticking to a routine and giving yourself something to look forward to.

Ready to discover your fitness persona? Take this exciting quiz and find your perfect fit!

***

Get your copy of The Perfect 10 by Yasmin Karchiwala wherever books are sold.

From Bottom of the Pyramid to the ‘Middle of Diamond’​

In his new book, Middle of Diamond India writer Shashank Mani talks about a big change happening in India. As India celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary of being independent, something important is taking place. Instead of only big cities and rich people being the focus, more attention is going to people from smaller towns and areas. These folks are often called the “middle class.” This change is different from before when we mostly noticed the rich and the poor, reshaping the conventional pyramid analogy into a more encompassing and multifaceted diamond-like structure.

Read this insightful excerpt to know more about what Middle of Diamond truly means.

Middle of Diamond India
Middle of Diamond India || Shashank Mani

***

Morphing a Pyramid to a Diamond

 

As India crossed its seventy-fifth anniversary of Independence, this upsurge has picked up pace. Those from Tier 2 and 3 districts, such as Ahmednagar or my native Deoria, are now in the majority and asserting themselves. The aspirations of this segment are on the rise. The language barrier remains—Indian languages and hesitant English versus the annexe-honed English of the cantonment or a metro. But the centre of gravity has shifted firmly to this segment in the middle. This new centre will define the political, social, cultural and economic trajectory of the country over the coming twenty-five years.

 

In a paper published in 2002, C.K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart, two renowned management professors, came up with the phrase ‘Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’. Prahalad expanded this theory into a book,1 which described the emerging market demography as a Pyramid. It invited corporates to search and seek a fortune at the Bottom if they made goods and services to appeal to people with lower incomes and cash flows.

 

About a decade ago, analysts began to sense that this reality was shifting with the emergence of the Middle. A 2010 World Bank report divided the 7 billion of the world’s population into four broad categories of countries. There were countries with a population of about a billion where per capita GDP was above $12,000. Another one billion lived in countries where the per capita GDP was between $4000 and $12,000. A third group of countries, to which India belonged, had a population of 4 billion and a per capita GDP range of between $1000 and $4000. Finally, one billion people lived in countries with a per capita GDP below $1000.2 The vast majority—four billion—were in countries in the Middle. As the number of people in extreme poverty fell sharply, the vision of the world as a Pyramid, with a small number of elites gazing down at the poor from their perch at the top, was getting outdated.

 

Middle of Diamond ImageOver the past decade, that ‘emerging middle’ has risen further, consisting of 800 million Indians and shaping countries like India into a Diamond.

 

If we look at an economic classification of India in 2020, it had approximately 200 million Indians at the top with an average per capita GDP of Rs 4 lakh per year, or $5000, which in PPP terms is close to $15,000 per capita. The bottom segment consists of 400 million Indians, with a per capita income of Rs 80,000 per year or $1000, which translates to $3000 in PPP, poor even by sub-Saharan standards. The remaining 800 million people comprise the ‘emerging middle’ with a per capita income of Rs 1.5 lakh or $2100 per capita, which translates to $6000 in PPP terms, now a clear majority. The top of this Diamond-shaped India earns 2.6 times more than the middle and almost five times more than Bottom. These numbers are averages, with each segment having higher and lower incomes. What the world calls Indian ‘middle class’ resides mostly at the bottom end of the Top. The vast majority of those in the Middle are ‘emerging middle class’, or simply ‘Middle India’. Middle India has around 800 million people, 11 per cent of the global population. On a PPP basis, the Middle has, on an average, a GDP that is the same as the whole of India, at $6000 per capita in PPP terms.

 

Middle India can also be broadly located in the 750 districts that make up our country. Each district will have some proportion of the Top, Middle and Bottom segment, but if we take an average classification, a diamond shape emerges here too. The top segment resides in thirty metro and Tier 1 districts, such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Thane, Gurgaon and others, and on average coincides with the top income segment. When I studied at Modern School, Humayun Road, I was rubbing shoulders with the children of these Indians. These districts have approximately 160 million Indians, and in the main, they are prosperous. On the other extreme are 470 Tier 4 districts where 460 million Indians live, largely coinciding with the bottom income segment. These districts are smaller in size and on average are still poor, such as the district of Dhemaji in Assam or Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. Sandwiched between these two segments are 240 districts classified as Tier 2 and Tier 3 districts where 780 million Indians reside—57 per cent of India’s population, in places such as Allahabad in UP, a Tier 2 district, or Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, a Tier 3 district. The US, that other large democracy, also witnessed a similar morphing after the Second World War as expressed by Edward Humes, ‘After the war, economic distribution in the US began to resemble a diamond, relatively small number of poor and rich at either end, with a big fat middle at the centre.’ The post-Second World War growth of the US was also powered by a similar shift.

 

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Get your copy of Middle of Diamond India by Shashank Mani wherever books are sold.

‘Fall’ in Love with these Audiobooks!

As the leaves begin to change and the cozy embrace of autumn envelops us, let’s kindle a love affair with these enchanting audiobooks that are as comforting as a warm cup of tea on a crisp fall day. From ancient legends to thrilling cyber mysteries, these stories will engage your senses and tug at your heartstrings leaving you craving for more.

 

Victory City
Victory City || Salman Rushdie

In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for the Goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga – literally ‘victory city’ -the wonder of the world.

 

Cyber Encounter
Cyber Encounters || Ashok Kumar, O.P. Manocha

Cyber Encounters delves deep into the nebulous cyberspace, to bring twelve fascinating accounts of cybercrime. Ashok Kumar, DGP, Uttarakhand Police and a veteran in the systematic fight against cybercrime in the state, and OP Manocha, an ex-DRDO scientist, unfold a specific type of cybercrime in each tale, based on a true story. Packed with information on the crime, its investigation and the apprehending of the criminals, this illuminating insider account is a must-read.

 

Do Different
Do Different || Amit Sinha, Joy Bhattacharjya

in Do Different, we offer diverse perspectives on the man: from a fellow wicketkeeper and competitor reminiscing on Dhoni’s early years; to MSD’s first agent with his perspective on the journey of brand Dhoni; to an international fast bowler who played with MSD since his first-class days and then starred for him in the Indian Premier League.

 

The Force Behind The Forces
The Force Behind The Forces || Swapnil Pandey

The Force behind the Forces is a collection of seven true stories of eternal love, courage and sacrifice. Written by an army wife, Swapnil Pandey, this book brings to light moving stories of unimaginable valour in the face of broken dreams, lost hopes and shattered families. It proves that bullets and bombs can only pierce the bodies of our soldiers, for their stories will live on in the hearts of these brave women forever, women who have dedicated their lives to the nation, without even a uniform to call their own.

 

Eden
Eden || Devdutt Pattanaik

Eden explores the vast world of Abrahamic myths from a uniquely Indian prism, through storytelling that is intimate but not irreverent, and to introduce readers to the many captivating tales of angels, demons, prophets, patriarchs, judges and kings. It also retells stories from Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Zoroastrian mythologies that influenced Abrahamic monotheism over time.

 

The Perfect 10
The Perfect 10 || Yasmin Karachiwala

The Perfect 10 will show you that all it takes is ten minutes a day to start that journey and will be packed with exercise plans, movement ideas and lifestyle changes punctuated by stories of real journeys of real people. Get up. Move with Yasmin Karachiwala. And see how your body and your life changes.

 

Office Secrets
Office Secrets || Harish Bhatt

Office Secrets offers a selection of fascinating and useful secrets that can help you be far more successful at your workplace. As a bonus, they can make you happier as well. You will find within a range of subjects-whether the best methods of fighting exhaustion, organizing your work desk, the power of listening, why kindness is so important, workplace lessons from Hercule Poirot and what you can learn from the cookies that your colleagues eat.

 

Bravehearts of Bharat
Bravehearts of Bharat || Vikram Sampath

 

History has always been the handmaiden of the victor. ‘Until the lions have their own storytellers,’ said Chinua Achebe, ‘the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter!’ Exploring the lives, times and works of the fifteen long-forgotten and mostly neglected unsung heroes and heroines of our past, Bravehearts of Bharat brings to light the contribution of the warriors who not only donned armour and burst forth into the battlefield but also kept the flame of hope alive under adverse circumstances.

 

The Winning Way 2.0
The Winning Way 2.0 || Anita Bhogle, Harsha Bhogle

In The Winning Way 2.0, Harsha Bhogle and Anita Bhogle share the key elements that make a winning team. Answering key questions on management and strategy, the authors highlight some important points to remember, making them easier to interpret and understand by comparing them to certain aspects of cricket.

Sita's Ascent
Sita’s Ascent || Vayu Naidu

Inspired by myriad age-old and culturally diverse retellings, Vayu Naidu creates a rich, deeply moving and original work of fiction, Sita’s Ascent illuminates the physical and emotive landscape of a woman in exile, who crosses the desert of loss and ascends the abyss of abandonment with the power of love that transforms the narrators and the listeners.

 

Check Out Our Latest Audiobooks for Children!

The Magic of the Lost Temple
The Magic of the Lost Temple || Sudha Murty

City girl Nooni is surprised at the pace of life in her grandparents’ village in Karnataka. But she quickly gets used to the gentle routine there and involves herself in a flurry of activities, including papad making, organizing picnics and learning to ride a cycle, with her newfound friends.
Things get exciting when Nooni stumbles upon an ancient fabled stepwell right in the middle of a forest.
Join the intrepid Nooni on an adventure of a lifetime in this much-awaited book by Sudha Murty that is heart-warming, charming and absolutely unputdownable.

 

The Magic Drum and Other Favourite Stories
The Magic Drum and Other Favourite Stories || Sudha Murty

Sudha Murty’s grandparents told her some of these stories when she was a child; others she heard from her friends from around the world. These delightful and timeless folk tales have been her favourites for years, and she has recounted them many times over to the young people in her life. With this collection, they will be enjoyed by many more readers, of all ages.

 

Taatung Tatung and Other Amazing Stories of India’s Diverse Languages
Taatung Tatung and Other Amazing Stories of India’s Diverse Languages || Vaishali Shroff

Early humans leaving messages on cave walls; three men on a raft stumbling upon a language they weren’t looking for; a secret language that evolved to hide a people; the world’s only undeciphered language that is 4000 years old. The stories in this book take you from the northeastern-most tip of our country to the forests in central India, from indigenous languages that are thousands of years old to those that have developed recently.

Engrossing, entertaining, and packed with trivia, this book is for non-fiction lovers and students, who have a keen interest in all things India.

Dhruva’s Pearls of Wisdom to Help You Find Your Path!

Step into the world of wisdom with Dhruva by Gauranga Darshan Das. The book presents Dhruva’s insights on relationships and success in simple yet profound ways. Learn to communicate better, nurture connections, and achieve success while embracing positivity and self-improvement with Dhruva’s Pearls of Wisdom.

 

Dhruva
Dhruva || Gauranga Darshan Das

***

Dhruva’s Pearls of Wisdom

Relationship Sutras

1. Restrict the urge to speak stiffly and raise the intensity to speak sweetly.
2. Using pleasing words can make a wonderful world within you. Why not be happy free of cost?
3. When you envy others for what they have, you forget what you have. So, beware of envy.
4. Replacing superiority complex with sensitivity and envy with appreciation wins us more friends.
5. Get rid of pride by recognizing how blessed others are. Dismiss envy by seeing how blessed you are
6. Negativity is like seeing dark clouds. Positivity is like embracing the rain. Make your choice.
7. Let’s be wise to seek opportunities to grow amidst reversals and inspire others to do so.
8. Finding hope in hopeless situations is indeed a herculean task. Why not seek help from the One who arranged it all?
9. Let other’s misbehaviour not stimulate our ill behaviour.
10. When you see good in others, you replicate the way God sees you.
11. Don’t be too eager to point out other’s flaws, give them space to realize on their own.
12. Our heart is too tiny to accommodate all sorts of dirt and the Divine at the same time. Let’s cleanse the heart from the dirt of greed, envy and pride.
13. Modern age austerity is to stop gossiping and start speaking for others’ benefit.
14. Selflessness enlivens relationships while selfishness estranges them.
15.  Disapproval of others’ misdeeds is necessary but disowning them is not.
16. Be grateful to those who guided, inspired and supported you. Start with your mother.
17. Get rid of the heavy weight of ‘grudges’ to lighten your heart.
18. Devotion doesn’t stop the rains of distress but it equips you with an umbrella.
19. Never give up your love for your dear ones and tag it as philosophy
20. 6. Rejecting the entire basket of fruits just because one is rotten will make you miss the real sweetness.
21. While selfish agendas expressed through violence are barbaric, selfless service accompanied by necessary violence brings about true peace.

 

Success Sutras

1. It’s not worth being impulsive or getting unduly affected by difficulties. Let’s seek the solution that lies beyond lamentation.
2. An unshakable resolve despite reversals and tests is a time-tested formula for success.
3. It’s wise to learn from those relatively more successful than you instead of being envious.
4. It’s worth befriending someone who is equally successful instead of competing.
5. It’s sensible to guide someone who is not as successful as you instead of being oppressive.
7. Focus on a character that inspires people’s hearts rather than accomplishments that impress their minds.
8. The mind makes us deliberately commit downtrodden acts and then fools us by claiming it to be a mistake.
9. While hoping for the best, we shouldn’t put our hands to rest.
10. Stop worrying about useless thoughts and start pulling your mind away from them. It’s difficult but not impossible if we are determined!
11. With character and determination in place, age and gender don’t even qualify as criteria for success.
12. Don’t be overconfident in your power, seek empowerment from the source of all power— God.
13. Determination means to terminate our temptations. Guidance means finding out how to do so.
14. Let your success make others happy but don’t equate making others happy with success
15. A mother can play the role of a mentor, father, brother and whatnot. Can anyone repay her?
16. Make sure your ‘detachment’ doesn’t become ‘irresponsibility.’
17. Don’t be too possessive about temporary possessions or positions.
18. When the world seems to be full of pains, recognize them to be your mind’s endless complaints. Win the war within to defeat the wars without.
19. Want to dismiss peace? Then give anger a seat.
20.  For the soul this world is foreign. Be a holiday maker, not a stress receptor.
21. Don’t decorate the golden cage (body) forever. Remember to nourish the hungry bird (soul) that’s starving within

 

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Get your copy of Dhruva by Gauranga Darshan Das wherever books are sold.

A Glimpse into Durjoy Datta’s Latest Novel: World’s Best Girlfriend

Unlucky Aanchal turns the tables in Durjoy Datta‘s latest novel World’s Best Girlfriend. Winning a Mahindra Holidays trip to the Andamans could finally break her streak of bad luck and misfortune, but what happens when a charismatic stranger enters the scene? Get ready for a ride of fate, love, and unexpected twists!

Read this exclusive excerpt to know more about the meet-cute (or is it meet-not-so-cute?) You decide!

World's Best Girlfriend
World’s Best Girlfriend || Durjoy Datta

***

Three months ago, a Mahindra Holidays employee had hounded me at Big Bazaar to fill up a contest form: 
One Lucky Winner Gets a Fully Paid Vacation to the Andamans!  

 

We, the Madans, never fill out contest forms because we are the exact opposite of lucky. Everything we touch turns to ashes. It’s as if God didn’t shuffle the card deck before dealing them to us. All we got were cards of humiliation, frustration, despair and hunger.  

A year after I was born, Papa’s new shop—Aanchal Stationery—closed down. A few months later, a tree fell on his scooter.  

When I was three, Maa fell down while bathing me and has three crooked toes and a slightly unbalanced walk to remind her of that.  

My younger brother’s birth was supposed to change the tide. He, too, failed. When I was four, I stepped on my brothers hand and broke two of his fingers. He made it worse in the following months by getting sick too often and draining money on antibiotics, injections and visits to the emergency ward.  

When I was eight, Papa’s second store—now named Ankit Stationery—shut shop.  

 

Our family turned to religion. The pandits said, Griha bhari hain, once the stars align, we will bathe in cold and sleep in silk. Poojas and havans, rings on our fingers, lockets on our necks didn’t change our fortunes. 

When religion didn’t work, we turned to academics. It was our last bastion: luck could be broken by the surety of mathematics, science, geography. For six years, I stood second in class and missed out on the school scholarship.  

 

Maa’s stitching business lost money.  

Papa got beaten up after his tuition students failed.  

We lost our savings in the bank scam. 

Mobiles were snatched from our hands.  

We never once won anything in a contest or on a scratch card.  

Until this Mahindra Holidays vacation. 

Only because I filled up that form. I saw the resort on the pamphlet. I saw the people in the images. It was everything I wanted. 

 

Our conversation is cut short by a boy’s compelling, booming voice.  

‘Amit, Daksh here, it’s my first time with Mahindra Holidays. I’m so glad you’re trying to get the rooms ready for us. We really appreciate that,’ he says in his gravelly, husky voice. ‘But we have some old people in the group with low blood sugar, and my sister is too young to be waiting this long.’ 

 

His voice is deep, like it’s coming from inside a cave. It reverberates inside my rib cage even though he’s ten yards away from me. I stand on my toes to get a good look at him, but all I can see is his floppy hair.  

 

‘I understand—’ 

 

‘You absolutely don’t, Amit, or you would have given us a correct time estimate earlier. Now, one of two things is going to happen. Either all of us are going to the restaurant and we’ll have a long, leisurely breakfast for free till you get things sorted here, or all of us are going to post reviews on Tripadvisor and Google with heartbreaking images to go with it. I promise you, Amit, I will make the old people lie down here and photograph them as if they are dying.’  

 

The confused crowd mumbles in agreement. 

Amit’s smile slowly disappears and a frown settles in.  

He tells the group that he will talk to the management and get back to us in fifteen minutes. It doesn’t take him that long.  

 

‘The restaurant is straight ahead and then right,’ Amit informs us dryly, his voice devoid of any enthusiasm. ‘Mahindra Holidays is always working to deliver your best vacation.’  

 

Free breakfast.  

Maa squeezes my arm excitedly.  

‘That boy’s clever,’ whispers Maa.  

‘Not clever,’ I respond. ‘Just rich. Had I paid for this vacation, I would have fought too.’  

‘You just said we deserve to be here, Didi,’ taunts Ankit. ‘You could have fought. Instead, you were very happily having welcome drinks.’  

‘Shut up.’ 

‘Maybe our luck’s changing,’ says Papa, brightly.  

 

I shake my head to warn him. Papa is the only optimist among the four of us, even though he has suffered from the legendary bad luck of the Madans the most. He should know better than anyone that whenever things seem to go our way, something goes wrong. Over the years, we have learned to not laugh a lot, or allow ourselves to be very happy. The law of averages works against us. 

 

We follow the hotel staff to the restaurant. That’s when I see the boy for the first time. He’s in a loose black T-shirt and a pair of black shorts. His hair is glorious, falling over his ears. He is the colour of wet sand, his jawline is jagged, and he has a high forehead. He’s handsome in a way boys are when they are just turning into men. I first think he’s carrying a bag in his hand. When I look closely, I see it’s a little girl. He’s carrying her like a sack, and she’s bobbing, giggling and squealing happily in his grip. He’s carrying her as though she weighs nothing. When he turns, I see his eyes. There’s a sense of surety in them, a sense of danger, a sense of entitlement and definitely, arrogance.  

 

***

Get your copy of World’s Best Girlfriend by Durjoy Datta wherever books are sold.

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