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India is nothing but a plethora of stories and voices telling those stories. While new stories take birth in our country every day, there are some that have been passed down to us since decades. Some that introduced us to the idea of freedom, while some freed us with poetry. Some spoke about religion and some against it. Some spoke about kings and some about the coolies and postmen that worked for them. The launch of the Penguin India Classics store is that secret door in the closet that brings you to the world of Manto and Tagore, Nehru and Kalidasa, all waiting to be explored by you, yet again in this day and age.

Arthashastra by Kautilya

A master strategist who was well-versed in the Vedas and adept at creating intrigues and devising political stratagems; Kautilya’s genius is reflected in his Arthashastra which is the most comprehensive treatise of statecraft of classical times. The text contains fifteen books which cover numerous topics viz.; the King; a complete code of law; foreign policy; secret and occult practices and so on. While  written mainly in prose. Arthashastra also incorporates 380 shlokas.

Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru

The book started from ancient history, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote at length of Vedas, Upanishads and textbooks on ancient time and ends during the British raj. It is a broad view of Indian history, culture and philosophy. The book is considered as one of the finest writing om Indian History and was written by Nehru during his imprisonment at Ahmednagar fort for participating in the Quit India Movement (1942-1946), paying a homage to his beloved country and its rich culture.

Coolie by Mulk Raj Anand

Coolie portrays the picaresque adventures of Munoo, a young boy forced to leave his hill village to fend for himself and discover the world. His journey takes him far from home to towns and cities, to Bombay and Simla, sweating as servant, factory-worker and rickshaw driver. It is a fight for the survival that illuminates, with raw immediacy, the grim fate of the masses in pre-Partition India. Together with Untouchable, Coolie places Mulk Raj Anand among this century’s finest Indian novelists writing in English.

Loom of Time by Kalidasa

Kalidasa is the greatest poet and playwright in classical Sanskrit literature and one of the greatest in world literature. Kalidasa is said to have lived and composed his work at the close of the first millennium BC though his dates have not been conclusively established. In a brilliant new translation, this volume offers his two most famous works, the play Sakuntala, a beautiful blend of romance and fairy tale with elements of comedy; and Meghadutam (The Cloud Messenger), the many-layered poem of longing and separation. Also included is Rtusamharam (The Gathering of the Seasons), a much-neglected poem that celebrates the fulfillment of love and deserves to be known better.

Babur Nama by Dilip Hiro

The Babur Nama, a journal kept by Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (1483–1530), the founder of the Mughal Empire, is the earliest example of autobiographical writing in world literature, and one of the finest. Against the turbulent backdrop of medieval history, it paints a precise and vivid picture of life in Central Asia and Afghanistan—where Babur ruled in Samarkand and Kabul—and in the Indian subcontinent, where his dazzling military career culminated in the founding of a dynasty that lasted three centuries. Babur was far more than a skilled, often ruthless, warrior and master strategist. In this abridged and edited version of a 1921 English translation of his memoirs, he also emerges as a sensitive aesthete, naturalist, poet and lover. Writer, journalist and internationally acclaimed Middle eastern and Central asian expert, Dilip Hiro breathes new life into a unique historical document that is at once objective and intensely personal—for, in Babur’s words, ‘the truth should be reached in every matter’.

Selected Stories by Saadat Hassan Manto

This collection brings together some of Manto’s finest stories, ranging from his chilling recounting of the horrors of Partition to his portrayal of the underworld. Writing with great feeling and empathy about the fallen and the rejects of society, Manto the supreme humanist shows how the essential goodness of people does not die even in the face of unimaginable suffering. Powerful and deeply moving, these stories remain as relevant today as they were when they were first published more than half a century ago.

Laws of Manu

The several Brahmin hands who wrote the Laws of Manu drew on jurisprudence, philosophy and religion to create an extraordinary, encyclopedic model of how life should be lived, in public and in private, by Untouchables as well as by priests and kings, by women as well as by men. The Sanskrit text was first translated into English in 1794, and translations into other European languages swiftly followed.  No understanding of modern India is possible without it, and in the richness of its ideas, its aphoristic profundity and its relevance to universal human dilemmas, Manu stands beside the great epics, the Mahãbhãrata and the Rãmãyana. Many commentators find Manu contradictory and ambiguous; others perceive a clear thematic integrity; and the argument is renewed by Wendy Doniger and Brian K. Smith in their illuminating introduction. Wendy Doniger provides a landmark translation, the first authoritative English rendering this century. It is also the first to set the unadulterated text in narrative form, making it accessible and enjoyable both to specialist scholars and to a wider audience.

And these three wonderful books by the Nobel Prize-winner Rabindranath Tagore add a sparkling shine to our classics store!

Selected poems by Rabindranath Tagore

The poems of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) are among the most haunting and tender in Indian and in world literature, expressing a profound and passionate human yearning. His ceaselessly inventive works deal with such subjects as the interplay between God and the world, the eternal and transient, and with the paradox of an endlessly changing universe that is in tune with unchanging harmonies. Exuberant works such as ‘New Rain’ and ‘Grandfather’s Holiday’ describe Tagore’s sheer joy at the glories of nature or simply in watching a grandchild play.

The Postmaster (Selected Stories) by Rabindranath Tagore

Poet, novelist, painter and musician Rabindranath Tagore created the modern short story in India. Written in the 1890s, during a period of relative isolation, his best stories—included in this selection—recreate vivid images of life and landscapes. They depict the human condition in its many forms: innocence and childhood; love and loss; the city and the village; the natural and the supernatural.

Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore

Set against the backdrop of the Partition of Bengal by the British in 1905, Home and the World (Ghare Baire) is the story of a young liberal-minded zamindar Nikhilesh, his educated and sensitive wife Bimala, and Nikhilesh’s friend Sandip, a charismatic nationalist leader whom Bimala finds herself attracted to. A perceptive exposition of the difficulties surrounding women’s emancipation in pre-modern India, and a telling portrayal of the chasms inherent in the nationalist movement, Home and the World has generated endless debate and discussion. This classic novel by Nobel Prize-winner Rabindranath Tagore, first published in Bengali in 1916, is now available in a lucid new translation.

What are you waiting for? Head over the classics store and indulge in the love for classics to your heart’s content!

In the midst of the humdrum of daily life, we forget that this December is possible because of all the Decembers that came before this one. How 50 years ago, our brave heroes fought a war and kept us safe.  So, today and forever, let’s not forget the people who form the spine of that flag. Let’s never forget the ones who leave their families to protect our borders, those who shed real blood from their bodies and who fight so bravely that they safeguard a nation of a billion people.

On the 50th anniversary of the Indo-Pak war, we bring to you four books to pay homage to the soldiers who fought that reality, the families they left behind and their stories of strength, resilience, and love for the country.

The Lone Wolf

The Untold Story of the Rescue of Sheikh Hasina

Neha Dwivedi

The Bangladesh Liberation War was nearing its bloody end when Colonel Ashok Tara, then a twenty-nine-year-old major, was assigned the task of rescuing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s family which was being held hostage by the Pakistani Army. Ashok Tara, unarmed, entered the lion’s den, and negotiated with the hostile soldiers for the release of Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation and his family that included a young Sheikh Hasina. The Lone Wolf is Ashok Tara’s story, charting the course of his celebrated yet quiet life as a member of the armed forces.

The Burning Chaffees

A Soldier’s First-Hand Account of the 1971 War

Balram Singh Mehta

In 1971, India waged a momentous war against Pakistan. But before all-out war, an even more significant tank battle was fought on 21 November 1971 by the C Squadron 45 Cavalry, which demolished the Pakistani General A.A.K. Niazi’s plans of victory and set the stage for the utter routing of the Pakistani Army.

This battle was a victory and a decisive one at that. It was a trumpet call to the rest of the world of India’s intent to stand up for human liberty and dignity in this war of liberation.

On 3 December 1971, Pakistan declared war. The rest is history.

The Burning Chaffees is a thrilling account of the pivotal battle of 21 November by Brigadier B.S. Mehta.

1971

Charge of the Gorkhas and Other Stories

Rachna Bisht Rawat

Why do the Gorkha soldiers of 4/5 GR attack a heavily defended enemy post with just naked khukris in their hands?

Does Pakistan find out the real identity of the young pilot who, after having ejected from a burning plane, calls himself Flt Lt Mansoor Ali Khan?

Why is a twenty-one-year-old Sikh paratrooper being taught to jump off a stool in a deserted hangar at Dum Dum airport with a Packet aircraft waiting nearby?

1971 is a deeply researched collection of true stories of extraordinary human grit and courage that shows you a side to war that few military histories do.

The Force Behind the Forces Stories of Brave Indian Army Wives

Swapnil Pandey

Who continues to pay the costs of war long after our soldiers are gone?

There are many stories of courageous heroes at the borders, but how much do we know about the women standing strong behind them?

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 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.

These books and stories shall always honour the lives of those who fought for a cause that meant more to them than their own lives and remind us of the blood that was spent for us, lest we forget the bodies who shed it.

Watch out for these wealth-eroding investment errors! Four of the most damaging myths that persist in Indian investing:

1. Allocating funds in investments such as gold in the erroneous belief that gold will help us protect our wealth.

‘If we consider returns from gold in each of the three decades separately over the last thirty years, we see that gold has underperformed the Sensex by a wide margin.’

2. Investing hard-earned money in real estate believing it will help you grow your wealth

‘ In the last five years, if one were to look at the return rate from real estate in metropolitan cities in India such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, one would see that returns have been around 3–4 per cent per annum; i.e., house prices have at best kept pace with consumer inflation. ‘

3. Falling for the myth that debt mutual funds offer decent returns with low volatility

‘In spite of the repeated high-profile reverses suffered by prominent mutual fund houses who have high-risk, low-quality paper in their debt funds, the intermediary community continues to sell such products. ‘

4. Thinking you can time the stock market by timing the economic cycle, i can time the stock market on the belief that GDP growth drives the stock market!

‘More generally, across the world there tends to be low or no correlation between stock markets and GDP growth, implying that timing the stock market is not possible on a systematic basis.’

Did you just realize you’ve been making a few or all of these errors? Never fear, for the experts—-Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan and Salil Desai, are here! Based on in-depth research conducted by the award-winning team at Marcellus Investment Managers, Diamonds in the Dust offers Indian savers a simple, yet highly effective, investment technique to identify clean, well-managed Indian companies that have consistently generated outsized returns for investors.

A riveting account of a clandestine station in 1942 that broadcast recorded messages from Gandhi and other prominent leaders to devoted followers of the freedom struggle while moving from location to location to dodge authorities, reporting on events from Chittagong to Jamshedpur fighting the propaganda and disinformation of the colonial government for nearly three months—until their arrest and imprisonment in November of the same years. Here’s a book that follows the extraordinary story of Usha Mehta and her intrepid co-conspirators who filled Indian airwaves with the heady zeal of rebellion.

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In Ushaben’s words:

‘The die was cast. The patriotic urge moved the people to challenge the authority of the government in all conceivable ways. Sometime before the Quit India struggle started, some of my colleagues and I were thinking of what to do in case the movement was launched, because it was our hearts’ desire to contribute our humble might to the freedom movement. Demonstrations and public meetings did not appeal to us much from the very beginning. During the Dandi Satyagraha, some of my friends and I had done the work of distributing the illegal Congress bulletins by going from house to house. Now we began discussing how best we could contribute to the Quit India struggle. Babubhai Khakar, a businessman and a co-student in the rashtra bhasha (national language) class, joined us in the discussion. Based on my study of the history of revolutions in other countries of the world, I suggested that if we could establish a radio station of our own, it would help us very much in keeping the people informed about the latest developments in the movement. A perusal of the history of the campaigns had convinced us that a transmitter of our own was perhaps the need of the hour. When the press is gagged and news banned, a transmitter helps a good deal in acquainting the public with the events that occur. We had realized the tremendous propaganda value of a transmitter, and the idea that with a powerful transmitter we could reach foreign countries thrilled us. So, Babubhai, I and other colleagues decided to work for a Freedom Radio.

‘We began discussing ways and means for raising the necessary finances. Most of us were students and young individuals who had not yet settled in life. We discussed for many long hours but could not find a solution. Our only income then was the pocket money we used to receive from our parents and that was hardly adequate for financing our project. Just when we were on the point of dispersing in a dejected mood, my old aunt who was a widow and one who had participated in earlier freedom struggles and who was listening to our discussion from the adjoining room came out along with Manu, a close relative, with a box in her hands, and boosted up our morale by saying, “Children, do not worry. Here is my stree dhan, the box containing my jewellery gifted to me at the time of my marriage, which I have preserved all these years with great care. You sell it and use the money for your work.” When we hesitated, she said, “I am not sorry to part with my jewellery. What better use could I make of it than by putting it as an offering at the feet of Mother India?”

**

Usha Thakkar brings to life this high-voltage tale of derring-do, complete with stouthearted revolutionaries, thrilling escapes and a cruel betrayal in her new book Congress Radio: Usha Mehta and the Underground Radio Station of 1942.

When we were young, we’d study about the environment and how we as humans are contributing to its degradation. But that was just something we were told…as adults, we seldom do all we can as individuals to help the environment.

 “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw

The first step in a healthy environment is to understand it better. And here is a list of books to help you with just that. We all can do our parts to help the environment, and we must begin immediately.

Jungle Trees of Central India

Covering an area larger than France, and including five of India’s most visited tiger reserves, the forests of Central India are one of the country’s most iconic wildscapes. Jungle Trees of Central India is a lavishly illustrated and user-friendly field guide to every wild tree you are will see in this entire region. A culmination of four years of research, the book has over 2000 photographs with thumbnail keys to all the bark, flowers, fruit and leaves. An ideal companion for your travels in the region, this book will turn you into an expert tree spotter and take your enjoyment of wild places to another level.

Rage of the River

On 17 June 2013, a normally calm Mandakini came crashing down from the hills in Uttarakhand and destroyed everything in its path: houses, bridges, dams and the town of Kedarnath. Thousands of people perished and lakhs lost their livelihood.
Three years after the disaster, stories from the valley-of pain and sorrow, the state government’s indifference and the corporate goof-ups, and the courage and heroism shown by the locals in the face of an absolute catastrophe-still remain largely unheard of.

Churning the Earth

The world stands so dazzled by India’s meteoric economic rise that we hesitate to acknowledge its consequences to the people and the environment. In Churning the Earth, Aseem Shrivastava and Ashish Kothari engage in a timely enquiry of this impressive growth story. They present incontrovertible evidence o nhow the nature of this recent growth has been predatory and question its sustainability. Unfettered development has damaged the ecological basis that makes life possible for hundreds of millions resulting in conflicts over water, land, and natural resources, and increasing the chasm between the rich and the poor, threatening the future of India as a civilization.

The Vanishing

Every year, our planet loses over 150 species of plants and animals, and India is very much in the midst of this mass ‘sixth extinction’. We are losing species in our backyard—where are the once ubiquitous sparrows, or the fireflies that lit up our nights? And in the forests, iconic species like the great Indian bustards are down to a hundred, while flamingoes are poised to be wiped off the map of India.

The Girl and the Tiger

Isha is a girl who loves animals but struggles in the confines of school. When she is sent away to live with her grandparents on the Indian countryside, she discovers a sacred grove where a young Bengal tiger has taken refuge. Isha knows that the ever-shrinking forests of India mean there are few places left for a tiger to hide. When the local villagers also discover the tiger, Isha finds herself embroiled in a life or death cultural controversy.

Bones of the Tiger

Majestic and beautiful, ferocious and lethal, the tiger has captivated the imaginations of people the world over for centuries. Inspiring myth and folklore as a graceful creature and terrifying predator, this big cat has long paced the jungles of Asia in a history strewn with conflict between man and beast – man-eating tigers have terrorized people for centuries. But in the twenty-first century, this conflict has turned on its head – tiger-eating men fund a very lucrative black market for tiger parts, and poachers and habitat destruction have brought the population down to less than 3200 individuals in the world today. A true adventure tale, Bones of the Tiger tells the fascinating story of one man’s quest to save the man-eating tigers of Nepal.

Whispers from the wild

Some people talk about nature, others listen to it. Listening can reveal wonders like how to befriend an elephant, how to talk to a tiger and how to live in the jungle. Many such amazing experiences crowd this volume containing the unpublished writings from the early and last years of the well-known naturalist, the late E.R.C. Davidar, besides his acclaimed book Cheetal Walk. A lawyer by profession and a shikari-turned-photographer, he established maybe the first ever private elephant corridor in India, near his jungle-cottage, and undertook the first census of the Nilgiri Tahr along the entire range. The book is enriched with photographs from the family album, and not only enlightens us about wildlife and conservation in the Nilgiris, but becomes a memoir of a jungle lover and his family.

Animal Intimacies

What do we really know of the intimate-and intense-moments of care, kinship, violence, politics, indifference and desire that occur between human and non-human animals?
Built on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the mountain villages of India’s Central Himalayas, Radhika Govindrajan’s book explores the number of ways that human and animal interact to cultivate relationships as interconnected, related beings. Whether it is through the study of the affect and ethics of ritual animal sacrifice, analysis of the right-wing political project of cow protection, or examination of villagers’ talk about bears who abduct women and have sex with them, Govindrajan illustrates that multispecies relatedness relies on both difference and ineffable affinity between animals.

No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference

Everything needs to change. And it has to start today’ In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. This book brings you Greta in her own words. Collecting her speeches that have made history across Europe, from the un to mass street protests, no one is too small to make a difference is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

 In 2009, scientists identified nine planetary boundaries that keep Earth stable, ranging from biodiversity to ozone. Beyond these boundaries lurk tipping points. To stop short of these tipping points, the 2020s must see the fastest economic transition in history.
This book demonstrates how societies are reaching positive tipping points that make this transition possible: Activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion, or the schoolchildren inspired by Greta Thunberg demand political action; countries are committing to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions; and one tipping point has even already passed – the price of clean energy has dropped below that of fossil fuels.

Our planet isn’t doing that great. We know that. We hear it, read about it and even talk about it. But what really is the problem? Who is responsible, why is it happening and most importantly, what can we do?

The first step in the direction of change is awareness – understanding the problem and what steps we can take as individuals. And so, Penguin Random House India would like to share a list of some of the books that will help you get started on this journey.

Conflicts of Interest

India’s foremost environmentalist, Sunita Narain, gives a personal account of her battles as part of the country’s green movement. While outlining the enormous environmental challenges that India faces today, Narain talks about how corporate lobbies and political interests often scuttle their effective resolution. Conflicts of Interest also includes an ‘environmental manifesto’, a blueprint for the direction India must take if it is to deal with the exigencies of climate change and environmental degradation.

Environmentalism

In this book Ramachandra Guha, an acclaimed historian of the environment, draws on many years of research in three continents. He details the major trends, ideas, campaigns and thinkers within the environmental movement worldwide.

Massive in scope but pointed in analysis, written with passion and verve, this book presents a comprehensive account of a significant social movement of our times and will be of wide interest both within and outside the academy.

Thirsty Nation

Presented in the book are innovative, cutting edge ways to combat the water crisis and ways of investing in the right projects. The roles of technology, finance, and a general view of domestic and foreign investment in water are explored by the authors and practical and lucrative financial advice is offered making it an important book in the present ecological and financial environment.

The Vanishing

The Vanishing takes an unflinching look at the unacknowledged crisis that India’s wildlife faces, bringing to fore the ecocide that the country’s growth story is leaving in its wake—laying to waste its forests, endangering its wildlife, even tigers whose increasing numbers shield the real story of how development projects are tearing their habitat to shreds. It tells us why extinction matters, linking the fate of wildlife to ours.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet’s slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.