If you’re curious about how fermentation works, or what it is, read an excerpt from This Handmade Life by Nandita Iyer!
“Where there is life, there is fermentation.
This Handmade Life||Nandita Iyer
Microorganisms are intimately related to human life. Unlike the womb, the birth canal is teeming with bacteria. The journey of a baby from the womb to the outside world through the birth canal gives it the first dose of microbes. The baby’s microbiome continues to be nurtured by the mother’s milk, which was earlier thought to be sterile. Breast milk also feeds the existing gut bacteria in the baby, kickstarting the baby’s fledgling immune and digestive systems. Our first brush with bacteria continues into the rest of our life, until death and beyond. A study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on a fascinating census sorting all the life on earth by weight. The weight of bacteria on the planet is 1200 times more than the weight of all the humans on the planet. They are omnipresent, on our skin, inside our bodies and on the surface of all vegetables and fruits. When humans channelize the power of bacteria and fungi to benefit us, to add flavor to food and to modify food in a way we seek, it is called fermentation.
It is fairly simple, and you don’t need a degree in biochemistry to figure out how to ferment foods. By fermentation, we are harnessing the bacteria and yeast to do the cooking for us, pre-digesting food, creating flavors in a way we cannot do ourselves in the kitchen and providing more bioavailable nutrients.
Fermented foods are less prone to spoilage because harmful pathogens cannot survive in the acidic environment. It was used as a method to preserve food for longer when there was no access to refrigeration and other food preserving technology.
Using fermentation, we can make a variety of fermented beverages like whey sodas and ginger ales at home, reducing our dependence on artificially flavored and highly sugary drinks. These are not only low in sugar but have no artificial colors, preservatives or additives. Seasonal fruits, herbs, spices and pretty much any other natural produce can be used in these beverages. Homemade fermented beverages are also low in alcohol content, making a good replacement for alcoholic drinks for those who are keen to cut down on alcohol.
Eating fermented food regularly helps maintain a good gut microbiome. Gut bacteria play an important role in immunity, mental health, digestion, regulating blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and more. The majority of commercial ‘probiotic’ supplements don’t survive stomach acid. A thriving gut microbiome requires a regular intake of fermented foods and foods containing resistant starch (for example, raw papaya, plantain, beans and legumes, cooked and cooled rice or potatoes) that feed the good bacteria in the large intestine. Regular consumption of fermented foods also helps ease gut-related problems like acidity, bloating and poor digestion.
Homemade ferments have a microbial diversity that commercially made bottled fermented drinks lack, as they are inoculated with a set quantity of known strains. This is understandable as a fixed quantity of known microbes will give a predictable result and the standardization that commercial brands need. Fermentation makes vegetables fun. Raw carrots that are tooth-breakingly hard do very well with three days of lacto-fermentation. It is a great way to snack on carrots with hummus, or you can simply dice these and add them to salads for a beautiful flavor profile.
The brine can also be drunk diluted in water as a digestive beverage as it is full of beneficial bacteria. Fermentation is a step towards zero waste where excess produce can be preserved for longer or kitchen waste such as peels, pith and seeds of fruits like pineapple, mango, apples, etc. can be used to make sodas and vinegar.”
This Handmade Life is all about finding a passion and becoming really good at it. Divided into seven sections-baking, fermenting, self-care, kitchen gardening, soap-making, spices, and stitching-this book tells us it is all right to slow down and take up simple projects that bring us unadulterated joy. Get your copy of This Handmade Life today!
Amidst the giant business empires that run the globe today and the ceaseless power struggle that flows through them, sometimes, when the human race is particularly lucky, we’re able to witness the rise of a business family which works like a family, which rises to incredible successes and finds unique ways of tackling entrepreneurial complications.
One such story is that of the Bajaj family business, which rose to enormous success, where fathers taught their sons valuable lessons of business and sons chose to apply those creatively. Rahul Bajaj, the icon who was not only an entrepreneur, but a change-maker, shares in this excerpt from his biography written by Gita Parimal, the unmatched personality that his own father was.
Read on!
Rahul Bajaj || Gita Parimal
‘‘My father did not only act by his instincts,’ Bajaj (Rahul) recalls those moments stoically. ‘He would apply his intelligence rationally and objectivity to every issue, and yet with a touch of humanism. He had great faith in his analytical skills. He did believe in God, but his logical way of thinking ensured that he never sought the refuge of fate. He used to say that those who rely on fate achieve little; whatever one acquires is possible only through a scientific and objective approach.’
‘Kakaji founded and built upon the edifice of our business almost from ground up,’ Bajaj recounts. ‘He never involved himself or spent time in the minutiae of day-to-day activities, but he had a great grasp of business matters. If the need arose, he could give such insightful ideas and solutions that none of us could have ever thought of. It is because of such inputs that the Bajaj Group could rise to such heights within such a short span of time.’
‘True to his nature, he was never bothered about success or failure,’ continues Bajaj. ‘He believed only in action. He believed that a person ought to try his best to complete a task that has been taken up, irrespective of how difficult it might be. He felt that the line dividing success and failure is a very thin one.’ Bajaj adopted his father’s credo.’
If you’re intrigued to know more about Rahul Bajaj and the legend who transformed the face of the Indian automobile industry and more, get your copy now!
In recent times, whenever ancient Sanskrit works are discussed or translated into English, the focus is usually on the lofty, religious and dramatic works. Due to the interest created by Western audiences, the Kama Sutra and love poetry have also been in the limelight. But, even though the Hasya Rasa, or the humorous sentiment has always been an integral part of our ancient Sanskrit literature, it is little known today.
Anthology of Humorous Sanskrit Verses is a collection of about 200 verse translations drawn from various Sanskrit works or anthologies compiled more than 500 years ago. Several such anthologies are well-known although none of them focus exclusively on humor. A.N.D. Haksar’s translation of these verses is full of wit, earthy humor and cynical satire, and an excellent addition of the canon of Sanskrit literature.
Let’s read these excerpts from the book.
*
Anthology of Humorous Sanskrit Verses || A.N.D. Haksar
When his garb is simple space,
why does he need garments?
If he is covered in ashes,
what for any woman?
And if he does have a woman,
why hate Kama, God of Love?
Seeing all these contradictions
in the ways of his master Shiva,
the body of his servant Bhringi
is just a skeletal bag of bones.
1/2 v. 2399
He cannot read what others write,
his own script no one can read:
the curious thing about him is
that he himself cannot decipher
that of which he is the writer.
1/4 v. 2334
Cleverness in weighing goods
in purchase or sale
and tricks for confiscating deposits:
thus do they, these day-time robbers,
the traders steal from people.
2/14 SP v. 4035
Lakshmi sleeps on a lotus blossom,
Shiva on a hill of snow,
and Vishnu sleeps on a sea of milk.
I think this is because they are all worried
about the bed bugs where they lie.
4/1 SRB Hasya
Make love, lover, while you may,
for your youth is passing away.
When you are dead, who will give you,
with the funeral, a sweet cunt too?
4/8 v. 2366
With no meat or liquor,
nor robbery from others,
or causing them injury,
that official weeps all day.
4/10 SRB Hasya
The goddess of the state’s prosperity
sadly weeps, tears darkened by
ink drops trickling from the pen
of that clerk who plundered her.
4/14 SRB Hasya
No learning or eloquence,
not even any craftiness;
how can you then have, minister
the feeling of not being rewarded?
5/3 SM (HP v. 13)
‘What is it, mother, on top of his head?’
‘Son, it is the crescent moon.’
‘And what is that upon his forehead?’
‘That is his flaming eye.’
‘What’s in his throat?’
‘It’s a poison.’
‘And that thing below his navel?’
Hearing from her son this last,
Parvati covers his eyes
and puts her hand upon his mouth.
May she protect us always.
6/1 SMHP v. 1
**
Get a copy of this book of humourses verses from your nearest bookstore or online.
When it comes to business and management, a book written by one of India’s longest-running CEOs is as good as learning from the best. In The Art of Management, Shiv Shivakumar—formerly CEO of PepsiCo and current executive president of AdityaBirla—interviews 21 leaders from different Indian industries. By keeping an open mind and never saying no to learning, Shivakumar leans towards a more philosophical stroke of management. His sage advice on the transforming landscape borrows symbols and icons from popular culture for better comprehension.
The following excerpt talks about his view on management from the lens of the T20 model of cricket.
*
The Art of Management||Shiv Shivakumar
T20 has revolutionized cricket, and a number of innovations/practices from T20 cricket have now crept into Test cricket as well. Examples include the reverse sweep, slower bouncer, boundary relay catch, high fielding standards, running between the wickets, fitness of the players and, most important of all, the data and the insights from the data.
T20 is a brutal game. Yesterday’s captain is tomorrow’s twelfth man. Things are never so severe in the corporate world. You need a thick skin when you are a cricketer of the stature of Paul Stirling or Hashim Amla or Joe Root or Steve Smith or Adil Rashid, and you are not picked by any team. Even when picked, you are playing second fiddle. Life can turn out like that when you are on top of it on one day and down in the dumps the next day. Actors go through that in Bollywood and Hollywood.
The captain of a national team could be in the reserves in the Indian Premier League (IPL) team. M.S. Dhoni was dropped from the captaincy of the Pune team. No fans protested. I am sure people would have protested if Dhoni were dropped as captain of India. Captains are changed midway through the IPL. A captain has to make way and become a substitute player if the combination doesn’t work, as happened with a great like Ricky Ponting at Mumbai Indians.
This simple lesson in multiple capabilities is something we can apply in life and the corporate world. A single-skill cricketer does not have a role in the IPL team, however good he is at the international level. The best Test batsmen who cannot adapt to T20 don’t get picked, but the best bowler still has a chance. Teams tend to pick players with multiple skills—batting, bowling, fielding, wicket-keeping, captaincy. So these days, we need to have more capabilities in life and at the workplace as compared to the past.
Equally, one needs to adapt to a new world. One cannot play Test cricket and expect to succeed in a fast-changing world. This is a challenge for many managers past their prime. They are all digital immigrants and just don’t have a sense of how to work in a digital world. Rahane and Pujara in cricket are examples.
One has to constantly re-evaluate the capability set and be future-ready in life.
*
The Art of Management is now available at all major bookstores near you. Get your copy now!
Winged horses, tusked fish, shape-shifting snakes . . . Bovines that provide endlessly, raptors that devour senselessly. Some so colossal they block the sun, others so infinitesimal they defy vision. No myth is complete without its fabulous creatures, divine or demonic.
While exploring India’s many mythologies, Mudita and Adittya’s Mythonama introduces us to an array of animals, somewhat familiar in appearance yet incredible in ability.
Here are some excerpts from the book.
*
Krishna displays the fabulous Navagunjara (‘nine beings’) avatar to Arjuna, in an episode from the fifteenth century Sarala Mahabharata, composed in Odia by Sarala Dasa.
This cannot be an earthly creature, thought Arjuna, instinctively reaching for his bow. What stood before him was unseen, unheard of. A rooster’s head on a peacock’s neck; a bull’s hump on a lion’s torso; legs of a deer, tiger, elephant; a serpent’s tail; and a human hand holding a lotus—nine beings in one fantabulous form . . . Could it be divine? It is believed to be Krishna manifesting spectacularly to either reward Arjuna for completing his penance on Manibhadra Hill or, an eco-sensitive interpretation, to prevent him from razing Khandavaprastha to the ground. Realizing that a creature may not exist in human imagination but surely in god’s creation, Arjuna bows to the infinite wisdom of the universe.
BURAQ
BURAQ was the noble white steed of lightning speed, who effortlessly carried the Prophet ﷺ from Mecca to Jerusalem to heaven. A creature of lore, she appears in various artworks with a woman’s head, radiant mane, gem-laden crown, eagle’s wings, peacock’s tail and bejewelled throat. Some believe that the Prophet ﷺ climbed to heaven on a glittering ladder, having fastened Buraq to a wall. Today, we know it as the Buraq Wall or Wailing Wall.
MARDYKHOR
MARDYKHOR (manticore) was a man-eating monster with a scarlet lion-like body, a human face with blue-grey eyes, triple rows of razor-sharp teeth, a scorpion’s tail with spikes it shot (and promptly regrew) and impenetrable hide. It hid in tall grasses, lured men (even three at a time) with its flute- or trumpet-like crooning, paralysed them with toxic stings and devoured them whole, bones, clothes and all. It moved faster than anything and could kill anything except elephants. Creepy!
RE’EM
RE’EM was a Biblical unicorn, or perhaps an aurochs or rhinoceros because—horn. It was strong, swift, agile, untameable and possibly untrustworthy because—pride. One touch of its horn could detox and sweeten any water. Jews believe it dwarfed mountains and dammed the Jordan with its, erm, dung. It couldn’t fit in Noah’s Ark, so it was tied by its horn, allowing it to swim along and poke its mouth in to breathe and feed.
SIMURGH
SIMURGH was a benevolent bird deity with a canine head, lion’s claws, often a human face, peacock plumage, healing feathers and copper wings so strong it could carry a whale. It lived atop Saena, the Tree of All Seeds. When it took flight, the branches shuddered and sent millions of seeds across the world, creating life. It lived for 1700 years—witnessing the world’s destruction thrice and gaining endless wisdom—before diving, Phoenix-like, into flames.
**
Read in detail by getting your copy of Mythonama from a bookstore near you or by ordering online.
“A jack of all and master of none” is a quote that all of us are familiar with, but a majority of people do not know that the original quote is longer.
“A jack of all and master of none is still better than a master of one.”
Interesting isn’t it? When we pursue our academic dreams and try to land that dream job, extra-curricular activities often take a backseat. Here’s why you need to think out of the box to Get Job Ready!
Extracurricular activities help you go the extra mile
Your participation in extracurricular activities can help build your resume and land an internship or job in the future. While in college, extracurricular activities are amazing avenues to build core employability skills. Extracurricular activities are activities that fall outside of your regular academic work. In addition to helping you build necessary skills, extracurricular activities offer additional benefits. They can expand your thinking and perspective, increase your self-confidence, and build a network of friends. There is no one best extracurricular activity. What is best for you may be different from what is best for your classmate.
How to pick an extracurricular activity
Find an activity that you can enjoy and that helps you grow. A number of research studies have shown that students who participate in extracurricular activities perform better academically. Here are a few examples of extracurricular activities to help showcase and develop your employability skills:
Leadership in student government
Visual and performing arts participation
Community service volunteering or leadership
Academic clubs
Clubs representing professions and associations
Participation, awards, or outstanding achievements in hobbies and special interests
Tutoring experience
Sports-Team member, captain, or coach
Research projects
Leadership or other participation in on-campus media
Get Job Ready||Vasu Eda
Don’t hesitate to use your extracurricular activities to highlight your accomplishments and to illustrate your successes. Have you started an on-campus club, or had a significant role in one? Do your extracurriculars involve skills such as leadership as head of a club, managing events, marketing, writing, website design and development, creating policies, such as in student government, or research projects? Are you on a cricket, racquetball, badminton, or soccer team? Are you the captain of a team? Do you coach younger students? Do you have significant responsibility for taking care of a family member? All these skills can be important in a professional environment and can impress an employer.
If there’s an area that you want to be involved in or a leadership role that you want to take on, and the opportunity doesn’t exist on-campus, then create it. This will show future employers that you can take initiative, are a creative thinker, and a leader, and are not afraid to take on a challenge.
Grab your copy of Get Job Ready and get expert guidance on how to land your dream job straight out of college!
As the temperature outside rises, chill out with this curated collection of new releases, which includes a plethora of genres to satiate every bibliophile’s unique taste!
Char Adhyay (1934) was Rabindranath Tagore’s last novel, and perhaps the most controversial. Passion and politics intertwine in this narrative, set in the context of nationalist politics in pre-Independent India. Ela, a young working woman, comes under the spell of Indranath, a charismatic political activist who advocates the use of terror for the nationalist cause. She takes a vow never to marry, and to devote her life to the nationalist struggle. But she falls in love with Atindra, a poet and romantic from a decadent aristocratic family. Through their relationship, she becomes aware of the hollowness of Indranath’s politics. Afraid that she might expose them to the police, the political group gives Atin the task of eliminating Ela. In the dramatic final sequence of the novel, Ela offers herself to Atin, with tragic consequences.
This new translation, intended for twenty-first-century readers, will bring Tagore’s text to life in a contemporary idiom, while evoking the flavour of the story’s historical setting.
Whenever decorated officer Vishwas Nangre Patil recalls the memories of Diwali from his childhood days, the sounds of firecrackers often transform into the deafening grenade blasts from the night of 26/11. It was his grit, cultivated over the years from the neck-breaking labour of studying for the UPSC exams, that had enabled him to power on and gun down the terrorists inside the Taj Mahal Palace hotel during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Head Held High, translated from the Marathi book Mann Mein Hai Vishwas, is an account of IPS officer Vishwas Nangre Patil’s life-from his humble background, through school, college, long hours of studying for the UPSC examinations to the final selection to the IPS cadre and, eventually, his role in the counterterrorism operations during the Mumbai attacks. This moving and authentic account of the most formative and challenging years of his life is sure to strike a chord with those who aspire to join the Indian civil services.
Kalindi Charan Panigrahi was a notable poet and writer in Odia. He is credited for the short but influential movement in Odia literature called the Sabuja Yug which was the age of Romanticism, inspired by Tagore’s writings. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1971. Matira Manisha is his most well-known work. It has been translated into English twice before. Mrinal Sen made a film on this book and it received the National Film Award for Best Odia film in 1967.
The novel is, quite simply, the tale of two brothers, who have very different attitudes towards the land they inherit from their father. It talks about the breaking apart of the joint family and celebrates a Marxist and Gandhian approach to living.
India has a paradox of malnourishment as well as morbid obesity. While children have fewer weight-related health and medical problems than adults, overweight children are at high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults, placing them at risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life. They are also more prone to develop stress, sadness, and low self-esteem.
The contributing factors could be many, besides genetic makeup and medical factors like hypothyroidism and Cushing’s Syndrome. Children today spend far more time on screens than playing games outdoors, more so in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Energy-dense foods and drinks are more readily available now than before. Psychological factors like stress also lead to overeating and increase the risk for obesity in childhood.
The book is a comprehensive roadmap for prevention and management of childhood obesity by one of India’s top bariatric surgeons. With real life case studies and examples, the book helps parents and children chart a roadmap to recovery and a fitter, healthier life. Without corrective action, there could be serious implications for future generations.
Anthology of Humorous Sanskrit Verses||A.N.D. Haksar
In recent times, whenever ancient Sanskrit works are discussed or translated into English, the focus is usually on the lofty, religious and dramatic works. Due to the interest created by Western audiences, the Kama Sutra and love poetry has also been in the limelight. But, even though the Hasya Rasa or the humorous sentiment has always been an integral part of our ancient Sanskrit literature, it is little known today.
Anthology of Humorous Sanskrit Verses is a collection of about 200 verse translations drawn from various Sanskrit works or anthologies compiled more than 500 years ago. Several such anthologies are well-known although none of them focus exclusively on humor. A.N.D. Haksar’s translation of these verses is full of wit, earthy humor and cynical satire, and an excellent addition of the canon of Sanskrit literature.
MoveMint Medicine||Dr. Rajat Chauhan, Dr Darren Player
Dr Rajat Chauhan and Dr Darren Player have seen it all. They know what it is like to break real and imaginary obstacles when it comes to exercising, whether it’s for peak performance or getting back from a disease or achieving optimal health. Drawing from a range of experiences, MoveMint Medicine empowers readers to become CEOs of their own bodies and mind-not by pushing one to the limit but by building on small victories.
Dr Chauhan and Dr Player focus on a widely ignored element of exercising: the mind. This book goes against the grain by drawing readers attention to mental health and its importance for one’s physical self. Never preachy and always funny,
MoveMint Medicine is the only book one needs to read to become a better version of oneself.
Lily Tharoor was born in a small village in Kerala in the mid-1930s. From this humble beginning, she would live around the world, raise three global citizens, and inspire multiple generations with her drive to learn and achieve. Fiercely independent and ambitious, she pushed her children, including her son Shashi, to always think outside the box. The only ground firm enough to stand on, she told them, is the one written into existence by your own hand.
In Good Innings, Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan tells her mother Lily’s ‘extraordinary, ordinary’ story through a combination of personal reflections, life lessons, and philosophical insights. The result is a collection of teachable vignettes aimed to galvanize a new generation into growth and action. Every chapter starts with an anecdote which will encourage conversations and transformations in the reader’s life. Good Innings is an intimate account of the life of a beloved matriarch with a modest background and an iron will-a woman who learned from the school of life and now has lessons to share of her own.
Unstoppable will take you on a journey with the best and the brightest of young Indians who overcame obstacles to achieve extraordinary success and shaped the community around them.
This new-age story of success is made interesting due to the author’s narrative, stories of young overachievers in business, sports, music, academia and entertainment, research by renowned experts in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, genealogy, social sciences and leadership, and action plans that will help you define and achieve your full potential.
If you have the drive to achieve something, this book will help you become unstoppable.
Our coasts are large, vast wildernesses that witness the mystical pageantry of life. They have given us monsters and myths, they are fathoms deep and full of whispers, home to unknown creatures and sprawling ecosystems. They are chasms of beauty and frontiers of possibility. From the space between land and sea, revealed only at low tide, comes a coruscating kaleidoscope of colours and brilliance: the intertidal zone. And the marine lifeforms of these zones are capable of superpowers. Yes, superpowers! Of the kind that comic book characters can only dream of.
The Indian coastline hosts some magnificent intertidal species: solar-powered slugs, escape artist octopuses, venomous jellies, harpooning conus sea snails, to name just a few. It is as biodiverse as a forest wildlife safari, and twice as secretive. From bioluminescence and advanced sonic capabilities to camouflage and shapeshifting, these cloaked assassins are capable of otherworldly skill. Superpowers on the Shore by Sejal Mehta is a dazzling, assured look at some of the creatures with whom we share our world, our water, our monsoons, our beaches and the sandcastles therein.
Come witness the magic of our intertidal superheroes, their fragile beauty and their iridescent drama. Put on your waterproof shoes, pack a bottle of whimsy, bring your sense of wonder. And prepare to be mesmerized.
This Handmade Life is all about finding a passion and becoming really good at it. Divided into seven sections-baking, fermenting, self-care, kitchen gardening, soap-making, spices and stitching-this book tells us it is all right to slow down and take up simple projects that bring us unadulterated joy.
Written in Iyer’s signature lyrical and friendly style, the book is about hands-on activities that can be meditative and healing for the body, mind and soul. Taking the reader through myriad personal and transformative hobbies, Iyer has managed to serve up a book that is motivational and inspirational at a time when both are in short order.
Some said children were out of the question, but she is a mother of two boys.
Some said she couldn’t handle business life, but she has interviewed over a hundred CEOs, and counting.
Some said she wouldn’t be able to write a book on mental health, but here it is. Aparna Piramal Raje is happy, thriving and bipolar. And this is her story.
Part memoir and part self-help guide, Chemical Khichdi provides a pathway for anyone with a mental health condition and the family, friends, colleagues, and medical professionals that love and care for them.
Empathetic, candid and accessible, it outlines ‘seven therapies’ that have enabled Aparna to ‘hack’ her mental health and find equilibrium over the years, and shows how you or someone you know can also do the same.
In Charbagh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a short detour from the Grand Trunk Road that leads towards Afghanistan, stands a chinar tree in the garden of Khan Mohammad Usman Khan. Legend has it that it was planted by a saint known to the grandfather of the Khan, who had told him that the family would prosper till this tree survived. The tree has stood for generations, a silent witness to the many stories of Charbagh, its grounds held sacred until the day a bullet fired by the oldest son of the Khan hit one of its branches.
In this debut collection of interlinked stories, the banker author recounts the stories as seen by the chinar tree. In Charbagh, a village where modernity slowly creeps in, there are tales of unrequited love, of family honour and religious persecution, of patriarchy and breaking its shackles, and of what it means to belong to Charbagh in tumultuous times.
Here, Fahad Khan falls in love with Saad Bibi, but it is a dangerous affair that threatens to uproot social norms. An imam competes with another for devotees, and an air-crash survivor-turned-teacher is charged with the crime of blasphemy. In Charbagh, Nazo learns why she has been sent away from her family, and Ali finds out how far friendship and trust can go. A banker struggles to make sense of his misfortunes, while Farid Khan must acquaint himself with a woman’s rejection.
Beginning from the 1970s, when the Indus was dammed near Charbagh, these stories chronicle a time and a place of belonging, of nostalgia, and of relationships and friendships. The Whispering Chinar is an extraordinary debut collection that tells stories from an unknown part of our world.
Mumbai was almost submerged on the fatal noon of 26 July 2005, when the merciless downpour and cloudburst had spread utter darkness and horror in the heart of the city. River Mithi was inundated, and the sea was furious. At this hour of torturous gloom, Rohzin begins declaring in the first line that it was the last day in the life of two lovers, Asrar and Hina.
The novel’s protagonist, Asrar, comes to Mumbai, and through his eyes the author describes the hitherto-unknown aspects of Mumbai, unseen colours and unseen secrets of the city’s underbelly.
The love story of Asar and Hina begins abruptly and ends tragically. It is love at first sight which takes place in the premises of Haji Ali Dargah.
The arc of the novel studies various aspects of human emotions, especially love, longing and sexuality as sublime expressions. The emotions are examined, so is love as well as the absence of it, through a gamut of characters and their interrelated lives: Asrar’s relationship with his teacher, Ms Jamila, a prostitute named Shanti and, later, with Hina; Hina’s classmate Vidhi’s relations with her lover and others; Hina’s father Yusuf’s love for Aymal; Vanu’s indulgence in prostitutes.
Rohzin dwells on the plane of an imagination that takes readers on a unique journey across the city of Mumbai, a highly intriguing character in its own right.
Careers are changing, and the capabilities required to stay relevant are changing even more rapidly. We seem to have endless choices, at least at the beginning of a career, but these start narrowing after middle management. How does one think about one’s own life and career in this changing decade?
In this book, Shiv Shivakumar points out that today, unlike in the past, all the three elements are your responsibility. With in-depth interviews with top leaders across the spectrum and an insightful foreword by Sachin Tendulkar, The Art of Management is a must-read.
Over the last two decades, the disruption brought about by data and technology has created a wide chasm between marketing strategy and what really works in the marketplace.
Made in Future is a groundbreaking new book that seeks to recast marketing from a white sheet, with an incisive view of how vast changes in media, content, influences and people’s expectations have come together to write a new story of marketing.
The book challenges a lot of the accepted wisdom of the past, yet is brutal where the hype is ahead of substance. In the process, it offers an alternative journey that is conceptually whole, makes you think and helps you follow it all up with pragmatic decisions.
Is it possible for society to exist without religion? Nireeswaran, the most celebrated of Malayalam novelist V.J. James’ works, uses incisive humour and satire to question blind faith and give an insight into what true spirituality is.
Three atheists, Antony, Sahir, and Bhaskaran, embark on an elaborate prank to establish that God is nothing but a superstition. They instal a mutilated idol of Nireeswaran, literally anti-god, to show people how hollow their religion is. Their plan starts turning awry when miracles start being attributed to Nireeswaran-a man waking up from coma after twenty-four years, a jobless man ineligible for government employment getting a contract, a prostitute turning into a saint-leading hordes to turn up to worship the fake deity.
The trio is put in a quandary. Will they fight their own creation? Is their intractable minds an indication that atheism is a religion in itself? Belief and disbelief, it is possible, are two sides of the same coin.
Today, we depend on technology for fulfilling almost all our needs. One thing that can be easily predicted about technology is that it is dynamic and the speed of change is intense. This book is about the new roles we need to play in our technology-oriented world. Discussing themes such as AI, machine learning and the Internet
of Things, among others, the book prepares readers for massive technology-led disruption. It provides
them with information and observations on a variety of technology-related subjects so that they can pivot
on a space as small as a coin when they need to. This book is the ultimate guide that can help readers remain relevant in the fast-changing world of technology.
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world we live in, more so than all the recent events put together. The pandemic has made humans question certain assumptions, relook at priorities and adjust life according to the new normal in the twenty-first century. As we take stock of life ahead, beyond this cusp of change, focus emerges as the fulcrum to help ease this transformation.
The Art of Focus, the second book in this three-part series, presents forty-five simple stories filled with revelations to enthral readers with learnings from the experiences of the protagonists and the dynamics of the situations that manifested in their lives.
The first book in the series, The Art of Resilience, presented ingredients to the readers to help them develop resilience in challenging situations that manifested at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Art of Focus builds on the first book and inspires the resilient heart to develop a focused mind. This collective presentation will better equip the readers to take charge of their lives and adapt to the new normal effectively.
Can one make sunscreen from saffron? Can hemp oil help heal acne? How does madder root help cure hyperpigmentation? Beauty Unbottled is a unique DIY guide on how to use herbs and plants to turn your kitchen into a beauty lab. Learn how to treat hair loss, frizz, dandruff and premature greying with powerful Ayurvedic kitchen herbs. Create your own masks, moisturizers, serums and shampoos with superfoods like neem, tulsi, jasmine and sandalwood-herbs that are revered in Ayurveda. Explore the alchemy of Ayurveda and its long-lost, forgotten beauty
secrets with simple step-by-step skin and hair recipes (with vegan options) in this definitive guide and self-help book. This book will also guide you to read and understand labels, have a balanced diet for a healthy body and choose ingredients that are super effective yet gentle on you and mother earth.
Kavita Khosa, the founder of the award-winning skincare brand Purearth, brings to this book her years of experience in Ayurveda and expertise as an organic cosmetic science formulator. Beauty Unbottled debunks urban
beauty myths, drawing upon scientific research and time-honoured classic Ayurvedic texts. Rooted in Ayurveda, this book invites you to celebrate the skin you are in!
The island came out of the golden pot of Ma Kamala, which she gave to the pirate Pedru to rule. However, there are mythical and mystical elements to the story about how Dhanapati is not only the village headman but also the giant tortoise of lore that swam in from depths of the oceans and fell asleep here to be seen when the waters recede in the winter months.
Dhanapati was the last Pedru, but he was now old and blind, unable to rule his island for long. He then gifted it to his seventeen-year-old wife, Kunti. Will Dhaneshwari, the new ruler, be able to save the island and its women from the lustful eyes of the administration? Or will the government acquire the island? Or will Kunti be able to cast her spell and get the old tortoise to float away with the island on his back?
The Island of Dhanapatir combines the elements of myth, allegory and magic realism with a folklore of rare beauty.
If you find someone’s diary, would you dare open it?
Well, if you chance upon your old diary, would you dare read through your past?
Iti is forced to move back to her hometown of Mussoorie amid worldwide lockdown to work on her first movie script. Iti’s chance encounter with her first love, Nishit, reunion with her estranged best friend, Shelly, and nights spent reading her well-kept diary, make her best memories and worst nightmares come to life. She has always run away from her past, but now has no choice.
Will reading her diary prove to be an adventure worth taking for completing the script? Will life be the same? Ever?
Set in the COVID-19 lockdown, from the national bestselling author of On the Open Road and You Only Live Once, Where the Sun Never Sets is a riveting personal account of unforgettable childhood dreams, turbulent teenage years, complicated close relationships, human resilience, and the never-ending journey of growing up.
A cab driver, who assumes the identity of whoever his clients want him to be, finds himself in a tricky situation with a passenger. A late-night call leads a doctor down a path of lust and desire, but with unexpected results. A writer acquaints himself with a thief who had broken into his house. A migrant worker falls in love but wonders how he can present himself as a suitor. A young man, having lost the love of his life, takes it upon himself to resolve another couple’s dilemmas.
Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo’s sometimes bizarre, sometimes tender stories, set largely in Goa, create a world far removed from the sun and sand and the holiday resorts. Here you find villagers facing moral choices, children waking up to the realities of adult lives, men who dwell on remorse, women who live a life of regret and communities whose bonds are growing tenuous in an age of religious polarization. Probing the deepest corners of the human psyche with tongue-in-cheek humour, Mauzo’s stories reveal the many threads that connect us to others and the ease with which they can be broken. Written in simple prose and yet layered in nuances, The Wait is a collection that brings to the anglophone world one of the doyens of Konkani literature.
Stuck-up to Start-up is a step-by-step guide to launching your start-up without quitting your job and exploring new opportunities in a post-covid-19 world. It is suitable for those millions of professionals who are stuck in their job traps and who have dreams of starting someday but don’t know ‘how’. The book answers the ‘how to’ questions that most people have but don’t know whom to ask.
The book has been carefully crafted to become an essential handbook for students at business schools, and for every professional worth his dreams. Neeraj brings the flavour of sharing from his life that’s vivid and real to the reader, which connects with the reader and has high retention value. This enables readers to enhance their clarity, decision-making and effectiveness at work and in life to launch their start-up and rapidly scale up with ease, grace, power and freedom.
Sarojini Naidu was a prolific writer and speaker, publishing three collections of poetry during her life and delivered many rousing speeches throughout the freedom struggle and after India gained Independence. This book compiles her best-known work, as well as letters she wrote throughout her life to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and others, to provide a glimpse into the kind of person she was and the ideas she believed in.
Through these pages, we can witness her innermost thoughts and feelings, and the important role she played in shaping the country’s freedom struggle and its ideas as a young nation, particularly through rousing speeches on the Education of Indian Women and the Battle of Freedom is Over, which were broadcast over the All India Radio on 15 August 1947.
When A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada entered the port of New York City on 17 September 1965, few Americans took notice–but he was not merely another immigrant. He was on a mission to introduce ancient teachings of Vedic India to mainstream America. Before Srila Prabhupada passed away at the age of eighty-one on 14 November 1977, his mission was successful. He had founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), colloquially known as the ‘Hare Krishna Movement’, and saw it grow into a worldwide confederation of more than 100 temples, ashrams and cultural centers.
This is the inspirational story of Srila Prabhupada. As the founder of ISKCON, he ’emerged as a major figure of Western counterculture, initiating thousands of young Americans’.
He has been described as a charismatic leader who was successful in acquiring followers in many countries, including the United States, Europe and India. Srila Prabhupada’s story is bound to put you on a path of self-realization.
This summer, add these refreshing reads to your TBR pile and read the heat away!
For bookish parents, these long summer vacations are a blessing. Sure, there’s holiday homework and the sweltering heat, but summer break is the best time to inculcate good reading habits in your kids.
Start summer right for your little one with the help of these May releases!
*
Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure by Ruskin Bond
Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure||Ruskin Bond
Ages: 9+ years
Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Ruskin embarks on a literary journey and reaches England after charting unknown waters. Greeted by the uncertainties of a new city, he muses over his loneliness, switches jobs, falls in love, befriends the ocean and relentlessly chases a big dream!
Capturing memorable experiences from young Ruskin’s life, Listen to Your Heart is an inspiration for aspiring young writers, a meditation on embracing fears, seizing every opportunity but most importantly living one’s dreams.
The Solar System for Smartypants by Anushka Ravishankar
The Solar System for Smartypants||Anushka Ravishankar
Ages: 6+ years
Do you ask questions like,
‘Is the Sun really a star?’
‘Which is the hottest planet?’
‘Are Saturn’s rings made of diamonds?’
Then this book, with its gorgeous illustrations and a very curious cat, is for you!
Gravity for Smartypants by Anushka Ravishankar
Gravity for Smartypants||Anushka Ravishankar
Ages: 6+ years
‘Why do things fall down not up?’
‘Will the moon fall on us?’
‘Why do things stay on the ground?’
If you’re a Smartypants who asks these kinds of questions, then get to know more with this book!
Photosynthesis for Smartypants by Anushka Ravishankar
Photosynthesis for Smartypants||Anushka Ravishankar
Ages: 6+ years
This one is for the kids who can’t stop exploring the natural world!
If your little one asks questions like:
‘Why are plants green?’
‘How do plants make their own food?’
‘Do plants have a kitchen?’
Then allow this book to answer them and more!
All of us, at some point in our lives have gone through the loss of a loved one. Most of all, we never quite know how to deal with these experiences and that’s where The Millennial Yogi steps in.
Here is an excerpt from the incredible book written by Deepam Chatterjee, where he explores the idea of death and loss.
~
The Millennial Yogi||DeepamChatterjee
‘Speak to us of loss. Why does losing someone hurt so much?’ a man at the majlis asked Vini.
‘Loss isn’t such a bad thing. When we are attached to things, we don’t want them to change. But the reality is, deep in our hearts we already know that nothing will last forever, and we hope against hope that things won’t change. When someone we really love is taken from us, we are saddened. Although we know that we cannot bring back the past, we ache and hurt because we want their comforting presence in our lives forever. It is very important to grieve when we lose someone. Grieving makes us tender and brings us close to our heart. Different people grieve differently.’
‘Some people think that grieving makes them weak. They suppress their pain and become hardened,’ someone at the majlis observed.
Vini nodded in agreement. ‘Sometimes loss can make us hateful and bitter. We can either grow into beautiful people through loss, or we can become bitter and angry. It is a choice we have to make ourselves,’
Vini explained gently. ‘Ash had gone through so much loss in his life, and it changed him. But as time passed, old patterns began surfacing. Ash was at a crucial juncture of his life . . .’
There were subtle signs that only an awakened soul could read. The old man knew that time was short. Ash was at a crucial juncture of his life. He was on the verge of falling back into the vagaries of the material world. But, if pushed in the right direction, he could attain great spiritual heights.
The old man knew that the push wasn’t going to be pleasant for Ash.
The next time the man came for his beedis, Ash told him that he was ready to work for him, as he wanted to save some money and begin a business. The old man nodded slowly and told him to head back to the forest with him that evening.
‘But remember, Ashwini, you will have to do exactly what I tell you.’
‘I am sure I will manage, Babaji. Your work can’t be too tough. Let me go and collect my things,’ Ash said.
The man smiled gently and left for the gathering. When he finished, Ash was waiting with a duffle bag in his hand. He was quite proud of the fact that he had been able to fit all his worldly possessions into one bag. Mangal stood slightly behind him with folded hands. He was happy for Ash. The old man saw them and nodded. He gave his ektara to Ash to carry and began shuffling back towards the forest.
Ash slung his bag over his shoulder and followed him. They walked quietly for some time, and all Ash could hear was the sound of their feet and the old man’s laboured breathing.
‘May I know your name?’ Ash asked the man.
‘Eh?’ The man stopped and turned his head to hear better. Ash realized that he was probably a bit hard of hearing.
‘Your name. I mean, it cannot be Baba. You must have a name,’ Ash said.
‘Oh,’ the man wheezed. ‘Call me anything you want to. It hardly matters what you call me.’
‘But I am sure you have a name, Baba,’ Ash persisted.
The old man sighed and said, ‘Ajaat. Call me Ajaat. That is a good name.’ His face crinkled into a smile.
‘Ajaat. That’s an unusual name. What does it mean?’
‘It means “the Unborn”. We all are Ajaat, beta. No one’s ever born, no one ever dies,’ he said as he sat down on a rock to catch his breath.
~
To know more about life and death and all that plays out in between and gather the energy to deal with all of it, get your copy of The Millennial Yogi now.
Classics are timeless reads that bring you comfort, nostalgia, and warmth to invigorate and inspire you from time to time. This World Book Day, we’re bringing you our favourite books that will stay with you for a lifetime!
Navarasa by A.N.D. Haksar
Navarasa || A.N.D. Haksar
According to Indian aesthetics, “rasa” is the sap or juice that permeates our culture, art, and helps to direct our basic human feelings. The Natya Shastra, an ancient Hindu text, first made reference to the Navarasas; our art, dance, theatre, and literature are all founded on these nine human emotions. For the first time, 99 verse translations of the nine rasas of old Hindu history are presented in Navarasa: The Nine Flavors of Sanskrit Poetry, coming soon.
The Monkey’s Wounds by Hajra Musroor
The Monkey’s Wounds || Hajra Musroor
A compilation of sixteen short tales by Hajra Masroor called The Monkey’s Wound and Other Stories serves as an example of her unyielding voice, her piercing depictions of the bitter realities of life, and the wounds and traumas of women’s inner lives. The tales are taken from her renowned compilation of tales, Sab Afsanay Meray, and are translated from the original Urdu. They are tales that showcase Masroor at her finest.
The Sacred Wordsmith by Raja Rao
The Sacred Wordsmith || Raja Rao
Raja Rao’s best works, including his autobiographical Prefaces and Introductions, are collected in The Sacred Wordsmith. The book includes a number of his well-known acceptance speeches, such as those for the Sahitya Akademi Award and Neustadt International Prize, as well as other well-known writings, including “The World is Sound,” “The Word,” “Why Do You Write?” “The West Discovers Sanskrit,” “The English Language and Us,” and “The Story Round, Around Kanthapura,” a fascinating, unpublished account of the creation of his well-known first novel.
The Postmaster by Rabindranath Tagore
The Postmaster||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. Tagore is India’s great Romantic. These stories reflect his profoundly modern, original vision. Translated and introduced by William Radice, this edition includes selected letters, bibliographical notes and a glossary.
Selected Stories by Saadat Hasan Manto
Selected Stories|| Saadat Hasan Manto
The gentle dhobi who transforms into a killer, a prostitute who is more child than woman, the cocky, young coachman who falls in love at first sight, a father convinced that his son will die before his first birthday. Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories are vivid, dangerous and troubling and they slice into the everyday world to reveal its sombre, dark heart. These stories were written from the mid 30s on, many under the shadow of Partition. No Indian writer since has quite managed to capture the underbelly of Indian life with as much sympathy and colour. In a new translation that for the first time captures the richness of Manto’s prose and its combination of high emotion and taut narrative, this is a classic collection from the master of the Indian short story.
Lifting the Veil by Ismat Chughati
Lifting The Veil||Ismat Chughtai
At a time when writing by and about women was rare and tentative, Ismat Chughtai explored female sexuality with unparalleled frankness and examined the political and social mores of her time.
She wrote about the world that she knew, bringing the idiom of the middle class to Urdu prose, and totally transformed the complexion of Urdu fiction.
Lifting the Veil brings together Ismat Chughtai’s fiction and non-fiction writing. The twenty-one pieces in this selection are Chughtai at her best, marked by her brilliant turn of phrase, scintillating dialogue and wry humour, her characteristic irreverence, wit and eye for detail.
One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan
One Part Woman||Perumal Murugan
All of Kali and Ponna’s efforts to conceive a child-from prayers topenance, potions to pilgrimages-have been in vain. Despite being in aloving and sexually satisfying relationship, they are relentlessly houndedby the taunts and insinuations of the people around them.Ultimately, all their hopes and apprehensions come to converge on thechariot festival in the temple of the half-female god Ardhanareeswaraand the revelry surrounding it. Everything hinges on the one night whenrules are relaxed and consensual union between any man and woman issanctioned. This night could end the couple’s suffering and humiliation.
But it will also put their marriage to the ultimate test.Acutely observed, One Part Woman lays bare with unsparing clarity arelationship caught between the dictates of social convention and the tugof personal anxieties, vividly conjuring an intimate and unsettling portraitof marriage, love and sex.
Loom of Time by Kalidasa
Loom Of Time||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 all, seven of his works have survived: three plays, three long poems and an incomplete epic. Of these, this volume offers, in a brilliant new translation, 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. Taken together, these works provide a window to the remarkable world and work of a poet of whom it was said: Once, when poets were counted, Kalidasa occupied the little finger; the ring finger remains unnamed true to its name; for his second has not been found.
Loved these recommendations?
Head over to our Instagram for regular updates about amazing books and refreshing book recommendations. Happy World Book Day!
