Durjoy Datta Archives - Penguin Random House India

She’s the World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend – But Wait Until You Find Out Why!

Posted on November 13, 2024November 18, 2024 by vanshika

What if the love of your life slipped away, leaving only a quiet ache and an unfillable void? World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend explores the bittersweet pull of unresolved love as Daksh and Aanchal, after a brief spark at a wedding in Dubai, are unexpectedly thrown back together. Read the excerpt below to know more.

Front Cover World's Best Ex Girlfriend — World’s Best ex Girlfriend || Durjoy Datta

Intro Every city transforms in five years. New buildings obscure the older ones. Roads are widened. More cars spill on to the road. Dubai does that faster than any city. I pass by landmarks I recognize, but most of what I remember has been painted over, built over, broken and rebuilt. It’s a small kindness that this city no longer looks like the city that wrested everything away from me.

The closer I get to the Atlantis, my discomfort shifts from the city to her. The nearer I am to her, a torrent of haunting memories surges forth—the ugly words, the echoes of past arguments—and anxiety begins to seep into my very marrow. The last thing I want is to bump into that over-smart, cold, heartless person I was once in love with. Until this very moment, I didn’t realize the visceral hate I still feel for Aanchal. It feels like yesterday.

I feel it rattling in my bones.

‘Don’t stop the trip,’ I repeat to the driver as I pull out the suitcases outside the Atlantis.

It’s 6 p.m. so there’s still plenty of time for the cocktails function to start. I make my way in. The front desk has a long serpentine queue with tourists lugging their carry-on bags and checking if they’ve lost their passports.

‘I’m here to drop off Gaurav Madan’s luggage,’ I tell the lady managing the check-ins.

‘Do you know the room number, sir?’ she asks. I call Gaurav. And as usual, he doesn’t pick up the call.

‘Listen, the person’s not taking my call. Can you call their room and inform them?’

She looks at the line behind me and is about to protest.

‘They’re wedding clothes, or I wouldn’t waste your time,’ I inform her.

She checks the room number and makes the call. She shakes her head and puts the receiver down.

‘Sir, no answer,’ she says.

‘You can keep the luggage here and go check in the open area. Maybe you will find the guest there. That’s the best I can do for you.’

‘Perfect,’ I tell her.

Except that it’s not perfect. I should have been in my taxi, going away from this city, away from her. Not towards her. Not towards the reason I spent a couple of years in absolute misery. A dread fills me up. I’m going to see her. I push the thought out, just in case people are right about manifestation and the law of attraction.

After wandering through the multiple corridors, I spot the cocktail venue. Vanita Weds Aditya, says the signage in an ornate flower arrangement. Vanita never struck me as someone who would get married so early, but here we are. I call Gaurav’s number again. There’s no answer. I walk towards the venue. A small part of me is commanding me to go back. Leave the suitcases at the reception and leave the city, it tells me. She’s here, the voice inside my head warns me. I can feel the air crackle with bad energy.

I look for someone near the stage, anyone I could pawn off the suitcases to. The stage is being given the final touches, the lights are being tested, the harried staff is running around shifting chairs, arranging flowers, testing the sound system. The wedding planners in black T-shirts bark instructions over their walkie-talkies. White people look on, watching curiously. Faint sounds of Hindi songs are in the air. I look around there’s not a single guest there. This is taking way too long.

Fuck it. I turn back and walk towards the reception.

That’s when I see her.

Aanchal Madan.

For a moment, I think I have imagined her. I hope that I have imagined her. But there she is.

Aanchal Madan.

In flesh and blood. All of her.

Aanchal fucking Madan.

A wave of hatred crashes upon me.

My biggest regret.

Aanchal Madan.

The World’s Worst Girlfriend.

I am consumed by how much I despise her.

Aanchal Madan.

It engulfs me entirely. I thought I had gotten over the hurt, but my revulsion towards her overwhelms me.

Aanchal Madan.

My body sears with the heat of my loathing, it burns.

Aanchal Madan.

My first instinct is to turn away, to avoid her presence altogether, just pretend I never saw her and walk past like she doesn’t exist.

***

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

8 Romance Audiobooks to Remind You How Single You Are!

Posted on February 10, 2024February 10, 2024 by prathod

Get ready to swoon, sigh, and maybe shed a tear or two as you dive into these 8 irresistible romance audiobooks that promise to tug at your heartstrings and remind you of the beauty (and occasional agony) of love. From chance encounters to shattered hearts and second chances, this handpicked collection has got it all.
So grab your headphones, cozy up, and prepare to be swept away into Durjoy Datta’s world of romance, where love reigns supreme, even if you’re flying solo this Valentine’s Day!

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

‘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.’

Daksh and Aanchal meet under improbable circumstances in the most unlikely of places—a posh resort in the Andamans. While Aanchal is fighting hard to escape the shackles of a lower middle-class existence, Daksh is aimless and unsure of what his future holds. Strangely, they are drawn to each other.

‘My gaze drifts to her exposed back, and the tiny knot that secures her shimmering choli in place. Emotions of anger mix with a strange desire in me.’

Four years later, when they meet again, Daksh’s world has crumbled around him. The burden of caring for his sick father and six-year-old sister has left him with little time for anything else. Yet, despite their diverging paths, Daksh and Aanchal find themselves reconnecting in unexpected ways. Their mutual attraction deepens.

Till now, fate has been pushing them together, but what will happen when they decide to take matters into their own hands? Will life be as they’ve imagined, or will destiny take even that away from them?

Can you find yourself after you have lost that special someone? A disillusioned and heartbroken Anusha finds herself in the small world of WeD. Struggling to cope with her feelings and the job of raising money for charity, she reluctantly searches for a worthwhile cause to support.

For Ananth, who has been on the opposite side, no life is less worthy, no cause too small to support. Behind them are teams for whom going to extraordinary lengths to save lives is more than a full-time occupation. In front of them is the virtual world of social media—watching, interacting, judging, making choices, and sometimes, saving lives. From the virtual to the real, their lives and that of their families, entangle in a way that moving together is the only solution. They can’t escape each other. In this world of complicated relationships, should love be such a difficult ride?

Born on the same day and at the same time, Druvan and Anvesha know they are soulmates in every sense of the word. Their parents, however, refuse to accept their “togetherness” at first and try to tear them apart. Druvan and Anvesha try their best to explain why that cannot happen.

In the same timeline, the world has made huge progress in science and some of the first experiments to combine the body and the soul have begun. This is an opportunity for them to prove their love and tell the world that it is love that can make the impossible, possible.

Druvan and Anvesha participate in the experiment as if their life depends on it, because it does. The only thing that remains to be seen is, will the dream of a man to control love and life come true? And when the time comes, can one stay true to their soulmate?

If It's Not Forever It's Not Love — If It’s Not Forever It’s Not Love || Durjoy Datta, Nikita Singh

When Deb, an author and publisher, survives the bomb blasts at Chandni Chowk, he knows his life is nothing short of a miracle. Though he escapes with minor injuries, he is haunted by the images and voices he heard on that unfortunate day.

Even as he recovers, his feet take him to where the blasts took place. From the burnt remains, he discovers a diary. It seems to belong to a dead man who was deeply in love with a girl. As he reads the heartbreaking narrative, he knows this story must never be left incomplete. Thus begins Deb’s journey with his girlfriend, Avantika, and his best friend, Shrey, to hand over the diary to the man’s beloved.

Highly engrossing and powerfully told, If It’s Not Forever tells an unforgettable tale of love and life.

We are in the car. She’s looking at me. I can see the love in her eyes for me. Then a huge crash. She’s flung out of the window. I’m thrown out too. A pool of blood. Her eyes are still on me…but now it’s a death stare.

I am Daman, and I wake up to this nightmare. Every. Single. Day.

Waking up from a long coma, Daman learns that he was in a massive car crash with a girl who vanished soon after the accident, leaving him for dead.

Strangely, all he remembers is a hazy face, her hypnotic eyes, and her name – Shreyasi.

To come to terms with his memory lapse, he starts piecing together stories about himself and Shreyasi from his dreams, which he then turns into a hugely popular blog.

When he’s offered a lucrative publishing deal to convert his blog pieces into a novel, he signs up immediately. However, he gives in to editorial pressure and agrees to corrupt the original edgy character of Shreyasi.

Big mistake.

From then on, Daman is stalked and threatened by a terrifying beauty who claims to be Shreyasi and who will stop at nothing to make him pay for being a sell-out.

Before Daman fights back, he needs to know: Is she really who she claims to be? What does she want from him now? What if he doesn’t do what she wants him to?

The Girl of My Dreams is definitely not your usual love story.

The Boy with a Broken Heart || Durjoy Datta

You’re asking me to hold your hand. And now you’re turning away from me. You are saying something, but I can’t hear you. It’s too windy. You’re crying now. Now you’re smiling. I’m done. I love you….

It’s been two years since Raghu left his first love, Brahmi, on the edge of the roof one fateful night. He couldn’t save her; he couldn’t be with her. Having lost everything, Raghu now wants to stay hidden from the world.

However, the annoyingly persistent Advaita finds his elusiveness very attractive. And the more he ignores her, the more she’s drawn to him till she bulldozes her way into an unlikely friendship.

What attracts at first, begins to grate. Advaita can’t help but want to know what Raghu has left behind, what he’s hiding, and who broke his heart. She wants to love him back to life, but for that she needs to know what wrecked him in the first place.

After all, the antidote to heartache is love.

Deb is absolutely crazily in love with the stunning Avantika. He can’t believe she is his. Their relationship is going great except for the one time when Deb faltered by breaching her trust. After he apologized, Avantika grudgingly accepted him back. However, his insecurity about her seems to be pushing him into infidelity again. The trust he had worked so hard to build is lost once again. Will Avantika take him back this time, or will she move on?

In She Broke Up, I Didn’t!, Durjoy Datta explores the themes of fidelity, love, and lust through a roller coaster of misunderstandings and mistakes that are so common in relationships today.

World's Best Boyfriend — World’s Best Boyfriend || Durjoy Datta

Dhurv and Aranya spend a good part of their lives trying to figure out why they want to destroy each other, why they hurt each other so deeply. And, why they can’t stay away from each other.
The answer is just as difficult each time because all they’ve wanted is to do the worst, most miserable things to one another.
Yet there is something that tells them: THIS IS NOT IT.
If you want to know the answer to it all, read the book.

Swipe Right on Love with these Romance Books

Posted on October 16, 2023October 29, 2023 by prathod

Get ready to swoon, chuckle, and ponder with these heartwarming tales of love and romance. From chance encounters in paradise to relationships that make you go, “Hmm,” these stories will tickle your heart and leave you hungry for more.

Daksh and Aanchal meet under improbable circumstances in the most unlikely of places-a posh resort in the Andamans. While Aanchal is fighting hard to escape the shackles of a lower middle-class existence, Daksh is aimless and unsure of what his future holds. Strangely, they are drawn to each other.

The Girl Who Kept Falling in Love || Rheea Mukherjee

When Kaya meets and falls deeply in love with a fellow activist from the very religious community the country is actively trying to erase, her twin purposes are miraculously aligned in an intoxicating combination that she becomes immediately fearful of losing. In the midst of spirited protests and rising violence, Kaya bears witness to vast human suffering while experiencing profound joy. It is time to make a choice. Kaya knows if she chooses love this time, she will betray everything she has claimed to believe in. If she is willing to do that, can Kaya truly be loved by the person she most desires?

Told through the lens of urban myths, accounts of past lovers, bared confessions and half-truths that make up Kaya’s world, The Girl Who Kept Falling in Love dives deep into the futilities of being attached to global aspiration and fighting institutionalized hate while chasing a universal need for love and acceptance.

Born on the same day and at the same time, Druvan and Anvesha know they are soulmates in every sense of the word. Their parents, however, refuse to accept their ‘togetherness’ at first and try to tear them apart. Druvan and Anvesha hold on to each other against all odds.
In the same timeline, the world is on the brink of a major scientific breakthrough that could make reincarnation possible.
This is an opportunity for the two to prove their love and to tell the world that it is love that can make the impossible, possible.
Druvan and Anvesha participate in the experiment as if their life depends on it, because it does. Will the dream of a man to control love and life come true? And when the time comes, can one stay true to their soulmate?

To the everlasting power of love . . . When Deb, an author and publisher, survives the bomb blasts at Chandni Chowk, he knows his life is nothing short of a miracle. And though he escapes with minor injuries, he is haunted by the images and voices that he heard on that unfortunate day. Even as he recovers, his feet take him to where the blasts took place. From the burnt remains he discovers a diary. It seems to belong to a dead man who was deeply in love with a girl. As he reads the heartbreaking narrative, he knows that this story must never be left incomplete. Thus begins Deb’s journey with his girlfriend, Avantika, and his best friend, Shrey, to hand over the diary to the man’s beloved. Highly engrossing and powerfully told, If It’s Not Forever . . . tells an unforgettable tale of love and life.

When death is that close, will your heart skip a beat? Two patients are admitted to room no. 509. One is a brilliant nineteen-year-old medical student, suffering from an incurable, fatal disease. She counts every extra breath as a blessing. The other is a twenty-five-year-old drug addict whose organs are slowly giving up. He can’t wait to get rid of his body. To him, the sooner the better. Two reputed doctors, fighting their own demons from the past, are trying everything to keep these two patients alive, even putting their medical licences at risk. These last days in the hospital change the two patients, their doctors and all the other people around them in ways they had never imagined. Till the Last Breath is a deeply sensitive story that reminds us what it means to be alive.

A disillusioned and heartbroken Anusha finds herself in the small world of WeDonate.com. Struggling to cope with her feelings and the job of raising money for charity, she reluctantly searches for a worthwhile cause to support.
For Ananth, who has been on the opposite side, no life is less worthy, no cause too small to support.
Behind them are teams for whom going to extraordinary lengths to save lives is more than a full-time occupation. In front of them is the virtual world of social media-watching, interacting, judging, making choices, and sometimes, saving lives.
From the virtual to the real, their lives and that of their families, entangle in a way that moving together is the only solution. They can’t escape each other.
In this world of complicated relationships, should love be such a difficult ride?

Your Dreams are Mine Now || Ravinder Singh

‘It can’t be love . . .’ he thinks and immediately his heart protests
They are complete opposites! She’s a small-town girl who takes admission in Delhi University (DU). An idealist, studies are her first priority.He’s a Delhi guy, seriously into youth politics in DU. He fights to make his way. Student union elections are his first priority.
But then opposites attract as well!
A scandal on campus brings them together, they begin to walk the same path and somewhere along,
fall in love . . . But their fight against evil comes at a heavy price, which becomes the ultimate test of their lives. Against the backdrop of dominant campus politics, Your Dreams Are Mine Now is an innocent love story that will tug at your heartstrings.

Karan and Shruti are a happily married couple. Until Karan’s ex resurfaces into his life one day. Soon Karan finds himself getting nostalgic over matters of the heart and thinking fondly of his first romance. Will he put his steady and seemingly perfect marriage at stake for his ex-girlfriend?
Meanwhile his best friend Aditya finds his own relationship with his wife Jasmine going through an emotional turmoil. Will both friends work towards keeping their marriage afloat, or make a decision they would later regret?

What if you ran away from your life today?

Twenty years later, three people are looking for you.

One is dying to meet you again.

The other wishes you had never met them.

The third wishes they could have met you at least once.

You are one person. Aren’t you? But you are not the same person to each of them.

Find the answers about your own life in this story about searching for love and discovering yourself. Join a broken but rising YouTube star Alara, a struggling but hopeful stand-up comedian Aarav, and a zany but zen beach shack owner Ricky. Together, take the journey to seek the truth behind the famous singer Elisha’s disappearance somewhere by the deep sea in Goa.

Will you be able to find Elisha? Or will you end up finding yourself?

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

Posted on September 12, 2023September 12, 2023 by prathod

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!

***

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 brother’s 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.

The literature of love and longing: Books to sweep you away this Valentine’s Day!

Posted on February 13, 2021April 14, 2021 by vidhi

Few holidays induce as vastly differing reactions as Valentine’s Day, or stir up such a storm of emotion. Whether you’re floating on the throes of first love, nursing a broken heart, enjoying the calm fulfillment of your own company, or simply prefer fictional romance to the messiness of the real thing, we have the book for you!

Our Ultimate Valentine’s Day Book List will give you the perfect book to celebrate love and friendship across the spectrum through the most passionate prose and lyrical longing.

If there was place and time truly meant for romance, it was 18^th-century Lucknow, a vibrant city full of musicians, poets and courtesans, of languorous lovers and lilting poetry. Amidst this milieu Memory of Light weaves the exquisite tale of the love between-two women courtesan Chapla Bai and young poet Nafis Bai as they exchange letters and conversations feeding each other the heady fruit of desire.

The greatest and most basic necessity for a healthy relationship is to be able to know and love oneself. French Lover is a young Bengali woman’s search for love and independence in a strange city. Stifled in an unhappy marriage, Nilanjana’s long road to self-discovery is initiated by Benoir Dupont, a blond, blue-eyed handsome Frenchman. In her passionate, sexually liberating relationship with Benoir, she finally begins to have an inkling of her own desires.

You’ll fall in love as much with the city of Lahore as with the book’s protagonist in this simple yet touching romance by Sara Naveed. Caught between her childhood friend, Haroon and handsome professor, Ahmar, little does beautiful, spoiled Zarish know that one individual can completely change her perspective towards life. Packed with romance, drama and tragedy, Undying Affinity will stay in your heart forever.

The Beauty of the Moment || Tanaz Bhathena

There’s nothing quite as intense or as memorable as the pangs of first love and this delightful YA romance truly celebrates the thrilling ‘beauty of that moment’When sharp and driven ‘new girl’, Susan meets ‘bad boy ‘ Malcolm, sparks fly. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.

The Rabbit and the Squirrel || Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

The critically acclaimed and delightfully illustrated fable for contemporary times is perfect for lending a dash of elegant whimsy this Valentine’s Day. Lit with longing, and tender questions of the heart, The Rabbit and the Squirrel is an ode to the enduring pleasures of friendship, traced through the poignant love story of the eponymous Rabbit and the Squirrel who against all odds are fated for togetherness.

The Penguin Book of Classical Indian Love Stories and Lyrics || Ruskin Bond

When modern vocabulary fails to evoke romance for you, this extraordinarily lyrical compilation of love stories and poems from the classical literature and folklore of India will come to the rescue. Curated by the master of nuanced emotions, Ruskin Bond and set in regions of great natural beauty where Kamadeva, the god of love, picks his victims with consummate ease, these stories and lyrics celebrate the myriad aspects of love.

If you think of love as life’s greatest adventure that hits you like a caffeine kick An Extreme Love of Coffee is your cup of (not)tea! This faced paced mystery romance follows Rahul and Neha who embark upon a quest for treasure, after drinking a cup of ‘magic’ coffee, discovering their passion for warm frothy concoctions and each other as they race from the plantations of Coorg to Japanese graveyards!

Sometimes Valentine’s Day is a time to reminisce and to dwell upon the fact that first cut is the deepest. Half Torn Hearts is both a thrilling suspense story and a coming-of-age tale of three layered individuals coming to terms with their first loss, which bares the devil that we all possess but are scared of encountering and which eventually becomes the cause of our own ruins.

The God of Small Things || Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy’s modern classic is equal parts powerful family saga, forbidden love story, and piercing political drama. The seven-year-old twins Estha and Rahel see their world shaken irrevocably by the arrival of their beautiful young cousin, Sophie. With its exquisite prose , it makes for an unusual, but lyrical Valentine’s Day pick.

This thrilling romance will have you hooked from start to finish following the story of Rahul, an intelligence officer on a secret mission, who falls in love with the major’s daughter, Akriti. But is anyone who they seem to be, or is Rahul about to face the biggest shock of his life?

Eleven Ways to Love || Sreshtha, Sangeeta, Nadika Nadja, Dhrubo Jyoti, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, Preeti Vangani, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Nidhi Goyal, Anushree Majumdar, Sharanya Manivannan, Maroosha Muzaffar, D

Love stories coach us to believe that love is selective, somehow, that it can be boxed in and easily defined. With a foreword by the luminary, Gulazar these eleven remarkable essays, widen the frame of reference: transgender romance; body image issues; race relations; disability; polyamory; class differences; queer love; long distance; caste; loneliness; the single life; the bad boy syndrome . . . and so much more.

TILL THE LAST BREATH by [Durjoy Datta] — Till The Last Breath || Durjoy Datta

This deeply sensitive story explores love in the context of imminent death and reminds us what it means to be alive. Two patients, a young brilliant girl fighting to stay alive, and a youthful drug addict who can’t wait to die come together in Room 509. Two reputed doctors, fighting their own demons from the past, are trying everything to keep these two patients alive. These last days in the hospital change the two patients, their doctors and all the other people around them in ways they had never imagined.

Singing in the Dark || K. Satchidanandan, Nishi Chawla

If love is vulnerability, these strange times have made us even more vulnerable. This global anthology brings together the finest of poetic responses to the coronavirus pandemic. More than a hundred of the world’s most esteemed poets reflect upon a crisis that has dramatically altered our lives, and laid bare our vulnerabilities.

You Are All I Need || Ravinder Singh (Ed.)

This collection of touching stories selected by Ravinder Singh is an ode to the myriad facets of love . This book will make you laugh, cry, think and feel, all at the same time with its eclectic collection of love stories that will warm the cockles of your heart!

No one is untouched by love, not even devas and asuras, kings and nymphs. This collection of celestial love stories from Indian mythology celebrates the love of Ravana and Mandodari, Nala and Damayanto among many eithers. Tormented by passion, tortured by betrayal and wracked by the agony of separation, these stories deify love in its many splendorous forms.

The go-to portal for sweet, sharp, heart-wrenching stories brings this collection of letters that celebrates all the different forms of love and bonds we make, spanning the spectrum from family to our childhood homes , from former loves and future husbands. Deeply personal and intimate, these letters are a great choice to peruse on Valentine’s Day.

A lovely contemporary romance that will give you all the warm fuzzies. Quinn and Minnie are born on the same day, but their lives follow completely different trajectories even as fate conspires to bring them together. This moving, joyful love story, This Time Next Year explores the way fate leads us to the people we least expect–no matter what the odds.

The Time Traveler’s Wife || Audrey Niffenegger

This book is a hugely popular modern classic for a reason, its heartwarming, innovative and a moving depiction of the effects of time on love. Henry is a time traveler–cursed with a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to live his life on a shifting timeline, skipping back and forth through the years with no control. Despite the fact that Henry’s travels force them apart with no warning, and never knowing when they will be reunited, he and his wife Clare try to lead a life of normalcy based on an abiding and passionate love.

One of the most popular and moving love stories of our times, this brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by [Becky Albertalli] — Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda || Becky Albertalli

An incredibly funny and poignant, coming-of-age, coming out story—wrapped in a geek romance! When an email falls into the wrong hands, sixteen year old and not-so-openly-gay Simon finds his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone without fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Start the new year with the right book!

Posted on January 13, 2021February 8, 2021 by swara

Let’s admit it: 2020 was not fun. But as well go into 2021 it’s hard to get the new year feeling. Some argue it’s just a day apart from 2020 – why should it be drastically different?

Well, dear reader, it could be. All you need to do is change up your mindset, and what better way than to educate/explore/entertain yourself with new books? Here are the new releases at Penguin Random House India. We hope you find the perfect fit!

India 2030

Thought leaders from twenty diverse fields, ranging from politics, economics and foreign policy to health care and energy, predict what 2030 will look like for India and how the nation will evolve in this decade.
A handbook for citizens, a road map for policymakers and a guide for scholars, this collection captures the many aspects of a future that will see India becoming the world’s third-largest economy and a regional power before the decade gets over.

Flying Blind

In recent years, India has repeatedly expressed its ambitions of becoming a global power – or ‘jagat guru’. Yet, many believe that India’s economic troubles at home are far more pressing and that foreign policy aspirations can wait. But is a proactive foreign policy really a ‘luxury’ for India, to be postponed until the economy develops; or is it, in fact, a prerequisite for economic growth in a globalized world?

The Little Book of Encouragement

Front cover of little book of encouragement — Little Book of Encouragement || His Holiness the Dalai Lama

His Holiness The Dalai Lama, a perennial source of inspiration, is one of the most eminent spiritual leaders in the world. Recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, His Holiness’s life and works have inspired millions of lives throughout the world. In this specially curated companion volume, His Holiness shares words of encouragement to deal with new realities in a pandemic stricken world.

Ghalib

Ghalib’s poetic trajectory begins from Urdu, then moves to composing almost entirely in Persian and finally swings back to Urdu. It is nearly as complex as his poetry. However, his poetic output in Persian is far more than what he wrote in Urdu. More important is that he gave precedence to Persian over Urdu. Ghalib’s voice presents us with a double bind, a linguistic paradox. Exploring his life, works and philosophy, this authoritative critical biography of Ghalib opens a window to many shades of India and the subcontinent’s cultural and literary tradition.

The Good Girls

One night in the summer of 2014, two teenagers disappeared from their home in the village of Katra Sadatganj in Uttar Pradesh. The next morning India woke up to the devastating image of their dead bodies hanging from a tree in a mango orchard. Slipping deftly behind political manoeuvring caste systems and codes of honour in a village in northern India, The Good Girls returns to the scene of Padma and Lalli’s short lives and tragic deaths, and dares to ask: what is the human cost of shame?

Bike Ambulance Dada

Bike Ambulance Dada, the authorized biography of Padma Shri awardee Karimul Hak, is the most inspiring and heart-warming story you will read this year. It documents the extraordinary journey of a tea garden worker who saved thousands of lives by starting a free bike-ambulance service from his village to the nearest hospital in an attempt to fill the gap the insufficient rural healthcare created.

Cages

Cages touches upon the themes of patriarchy, gendered violence, sisterhood and the validity of a woman’s sexual desires. Even fifty years after it was first written, it makes you realize that some things don’t change – as long as predatory men are around, women will have to fight to retain control over their bodies, their identities and their ability to say no.

The Hidden Garden

Mir Taqi Mir is widely admired for his poetic genius. The most prolific among all Urdu poets, he produced six divans. His deceptively simple poetry had an unusual mellowness and natural flow. With a substantial selection of Mir’s most memorable ghazals, The Hidden Garden introduces readers to the life and poetry of the grossly misunderstood poet. This book is the perfect read for lovers of poetry and Urdu alike.

Unscripted

front cover of Unscipted — Unscripted || Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Starting in Wazir Bagh, a small mohalla in Kashmir, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s life has been well and truly unscripted. Over the last thirty years, he has blazed a trail in Hindi cinema-even going on to direct a film in Hollywood. From someone who once released his student film though it was incomplete, because he ran out of money and film stock, he now has the distinction of heading one of the key production houses in India, VVC Films.

A Touch of Eternity

Born on the same day and at the same time, Druvan and Anvesha know they are soulmates in every sense of the word. Their parents, however, refuse to accept their ‘togetherness’ at first and try to tear them apart. Druvan and Anvesha hold on to each other against all odds.
In the same timeline, the world is on the brink of a major scientific breakthrough that could make reincarnation possible.
Druvan and Anvesha participate in the experiment as if their life depends on it, because it does. Will the dream of a man to control love and life come true? And when the time comes, can one stay true to their soulmate?

Elephants and Cheetahs

Do systems have souls? This book encourages business leaders to ask two different sets of existential questions: Does the organization that I am managing have a soul, and if so, what are the strategic choices that enable its synthesis (external orientation)? And, do I have a soul, and if so, who am I (internal orientation)? In the process, it uncovers a beauty inherent in patterns of strategic choices that enables an organizational soul to emerge, and an appreciation of the diversity of such souls.

Indians

Indian civilization is an idea, a reality, an enigma. In this riveting book, Namit Arora takes us on an unforgettable journey through 5000 years of history, reimagining in rich detail the social and cultural moorings of Indians through the ages. Drawing on credible sources, he discovers what inspired and shaped them: their political upheavals and rivalries, customs and vocations, and a variety of unusual festivals.

Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership

front cover of Coaching — Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership || Ruchira Chaudhary

This is a book for our times. Businesses are facing a new reality, characterized by a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. This new reality has forced organizations to depart from conventional command-and-control practices to a completely new model – a model in which leaders support and guide, rather than instruct and control, their team members. Exploring some of the key ingredients of impactful leadership, Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership offers tips and tricks, backed by research and incisive insights, on how to become an effective leader-coach.

Maverick Messiah

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, widely known as NTR, was not merely a film star who strayed into politics and captured power in Andhra Pradesh. The actor-politician redefined the political culture in the state and scripted a new political idiom.
Maverick Messiah captures the different facets of NTR’s life in all their varied hues and puts in perspective the significant contribution of the actor-politician to the Indian political tapestry.

Platform Scale for a Post-Pandemic World

front cover of Platform Scale — Platform Scale || Sangeet Paul Choudary

The pandemic has accelerated the very grounds on which BigTech was supposed to be regulated. Data access, privacy and usage laws are being revisited to counter the pandemic through contact tracing and other surveillance mechanisms.
The pandemic has reinforced the importance of the platform economy. In the 2020s, we will see the platform economy gain further strength as the post-pandemic world uncovers new value pools for platforms to exploit. This book provides a compelling framework for building platforms, networks and marketplaces.

5 Things All High School Sweethearts Will Relate To

Posted on August 13, 2018February 23, 2020 by Penguin India

In Durjoy Datta’s book, The World’s Best Boyfriend, Dhurv and Aranya spend a good part of their lives trying to figure out why they want to destroy each other, why they hurt each other so deeply and, why they can’t stay away from each other.
Here are a few things you will relate to if you fell in love during school. Get ready to take a trip down the memory lane!
1. When love games determined your love for each-other:

2. Lunch breaks = spending quality time together!

3. The belief that your first love would be your last love:

4. Dreaming about the future together:

5. The first time you held hands and said ‘I love you’:

The answer to Dhruv and Aranya’s problem is just as difficult each time because all they’ve wanted is to do the worst, most miserable things to one another.
AVAILABLE NOW!

Our Impossible Love by Durjoy Datta – An Excerpt

Posted on June 14, 2018February 21, 2020 by Penguin India

Aisha, a late bloomer, has to figure out what it means to be a woman and to be desired. Danish feels time is running out for him and he’s going to end up as a nobody, as opposed to his overachieving, determined younger brother. Life takes a strange turn when Danish, the confused idiot, is appointed as the student counsellor to Aisha. Between the two of them they have to figure out love, life, friendship-most of all, themselves.
Our Impossible Love written by the bestselling author, Durjoy Datta presents, a story that showcases Life the way it is and Love the way it should be.
Let’s read an excerpt from this book.
———–
Danish Roy
They keep telling you, you’re unique, you’re different, you have a calling, a talent, a miracle inside of you. I had bought into this theory for a really long time. But no more. I was ordinary and there was no point waiting for that hidden genius in me to bubble to the surface. I would not discover my yet unexplored talent for painting, or interpreting ancient languages, or being a horse whisperer, or interpreting foreign policy at thirty.
And I think I would have been okay with it, or at least as okay as everyone else is with their ordinariness, had it not been for my overachieving little brother, my parents’ favourite, who was wrecking corporate hierarchies like he was born to do so. Only last year, he got into the top 30 under 30 (at 21) in Forbes magazine for being a start-up prodigy. Fresh out of IIT Delhi, his crazy idea of sending high packets of data over Bluetooth in a matter of seconds sent potential investors in a tizzy. He was always in a tie-suit now, carrying leather folders and taking late night flights to meetings where capital flow, structural accounting and other terrifying things are discussed.
I’m two years older than him and I hadn’t even won a spoon race in my life.
Quite understandably, I was a bit of an embarrassment to my parents—my father was a high-ranking official in the education ministry, and my mother, a tenured physics lecturer at Delhi University. It’s not that they didn’t love me, of course they did, but it was only because I was their son and they were programmed to love me more than themselves. But yeah, they loved Ankit more, and I didn’t blame them.
Even I loved him more.
I was still struggling to complete my graduation in psychology (a subject my parents had chosen for me) from a college no one knew about, including the government, I presume. I was twenty-three and I had never been employed, a situation that didn’t look like would change in the near future. It was more likely I would flunk my final exams too. Flunking exams by ridiculous margins was my superpower!
I was the most self-aware dumb person I had ever met.
Throw me a Suduko and you could study human behaviour in hostage situations. Medieval torture had nothing on me but keep a mathematics exam paper in front of me and I would start shitting bricks.
————

Penguin Fever Schedule

Posted on October 25, 2017April 23, 2020 by Penguin India

It’s that time of the year again but this time it’s under the autumn sky. Six days of literature extravaganza is going to start from October 26, with numerous literary icons as panelists.
Here are the dates you should mark on your calendar.
October 26, 7PM: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – Arundhati Roy in conversation with Shohini Ghosh
October 27, 7PM: Zara sa jhoom loo main – Shobhaa De on turning seventy – and having a blast! In conversation with Vidya Balan. Sonia Singh to moderate
October 28, 5PM: Inconvenient Truths: Are we heading for an environmental disaster – Sunita Narain, Prerna Bindra, and Pradip Krishen
October 28, 7PM: The Heart of the Matter – Ravinder Singh, Durjoy Datta, and Sudeep Nagarkar in conversation with RJ Ginnie
October 29, 5PM: The Man from the Hills – Ruskin Bond on life, writing, and his love for lemon cheesecake!
October 29, 7PM: Criminal Minds – Brijesh Singh, Ravi Subramanian, Novoneel Chakraborty. Poonam Saxena will moderate the session
October 30, 7PM: The Line of Beauty – Perumal Murugan, Kannan Sundaram, Bibek Debroy, Rana Safvi, Namita Gokhale as moderator
October 31, 7PM: The Rise of the Elephant – Shashi Tharoor, Gurcharan Das, Sonu Bhasin, Shireen Bhan as moderator
Open Air Library: October 26–31, 11AM onwards
If you haven’t already, register for the Penguin Fever here: http://bit.ly/penguinfever
See you there!

“We are never alone, are we?” An Excerpt from Shinie Antony’s ‘Boo’

Posted on October 12, 2017February 23, 2020 by Penguin India

Have you ever felt someone was watching you, even though you are all alone? Shinie Antony’s ‘Boo’ is a collection of thirteen well-crafted paranormal tales, each uniquely haunting in its own way. The stories penned by Shashi Deshpande, K.R. Meera, Jerry Pinto, Durjoy Datta, and many other illustrious names are sure to send a chill down your spine.
Here’s an excerpt of the introduction of the book.
The unknown has always beckoned. Infinite, cobwebby, black as the night, silent as the grave, what we cannot see hear touch. What, furthermore, is perhaps not alive.
My own experiences of the uncanny stay mine; fear takes me where it will. There were whispers without words and things I almost saw. And unlike what I always thought, squeamish as I am and lily-livered, these semi-happenings did not creep me out. Sometimes I saw them as other-worldly warnings, sometimes they were not meant to be seen and my eye had somehow breached a divide, sometimes my mouth formed words I did not mean to say . . .
The paranormal has many subgenres, but of these it was not the occult, poltergeists or screams of the possessed that brought me to these stories, but the psychological thrill. The mind is where it all begins. The mind is where it lives. This feeling that there’s something out there—and it is on to us. It knows that we know. And we must forever pretend we don’t know, not catch its eye—even when it is looking straight at us.
The gothic charm of K.R. Meera’s story, the sweet smell of onions in Kanishk Tharoor’s tale, the burden of hindsight in Shashi Deshpande’s mythofiction, the menacing narrator in Jerry Pinto’s story—they all bring in the supernatural slyly, stylishly. Durjoy Datta, Jahnavi Barua, Manabendra Bandyopadhyay, Kiran Manral and Jaishree Misra give us the old-fashioned traditional ghost story, the one where the banshee sighs or screams. While Ipsita Roy Chakraverti decodes a message from the beyond, Madhavi S. Mahadevan and Usha K.R. take us to places where the backstory is everything.
We wouldn’t be here—you reading this, me writing this—if we didn’t know. Despite science, reason and a raised eyebrow. Deep in our bones, when all falls silent, there is a knowing that precedes births and lingers after deaths. It lifts the hair at the nape of our neck; it stares at us, infatuated, from behind stairs; prescient, it invades our very rocking chair, replacing peace and calm with a restless zigzag; it rotates its head 360 degrees when we aren’t looking.
It doesn’t dispel though we move on, go our ways, live lives, love and let go. What is it that shifts just beyond our vision? Who listens when we talk in our heads? When does dark get just that little bit darker? Why that word on the billboard—the same word we just finished thinking about? And then bumping into the very person we thought of after a hundred years only that morning . . .
What do we know about ourselves besides incidents and milestones and birthdays and heartbreaks, what do we know of that which cannot be known? It is there in a photograph or painting you see—the feeling that you’ve been there before, seen that face somewhere. We are here but we are elsewhere too.
A haunting. Begins as a catch in the side, a stiff neck, a hunch, a bad feeling, pins and needles, an eye twitch, sleep talk, a leg gone numb, vertigo, spasms, heart that trebles its beat, a smell, a chill, a spell, a tingle, dreaming the same dream, a sudden vision of what’s to come, waking at 3.33 a.m., a song no one else can hear, the sound of breathing when we hold our breath . . .
We are never alone, are we?

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Start the new year with the right book!

5 Things All High School Sweethearts Will Relate To

Our Impossible Love by Durjoy Datta – An Excerpt

Penguin Fever Schedule

“We are never alone, are we?” An Excerpt from Shinie Antony’s ‘Boo’

Follow Penguin

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Publish with Us

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