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Do you like listening to stories, the old-school way?

We’re all glued to the screen twenty-four hours of the day, no escape. Screens are our work and entertainment, both. What if you let the joy of reading be transferred from your eyes to your ears? Give your pupils some rest and let someone else do the talking.

You can enjoy these wonderful books through an engaging narrator, who reads you a wonderful story at your own pace. Your personal storyteller accompanying you on your walks, livening up your cooking sessions, your shotgun rider, your friend and your lullaby.

Here are some incredible audiobooks from multiple genres and authors for you to choose from:

 

Speaking of Films by Satyajit Ray
Speaking of Films || Satyajit Ray

 

Speaking of Films by Satyajit Ray

Speaking of Films brings together some of Ray’s most memorable writings on film and film-making. With the masterly precision and clarity that characterize his films, Ray discusses a wide array of subjects. He also writes about his own experiences, the challenges of working with rank amateurs, and the innovations in the face of technological, financial and logistical constraints. Ray provides fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses of the people who worked with him. Translated for the first time by Bishay Chalachitra, this collection of essays retains the lucidity and simplicity that is a hallmark of Ray’s writing.

 

 

Diamonds in the Dust by Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan and Salil Desai
Diamonds in the Dust || Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan and Salil Desai

 

Diamonds in the Dust by Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan, Salil Desai

Diamonds in the Dust offers Indian savers a simple, yet highly effective, investment technique to identify clean, well-managed Indian companies that have consistently generated outsized returns for investors. Based on in-depth research conducted by the award-winning team at Marcellus Investment Managers, it uses case studies and charts to help readers learn the art and science of investing in the US$3 trillion Indian stock market.

The book also debunks many notions of investing that have emerged from the misguided application of Western investment theories in the Indian context.

 

 

 

I've Never Been Unhappier by Shaheen Bhatt
I’ve Never Been Unhappier || Shaheen Bhatt

 

I’ve Never Been Unhappier by Shaheen Bhatt

Unwittingly known as Alia Bhatt’s older sister, screenwriter and fame-child Shaheen Bhatt has been a powerhouse of quiet restraint-until recently. In a sweeping act of courage, she now invites you into her head. Shaheen was diagnosed with depression at eighteen, after five years of already living with it. In this emotionally arresting memoir, she reveals both the daily experiences and big picture of one of the most debilitating and critically misinterpreted mental illnesses in the twenty-first century.

 

 

 

A Childhood in Tibet by Thérèse Obrecht Hodler
A Childhood in Tibet || Thérèse Obrecht Hodler

 

A Childhood in Tibet by Thérèse Obrecht Hodler

Tendöl Namling was born at the time when the Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa. As the daughter of a high government official, she underwent the ordeal of ‘re-education’ with full force. When Tendöl turned 10 her brother was arrested and her mother sentenced to ten years in prison. She was sent to work in road construction for several years. At the age of 20 she was allowed to start an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic. After 22 years under the Chinese rule, she left China in 1982 and landed in Switzerland. It felt as if she had to start her life all over again. She struggled but didn’t give up and founded a family and a business while reconciling with her painful past. In Tendöl’s words, ‘this little book is dedicated to all the Tibetans who continue to rebel against the Chinese occupation’.

 

 

Harsh Realities by Harsh Mariwala
Harsh Realities || Harsh Mariwala

 

Harsh Realities: The Making of Marco

By Harsh Mariwala

Breaking away from the shackles of family-run Bombay Oils Industries Ltd, Harsh Mariwala founded Marico in 1987. Today, the homegrown Marico is a leading international FMCG giant which recorded an annual turnover of over Rs 8000 crore last year. Their products, like Parachute, Nihar Naturals, Saffola, Set Wet, Livon and Mediker, are market leaders in their categories.

Co-authored by leading management thinker and guru, Ram Charan, this book is a story of grit, gumption and growth, and of the core values of trust, transparency and innovation that lead the company even today.

 

 

The Smart Business Guide to E-Commerce by Frank Lavin
The Smart Business Guide to E-Commerce || Frank Lavin

 

The Smart Business Guide to China E-Commerce

Frank Lavin

This book is a quick and punchy read and useful for consumers, brands, retailers and entrepreneurs, covering critical areas such as the difference between Chinese and American consumers, case studies of succsess and failure in China, main platforms and social media channels, etc. It also helps in studying how to deal with market entry challenges, trademark registration and product approval and how to compete and win in the most challenging and promising retail market in the world.

 

 

 

Brand Activism by Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler
Brand Activism || Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler

 

Brand Activism by Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar

What happens when businesses and their customers don’t share the same values? Or, for that matter, when employees of a company don’t share the same values as their executives? Welcome to the world of Brand Activism.
Brand Activism consists of business efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, and/or environmental reform or stasis with the desire to promote or impede improvements in society. It is driven by a fundamental concern for the biggest and most urgent problems facing society. Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action is about how progressive businesses are taking stands to create a better world.

 

 

 

Tata Stories by Harish Bhat
Tata Stories || Harish Bhat

 

#TataStories by Harish Bhat

#TataStories is a collection of littleknown tales of individuals, events and places from the Tata Group that have shaped the India we live in today.

A diamond twice as large as the famous Kohinoor pledged to survive a financial crisis; a meeting with a ‘relatively unknown young monk’ who later went on to be known as Swami Vivekananda; the fascinating story of the first-ever Indian team at the Olympics; the making of India’s first commercial airline and first indigenous car; how ‘OK TATA’ made its way to the backs of millions of trucks on Indian highways; a famous race that was both lost and won; and
many more.

 

A whole bag of genres and stories to choose from! Take your pick, put on your earplugs and boast about finishing a book sooner than you’d think!

6 Myths Around India that Bollywood Has Debunked or Upheld

From Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood has been India’s best cultural ambassador all over the world. In her remarkable new book – Bollywood Boom – Roopa Swaminathan shows how Bollywood has the power to mould India’s fortunes by winning the hearts of people across continents.
Amidst its rising power to influence the world, Bollywood has both debunked and upheld few myths that surround India and Indians. Here’s a look at six of those popular myths!
Myth 1
1
When lead characters in mainstream Bollywood films were supposed to have sex onscreen, the scenes showed the rubbing together of two flowers  or cutaway shots of birds chirping. But Bollywood has come a long way since! It’s a case of building up an already popular myth – that Indians don’t do sex, or they do it mysteriously – and then busting it some decades down the line.
Myth 2
2
That’s one of the myths that Bollywood has busted in recent times. Indian girls do choose how their lives play out and that is well-represented by a plethora of modern characters in Hindi cinema. The female protagonist in Love Aaj Kal makes a mistake, gets married to the wrong guy but has the guts to break it off and walk into the sunset with the right guy at the end.
Myth 3
3
When it comes to sex, Indians have increasingly started to explore and choose. The sentiment is reflected in this new era of Bollywood. In Ek Main aur Ek Tu, the female protagonist openly claimed to have slept with more than a few guys.
Myth 4
4
Either your parents’ house or your home after marriage – apparently, those are the only options that two consenting adults in a romantic relationship can manage. That myth has been debunked! Salaam Namaste deals with the pros and cons of ‘living together’ before getting married
Myth 5
5
Gone are the days when the international community viewed India only as this mystical land, full of old-world charms. New Bollywood movies show India in its full range now. Much of the diaspora who travel to India do so after being fascinated by an India that they’ve seen in Bollywood films.
Myth 6
6
Not every Bollywood film is laden with songs and dances. And certainly, not every aspect of Indian life is a high-volume drama. Increasingly, the new wave of Bollywood has brought to the fore other sensibilities of the Indian culture.
Do you, too, have a myth in mind that you think Bollywood has busted or upheld? We would love to know!
Bollywood-Boom-Footer

Celebrating Cinema: 5 Reasons You Should Know About this Pioneer of New Wave

Adoor Gopalakrishnan, a name synonymous with revolutionising not just Malayalam cinema, but Indian cinema, was born in Kerala’s Travancore on July 3, 1941. Gopalakrishnan is a Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan awardee, a Dadasaheb Phalke recipient, 16 times winner of the National Award, 17 times winner of the Kerala State Film Awards, a recipient of Legion of Honour by the French government, and many more.
Here are five more things to learn about the contributions made by this pioneer of New Wave to cinema:
Adoor Gopalakrishnan is an alumnus of the Pune Film Institute (now known as the Film and Television Institute of India). He applied for the ‘screenplay writing and direction’ course in the year 1962.
adoor blog 1.png
The filmmaker’s growing passion for cinema urged him to start a film society. In the year 1966, the fifth ‘All India Writers’ Conference’ held in Kerala’s Alwaye gave him the perfect opportunity to establish a film society.
adoor blog 2.png
Koodiyattam is the oldest living theatre in the world (2000 years old). Gopalakrishnan fought hard to gain access to the inner sanctums of the koothambalam or the premises of Koodiyattam’s performance to ultimately make a three-hour long documentary on this art form.
adoor blog 3.png
Adoor Gopalakrishnan has experimented with sound and silence in his films in ways that were unthinkable. Gopalakrishnan writes a separate script for sound, he would record natural sounds from different sources, like the train tracks, chatter of young college goers, the pouring rain to be used in his films.
adoor blog 4.png
Adoor Gopalakrishnan is known to include animals and birds as characters in his films. Our friends from the wild are not the ones to be directed and this, Gopalakrishnan treats, as a creative challenge. In his film Elippathayam, rats play an important and parallel role to the protagonist and his family.
adoor blog 5.png
Fascinated by the facts? Read more about the legend of cinema in Gautaman Bhaskaran’s Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema.

Announcement: Soha Ali Khan’s debut book!

Penguin India is proud to announce that it will publish Soha Ali Khan’s debut book in 2017.
Titled The Perils of Being Moderately Famous, the book will be a collection of humorous, and sometimes bizarre, stories on her life as a royal princess (her official title is Nawabzadi Soha Ali Khan of Pataudi and Bhopal) and a ‘moderately famous’ celebrity, as she likes to call herself.
Soha Ali Khan: ‘If I had a dollar for every person who told me to write a book, I would have umm . . .  six dollars. I do love to read and I do that quite well (510 words a minute), so it can’t be much harder to write, right? I also have some time on my hands, as most actors often do (stop sniggering). I can use this time creatively to pen down memories, some insights from what surely must be a life less ordinary. I am a princess after all. Try not to imagine me saying that whilst stamping my feet in a silver sequined dress with a tiara on my head. And as a person of royalty, surely I am entitled to some royalties! But a word of caution—if you are hoping I will reveal the secret behind Kareena’s glowing complexion or how Bhai trains for an action film then, I am afraid you are barking up the wrong book. Although, in its pages there may be a passing reference to some of the idiosyncrasies of the more famous members of my family, the bulk of it, I’m afraid, is about . . . well, me. Just me. Is my life really worth writing about, or more to the point worth you paying to read about? Well, the good news is you’d be right not to wait for the movie.’
Editor’s Statement: ‘Having read a few chapters, I can safely say Soha was born to write. She has amassed a huge fan following not only for her movies but also for her witty repartee on Twitter, and her charm and wit continue to shine in this brilliant collection of personal essays where she recounts with self-deprecating humour some of the most poignant moments of her life—from growing up as a modern-day princess to life as a celebrity in the times of social media culture.’—Gurveen Chadha, Commissioning Editor 
About Soha Ali Khan: Soha is an Indian film actor who has appeared in movies such as Rang De Basanti, Tum Mile and Go Goa Gone. She studied modern history at Balliol College, Oxford and earned a Masters’ degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
She is the youngest daughter of actor Sharmila Tagore and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the 9th nawab of Pataudi. Both her father and paternal grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, were former captains of the Indian cricket team. Her older brother is Saif Ali Khan and she’s married to actor Kunal Kemmu.
Soha’s most recent release was 31st October, a true story focussing on the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Photo credit: Shivaji Storm Sen

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