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New Year, Who ‘Dis? –10 Books for Your 2024 Makeover

Out with the old, and in with the awesome! Get ready for a year of transformation with our handpicked selection of 10 wellness and career books that promise to make your journey through 2024 nothing short of extraordinary. From boosting your health to thriving in the new work era, these books make self-improvement simple and accessible.
Easy tips, real stories, and quick routines await – it’s time for a new and better you!

 

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

In Heal Your Gut, Mind & Emotions, she shares the tools that shaped her life and advises on how you can use food to preserve your health and reverse diseases. She outlines a five-step process that will help you unlock the huge potentials of the gut and improve your gut–brain axis so it can share critical information with you on what the body truly needs.
Dimple’s goal is to empower people to use nutrition to prevent disease, and through this accessible, exhaustive book, shows you just how you can do that.

 

Career 3.0
Career 3.0 || Abhijit Bhaduri

Abhijit Bhaduri, a renowned expert on talent and leadership, shows you how to develop the six key skills that will make you future-ready and successful in Career 3.0. Whether you work for an organization, run your own business or do both, you will discover how to adapt to change, learn new skills, and lead with impact.

Career 3.0 is a guide that will help you stay relevant. The book is filled with inspiring stories that will challenge you to rethink your career vision, strategy and action. It will give you the tools and techniques to thrive in the new world of work.

You may be surprised to find out that you already have a Career 3.0 mindset. Now you know what it is called.

 

 

Move Better
Move Better || Shikha Puri Arora

Have you woken up one day and noticed that your knee is suddenly hurting? Do you go through days managing spasms and sprains that you can’t really explain? All of this, even though you exercise regularly and have a fitness schedule?

The problem might be in how you move or how you sit, says popular rehab and movement coach, Shikha Puri Arora. In this practical and timely book, the Mumbai-based expert argues that the way we move, sit, stand, walk and carry ourselves reveals a lot about the quality of our health.

Unlocked
Unlocked || Gezim Gashi

Gezim Gashi recounts his extraordinary journey-from escaping the Kosovo genocide to becoming the first Albanian-Swede to launch a high school institute in the United States – Gezim lays out a path to personal success and fulfillment that is accessible to all, regardless of their background. With his mentorship, readers will be inspired to overcome obstacles and achieve their biggest goals.

 

The Perfect 10
The Perfect 10 || Yasmin Karachiwala

Fitness looks hard. Weight maintenance looks difficult.

It is a culture that has normalized conversations that have been internalized so deeply that we forget that many are the same half-truths or untruths repeated for so long that they become part of our conditioning.

Normalize this: fitness is easy.

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

 

Play to Transform
Play to Transform || Avinash Jhangiani

Play to Transform is a book that challenges the traditional mindset of business leaders and encourages them to tap into their inner child to accelerate transformation with purpose. The book argues that we are all born creative geniuses with an innate ability to empathize deeply with others, but somewhere along the way, we have lost touch with these qualities. In the post-pandemic world, leaders need to be more empathetic and agile than ever before, and a conscious shift in mindset is required to achieve this.

 

 

Pause, Rewind
Pause, Rewind || Nawaz Modi Singhania

In Pause, Rewind, Nawaz Modi Singhania writes about the role of fitness, nutrition and good mental health in ageing well. She shares techniques she’s developed over her years as a leading fitness consultant, including facial fitness exercises, muscle work, how to build the immune system and health-promoting foods.
When it comes to lifestyle, the book talks of other factors that affect ageing, including sleep, hydration, stress, drinking, smoking, what’s in your head space and heart space, and one’s mindset-positive or negative.
She also shares how to reverse the effects of age, whether it’s weakened eyesight, reduced hearing, osteoporosis, or losing stability and balance.

 

Leading from the Back
Leading from the Back || Ravi Kant, Harry Paul, Ross Reck

Leading from the Back is a distillation of the collective experience and wisdom of Ravi Kant (former CEO, vice chairman, Tata Motors), Harry Paul (co-author of the bestseller FISH! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results) and Ross Reck (co-author of The Win-Win Negotiator).

Dhruva
Dhruva || Gauranga Darshan Das

Does destiny block our path to success?
How can we make complex relationships thrive?

Discover practical answers to these questions within the pages of DHRUVA, an enthralling narrative penned by Gauranga Darshan Das, an esteemed author, educator and monk, hailing from the prestigious IISc.
Prince Dhruva’s awe-inspiring journey evokes a spectrum of emotions–love, heartbreak, revenge, passion, guilt and devotion. As you immerse yourself in this gripping tale, Gauranga Darshan artfully weaves his realizations as pearls of wisdom that are refreshingly simple yet remarkably effective.
With a seamless blend of storytelling prowess and practical wisdom, DHRUVA shall deeply resonate with your pursuit of organic success and fulfilling relationships.

 

Attitude
Attitude || Adam Ashton & Adam Jones

Have you ever stumbled upon a piece of life-changing knowledge that made you think: Why the hell didn’t someone tell me this sooner?!
Millions of people have listened to Adam Ashton and Adam Jones on the What You Will Learn podcast, where they have spent tens of thousands of hours studying the best ideas from the greatest minds on the planet. Their most frequently asked question: What is the best lesson you’ve come across? While you’d think a simple question would have a simple answer, it hasn’t-until now! Attitude: The Sh*t They Never Taught You will take you on a journey through takeaways from over a hundred of the world’s greatest thinkers, capturing lessons in personal development, career, business, personal finance, human nature, history and philosophy. Every lesson will be useful, and one might change your life. Remember, it is your attitude, not aptitude, that determines your altitude in life.

Freedom to live life on our own terms

How many times have you stopped at a traffic signal and turned your face away from the hijra who stood outside your car window asking for money? Wasn’t it pure loathing that you felt? Wasn’t it worse than what you normally feel when a beggar woman with a child does the same? Why? I’ll tell you why. You abhorred the eunuch because you couldn’t identify with her sex. You thought of her as a strange, detestable creature, perhaps a criminal and definitely sub-human.

I am one of them. All my life people have called me hijra, brihannala, napungshak, khoja, launda . . . and I have lived these years knowing that I am an outcast. Did it pain me? It maimed me. But time, to use a cliché, is the biggest healer. The adage worked a little differently in my case. The pain remains but the ache has dulled with time. It visits me in my loneliest hours, when I come face to face with the question of my existential reality. Who am I and why was I born a woman trapped in a man’s body? What is my destiny?

Beneath my colourful exterior lies a curled up, bruised individual that yearns for freedom—freedom to live life on her own terms and freedom to come across as the person she is. Acceptance is what I seek. My tough exterior and nonchalance is an armour that I have learnt to wear to protect my vulnerability. Today, through my good fate, I have achieved a rare success that is generally not destined to my lot. But what if my trajectory had been different? I keep telling myself that this is my time under the sun, my time to feel happy, but something deep inside warns me. My inner voice tells me that the fame and celebration that I see all around is maya (illusion) and I should accept all this adulation with the detachment of a sanyasi (hermit).

The first ever transgender to become a college principal is a rare feat, the media has proclaimed. My phones have not stopped ringing since, and invitations to felicitations have not ceased to pile up on my desk. I would love to believe that those who fete me also accept me as I am, but how can I ignore the sniggers, the sneers and the smirks that they try to hide but fail? For them I am just another excuse to watch a tamasha (spectacle), and who doesn’t want some free fun at someone else’s expense?
Hurt and anger are two emotions that I have learnt to suppress and let go. It is part of the immunity package that I am insured under. I have finally accepted the fact that my achievements have no bearing on the people around me. They still think I am sexless between my legs and that is my only identity. That I also have a right to have emotions is an idea that is still completely foreign to most. I don’t blame them. I blame myself for not being able to ignore such pain. I should have long stopped bothering about them.

It is not that I have not had my share of love in all my fifty-one years of life. They were good while they lasted. I have had major heartbreaks too, but each time I learnt a new lesson. I have loved well and deeply, and I hope my partners, wherever they are now, would silently remember that bit about me. It’s another matter that relationships don’t seem to work for me. Those who have loved me have always left me, and each time I have lost a piece of me to them.
Memories rush back as I sit down to write my story. I write with the belief that it would help society understand people like me better. We are slightly different outwardly, but we are humans just as you are and have the same needs—physical and emotional—just as you have.

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5 anecdotes from Kalam’s autobiography ‘The Life Tree’

Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam’s vivacity and creative energy traverses its way through in his autobiography, The Life Tree. The poems in the autobiography capture the essence of nature, human relationships and love for the country.
On the occasion of his birthday, here are a few moments from his life, immortalized in poems.
The picturesque view that Dr.Kalam and his friend, Vidyasagar witnessed is expressed in the lines below.

APJ Abdul Kalam, in the poem below, reflects on his childhood and the meaning of communalism

Dr Kalam was overjoyed receiving the Padma Vibushan in 1990. The lines below capture the emotion he felt upon receiving it.

The late President was distressed on hearing about Mother Teresa’s illness. The poem below captures his anguish.

Dr Kalam’s father said – “Never receive a gift; a gift is always accompanied by some purpose”. At 70, he recollects a lesson from the past.

Aren’t these lines magnificent just like him?

Forsaken Nests —Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan is one of the well-known names of Tamil literature. He has garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success on his writings. Many of his writings have been translated in English and have won accolades. His book ‘Seasons of the Palm’ was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Award in 2005.
 Murugan, in this piece tells us what pushed him to become a writer.
 My family background could not have been the reason for my becoming a writer. I was a first-generation learner. Both my parents, and their forefathers, were illiterate. After a few years of school, I taught my father how to sign. Signing, for him, meant writing his name. He would write each letter very slowly, leaving a playground of space between two letters. At first he did not know how to pronounce these letters. He took months to learn. He felt it would be beneath the dignity of his school-going sons if he were to remain an illiterate, and so he deeply desired to wipe away that shame with just his signature.
The first time he signed his name was on my report card. That day, his face shone brightly with pride. He never asked about my marks or my ranking. For him, the happiness of signing alone would suffice. My brother would forge my father’s signature, but I did not have that kind of courage. We used to call our father’s handwriting ‘hen scribbles’—like the footprints of hens that pitted the ground when they wandered about, without any discernible form or pattern. To this day, one such signature of my father’s is preserved in my tenth-standard register.
I have never had occasion to regret my being born in an illiterate family. Rather, it was an advantage. I enjoyed absolute freedom as far as my education was concerned. I was free to study; I was also free not to study. No one asked me why I studied Tamil often or told me to study mathematics instead. I alone decided the standard till which I would study. While selecting a field of study of my interest, there was no interference. Nothing can equal the joy one feels at the freedom to make one’s own decisions when young. And because I was born to unlettered parents, I enjoyed the peak of such happiness.
After completing my tenth standard, I myself decided on the branch of study I would pursue in the eleventh standard. Though I had secured more than 80 per cent in the core subjects, I opted to study Tamil literature instead of pursuing science or a technical education. My father willingly accompanied me wherever I wanted to go. If anyone asked why I wasn’t studying something else, he would simply say, ‘It’s his choice.’ This being my ‘educational background’, I cannot ascribe my interest in writing to any of my family members, including my grandparents and parents. I myself struggled and learnt to swim in the great flood. And that happiness still lingers in me today.
How the vocation of writing possessed me can be traced to my childhood. There were not many houses in the place where my family lived. Our household was just one among four on a dry, rain-fed stretch of land called ‘Mettukkaadu’. Unlike in other places, farming in the Kongu region demands more than just a few hours of work and a supervisory visit to the field once in a while. In fact, one had to struggle on the land along with the cattle, night and day. Hence families lived in single tenements on their farms. Along with our grandparents as well as two paternal uncles, we numbered four families in all, and we lived close to each other. Some other houses were also there, scattered in the distance.
I was the youngest boy among the families residing there. Those born after me were all girls. There were no playmates of my age. The difference in ages between the older boys and myself was such that I had to call them anna (elder brother) or mama (uncle). A boy playing with girls would be branded as girly and, in any case, boys looked down upon the games of girls. Hence I had to invent games and play them all by myself. I had to imagine playing and conversing with many people, and I even role-played those other people. I had a lot of uninhabited open space at my disposal. Otherwise I would withdraw into myself like a snail if anyone came near me. I barely spoke in public. I was very quiet, a good boy who did not know of mischief.
But in my lonely private terrain I was an adventurer doing all kinds of things. A circular rock in the middle of the farmlands became my regular playground. When the crops stood high and tall around me, I grew more enthusiastic about my private world. For instance, I very much liked the oyilattom—a folk dance staged during temple festivals. Of course, in the middle of a crowd, my body would freeze up; no force could loosen it. But it would become elastic once I reached the rock. The little sparrows living amid the millet crops and the big birds in the sky would move away, either in awe or in fear. However, one day, while I was dancing in my haven, a tree-climber scaling a palm tree in the vicinity happened to witness my antics. In no time he spread the word about my dancing. After that, I could not show my face in public. From then on, the rock was abandoned. That is just how bashful I was.
An unbridgeable solitude and the fictional world that I created in my private space together have propelled me towards writing. Apart from my textbooks, the magazine Rani was the only book that I got hold of by chance. ‘Kurangu Kusala’ and the children’s segment were the sections I really enjoyed. I started composing verses in line with those in the children’s segment. I sent those songs—rhyming ‘Little, little cat; beautiful cat’—to a radio station a few years later. Most of them found a place in the programme Manimalar broadcast by the Trichy Radio Station. The station would not announce in advance whose songs would be aired so I could never be sure whether my rhymes would be broadcast. And if they were aired, I had no one to share the news with. I did not reveal any of this to others for fear of being ridiculed. But these broadcasts boosted my confidence and eventually helped kindle my desire to publish.
I also had a habit of writing long stories modelled on the children’s series ‘The Secret of the Magical Mountain’ and ‘The Princess of the Hill Country’ that were published in Rani. Tunnels figured prominently in my stories. I loved the image of a shy, fearful person walking through dark tunnels all alone. I would imagine a variety of tunnels; myriad figures would appear as stumbling blocks on the way; those things were dear to my heart.
This was how I came into the world of writing. Even at a young age I could perceive writing to be a way of expressing myself. Still, I have been known as a writer in public only these twenty-five years. If I were to count my published works, there are ten novels, four collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry. I have compiled a dictionary on the local dialect. Some collections of essays have been published; some others compiled. If all my essays get compiled, then there might be some more books.
One who journeys through my works may happen to identify certain common features. I think most of these would relate to my childhood attitude. When I take a step back and view my work from a distance, I discern that by presenting an observation that has occurred to me, perhaps I could give readers an idea of my childhood. For instance, references to the house are made here and there in my works. But the reader cannot reconstruct the house out of these references. My works don’t have elaborate descriptions of the house, nor are the house and its parts at the centre of the scheme of things. All that my writings needed was the expansive open space. The house as an entity is not suited to fill in the open space. Rather, the house could be seen as an eyesore troubling that space. This attitude can be seen at its peak in my novel Koolamadhari, where the expanse is all pervasive. My childhood idea of the house was only that of a granary—used to store the grains for a year’s requirements. Cooking and sleeping were done outside the house. Even the stove used to be outside the house. A portable charcoal oven was used for cooking during the rainy season. Sleeping took place either in the yard or in the goat pens and the mangers. Though I have become accustomed to the middle class way of life, to this day, I like the open space the most.
Birds do not inhabit nests. They build nests, out of necessity, during the reproductive season. They require the protection of the nests for laying and hatching their eggs and till the nestlings spread their wings to fly. Then the nests are abandoned—forsaken on the trees, fallen on the stones, empty holes left behind after the chicks have grown up. I feel as though my childhood dispositions lie embedded in me in the form of such deserted nests. And it feels right to say that my works encompass such nests.
Translated by: V. Premkumar
Get copies of Seasons Of the Palm, Current Show, and Pyre here.
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5 Reasons Why You Must Read Sheryl Sandberg’s New Book

After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.”
In her new book, Option B, Sheryl opens up her heart – and her journal – to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of her husband’s death.
Here are five reasons you must read Option B!
A powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after setbacks.
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From Facebook’s COO and Wharton’s top-rated professor.
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Stories that reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere and to rediscover joy.
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Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us.
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We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us all make the most of it.
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Do you know of someone who is facing adversity? Are you aiming to build resilience and find joy? Get Sheryl Sandberg’s illuminating new book here!
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5 Badass Mothers in Literature

To call mothers a superhero will be an understatement (we are pretty sure they wear an invisible cape). Just like our real-life moms, mothers in literature also pull of some great tasks with breathtaking ease. Whether they are trying to protect the protagonists or just do a great job at raising them, we can’t help but look up to them.
So, here are five badass mothers:
Hester Prynne, The Scarlet Letter
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Hester Prynne, in 17th century, did what other ladies in that era couldn’t even imagine doing i.e. live an independent life while raising a child on her own. Even though punished by her Puritan neighbours, she refuses to give out the names of her lover and their daughter. Deemed as an outcast then, she’d be considered a heroine today, like many of our moms.
Raksha, The Jungle Book

She is the fiercest mother we know. She cared for Mowgli as much as she did for her cubs. When Shere Khan threatened the pack to give up Mowgli, she proclaimed as his protector. Foster or not, a mother is a mother.
Mariam, A Flight of Pigeons
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Mariam is an indomitable lady with a charm. Despite being at Javed Khan’s house in the times of turmoil, she refuses his proposition to marry her daughter Ruth. She does not give into the adversity of her circumstances but takes a chance with faith, saving her daughter’s life in the end.
Rosa Hubermann, The Book Thief

Rosa Hubermann is Liesel’s foster mother who has a “wardrobe build”, sharp tongue and a no-nonsense attitude. She does laundry for the wealthier households to help her family financially. She also never got fazed by anybody, not even Nazis during World War II. She is a mom who uses cuss words to show affection.
Marmee, Little Women

Runs the household by herself, raises four daughters, becomes their counsellor and role model, Marmee did it all. She also teaches them and nurtures them to become strong, inspirational women while keeping each of them true to their individuality. If Marmee isn’t a badass mother, we don’t know who is.
Do you know any more names that should be on this list? Tell us.

5 Momentous Performances of Sonal Mansingh

At the tender age of 18, Sonal Mansingh began dancing professionally. In a  career of fifty-five years, she has given many mesmerizing performances in Bharatnatyam, Odissi, and Chhau.
Mansingh has travelled the world for her dance and won many accolades. Here are five momentous performances by her that make us want to go back in time and witness them.
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Read more about her illustrious dance career in Sonal Mansingh: A Life Like No Other.
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Feminism Defined Right

What is Feminism? Feminism is often misinterpreted to state that it propagates female chauvinism. But the original thought behind feminism is equality for women in the domains of economic, personal, social, and political rights.
Here are five iconic quotes about feminism by women authors to set the record straight on feminism.
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Know more quotes which define feminism the right away? Tell us in the comments.

7 Quotes by The Great Khali that’re Bound to Motivate You

The world knows him as the WWE superstar, but most do not know the entire story of Dalip Rana. Born in a small village, his formative years were nothing if not full of turbulence. From leaving his school to working as a daily-wage labourer to bodybuilding, he had done it all at a very young age. Often the subject of ridicule, he was poked fun at due to his extraordinary size. However, a determined Dalip relentlessly pursued his goal of wrestling and such was his passion that he did what no Indian had done so far enter the internationally acclaimed WWE arena!
The Man Who Became Khali is an inspirational, emotional and a no-holds-barred account of a man who not only went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship but also conquered his inner demons and physical anomalies.
This is the story of how Dalip Singh Rana became the international icon – The Great Khali!
He’s lived a hard life and fought hard to become a winner. And that is why there is no one better to motivate us. Enjoy some of the most inspirational quotes from The Man Who Became Khali, written by Dalip Singh Rana and Vinit K Bansal.
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7 Things About Nadeem Aslam that will Leave You Spellbound

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When a young Nadeem Aslam – sixteen years of age – fled from his native Pakistan and settled in England, he barely knew the English language. Back home, Urdu-medium schools had dotted the country and English education had been rare and for the affluent few.
In England, as a teenager, learning and writing in English became Nadeem Aslam’s burning desire – a language in which he would go on to produce highly influential works. As part of his self-imposed “crash-course” to learn English, he started by copying out entire novels by hand and studying the content! “That’s how I learned English, looking at the sentences,” Nadeem Aslam says.
Today, as one of the leading writers from the subcontinent who has made an indelible mark on the international stage, Nadeem Aslam has left behind striking footsteps to follow. Here are few of the fascinating things about him that are going to leave you captivated!
Educating himself and developing as a writer.
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In the company of solitude.
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Words flowing from his mind into his hand, then down the pen, and onto the page – blood becoming ink!
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Breaking out!
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Suffering with pleasure.
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A writer builds his own world!
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Excellence is a consequence of hard work and preparation, isn’t it?
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