Manjeet Hirani is a senior commander and trainer with Air India. Fascinated by all things philosophical, she is also an influencer and a speaker across various platforms. Manjeet blogs at manjeethirani.com. In this book, How to be Human: Life Lessons from Buddy Hirani, she writes through her personal experience with her dog, Buddy, about attachment, parenting, and karma, among other things. This is a charming and heart-warming book that, with its light touch, will make you look at life from a less cynical standpoint.
Let’s read the foreword by Dia Mirza
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Sultan, my beautiful golden Labrador, would know when my car would reach the junction that led to my apartment building. He’d run to the front door and lie down in front of it, wagging his tail well before I would even reach the porch! There was never a day in his eleven years of life that he didn’t make it to the door in time to greet me.
Sultan always knew when I was coming home or leaving on a long trip. He knew everything. He knew when I was happy or sad or angry. He would find an endearing way to let me know that he was around. He would sit by my side with his head on my lap, or put a paw on my foot, or prance around wagging his tail.
He always found a way to show that he cared, that he loved me no matter what. He never judged me or found fault with me.
Sultan was also a great teacher. I think much of who I am today is courtesy the many lessons of compassion and love that he and the other pets we’ve had taught me.
Dogs are healers; I think they are the non-human form of saints. They are often found assisting in all kinds of recovery programmes to aid human beings in overcoming seemingly insurmountable (physical and emotional) problems across the world. They are a part of security squads and protection groups. It is not without reason that dogs are called man’s best friend.
The thought of a life without knowing the love of a dog seems incomprehensible to me. Thank goodness for children and their inherent love for animals! They are born with knowledge that ensures their response to nature, i.e. pets, is instinctual. If it weren’t for Vir’s incessant pleas and his deep desire to bring a dog home, then perhaps this remarkable discovery unfolding each day would have gone undiscovered in the Hirani household.
Manjeet Hirani has written one of the most honest accounts of what it means for a person to embrace a pet. To me, what remains the most fascinating aspect is her willingness to share how much she is learning from this incredible new member of their family. Manjeet is a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend, pilot, and now a dog lover.
This book is a beautiful journey of discovery and learning—a journey of love that has made its way into every day and into every moment. It is about the deep abiding joy that Buddy has brought into the Hirani home. But above all it is a book that will help even the non-believer become a believer.
Tag: Penguin Random House
Quiz on Parshu-Raam and Vishwamitra
Vineet Aggarwal runs a blog, Decode Hindu Mythology, which has a dedicated readership. His book, Bharat: The Man Who Built a Nation talks about the man who changed the destiny of our country and gave it a brand new name-Bharat!
Here’s a quiz to treat the mythology aficionados.
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She Who Knew How the Caged Birds Sang
With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, Maya Angelou began work on the book that would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Published in 1970, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings received international acclaim and made the bestseller list. The book was also banned in many schools during that time as Maya Angelou’s honesty about having been sexually abused opened a subject matter that had long been taboo in the culture. Later, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings would become a course adoption at college campuses around the world
On her birthday, we take a look at her famed work through the various poignant quotes by her:
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8 Facts about the Islamic Flows between the Gulf and South Asia
Over the last fifty years, pan-Islamic ties have intensified between the Gulf and South Asia. Gathering together some of the best specialists on the subject, The Islamic Connection, edited by Christophe Jaffrelot and Laurence Louër, explore these ideological, educational and spiritual networks, which have gained momentum due to political strategies, migration flows and increased communications. At stake are both the resilience of the civilization that imbued South Asia with a specific identity and the relations between Sunnis and Shias in a region where Saudi Arabia and Iran are fighting a cultural proxy war.
Here are some facts about the Islamic Flows between the Gulf and South Asia:
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10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Glorious Rani Lakshmibai
Sonia Mehta is a children’s writer who has been writing and curating content for children for over two decades now. She conceptualized and directed the Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest, and has also authored several children’s activity books for Disney including the popular Chhota Bheem franchise. In her latest book titled Rani Lakshmibai, Mehta recounts the historic rule of the glorious queen.
Here are ten facts we discovered about the brave heart- Rani Lakshmibai that you should know too:
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A Fools Paradise with Shakespeare
Like the real fools and jesters of the time, Shakespearean fools were common individuals that outwitted people of higher social status. They find place in many of William Shakespeare’s works:
“Shakespeare’s fools are subtle teachers, reality instructors one might say, who often come close to playing the part that Socrates, himself an inspired clown, played on the streets of Athens. They tickle, coax and cajole their supposed betters into truth, or something akin to it. They take the spirit of April Fools’ Day to an inspired zenith.” (Edmundson, 2000)
This April Fool’s day, here’s our literary take on the Shakespeare’s fools:
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Edmundson, M. (2000). Playing the Fool. New York Times, Retrieved from www.nytimes.com.
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/04/02/bookend/bookend.html
Up, Close & Personal: Meet the Residents of Auroville
“A group of youth mixed earth from 124 countries and twenty-three Indian states in a marble urn, a symbolic enactment of human unity.”
Auroville has a reputation as a cosmopolitan, spiritual township, but it remains an enigma to outside observers. What is life really like in the community? What do its residents believe in, and what are they aspiring towards? Akash Kapur’s anthology, titled Auroville: Dream & Reality includes fiction, essays, poetry and drama written by visitors and residents of the township. Let us meet seven of the talented folks who have contributed to his book:
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5 Hair-Raising Facts about India’s Landmark Criminal Cases
Dr. Pinky Anand, a trustee of The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust is a designated senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India and the incumbent Additional Solicitor General of India. Drawing on her vast experience, Pinky Anand in her book, Trials of Truth: India’s Landmark Criminal Cases, examines criminal cases that have captured public interest. She gives us an inside look and lawyer’s perspective into the manner of legal proceedings, strategies employed by legal counsel on both sides and the rigour with which courts come to verdicts.
Here are 5 gripping facts about these cases:
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Robert Frost will be your Favourite Go-to Poet; Here’s how!
Winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, Frost was a poetic force reckoned the world over. On this prolific writer’s birthday, we bring you 10 of his absolute heart melting, comforting and inspiring quotes, that will definitely make him your favourite poet!
Let’s have a look at these beautiful masterpieces:
A Dash of Poetry from Some of the Finest Indian Poets
Immensely admired for the sensitivity with which they portray human emotions and with a popularity that since decades has remained at an all-time high, this World Poetry Day we present to you a poem from some of these finest Indian poets. Their voice will tug at the heart of every poetry lover.
Let’s have a look at these fantastic voices.
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