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The Greatest Tamil Stories Ever Told showcases some of the best short fiction to emerge out of Tamil Nadu, dating from the last century to the present day. Two of the earliest stories included here are Subramania Bharati's 'The Story of a Crow Learning Prosody', a satirical tale about the exaltation of language, and 'Kalki' Krishnamurthy's 'The Governor's Visit', about how bigwigs in little places pandered to the British rulers during the time of the Raj. While some stories in this volume wrestle with the idea of public justice, as in Father Mark Stephen's 'Penance' and Sa. Kandasamy's 'The Slaying of Hiranya', others, such as Ambai's 'Journey 4', hide secrets that could destroy lives and relationships if they are ever revealed. Featuring memorable works by, among others, Bama, Perumal Murugan, and Poomani, the thirty stories in this collection, selected and edited by Sujatha Vijayaraghavan and Mini Krishnan, come together to paint a striking picture of the Tamil people.

In Picturing Time, Raghu Rai, India's greatest living photographer, puts together the finest pictures he has taken over the course of a career that spans fifty years. His photographs of war, faith, monuments like the Taj Mahal, ordinary Indians, our greatest leaders, saints and charlatans, deserts and much else besides in black and white, and in colour, are imprinted on our memory. However, they have never been collected before in a single book. To add to our appreciation of these extraordinary pictures, most of them are accompanied by the photographer's insights into how, when and why the photographs were taken.To mark this landmark in his legendary career, he has put together, for the first time, the definitive selection of his finest pictures, across a variety of themes, along with the stories behind the photographs. Timeless, often unsettling, and always unforgettable, these pictures will change the way we see our world.

You will not forget Raghu Rai's people. It does not matter if they are famous or unknown, the master photographer's images of them are so arresting that they stamp themselves immediately on the viewer's gaze. What he is able to do is catch the essential truth of his subjects in a way that renders them unforgettable. He says, 'When I take a person's portrait, I am trying to capture the aura of that person, the person's spirit in the picture. I am trying to get the truth of that person to emerge i

The mango, the king of fruits, is also the fruit of desire and the fruit of love. Every aspect of the tree is profoundly intertwined with Indian civilization. The leaves, flowers, and fruits of the mango are depicted in paintings and sculptures, and references to it are found in Indian literature through the ages and in several languages.

Carpets adorn living spaces across the length and breadth of the country and are appreciated for many qualities-their design, their colours, their 'feel'-but rarely their history. Yet, each carpet has a story hidden within its intricate details, and the value of a carpet is not only determined by what it costs, or by its technical and aesthetic qualities, but also by the story it carries. Of Indian Carpets and Carpetwallahs: An Appreciation tells the stories of Indian carpets by delving into the histories of an assortment of unique carpets-that of delicate Kashmiri carpets, a Herati-inspired carpet made in Amritsar, and even one made in Rampur jail-collected by Norwegian diplomat Jon Westborg over his lifetime. Of Indian Carpets and Carpetwallahs: An Appreciation melds history, memory, and aesthetics beautifully to create a complete and detailed picture of the Indian carpet-making tradition.

Empower Yourself Right Now curates timeless pearls of wisdom from the world's greatest supergurus whose words have motivated billions around the globe and shown them the path to success and fulfilment. Delving deep into the roots of the most commonly faced roadblocks to personal growth such as self-doubt, negative patterns of thinking, procrastination, wavering focus, and a fear of the unknown, each excerpt in the book offers a fresh and powerful perspective that will transform your life.

Can the Mind Be Quiet? carries the essence of the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century. The book is divided into sixty chapters, each describing a unique spiritual encounter with people from diverse backgrounds. The conversations and private interviews between various seekers and Krishnamurti address a wide array of questions such as 'How do I bring up my children?', 'Can the mind unburden itself?', 'What does virtue mean?', 'What really is sacred?', 'Can the brain ever be quiet?', and many more. With every answer, Krishnamurti imparts eye-opening insights into the self, society, education, interpersonal relations, spirituality, and, most importantly, how to lead a peaceful and fulfilling life. Can the Mind Be Quiet? distils the core of Krishnamurti's wisdom with unmatched clarity.

Why are the Great Living Chola Temples named thus? Who built the many churches and convents of Goa? What makes the Taj Mahal one of the wonders of the world?

TheGreatest Enemy of Rain presents fourteen memorable short storiesabout the mundane and mysterious aspects of everyday life of the eccentric andoddball characters that occupy its pages. These unforgettable men and womengrapple with questions of life and death, newfound freedoms, lifelongvendettas, love and longing, and memories of days gone by.In 'The Greatest Enemy of Rain', Gopi recounts the ups and downs of hislifelong quest to outsmart a formidable enemy-the persistent Kerala rain. Inthe ancient India of 'These New Fangled Ways', Mista decides to do what no onehas done until then-cooking over fire-even as her parents swoon and faint inthe background. In 'Shabari and Anita', a couple eschews the humdrum activityof daily life to pursue new trends in men's fashion and beauty at their shinynew salon. 'The Answer' is a befitting response to the epic highs and lows of asupercomputer tasked with proving the existence of God. Written with ManuBhattathiri's characteristic wit and humour, The Greatest Enemy of Rain isa breezy exploration of the peculiarities of human nature

The Hitopadesha-whichliterally means good advice-was composed in Sanskrit sometime between the ninthand tenth centuries CE by Pandit Narayana. Arranged in four fascinatingsections-Winning Friends, Losing Friends, Waging War, and Making Peace-thevignettes that comprise the text include tales of anthropomorphized birds andanimals who are imbued with all too human qualities and frailties. Using humour, satire, and unconventionalmethods of narration, the stories in the collection prescribe canny andpragmatic responses to a range of very human situations, ambitions, problems,and dilemmas. Not only does the book have advice for the rulerwho is too timid or too haughty, but also for the minister who must serve him,as for the innocent husband with the conniving wife, the beautiful wife withthe undeserving husband, friends turned enemies, enemies reconciled, cleverpeople, foolish people, the greedy, the distraught, and so on. TheHitopadesha, like the Panchatantra, is among the most widelytranslated classical texts of India. This new version by historian andSanskritist Shonaleeka Kaul is an idiomatic translation in simple narrativeprose and free verse that retains the freshness and wit of the original.

Seventy-fiveyears after Independence, India faces stark questions. Some of the mostpressing ones relate to jobs and the cost of living. But questions about thestate of our democracy are equally critical, if not more so. When India wonindependence and prepared to become the world's largest democracy, the people,through their leaders and elected representatives, looked to create a nationbuilt on the ideals of equality, liberty, and fraternity. That this seemed asuccessful exercise-in a densely populated country with high levels ofilliteracy and poverty, a bewildering variety of religions, castes, andlanguages, and a history of internal conflict-surprised many and gave hope tomany more. However, over the years, these ideals have repeatedly come underattack.Inthe book, the author reflects on key issues that India will need to deal with.He asks if India's future will be dictated bythe resentful victimhood thatseems to grip the champions of Hindu nationalism in a country where Hindusdominate the economy, the polity, the media, the culture, and everything else.Or will calm, thoughtful, self-critical yet confident young Indians-Hindu,Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and others-prevail and continueto build a country that treats everyone as equal? He addresses debates aboutthe idea, image, and personality of Ram throughout India's life and history;analyses the fallout of Partition and the concept of Akhand Bharat; and delvesinto what Mahatma Gandhi stood for and against-all of them issues that arecontested in today's India. In addition to these reflections, the author looksback at the history of the nation from 1947 onwards and examines what we, thepeople of India, should do to remain a viable and vibrant democracy thatensures that none of its citizens are left behind or feel oppressed, unwelcome,or unsafe.A timely study of the state of the nationfrom one of our foremost thinkers, India After 1947 is an essential readthat reminds us of who we are as a nation and what we should aim to be.

If India and China were to fight a war in thenear future, India faces the prospect of losing the war within ten days. Chinacould take Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh with a minimum loss of life, and thereis very little that India could do about it. This is because the Indianmilitary is preparing for the wrong war. In this eye-opening and disquietingbook, military expert and bestselling author Pravin Sawhney explains in greatdetail how this alarming scenario could play out.China'swar with India will be reminiscent of the 1991 Gulf War. The US military'sbattle networks connecting sensors to shooters and guided munitions withsupport from space assets had induced shock and awe in militaries worldwide.Similarly, China's war with India will stun the world with the use ofartificial intelligence, emerging technologies, multi-domain operations,imaginative war concepts, and collaboration between humans and intelligentrobots. China has been preparing for this since the 2017 Doklam crisis afterwhich it permanently augmented its troops across the Line of Actual Control.Theauthor argues that China's superpower status will only grow and the'capabilities lag' between the two countries will expand. And if there isoutright war, the Indian military will be no match for China's AI-backed warmachines. In such a war, traditional conventional forces will be at a hugedisadvantage, nuclear weapons will have no role to play, and the valour ofindividual soldiers will be of no consequence. India is honing its strengths tofight a war in the three physical domains of land, air, and the sea, whereasthe PLA is working on becoming the overwhelmingly superior force in sevendomains-air, land, sea (including deep-sea warfare), outer space, cyber space,the electromagnetic spectrum, and near space (aka the hypersonic domain). ThePLA's disruption technologies will overwhelm India within the first seventy-twohours of hostilities commencing, and will lead to the quick end of India'sresistance. The primary battleground will not be on land but in cyberspace andthe electromagnetic spectrum. TheLast War explains why it's critical that India works to prevent such a warever taking place.It should avoid focusing onjoint combat with the US, whose power in the region is weakening. Instead,India should seek to make peace with China and Pakistan, its main adversariesat the moment, while simultaneously working to enhance its military andtechnological strengths in areas that it hasn't focused its resources on. Onlythen will the country's borders be firmly secure, and the region's future peaceand prosperity be assured.

Those Women of theCoromandel brings to life the eclectic,intertwined lives of three women living in Coromandel in nineteenth-centuryIndia. We meet Miss Beston who is known as the Boat Woman, a Briton who hasgone native. Living in her boat (that grows into a chain of houseboats, eachhousing a different area of her living and working quarters) she is anentrepreneur, hunter, and host and guide to every British official who passes throughthe Coromandel. Deeply interested in local culture, she befriends people aroundher, both Indian and British. Appachchi, known as Granny, is a lover of nature,mangoes, and the monsoon. An early encounter with a spiritual man, the Guru ofthe Stream, guides her to a divine understanding that underpins her life.Worker Aunt, Appachchi's sister-in-law, who endures successive personaltragedies with the utmost dignity, is her close confidante and lifelongbuttress. Also deeply influenced by the teachings of the Guru of the Stream,she undertakes a trip to Kasi later in life that establishes her as a spiritualfulcrum for the villagers. Peopledwith characters who are eccentric, interesting, and pragmatic, such as thescholarly BA Garu, Appachchi's husband and Worker Aunt's brother; Mr Blotton,the Brahma of the Godavari anicut; Nephew, the first to welcome the Guru of theStream, and others, Those Women of the Coromandel is a story of peopletrying to find their place in the world as it turns and changes around them.

CREATURE OF INDIAN MYTH.