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The story of how a young IAS officer fell in love with India's tribal heartlands, and how these experiences changed him forever. Pravir Krishna first came face to face with the stark realities of the exploitation of tribal people when he was posted as the collector and district magistrate of Sarguja, a tribal district in Madhya Pradesh, in 1994. It affected him so deeply that he embarked on a journey towards bettering the lives of tribal people. Ever since, he has helped create an atmosphere where tribals traded freely and earned more. In fact, his market reforms were listed by the UNO-FAO as among 32 global best practices. Pravir's close association with the tribes began in Sarguja, it then continued in Bastar, and now as managing director of TRIFED, it has become even more important. Two decades later, his efforts have culminated in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Jatiya Vikas Mission, an initiative for enterprise-centric approach to tribal development, vis-à-vis the traditional welfarecentric approach. The book also discusses critical topics like the pros and cons of providing a fair deal to tribes for their forest produces; and what needs to be done to quadruple the incomes of tribes using this as the engine. The author offers various hands-on suggestions for transforming symbolic legislation for the tribes to a more robust approach to tribal development that is based on strengthening self-help; use of local resources and the traditional and sound skills and knowledge bank of the tribes; and the need to develop enterprises based on these resources. This is the remarkable story of a bureaucrat whose destiny is forever entwined with that of many of India's tribal communities.

In a city high-rise, sitting in the balcony on the 25th floor, sipping tea, you look out into the horizon, city lights glimmering in the distance, cars fading away as they rush across the highway. You are surrounded by silence though you can hear the faint noises of the horns honking on the road. You look across at the building angularly adjoining yours and see shadows move across the large expansive windows. You wonder what they would be doing-their conversations, their actions, the scuttling and scurrying movements. You can feel the melancholy, the lonesomeness. You reflect how it was never like this before. As people navigate their way towards growth and success, they find themselves 'busy' and others around them 'unavailable'. This urban existence with its multidimensional challenges has led to an upsurge in the experience of loneliness and taking stock is a matter of pertinent significance. This book explores the spaces from which the problem of urban loneliness arises. It portrays in detail the facets of our lives which are contributing towards the emergence of this scenario. In Alone in the Crowd, the authors go beyond highlighting the existence of the problem to enlisting ways in which this pandemic, in the midst of the current pandemic, can be tackled. Encouraging readers to concurrently focus on the need to live mindfully, this book also highlights key learnings from the pandemic.

I needed a friend but it was not easy to find one among a horde of rowdy, pea-shooting fourth formers, who carved their names on desks and stuck chewing gum on the class teacher's chair. Had I grown up with other children, I might have developed a taste for schoolboy anarchy; but, in sharing my father's loneliness after his separation from my mother, I had turned into a premature adult.' There is no telling where friendships might be made and how. Friends of My Youth is a collection of short stories by Ruskin Bond on how little and almost seemingly insignificant incidents of life can lead us to the person in whom we may find a companion, a comrade. These are the stories of how unknowingly, at times, friends are found and how they help eliminate our loneliness or become partners in crime in our personal missions. Narrated with utter simplicity, the tales make for a delightful remembrance of the friends made in the early years of life.

London-based restaurateur Arun and his assistant Ben are on a business trip. They stop at a roadside café in Himachal Pradesh and are astonished with its European looks and Italian menu. A cynical Arun samples a dish and is blown away by its authenticity. His astonishment turns into disbelief when he learns that the cook is Sita, a simple mountain girl who has never in her life stepped outside her village. Ever since her mother passed away, Sita started helping her deaf-mute father run their small tea stall. Sita loves cooking and when a travelling Italian chef gifts her a cookbook, the passion becomes an obsession. Aided by YouTube videos, Sita soon revamps the tea stall and turns it into an elfin café. Arun recognizes Sita's extraordinary talents and convinces her to move to London and become a chef at his restaurant. However, Sita's lack of professional training is soon apparent. Help comes in the form of Anwar Khan, a veteran butcher, who takes a floundering Sita under his wings. She embarks on a journey, navigating the cut-throat and often ugly world of gourmet chefs where gender conventions and racial undercurrents can make or break careers. As she strives to carve a niche for herself, Arun starts feeling differently towards Sita. Just when Sita starts believing in her special destiny, one incident alters her inside out and leads her to rediscovering herself.

An insightful examination of the challenges that have characterized Indian foreign policy in recent years by one of our more thoughtful political figuresFor India to grow, prosper and achieve its true potential, it requires peace on its periphery. But this amity has eluded it since 1947. The challenge from Pakistan and China, and now from the China-Pakistan nexus, has not allowed India to break out of its neighborhood quagmire. In the past two decades, the challenges to India's national security have only exacerbated both in complexity and intensity. The seizure of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the complete withdrawal of all the military forces of the United States and its allies have opened up a security void creating a strategic vacuum in the region. It would have profound implications not only for Pax Americana, but for nations in the arc of turbulence. The repercussions in J&K and Punjab would be ominous in the days ahead. 10 Flashpoints; 20 Years looks back at the security situations that have impacted India in the past two decades and dissects our responses-both successes and failures-to them. In a first, Manish Tewari examines the tools and processes of Indian statecraft defence, diplomacy and intelligence, and weaves a veritable tapestry around the institutions and individuals that form part of the country's national security establishment. He also offers suggestions on ways in which the national security doctrine can be reformed to meet the demands of the twenty-first century's regional and global security environment.

A coming-of-age story full of nuance, sincerity and wisdom. When you've been tricked and the cards are decked against you, it's time to open a new set of cards. However, unlike a game of cards, in life, rules are meant to be rewritten or you lose the chance to play your winning hand. And while it sucks to be defeated by others, to fail yourself is a loss from which you may never recover. So, when a pragmatic Tiana finds the courage to clash with her dogmatic teachers, it was bound to shake up the school. For Tiana, the most important lessons in high school were learnt outside the classroom because beyond the textbooks, her teachers were imparting their patronizing sexist ideologies and censorship of speech, all in the name of discipline. Tiana had had enough. After being wrongfully suspended and then going back to her boarding school, where she wasn't wanted, it took a lot of courage and shrewdness to prove her innocence. All this, while being a part of multiple love triangles, dealing with jealous friends, a duplicitous cousin and egocentric teachers.

A remarkable journey-part pilgrimage, part romantic odyssey-down India's mightiest river, the Ganga.Nishant, a young Indian writer living in Paris, is haunted by the memory of an enigmatic Parisienne who claims to be two persons-Jaya and Nadja. He decides to journey down the Ganges, from its source in the Himalayas to where it meets the sea, with a desire to write about this voyage and his memories of Jaya. On the banks of the Ganga, he meets Zehra, an irresistible dancing girl in the tradition of the great tawaiffs, who performs in a nearby brothel. Zehra resurrects the memory of Jaya.With Jaya and Zehra inhabiting his mind, Nishant undertakes an entrancing journey down the Ganga replete with unexpected encounters with sadhus, boatmen, engineers, vernacular journalists, pimps, administrators, Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, and the omnipresent pandas.When Jaya Ganga was first published in French, it created more than a stir in literary circles. It was hailed as a unique travelogue-novel which brought the author's inner and outer worlds effortlessly together.Jaya Ganga was adapted in cinema in 1995. A cult film today, Jaya Ganga, written and directed by Vijay Singh, played for a record 49 weeks in the UK and France after being screened in 40 other countries.

LOSS, DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT ARE INEVITABLE TO HUMAN LIFE.EQUALLY TRUE IS THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO GROW STRENGTH IN THE GARDEN OF SORROW AND SEEK THE PATH OF DEEP GROWTH,TRANSFORMATION AND GRACE, IN THE MIDST OF GRIEF AND PAIN.Neena Verma, an expert companion, counsellor and educator for meaning-inspired ''Grief and Growth'', and a bereaved mother herself, offers an in-depth and engaging book, that guides the way to transform grief journey into ''growth and grace'' pilgrimage. Her path setting GROWTH Mandala framework shows an evocative and practical way to affirm grief, adapt to the emergent reality with resilience, restore well-being, transform and re-emerge with meaning and grace. This book is for you, if you believe that an affirmative, resilient and meaning-centric approach to life radiates light in the dark night of pain. And this book is for you, if you are keen to facilitate deep existential growth for yourself and others, whether or not in grief. Welcome aboard the pilgrimage of faith, hope, strength, wisdom, meaning, growth, love and grace.