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One day, a cherry seed falls to the ground. It lies forgotten, till a little plant appears. It pushes its way out of the soil, not demanding much as it grows into a tree-just some water, a loving word now and then. Till the time comes when there it stands, tall and proud, a bearer of red, sweet cherries.

Jhalkari Bai grew up in Bhojla, many miles away from the city of Jhansi. Far from the grand forts and palaces and illustrious kings and queens of Jhansi, in her village, she was known for her great strength and bravery-fighting off tigers and dacoits all alone. She nurtured a fierce desire to be a soldier, and to do amazing acts of courage.

In a small village in Punjab, little Milkha Singh grew up, loved by his parents, surrounded by open fields where he could run, play, and fly kites. In the heat of summer, when he had to walk to school barefoot, he would run like the wind so he could get home fast. And then, one day, in the midst of terrible violence and upheaval, his family and home were snatched away forever.

Twenty-nine-year-old Dinkar Sharma is a software engineer in Noida. Or was, till he was unceremoniously dropped by his company. Lying around in his rented room with nothing to do, it occurs to him how his heart had never been in it. In fact, for the first time he realizes just how unhappy he has been. What makes it worse is that after this brief holiday of sorts, he must get back to a new life-exactly like the one he had.

'Rejimon writes in a highly readable manner [of these]…heart-warming anecdotes of the valour of our coastal communities…whose members are well deserving of the highest praise and admiration from a grateful society. A work to cherish!'-Dr Shashi Tharoor, MPIn August 2018, when the worst floods in a century hit Kerala, fishermen risked their lives, their boats-their only source of livelihood-and their health to rescue thousands of stranded flood victims. They spent days and nights soaked to the skin, steering on empty stomachs. They had to navigate the wild flood's treacherous undercurrents and dive into dirty waters, risking disease and injury. Sometimes, they had to carry people or act as footstools to help them climb into the boats. They would even swim alongside the boats, so that more people could fit.Veteran journalist Rejimon Kuttappan draws on years of friendship with the fisherfolk along the Thiruvananthapuram coast to bring their stories to the world-in their own words. Through interviews with fishermen, government officials and flood victims, as well as extensive research, he brings to life the daring heroism and heart-wrenching sorrow of those terrible days. In the process, he reveals the precarious lives of the fisherfolk communities-threatened by climate crisis, coastal erosion and a rapidly changing way of life.This book is both a chronicle of heroism and a tribute to the enduring courage of a community that saved Kerala in its moment of need.

When she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, writes Ananya Mukherjee, she was 'stunned and disappointed in myself but quickly found my resolve. I chose to fight cheerfully…with a deep belief and faith that I'd be okay.' Tragically, and for perhaps the first time in her life, her will could not overcome circumstances, and she lost the fight on 18 November 2018. But she left behind a host of memories for those who knew her, and a beautiful legacy for the world-an intimate and inspiring diary of her 'cheerful fight'. It is a book that makes light of the darker moments of cancer (comparing her balding head to the dishevelled crow on her windowsill); gives practical advice on gifts to bring a cancer patient (piping hot machcher jhol along with a good story or two); and gives an insight into what cancer patients dream of (a road trip to Jaisalmer and a gondola ride in Venice).Tales from the Tail End is a book of hope, courage, even sunshine-not only for those living with cancer, and their caregivers and loved ones, but for anyone determined to live life on her or his own terms despite adversity.Peeyush Sekhsaria's skilful sketches are a delightful accompaniment to the text.Part of the proceeds of this book will go to the Yuvraj Singh Cancer Foundation and the Muskaan Foundation for Road Safety.

'An artful and potent collection: these are wonderfully observed, playful, sharp, surprising stories that powerfully explore the hinterlands of alienation and dislocation.'-Mahesh Rao, author of Polite Society and winner of the Tata First Book AwardIn The Juvenile Immigrant, her sparkling debut collection of short fiction, Namrata Verghese explores the disorders and triumphs of Indian immigrants, especially Malayalees, in America.At an airport, a mother on her way home to India fears the impact of racial profiling on her young daughter. But after emerging unscathed from the security booth, her daughter vanishes into thin air. Who will she turn to for help?Legally dependent on her husband 's H1-B work visa for her continued stay in the US, Susan wakes up every morning fearing he is dead. When Ajay, an old flame from school, shows up on Facebook with his Mercedes and green card, Susan wonders what could have been.Back in his village for a few days to meet with a prospective bride, a man is forced to confront uncomfortable memories from his childhood. Will he agree to the arranged marriage, or does he long for something more?These, among sixteen other stories in this book, brilliantly evoke interior dramas of dislocation, racism, mental illness, marriage and infidelity with surprising twists of humour, pathos and pessimism. Marked by keen psychological insight and visceral prose, they speak urgently to our contemporary moment.

'The pull of a Kalpish Ratna novel is undeniable, even hypnotic.'-The TelegraphWhat is the chill interface between violence and pseudo-science?What is the secret ingredient of the elixir of youth being doled out by a hakim at Leopold Café?Who was the Bombay Ripper, the notorious serial killer from the late-1800s?How does a fifteen-year-old widow's sati attempt result in the birth of an icon of the Hindu Rashtra?How much of love is real and how much hallucination when the object of one's affection is a spectre?In this thrilling mix of medical history and speculative fiction, the intrepid microbiologist Ratan Oak jumps between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, outwitting vedic scientists, brahminical eugenicists, lusty serial-killers and ghostly seductresses.

What would happen if one did steal, commit adultery, covet one's neighbour's goods, even murder…and break all the rules we were taught to live by? Each story in this first-of-its-kind collection takes you into a realm where people are prompted by love, desire, jealousy, hatred and, at times, a strange compassion, to throw out the old, conventional rules, and make their own. The title story, 'Body and Blood', is a macabre revelation of how far one can go when one loves someone before all others, even God; in 'Honour. Or Not', a young girl abused by her father since the age of thirteen finds a shockingly unexpected way of 'honouring' him when he dies.In a lighter vein, the protagonist in 'Sunday Snow Job' asserts that working girls have to work, even on the Holy Sabbath, while Gomes in 'Heart of Gold' finds it is possible to covet your neighbour's wife and get rich too. 'Wakulla' raises the question: can stealing be an act of compassion, and not a sin? In 'Fall', Srinivas discovers that one can make love to one's best friend's wife without actually committing adultery. And coveting your neighbour's goods is fine-as long as they are the right ones, as 'Elegy in a Churchyard', the tenth story in this rivetting collection, teaches us.Written with panache and by turns erotic, tongue-in-cheek and shocking, this is a collection of noir and black humour at its best.

A relevant and stirring story for our times-about who we love and who we help. Umi, Anshu, Lavina, Shiv, Nasreen and Pankaj are typical teenagers living in Delhi. The six love to take off on their all-terrain cycles and explore the city. And one place they frequent is the Delhi Ridge-a forest area filled with all kinds of trees and thorny shrubs and home to half-forgotten monuments. Here, they come across the spooky Malcha Mahal with its strange and sad history. But the children are also getting sucked into another kind of adventure that is unfolding right next door. Their brilliant and pretty tutor, Khushboo Didi is in love with Salim, her childhood friend. Her family is dead opposed to this love story and the children are her only friends and allies. Will love triumph over hate? What dangerous game have the children started when they decide to help Khushboo and Salim? And how will the Ridge, with all its secrets, come to their rescue? Unflinching, exciting and action-packed, The Hidden Palace Adventure is a story for our times-about who we love and who we help, and about bravery that leads people to go places and do things they never thought possible.

'[This book] deserves to be read, not merely because it is about extraordinary women set against the changing historical backdrop of Indian classical dance, but primarily because it is a story well told.'-The HinduA riveting chronicle about three generations of women who profoundly impacted the revitalization of classical dance-especially Bharatanatyam and Odissi-in India and abroad.This intimate memoir begins with Esther Luella, who in the Orientalist frenzy of 1920s America became increasingly immersed in Indian dance and changed her name to "Ragini Devi", then eloped tumultuously to India. Here her stubborn pursuit of what she felt she had been reincarnated for resulted in an acclaimed career as a Bharatanatyam and Kathakali dancer.Yet a gypsy fortune-teller had predicted that her daughter's fame would eclipse her own, and indeed it was Indrani Rahman-rebellious, talented, beautiful, defying her mother by marrying aged fifteen-who truly brought Indian classical dance to the world stage; a pioneer who introduced Odissi, until then performed only by the marginalized Devadasi community, to widespread appreciation.Sukanya Rahman, granddaughter to Ragini and daughter to Indrani, explores the truths behind their celebrated lives against the history of the dances they popularised in pre- and post-Independence India. She delves into her own life with the same unassuming candour, reflecting upon her simultaneous desire and inability to draw away from this potent inheritance of dance.Ultimately an ode to these remarkable women so significant to Indian dance, this intergenerational memoir is recounted with a frank authenticity which makes for a compelling read. More than 50 archival family photographs, dating from 1893, contribute to making this book a gem in the history of Indian dance.

'Many playwrights have the courage to be experimental in their formative years, but get caught in a particular form over time. Sathe is one of those rare playwrights who remain passionately experimental…'-Maharashtra Times Among the most politically and socially engaged Marathi writers, Makarand Sathe is also a popular playwright. This volume brings together three of his best works in English translation.They Went Ahead is set in a limbo-like space after death. The two characters can't figure out how to leave it, despite seeing others moving on, all around them. Finally, they realize that if they rape a poor farmer's wife, also stuck there, they will be able to leave…but how are they supposed to come to terms with their own consciences?Various vivid characters are caught in a traffic jam in Crossroads. The impetuous Pratap, who has lost his job, wants a simple answer to help him understand the crisis he faces, but Achyut Athavale, a liberal thinker, can only offer him diverse and equally valid narratives. The other characters further enrich the narrative with their various preoccupations. But when the situation escalates into physical conflict, their many identities become two again-the violent and the non-violent.The Man Who Saw the Sun explores questions of truth and justice using dialogues between famous figures from Ancient Greece, like Socrates-whose trial is at the core of the play-Xanthippe and Phaedo, which are observed by four present-day characters.Thought-provoking yet always accessible, experimental yet lightened by a unique sense of humour, Makarand Sathe's plays work beautifully across languages and media. This collection by one of India's finest playwrights belongs on every theatre-lover's shelf.

'Nabendu Ghosh's perfect characterisation enabled any director to shoot the film with ease. He had the rare ability to pen the pulse of a character.'-Dilip KumarIn this collection-ranging from stories of love found and lost to tales of the supernatural-Ghosh masterfully traces the inscrutable ways of the human heart. The reigning queen of Bombay cinema allows a younger leading man to fall in love with her to spite her husband. A schoolmaster's ravishing wife joins him in the small town where he works, inspires him to build a garden for her, and sets about wrecking his life. An impoverished student sits across a purdah from a nawab's begum; she dictates letters to her husband and, as the student takes down her words, he falls into forbidden love with the voice from across the screen. And an unbending priest from Noakhali finds all the principles of his life upended after Muslim rioters kidnap his daughter. Marked by psychological insight, keen observation and vivid prose, That Bird Called Happiness brings to readers the work of one of the greats-not only of Bengali literature but of the Indian literary canon.

When summer camp is so sweet, can you run from all the fun?Raj is going to what has to be the worst summer camp ever-Camp Sweets, where they teach children how to become expert sweet-makers. Yes, his mother is the owner of the Tasty Mithai Bhandar that serves the best gulab jamuns, jalebis, rasgullas and other delectable confections in town. But has anyone ever asked him what he wants? Certainly not to be anywhere near laddoos and imartis. Grumpy and annoyed, he turns up at Camp Sweets determined to not learn anything. Yet, there are boys and girls here who adore sweets. As Raj whips up one Indian dessert after another, he finds that with all the crazy cooking and new friendships, Camp Sweets is a summer camp like no other. And the kitchen is where monstrously sweet adventures begin…

Nothing, they say, focuses the mind as clearly as the prospect of a hanging. But the prospect of a sacking from your first job must surely be a close second.When the unnamed protagonist of this sparkling novel is confronted with an ultimatum-find three bestselling authors within a year or resign-the carefree future he had envisioned for himself is suddenly in jeopardy. He is twenty-nine, single, recovering, without serious injury, from a nearly failed relationship, and the commissioning editor for economics for a large British publisher's India operation. It is a life almost blessed.The unexpected jolt at his workplace, however, makes him seriously consider whether publishing is the perfect calling for him. But before he can decide, he still has a mission to fulfil. And so begins a search for the elusive bestselling authors-there are obdurate professors and experts to meet, journeys to take, contracts to sign. And at the same time there are girls to woo, planes to fly, good whiskey to drink, and fun to be had with friends and colleagues.Gradually, disillusionment creeps in, and in keeping with the ironical tone of the book, our hero simply walks away, perhaps to make another life, travelling light, free of the old job, the old girlfriend, the old friends.

If you ever thought history is boring, this funny and astonishing book is the perfect solution!DID YOU KNOW THAT…One of India's greatest emperors was erased from all history books for nearly 1,500 years?Beetles and beetle wings were a much sought-after fashion accessory once upon a time?The iron pillar in Delhi's Qutub complex does not rust?A French astronomer discovered the remains of a Roman port in South India?A caravan of elephants and camels from India once paraded the frozen streets of St Petersburg, Russia?Dive into these and many more odd and wonderful facts from the pages of Indian history. You will find here the megacity of ancient India whose existence we know of today from the accounts of Chinese and Greek travellers; the architects who created whispering galleries; the cluster of houses in Rajasthan covered with vibrant frescoes; and the strange story of how tea came to India. Lovelorn princes who lost their kingdoms; intrepid botanists who studied and recorded every plant in the Malabar region; the poem written in praise of garlic-these are some of the nuggets that capture the peculiar, the fascinating and the eccentric bits of history the way no textbook ever will!