Anita Nair
Showing all 11 books
First published in 1956, Chemmeen tells the story of the relationship between Karutthamma, a Hindu woman from the fishing community, and Pareekkutty, the son of a Muslim fish wholesaler. Unable to live with the man she loves, Karutthamma marries Palani, who, despite the scandal about his wife’s past, never stops trusting her, a trust that is reaffirmed each time he goes to sea and comes back safe since the sea-mother myth among the fishing community is that ...
An incongruent pair and their illuminating friendship Join Baby Jaan as she listens to Muezza’s mesmerizing tales, and soak in the wonder of rare, enlightening nuggets of Islamic lore. A djinn in the form of a baby camel and Prophet’s favourite cat come together in their shared exploits and a mutual education. As their chance meeting and tender bond is delicately explored, we are offered a fascinating array of teachings from the Quran that is sure to ...
Lessons in Forgetting: When we first see Meera, she is a carefully groomed corporate wife with a successful career as a writer of cookbooks. Then one day her husband fails to come home after a party and she becomes responsible not just for her children but her mother and grandmother, and the running of Lilac House, their rambling old family home in Bangalore. Enter Professor J.A. Krishnamurthy, or JAK, a renowned cyclone studies expert, on a very different ...
When Surya the sun god got married, his wife could not bear the heat of his rays and ran away. Surya was heartbroken and the world plunged into darkness. A dwarf asked a king for some land, which he measured with three footsteps, and ended up claiming the earth and the sky. Sage Daksha got his daughters married to the moon, but later, in a fit of rage, cursed the moon with consumption, making it wax and wane. These are some of the fifty myths from India recounted ...
Life will never be the same for Siddharth when he starts living next door to Alise. Nine-year-old Siddharth is the despair of his parents. He does not want to run around or climb trees, and he is terrified of ants. Siddharth prefers books to friends and is the target of his teacher's gimlet eyes in school because he asks too many questions. Then one day, when he is sent out to the garden to try and play, he finally makes a friend" the fast-talking, ...
The southernmost part of India was born, it is said, when the mighty Parasurama—sixth avatar of Vishnu—threw his battle axe to carve out the territory that would henceforth be his. And thus begins the story of Kerala, the land of coconut palms (kera), backwaters and lagoons; joyous temple festivals, classical Kathakali and Ayurvedic healing. In this anthology, writers as diverse as Arundhati Roy, Ramachandra Guha, O.V. Vijayan, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer and ...
Meet Akhilandeswari, Akhila for short: forty-five single, an income-tax clerk, and a woman who has never been allowed to live her own life—always the daughter, the sister, the aunt, the provider. Until the day she gets herself a one-way ticket to the seaside town of Kanyakumari, gloriously alone for the first time in her life and determined to break free of all that her conservative Tamil Brahmin life has bound her to. In the intimate atmosphere of the ladies ...
All the people on earth get together to push the sky up with giant poles because it is too low and they keep bumping their heads against it. The crafty snake to know Gods secret message to man and becomes immortal by shedding its skin. An emperor’s sorrow bursts forth as flames and lava and turns Mount Fuji into a volcano. These are just some of the fantastic and magical myths and legends from all over the world – Africa to Japan and Thailand to Alaska – ...
When travel writer Christopher Stewart arrives at a riverside resort in Kerala to meet Koman, Radha’s uncle and a famous kathakali dancer, he enters a world of masks and repressed emotions. From their first meeting, both Radha and her uncle are drawn to the enigmatic young man with his cello and his incessant questions about the past. The triangle quickly excludes Shyam, Radha’s husband, who can only watch helplessly as she embraces Chris with a passion that ...