57 books
Almost everybody wants to be lucky in life. Yet many are unlucky. This book tells the reader how to attract good luck.
A study of the lives of thousands of people enabled the author to discover what luck is. Therefore an earnest effort has been made in the book to tell the readers about, not only the origin of luck, but also the methodology of operation of luck in human lives. Simple and practical methods have been detailed to enable the readers to command good ...
Peter Pan is one of the most popular of all children's classics. Though it is nowadays mostly staged as a children's play, it is meant for adults as well. This is a rare and deeply moving piece of introspection, brimming with the energy of actual experience seen through the eyes of a woman whose own background in literature, women's studies and social activism forms the perspective from which she speaks.
The faces, an anthology of twelve short stories by Dibyendu Palit, a noted Bengali writer, is evocative of the growing isolation in an urban context. Amongst others, the faces in this volume are of a middle-class man whose own weakness forces him to look up to the local ruffian to protect him against more ruffians like him; a housewife who feels trapped in a marriage that ties her destiny with the runs scored by her cricketer husband; and a mother living out her ...
The fables in Just So Stories were first narrated by Kipling to an audience of his own children. In theme and subject matter, they range from animals and insects to the origins of the alphabet. How the Leopard got his Spots, How the Rhinoceros got his Skin and How the Camel got his Hump are some of the most famous tales of this collection, which has endeared itself to generations of young readers.
From the introduction: "This introduction comprises two sections. The first addresses significant issues related to language, exile, and translation in a postcolonial context, that of India, as they apply to translations from a colonized language (Hindi in this collection of stories) into the colonizer’s language, English. The second section introduces Nirmal Verma and offers some readings of various emblems and motifs in this collection ...
An extremely handy guide by Krishna Sahai to understand and appreciate Bharata Natyam, the ancient and esoteric dance form preserved through the ages with astonishing purity. The holistic overview takes one through the purpose behind all Indian art forms, the development and history of Bharata Natyam, stories that are set to dance and, finally, to the technique. The well-researched text, illustrated with photographs, and line drawings by Gautam Vaghela, will help ...
Minoti Chatterjee, an academic and a theatre activist, explores how Bengali theatre and the upsurges of nationalist movements inform and appropriate each other during the turbulent era of 1905-1947. As Bengal was the centre of the interaction, negotiation and conflict between the native and the British, its theatre experienced different spatial, and consequently, thematic and technical dislocations and relocations. The theories and practices of theatre underwent ...
A compendium of 20 entertaining stories from Panchatantra which will delight both young and seniors alike.
This geo-political thriller is set a few years in future and is enacted in Tibet, India, and the United States of America. It all begins with a little boy in Tibet being identified as reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. What follow is roller-coaster ride of epic proportions, involving the attempt to bring the boy to India.
Legends of India is a collection of well-known Indian myths and fables addressed primarily to young readers between twelve and sixteen years of age, to inform them of their own rich heritage. It is also addressed to children possibly in other age-groups, in other parts of the world, who may or may not have come across the legends elsewhere.
A study of modernity in the work of Satyajit Raj, Suranjan Ganguly's book examines in depth six of Ray's major films, focusing on such issues as the nature of human subjectivity, the importance of education, the emancipation of women, the rise of the new middle class, and the crisis of identity in post-independence India. Ganguly provides close readings of Pather Panchali (1955); Aparajito (1956); Apur Sansar (1959); Charulata (1964); Aranyer Din Ratri ...
Over the last twenty years or so, it seems as if the Indian diaspora has suddenly come of age. Shedding its minority status, it has demonstrated its inclination for becoming a majority, not in the sense of numerical superiority, but of growing up, maturing, attaining self-apprehension and self-expression. It can now look at itself, the host country, and the homeland, with a critical humor that has not necessarily dulled its passion or lessened the ...
Through his immortal short stories and other writings, Saki has created some of the most loved stereotypes that are almost caricaturesque in their droll exaggeration. Aunts are the unfailing tyrants in their unreasonable cruelty or downright imbecility. Families eat porridge, believe in the weather forecast and have no sense of humor. No one falls in love and if love does happen, it's placid love between placidly lovable couples. Isms are grotesque jokes with ...
Stress is a mind-borne discomfort that infects us through our thought-process and sense organs. But the point worth considering is why we allow stress to infect us? Are we not intelligent human beings? Yes indeed we are. But, in spite of all our intelligent achievements, we allow stress to infect us because of following four fundamental reasons: 1. We are lonely in the crowd.2. We don’t trust life3. We are non-co-operative and hostile towards ourselves.4. Life ...
In these fifty odd poems, Nishi Chawla has tried to use broad brush strokes in order to convey her own raw impressions and experiences of Indian women and Indian goddesses. That the poems are vignettes may lead the reader to focus on a possibility: the face of a goddess conjoined with that of an ordinary woman, thus humanizing one and elevating one or the other. The poems also makes us see connections and parallels between the lives and experiences of Indian ...
This selection serves up the very best of Kipling's stories on the politics of the Raj, besides offering a sampling of the entire range of his preoccupations, covering all the familiar themes associated with his writing, such as his interest in religious experiences and the supernatural, the healing powers of art, and his progressive portrayal of women.
The "Dhammapada" contains a number of self-explanatory verses written in a style that would appeal to the lay as well as the informed reader. These verses deal primarily with the universal subject of "human suffering", showing us the path to the cessation of suffering and the attainment of the abiding bliss of Nirvana, in this world itself. The verses are accompanied by a commentary and an introductory essay which apart from tracing the ...
Kankana Basu's Vinegar Sunday announces the arrival of a quiet, ironic voice in the little explored genre of the Indian short story in English. Her short stories in this collection offer revealing glimpses of the Bengali residents in Halfway House, and as you progress through the stories you confirm for yourself your worst fear: normal is neurotic. Kankana Basu is a writer to watch out for.
A Journey through Jainism begins at a point in time wrapped in legends. Crossing the terrain marked by footprints of wandering monks, we pass the tree under which a prince experienced the true nature of self. It leads us to a whole new way of understanding the life we lead and the world we live in. The eminent among those who choose this path bring new insights and understanding to the arts and sciences in ancient India. Further, one comes across a unique ...
Widely hailed as a naturalist author, Maupassant based the subjects of his stories on the life he saw and lived-the Norman peasantry, Franco-Prussian War, bourgeoisie and fashionable Paris, among others. His stories are brief and transparent anecdotes, depicting a sweeping range-from the tragic to the comic aspects of life. Nearly every story is built around ordinary episodes from routine lives, and they offer insights into the unknown and hidden sides of his ...