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How the Cobra Got His Spectacles
The magnificent Indian cobra has a regal hood, and on his hood is a mark shaped like a pair of round spectacles. Ever wondered how the grand reptile got this distinctive pattern? In How the Cobra Got His Spectacles, one of India’s greatest writers on wildlife and wild places answers the intriguing question through an enchanting story of friendship, magic, and the beauty of the natural world. A young naga and an old hermit live peacefully by a river. But when a mischievous monkey steals the hermit’s spectacles, the naga, relying solely on his forked tongue to taste and sniff the scents in the air around him, sets off on a quest to recover his friend’s lost possession. As he traverses the jungle, he encounters curious woodland creatures. As night falls, the naga listens to bats squeak as they find their way in the darkness. A delightfully illustrated journey through the dense forest, this book is a perfect read for young wildlife enthusiasts and will help them appreciate how every creature has a unique way of experiencing the world around them.
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If You Were a Tiger Cub
The wonders of the forest beckon to an adventurous tiger cub. As she ventures deep into the wilderness, you’ll meet fascinating inhabitants of the jungle, from a stealthy leopard to a hornbill nestled high up in a fig tree. Look closely, and you may spot a mighty elephant behind a bamboo thicket. Hear the alarm call of a sambar deer? If you don’t keep still, it may race far, far away! Hanging upside down from the roof of a cave is a cauldron of bats, and soon arrives a ferocious shaggy creature, waving its sharp claws. Under the rustling leaves on the forest floor, tucked away in the alcoves of a termite castle, and amidst the great roots of a banyan tree, astonishing mysteries of the jungle await discovery. The creation of a masterful storyteller whose knowledge of India’s flora and fauna is unparalleled, If You Were a Tiger Cub shows curious young readers the magnificent beauty of the natural world through the eyes of one of its most majestic creatures.
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Birdwatching
When American ornithologist Guy Fletcher stumbles upon a dead body near Chanakyapuri, New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave, he does not realize that his life is about to change drastically. Soon, he is recruited into the CIA and sent straight into the heart of a secret war raging in the Himalaya. Alongside him are his two unlikely partners—the enigmatic Captain Imtiaz Afridi of the Indian Military Intelligence, whom he meets on a hunting trip in Kashmir, and the mysterious but alluring Kesang Sherpa, who saunters into his world in Kalimpong. Their missions and emotions inextricably entwined, the three must learn to trust their own instincts, and one another, to uncover what lies beneath the dazzling Himalayan snow. Set against the backdrop of the Sino–Indian war of 1962, Birdwatching is a gripping tale of high intrigue and mystery.
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Becoming A Mountain
In the tradition of Peter Matthiessens The Snow Leopard, a journey of healing that becomes a pilgrimage of the soul. Stephen Alter was born and raised in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and his wife, Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was shattered when four armed intruders invaded their home and viciously attacked them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost dying left the author questioning assumptions he had lived by since childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror of the unknown. He felt like a foreigner in the land of his birth. This book is an account of a series of treks he took in the high Himalayas following his convalescence-to Bandarpunch (Monkeys Tail) Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India and Mount Kailash in Tibet. He set himself this goal to prove that he had healed mentally as well as physically and to reknit his connection to his homeland. Undertaken out of sorrow, the treks become a moving personal quest, a way to rediscover mountains in his inner landscape. Weaving together observations of the natural world, Himalayan history, folklore and mythology, as well as encounters with other pilgrims along the way, Stephen Alter has given us a moving meditation on the solace of high places and on the hidden meanings and enduring mystery of the mountains. About the Author Stephen Alter is the author of fifteen works of fiction and nonfiction. His honours include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright award. He was writer in residence for ten years at MIT and directed the writing program at the American University in Cairo. He is founding director of the Mussoorie Writers Mountain Festival. He lives with his wife in Mussoorie.
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Neglected Lives
Lionel arrives in Debrakot on horseback, escaping a reckless love affair in Lucknow. Brigadier and Mrs Augden take him into their home. The picturesque surroundings help Lionel find a measure of peace, though he finds himself trapped within an isolated, aging Anglo-Indian community who struggle with ghosts of the British Raj. He discovers troubling secrets of personal history, questions that arise from a legacy of mixed parentage, and encounters disturbing and fascinating characters like Farleigh, an eccentric recluse who raises leeches, and Salim, the overweight heir to a decrepit hotel… Stephen Alter’s debut novel, Neglected Lives, was first published in 1978. It remains an elegiac work of fiction that leads us into a part of India that is seldom visited. Told through the voices of different characters, this story explores themes of identity, love and youth, weaving together moments of violence and tenderness to create a resilient fabric of human experience.