Showing Books By Language : English

The Joy of Achievement : Conversation with J. R. D

An entertaining, intimate and deeply moving portrait of the legendary industrialist. For six decades J.R.D. Tata headed India’s largest industrial conglomerate with uncommon success. This was only one aspect of his life. He was also a man of great sensitivity who suffered at the loss of friends and was pained by the poverty he saw around him: a philanthropist who wanted India to be ‘a happy country’ and did all that he could to make it so: a man with a passion for literature, fast cars, skiing and, of course, flying. This book, by the author of the best-selling The Last Blue Mountain, records JRD’s thoughts on a variety of subjects. In these pages he speaks of the House of Tatas and his style of management, about how he nearly joined the freedom struggle in the early 1940s, about the ‘thrill of living a little dangerously’, his love of music and wine, and the writers he likes to read. He speaks also, with striking candour and insight, about the failures of socialism, the future of India and his association with stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru. Jayaprakash Narayan, Vallabbhai Patel, Indira Gandhi and Henry Kissinger. Towards the end of the book, in the final year of his life, we see him come to terms with death, God and the afterlife

Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen: How 11 Indi

For long now, India has been seen as a country that is good at working on products and ideas that are already out there. Indian companies took up products that came in from the West and either replicated it or re-engineered it. Indians, when they went to other countries, were part of creative teams that came up with, and implemented great ideas. But, when in their own country, Indians do not have a reputation for coming up with innovative ideas. So, what is it that stops them? The author laments this situation in his book Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen: How 11 Indians Pulled Off The Impossible. He points out that even the Indian branches of MNCs do not see their Indian operations as centers of innovations. They just work on things that have already been conceived elsewhere. In this book, Munshi tells the true stories of 11 breakthrough ideas conceived and executed by Indians. These ground-breaking examples show that if someone dares to think out-of-the box and follows their dream, then seemingly impossible things can be achieved. The examples cover a wide range of industries. from public sector to private sector, and from MNCs and huge Indian companies to startup firms. The book talks about 11 ideas that had a deep impact, and achievements that were original and influential. The examples include the creation of the slimmest water proof watches by Titan, and the business model of Cavinkare - a small company that took on giants in the field of personal care products and succeeded. It includes the story of how Aravind Eye Hospital came up with an idea - assembly line surgery - to improve the productivity of its surgeons. Today, the hospital treats 70% of its patients free of charge and yet manages to make a good profit. Then, there is the case of the Hindi daily, Dainik Bhaskar, that combined intensive in-house marketing surveys and research with innovative marketing ideas to capture a large segment of the market in each new city they entered. The book throws light on the innovative strategies of Trichy police to turn around a city that was crime prone and known for communal clashes into one of the safest in the country. He further talks about the power backup company Su-kam that succeeded by creating its own niche, and Shantha Biotech that launched a low-cost Hepatitis B vaccine. The other success stories include Surat City’s transformation after the plague outbreak into one of the cleanest cities in the country, and Chic shampoo’s innovation of introducing sachet packs, which revolutionized the retail market. Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen: How 11 Indians Pulled Off The Impossible further elaborates how Bosch India came up with a new cost-effective pump that meets the Euro standards, ITC’s e-Choupal marketing model, and Chola Vehicle Finance’s innovative business model. All these real-life examples in Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen: How 11 Indians Pulled Off The Impossible give an insight into the ability of Indians to go beyond conventions and create innovative products and strategies that could turn their respective industries on their heads.

Vernon God Little

Vernon God Little, published in the year 2003, is the winner of the Man Booker Prize. The story revolves around a 15-year-old American teenager, Vernon Little, who lives in a small town in Texas who is the narrator of the story. Vernon’s best friend, Jesus Navarro, shoots down sixteen high school students and then kills himself. The cops suspect that Vernon is an accomplice and take him into custody. Deputy Vaine Gurie questions Vernon and the latter completely cooperates with the police. However, it soon becomes clear to him that he might be given the death penalty despite being innocent. Like any other frightened teenager, he decides to run away to Mexico. His plan is to live on the beach, in a cabin, just like he had seen in a film titled Against All Odds. However, the cops and the media run after him and they manage to track him down. Vernon is brought back to Texas and is put on trial. The teenager is now labeled as the state’s most notorious serial killer. What will the protagonist do to get out of this mess? Will he be able to do anything at all or will he be prosecuted for a crime he did not commit? Vernon God Little has been written in beautiful and lucid language. The author has added elements of dark comedy to this novel. He also throws light on controversial topics like school shootings, media turning tragedies into entertainment, and the death penalty for those under 18. This book shows readers that just for the sake of sensationalism, more often than not, innocent lives are jeopardized forever. Vernon God Little has also won the Bollinger Wodehouse Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction, and also the Whitbread Awards. The book was adapted into a stage play in 2007.

Hero Vol 2

While Volume 1 covered the period from the silent era to the legendary Dilip Kumar, this volume depicts the evolution of the Hindi Film hero from Amitabh Bachchan to the present. The author contends that the development of Hindi Cinema as a powerful expression of popular culture has been largely centred round the frontal figure of the hero. Beginning with the Transition from Dilip Kumar to Amitabh Bachchan, Ashok Raj focuses upon the latter, whom he considers a colossus in Bollywood. He projects Bachchan as the dominant hero (mainly in the form of the angry young man) in the late 1970s and 1980s, along with the Political and socio-economic scenario then prevailing that lent authenticity to such an image. Bachchan’s foray into a variety of genres (such as romance, comedy and crime) is then described as also his roles as a senior artiste. Next, his contemporaries come into the picture. For instance: the macho and versatile Dharmendra (who entered Bollywood as a hero almost a decade before Bachchan), the reliable Vinod Khanna, the charming Shashi Kapoor, the ‘explosive’ Shatrughan (Shotgun) Sinha, the cuddly but highly talented Rishi Kapoor, the debonair Feroz Khan and his brother Sanjay Khan. The author then moves on to other heroes such as the ‘cute’ Biswajit, the strapping Joy Mukerji, the jaunty Jeetendra and the nimble-footed Mithun Chakraborty. Next in line are Raj Babbar, Amol Palekar, Vinod Mehra, Vijay Anand, Randhir Kapoor, Rakesh Roshan, Parikshat Sahni, Anil Dhawan, Navin Nischal, Deepak Prashar, Sachin, Kiran Kumar, Vijay Arora, Raj Kiran and Kumar Gaurav. Lesser known faces such as Sudesh Kumar, Ashok and Dilip Raj are also mentioned. Next appear the ‘durable’ heroes such as Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol and Jackie Shroff who are followed by the new-age heroes: the Khans (Shahrukh, Aamir, Salman and Saif Ali) as well as Ajay Devgan, Govinda, Akshay Kumar, Akshaye Khanna and Bobby Deol. In the new Millennium emerged a new brand of heroes – including Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Viveik Oberoi and John Abraham, apart from Shahid Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Zayed Khan, Abhay Deol, Shreyas Talpade, Emraan Hashmi and Jimmy Shergill – on whom the spotlight then falls. The author rounds off the text by finally bringing into the limelight ‘misfit’ but highly accomplished and proficient heroes such as Kamalahasan, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Kay Kay Menon, Arshad Warsi, Rahul Bose and Irfan Khan. The riveting narrative, which covers a broad Canvas from the 1970s onwards, also presents an incisive analysis of the current trends in mainstream Hindi cinema. This is a work that no one (film buff or not) can afford to miss.

Hero Vol 1

This volume traces the growth of the indigenous Hindi film hero from the silent era up to Dilip Kumar. The film hero is depicted as a credible representative of the social, cultural and political milieu of his era. The author contends that the development of Hindi cinema has been largely centred round the frontal figure of the hero. In the course of the narrative, the subject matter presents a compact history of mainstream Hindi cinema by placing personalities, events and trends in specific time frames.

Idli, Orchid And Willpower

The Butcher of Benares

The shocking and brutal murder of a young American woman rips apart the peace of the ancient city of Benares. She is found to be a research scientist working with the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world. Hawa Singh, a senior inspector from Delhi crime branch on a visit to Benares, gets embroiled in the case. He finds that the murdered woman had been researching the Bhrigu Samhita, an astrological classic dating back to pre-vedic times, believed to be lost. The FBI sends in Ruby Malik, a Pakistani American to investigate the murder. Soon, more bodies are found with bizarre connections to both the Bhrigu Samhita and Christian orthodoxy. The Vatican seems to be carrying out a clandestine operation, seeking the secrets of Hindu astrology in the city most sacred to it. Secrets that the Vatican would kill to know. Hawa Singh, hardened by many gunfights and with a bullet already lodged near his brain in a previous encounter, teams up with Ruby Malik to unravel the mystery. Nothing is the same any more. The temple bells fade in the perpetual winter fog. There is blood on the streets of Benares, which becomes a battleground where faith and science collide. The worlds of astronomy and astrology come. Hawa Singh and Ruby search the opium dens and the domains of Naga sadhus, Aghoris and Doms in the cremation grounds, hunt a cannibal lurking in the maze that is Benares and clash with the figurehead king of the city, Kashi Naresh Maharaj Abhay Narayan Singh. The killer could be anyone. Only Hawa Singh and his beautiful co-runner on the chase, Ruby Malik, possess the mindset and the indomitable courage to find the murderer at the heart of this mystery and in the process, find themselves.

The Kama Sutra Diaries : Intimate Journeys through

Sally Howard, a self-confessed child of the Western Sexual Revolution, sets out on a sexploration through modern India by train, plane and auto-rickshaw. From the heat of antirape protest on the streets of New Delhi to the cool hills of Shimla, playground of the Raj, from a Gujarati retirement home for gay men and eunuchs to a busy sex clinic in Chennai, from patriarchs to matriarchs, GIGs (Good Indian Girls), BIGs (bad Indian Girls) and the fleshpots of Bombay, she accompanied by feisty Delhi girl Dimple, lifts the bed sheets on Indias sexual revolution. And its a revolution thats full of fascinating surprises and contrasts for India the land that gave us the exuberant guide to sexual pleasure, the Kama Sutra is also a land where women remain cloistered in purdah while teenage girls check out porn online, where families bow down to a conjoined phallus and vagina, the Shivaling, while couples fear to hold hands in public and where the loveless arranged marriage is still the norm. Colourful, compelling, confounding, The Kama Sutra Diaries reveals what India has to tell us about modern-day love, sex and sexuality.

Dont Lose Out, Work Out!

With more and more people realizing the need to exercise, gyms are cropping up at every nook and corner, roads are occupied by recreational runners and yoga schools have an enviable waiting list. But along with this has grown the number of injuries and disillusionment at not getting results. This leads to fads, its the exact same place diet was five years ago when Rujuta wrote her first book Dont Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight. The basic problem is the complete lack of understanding about exercise, how it works and how to make it work for you. Through this book, Rujuta tackles pretty much every myth and fad to do with exercise, demystifies exercise for everyone and presents it as not a brainless activity but a science which has the potential to combat all lifestyle disorders including diabetes and obesity, way better than any drug. Strength training, Cardio and Yoga get a detailed chapter each along with their pre and post workout meals, an often neglected but crucial aspect. So whether you are a beginner or want to take your workouts to the next level, the sample training schedules and real life workout examples with analysis and modifications will bridge the gap between knowing and doing and ensure that you are in a position to start and/or progress with a sensible, do able and a wholesome exercise plan.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Freelance Jour

Freelance journalism demystified. Do you want to be a freelance journalist but have no idea where to begin? Or are you already a writer of sorts but want to see your name in the biggies? In Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Freelance Journalism, you will learn how to: Prep yourself for this career Come up with fresh and original story ideas Find markets for your stories Approach editors with confidence Write a winning pitch Research and write a feature Negotiate pay and rights Cope with rejection Write for the foreign media Market yourselves through social media and more, Everything You Always Wanted to Know is filled with practical advice and real life examples from two journalists who have written for the biggest and the best. Editors from some of your dream publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic Traveler and Forbes tell you how to succeed in the business. Top freelance writers reveal their secrets to getting published and making more money and we hold your hand through the whole process.

It Happened One Midnight

More than one beautiful woman's hopeshave been dashed on the rocky shoals ofJonathan Redmond's heart. With his rivetinggood looks and Redmond wealth and power,the world is his oyster—until an ultimatumfrom his father and a chilling gypsy prophecysend him hurtling headlong toward a fatehe'll do anything to avoid: matrimony. Intoxicating, elusive Thomasina de Ballesteroshas the bloods of London at her feet. But noneof them knows the real Tommy—the one witha shocking pedigree, a few too many secrets,and a healthy scorn for rakes like Jonathan. She's everything Jonathan never wanted.But on one fateful midnight, he's drawn intoTommy's world of risk, danger . . . and a desirehe'd never dreamed possible. And suddenlyhe's re-thinking everything . . . includingthe possibility that succumbing to prophecymight just mean surrendering to love.

An English Bride In Scotland

She never expected to marry Annabel was about to take the veil to become a nun,when her mother suddenly arrived at the abbey to take her home . . . so that she can marry the Scottish laird whois betrothed to her runaway sister! She knows nothing aboutbeing a wife, nothing about how to run a household,and definitely nothing about the marriage bed. He never expected to fall in love From the moment Ross MacKay sets eyes on Annabel,he is taken with his shy, sweet bride . . . and the fact that she'sblessed with lush curves only makes him utter hisown prayers of thanks. But when an enemy endangers her life,he'll move the Highlands themselves to save her. For thoughAnnabel's not the bride he planned for, she's the only woman he desires . . .

Things Good Girls Don't Do

Can't Help Falling In Love

Byculla to Bangkok

After the huge success of Dongri to Dubai, here comes its much awaited sequel, Byculla to Bangkok. Chota Rajan, Arun Gawli and Ashwin Naik are among those whose lives Hussain Zaidi recounts with his characteristic flair for narrativizing the Mumbai underworld. Violence and deceit one expects to read of, but the strength of this book is also its ability to capture the mundane and almost naive beginnings of what later became organized crime and brutal vendettas which held Mumbai to ransom through the last decades of the twentieth century, Unputdownable.

Life Served Hot

Siddhant Roy is back in Bangalore after a really depressing, detained semester. He wants to rebuild his life from scratch without looking back. But he is an engineering student, after all. It never gets easy. He makes a bunch of new friends, who take him on a journey where he crashes into strange apartments, gets drunk and pukes halfway across the city, tries to start an online social network and watches all his efforts fail miserably. He faces denial, acceptance, love and hatred, all in the span of less than a year. He must now make a choice, whether to silently withstand the oppression of his sinister and stubborn college principal, or to risk everything and take his own stand. What will Siddhant do? Life, Served Hot is a coming-of-age story of a young rebel's undying attachment towards his dreams and survival.

Baked Dishes

Baked Dish' – This very term reminds us of continental cuisine. There is no denying that it is a very "Western" concept, but it has started making headway into Indian homes and that too at breakneck speed. The reason for the growing popularity of baked dishes could be attributed among other things to the excitement-seeking palates of today's youngsters, or to their desire to cook exotic dishes quickly and easily! I am sure you would have encountered the common baked dishes such as Vegetable Au Gratin and Baked Macaroni sometime in your life. Exciting though they are, the repertoire of baked dishes is in no way limited to these. Different cuisines have their own versions of bakes dishes. For example, the Mexicans have enchiladas, Italians have lasagne, and the French have the famous au gratin! Here, I have recorded a lot of traditional all-time favourite recipes from various cultures, including Mexican, Italian and French, as well as innovated and presented various new recipes. I know that the word 'bake' would immediately have conjured up the image of aromatic cakes, cookies, breads and pies, which delight the sweet tooth, but in this book I have broken away from the stereotype and focused on savoury meal-time baked dishes, which involve everyday bakes, quick bakes, party fare, and quiches and pies.

Risky Business.

It Must Be Love (Avon Light Contemporary Romances)

Undercover cop Joe Shanahan's bad luck hit bottom the morning he stared up into the face of sexy suspect Gabrielle Breedlove. She'd blown his cover—brought him down with a can of hairspray—and now his new assignment was to pose as her boyfriend. But spending as much time as possible with the utterly irresistible New Age beauty caused unexpected complications. To make matters worse, his matchmaking sisters are picking out china patterns. Joe's brooding good looks and T-shirt-straining muscles might be easy on the eyes, but how could Gabrielle be attracted to a straight-laced detective who's determined to find evidence to arrest her? Still, he invades her dreams and when they share a transcendent lovemaking experience, Gabrielle knows it must be love. Undercover cop Joe Shanahan's bad luck hit bottom the morning he stared up into the face of sexy suspect Gabrielle Breedlove. She'd blown his cover—brought him down with a can of hairspray—and now his new assignment was to pose as her boyfriend. But spending as much time as possible with the utterly irresistible New Age beauty caused unexpected complications. To make matters worse, his matchmaking sisters are picking out china patterns. Joe's brooding good looks and T-shirt-straining muscles might be easy on the eyes, but how could Gabrielle be attracted to a straight-laced detective who's determined to find evidence to arrest her? Still, he invades her dreams and when they share a transcendent lovemaking experience, Gabrielle knows it must be love.

Burning Tigress

When a young 19th-century Englishwoman in Shanghai, China, decides to learn the secrets of the East, will she learn the secret of true love as well? Original.

Honored Enemy : Legends of the Riftwar (Book - 1)

In the frozen northlands of the embattled realm of Midkemia, fate can form strange alliances. It is nine long, bloody years into the ongoing Riftwar that is tearing Midkemia asunder. Having survived a disastrous encounter with their sworn enemy, the Tsurani, Dennis Hartraft's cold, hungry, and exhausted Marauders arrive at a frontier garrison—at the same time as a Tsurani patrol. But a more devastating threat resides within the stronghold: moredhel, a migrating horde of dark elves so deadly and vicious that the only hope for survival is if bitter enemies band together and fight as one. Now two hostile groups must make their way to freedom, facing a common foe, braving the merciless elements, and haunted by the voice of conscience demanding, "what is more important, a man's life . . . or his honor?"

London's Perfect Scoundrel

A determined young lady vows to give one of London's infamous rakes his comeuppance -- but when the rogue turns the tables, who truly learns a lesson in love? Beloved Sinner The ton gossips call him "Saint" -- but the Marquisof St. Aubyn has well earned his reputation as London's perfect scoundrel. Evelyn Ruddick knows she should avoid him at all costs -- but the strikingly beautiful lady wants to aid the children of the Heart of Hope Orphanage, and he heads the board of trustees. Evie is determined to teachthe charming, arrogant man a lesson in compassion, but it won't be so easy -- especially since his touch is setting her desire aflame, making Evie yearn to submit to his passionate instruction ... The idea of joining in her "project" is unthinkable, but this enchantress refuses to give up! So what else is there for a self-respecting rake to do but seduce the lady? Yet soon it is he who is beingseduced by Evie's tender heart and fiery blushes. Could the temptation of long, passionate nights in her arms bring about the impossible? Could the disreputable Saint at long last be reformed?

THE ARCTIC EVENT.

On a desolate island deep within the Canadian Arctic, a scientific expedition photograph the wreckage of a bomber on a mountain glacier. To the world at large, the half-century old aeroplane is merely a relic of the early Cold War. Only a handful of insiders know that it still represents a major threat to civilization, as the aircraft is a Soviet Air Force biological warfare platform, still armed with two tons of active weaponized anthrax. Lieutenant Colonel Jon Smith of Covert-One - the personal action arm of the President of the United States - is assigned to lead CIA agent Randi Russell and the lovely, but lethal, weapons expert, Professor Valentina Metrace to secure the site. But on the island Smith and his team find themselves confronted with a traitor from within their ranks. Cut off from all outside aid, the operatives must struggle against both betrayal and the brutal polar environment. Gradually they become aware that something else exists within the hulk of the ancient bomber: a secret potentially more devastating than even the plane's warload, and one that could bring about both a cataclysmic revision of global history and serve as the trigger for a Third World War.

Pulling Your Own Strings