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Hamid The Story Of My Captivity Survival And Freed
In November 2012, Hamid, a 27-year-old Mumbai-based techie, disappeared into thin air. What happened? Where did he go? All his parents knew was that he had gone to Kabul, Afghanistan, to explore a job opportunity. Upon some investigation, they found out that their son had been chatting online with some Pakistani friends, in particular a girl, across the border. Authored by Hamid Ansari and Geeta Mohan, this is the definitive insider account of the man who saw no boundaries when it came to saving a girl from forced marriage under the wani custom. Nothing scared or stopped him; until he was betrayed by his friends in Pakistan. He became embroiled in a whirlwind of allegations made by the Pakistani authorities to break him and label him a spy. What followed were years of suffering during the investigations, along with long periods of solitary confinement and a struggle for survival. In India, his mother, Fauzia Ansari, led a relentless fight, knocking on as many doors as it took, eventually moving three nations, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, to get him back home, with the help of the then external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj. On 18 December 2018, Hamid finally touched India soil again. Gritty, heart-wrenching and moving, this is s story of humanity, love, betrayal and hope against all odds.
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Love Your Life
As close to perfect as romantic comedies get' Jenny Colgan the irresistible new stand alone novel from No. 1 bestselling author Sophie Kinsella. I love you... But what if I can't love your life? Ava is sick of online dating. She's always trusted her own instincts over an algorithm, anyway, and she wants a break from it all. So when she signs up to a semi-silent, anonymous writing retreat in glorious Italy, love is the last thing on her mind. Until she meets a handsome stranger... All she knows is that he's funny, he's kind and - she soon learns - he's great in bed. He's equally smitten, and after a whirlwind, intoxicating affair, they pledge their love without even knowing each other's real names. But when they return home, reality hits. They're both driven mad by each other's weird quirks and annoying habits, from his eccentric, naked-sauna-loving family to her terribly behaved, shirt-shredding dog. As disaster follows disaster, it seems that while they love each other, they just can't love each other's lives. Can they overcome their differences to find one life, together? ***** everybody loves Sophie Kinsella: ***** 'left me giddy with laughter. I loved it' Jojo Moyes 'life doesn't get much better than a new Sophie Kinsella novel' Red 'fast, furious and fabulous fun' Woman & home.
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Limitless The Autobiography The Bestselling Story
The thrilling autobiography of the astronaut who inspired a generation the #1 bestselling author of Hello, is this planet Earth? And ask an astronaut ‘I looked down below My feet and suddenly noticed Australia flashing by. The Vertigo hit me then. My gloved hands gripped the handrail as tightly as I could. I had been on My spacewalk for over an hour. I had trained for this moment for years. But nothing can prepare you for that feeling, for the full realisation that you are no longer living on Earth. Staring into the inky blackness, I felt completely isolated from everything and everyone I had ever known. And yet at the same time I could not help feeling a strange sense of belonging.' in fascinating and personal detail, and based on exclusive diaries and audio recordings from his mission, Tim Peake takes readers closer than ever before to experience what life in space is really like: the sacrifice that astronauts make in being apart from their families, the sights, the smells, the fear, the exhilaration and the deep and abiding wonder of the view from space. Limitless is a book about the power of Following our dreams – however unlikely they may seem – and of striving to reach our potential, even when we might not believe in it ourselves. Limitless also charts peake’s surprising road to becoming an astronaut, from a shy and unassuming boy from Chichester who had a passion for flight, to a young British Army Officer, Apache helicopter pilot, flight instructor and test pilot who served around the world. Peake’s extensive eighteen-year career in the army included The command of a Platoon of soldiers in northern Ireland during the troubles, deployment in Bosnia, and flying multiple high-risk sortie as a test pilot, including operations in Afghanistan. After he was selected by the European space agency from over 8000 candidates, Peake undertook six years of training to be an astronaut, tested physically, psychologically, emotionally and intellectually – from learning Russian language in St. Petersburg to coping with the darkness and claustrophobia of living for days in caves in sardinia and under the ocean off the United States.
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Cross Your Heart Take My Name
Garv Roy Gill and Yahvi Kothari meet at an airport lounge by chance. Six months later they find themselves consumed by the proverbial once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. Bored with their mundane daily routine, their adventurous streak makes them decide, one day, to escape the present and begin a new reality somewhere far, far away. Just that the day they are supposed to meet and escape, Yahvi doesn't turn up. Then she doesn't respond to Garv's phone calls or messages. And mysteriously Yahvi vanishes altogether. Days later, as a grieving Garv stumbles upon her Instagram profile, which he didn't know existed, he is shocked to realize that her every post is probably a clue to the truth behind her disappearance. Except, the more he unearths the meandering truth, the more he learns about a certain side of Yahvi which changes the way he saw her. And the way he understood love. Cross Your Heart, Take My Name is a beguiling tale about urban loneliness, fickle relationships and our need for companionship as depicted by the twisted journey of two individuals, caught up in their own emotional plight, blurring the lines between crime and sin.
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Eating In The Age Of Dieting A Collection Of Notes
Rujuta Diwekar is amongst the most followed nutritionists globally, and a leading health advocate. Over the past decade, her writings have decisively shifted food conversations across the country away from fads and towards eating local, seasonal and traditional. Her mantra, ‘eat local, think global’, blends the wisdom of our grandmothers with the latest advances in nutrition science for sustainable good health for all. This is a collection of some of her most-loved writings on: - Diet trends and food myths - Festival and seasonal foods - Quick tips for good health - Superfoods in the kitchen - Foods for health problems - Exercise and yoga - Women’s and kids’ health - Heritage recipes
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A Promised Land
A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making-from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy. In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency-a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation's highest office. Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune's Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden. A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective-the story of one man's bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of "hope and change," and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible. This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama's conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.
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Hidden In Plain Sight
Hidden in Plain Sight is the second brilliant and captivating novel featuring William Warwick by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles, Jeffrey Archer. Newly promoted, Detective Sergeant William Warwick has been reassigned to the drugs squad. His first case: to investigate a notorious south London drug lord known as the Viper. But as William and his team close the net around a criminal network unlike any they have ever encountered, he is also faced with an old enemy, Miles Faulkner. It will take all of William’s cunning to devise a means to bring both men to justice; a trap neither will expect, one that is hidden in plain sight . . . Filled with Jeffrey Archer’s trademark twists and turns, Hidden in Plain Sight is the gripping next instalment in the life of William Warwick. It follows on from Nothing Ventured, but can be read as a standalone story.
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The Evening And The Morning The Prequel To The Pil
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ken Follett, a thrilling and addictive new novel--a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth--set in England at the dawn of a new era: The Middle Ages. It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined: A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land. But the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power. Thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, Follett's masterful new prequel The Evening and the Morning takes us on an epic journey into a historical past rich with ambition and rivalry, death and birth, love and hate, that will end where The Pillars of the Earth begins.
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Prostitution And Beyond An Analysis Of Sex Workers
What is the diversity of perspectives on sex work in India today? This edited volume addresses this question through its sections on feminist discourse, ethnographic studies, socio-economic-legal-health frameworks and cultural reflections. The first section explores the space for women in prostitution within mainstream feminist discourse in India, and the way it has evolved over time. The second section emphasizes on the heterogeneity of sex work practices with their historical vestiges, contemporary manifestations and urban-rural contrasts. The third section examines the interface of society and prostitution, tracing economic and social undercurrents, health concerns and legal regulations. The final section focuses on the bearings of prostitution on the cultural spheres of literature, language, cinema, theatre and media. In addition to rigorous academic research, this volume also pools in case studies, live discussions and interviews, drawing the experience of a wide spectrum of professionals and organizations working with sex workers. This book is a must-read for professionals and academicians in the fields of Gender Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Public Health and Social Work.
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A Brutal Hand Theres No Escape
When a wealthy business owner is found dead in a Mumbai parking lot, the police are flummoxed. Alok Dalal was a family man, with a wife and a teenage daughter. There are no apparent enemies his family or associates know of. Who could want him dead? And the only clue is a note with the word ‘Sorry’ on it—what could it mean? As Inspector Abhay Rastogi investigates the baffling crime, the police find another body with a similar note. Is this a copycat crime, or are the two murders related? Will there be more bodies? Inspector Rastogi must race against time to catch an alarmingly elusive killer. Packed with twists and turns, and non-stop action, A Brutal Hand will keep readers guessing until the very end.
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Legend Of Suheldev The King Who Saved India
A Forgotten Hero. An Unforgettable Battle.India, 1025 AD. Repeated attacks by Mahmud of Ghazni and his barbaric Turkic hordes have weakened India’s northern regions. The invaders lay waste to vast swathes of the subcontinent—plundering, killing, raping, pillaging. Many of the old Indian kingdoms, tired and divided, fall to them. Those who do fight, battle with old codes of chivalry, and are unable to stop the savage Turkic army which repeatedly breaks all rules to win. Then the Turks raid and destroy one of the holiest temples in the land: the magnificent Lord Shiva temple at Somnath. At this most desperate of times, a warrior rises to defend the nation. King Suheldev. The ruler of a small kingdom, he sees what must be done for his motherland, and is willing to sacrifice his all for it. A fierce rebel. A charismatic leader. An inclusive patriot. Read this blockbuster epic adventure of courage and heroism, a fictional tale based on true events, that recounts the story of that lionhearted warrior and the magnificent Battle of Bahraich.
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Insomnia Keep Your Eyes Open
‘Please help me … my wife is trying to kill me. ’When police officers Meera Dixit and Aditya Sachdev investigate a panicked midnight phone call, they are drawn into the unhappy story of a couple—a woman slowly losing her grip on sanity and her husband living in constant fear of death. As they delve deeper, the officers realise that this case is more knotted than anything they’ve dealt with before. Is Tanvi Acharya really sick? What caused Rohit’s insomnia? Do deeper secrets lie below the surface? As they try to make sense of the sinister goings-on in the house, Dixit and Sachdev hurtle towards a shocking revelation that they are not prepared for.
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A Second Chance
Relationships require openness, and that brings vulnerability. If you open up, you risk getting hurt; if you don’t, you may never know the relationship you deserve. Disha has always been shy and wary, and finds it difficult to make friends. Having grown up with parents who bicker all the time, she craves warmth and harmony. And ever since she first experienced the emotion of love, she has longed to be the centre of a special someone’s world. But with every fibre of her being, Disha believes she is unlucky in love. The hardest part for anyone is finding the ‘right’ person—but in her search for that man, broken hearts and broken promises is all she’s had. With no luck and no one on the horizon, Disha gives up and agrees to an arranged marriage. Is true love not written in her stars? Will she be able to reverse her fortunes, or is she destined to never find her soulmate? A Second Chance is the heart-wrenching story of a multifaceted girl and her search to find the love she deserves.
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One Arranged Murder
Keshav has set up an investigation agency with his best friend, Saurabh. Can the two amateur detectives successfully solve another murder case that affects them personally? And where will it leave their friendship? ‘Ever since you found Prerna, I lost my best friend’ is what I told Saurabh. Hi, this is Keshav, and Saurabh, my best friend, flatmate, colleague and business partner, won’t talk to me. Because I made fun of him and his fiancée. Saurabh and Prerna will be getting married soon. It is an arranged marriage. However, there is more cheesy romance between them than any love-marriage couple. On Karva Chauth, she fasted for him. She didn’t eat all day. In the evening, she called him and waited on the terrace for the moon and for Saurabh to break her fast. Excited, Saurabh ran up the steps of her three-storey house. But when he reached … Welcome to One Arranged Murder, an unputdownable thriller from India’s highest-selling author. A story about love, friendship, family and crime, it will keep you entertained and hooked right till the end.
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A Shout In The Ruins.
Following his hugely celebrated debut novel, The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers returns to the battlefield and its aftermath, this time in his native Virginia, just before and during the Civil War and ninety years later. The novel pinpoints with unerring emotional depth the nature of random violence, the necessity of love and compassion, and the fragility and preciousness of life. It will endure as a stunning novel about what we leave behind, what a life is worth, what is said and unsaid, and the fact that ultimately what will survive of us is love.
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Own It Leadership Lessons From Women Who Do
Most women today are opting for careers over jobs, even if it requires them to play multiple roles with superhuman abilities. Meanwhile, men, at home and at work, struggle to come to terms with their changing priorities. And therein lies the chasm between male expectations and female ambition. As Dame Julia Walsh says in the television miniseries The Honourable Woman, 'In a room full of pussies, I'm the only one with a vagina.' Own It tells women's stories: the ugly, the happy, the rarely discussed, the unacknowledged, the whispered, the denied. Close to two hundred Indian women leaders across industries discuss the challenges they face in the Indian workplace and at home. Heads of companies, human resource directors and senior managers talk about issues like pay parity, harassment, promotion and maternity policies. Why is the workplace agenda skewed against women and what are their own demons that keep them from breaking the glass ceiling? Thought-provoking and controversial, Own It takes the challenges that confront women in the workplace head-on - without discounting the complexities of being a woman in an Indian home.
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Milk Teeth
Childhood allies Ira Kamat and Kartik Kini meet on the terrace of their building in Matunga, Mumbai. A meeting is in progress to decide the fate of the establishment and its residents. And the zeitgeist of the 1990s appears to have touched everyone and everything around them. Ira is now a journalist on the civic beat, unearthing stories of corruption and indolence, and trying to push back memories of a lost love. Kartik works a corporate job with an MNC, and leads a secret, agonising, exhilarating second life. Between and around them throbs the living, beating heart of Mumbai, city of heaving inequities and limitless dreams. Milk Teeth is subtle, incisive, unputdownable.
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The Far Field
Winner of the JCB Prize for Literature 2019. Shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019. Shortlisted for the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award (Fiction) 2019. In the wake of her mother's death, Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote village in Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to track him down. But as soon as Shalini arrives, she is confronted with the region's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. As life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could have dangerous repercussions for the people she has come to love. With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay gives a potent critique of Indian politics and class prejudice through the lens of a guileless outsider, while also offering up a profound meditation on grief, guilt and the limits of compassion.
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Roots Of Terrorism
The events of 11 September in New York and 13 December in New Delhi marked the high points of terrorism. But India's experience with it goes back two decades. In this essay, Bajpai examines the volatile situation in the borderlands of Kashmir, Punjab and the Northeast, while drawing comparisons with leftist insurgency, communal riots, and caste wars elsewhere. How should we think about terrorist violence? Why has India been the object of terrorism from separatist groups in Kashmir, Punjab, and the Northeast? Have external influences played a role in supporting this? How has the Indian government responded to secessionist violence? These are some of the concerns the author explores here, as he seeks an identifiable set of factors that account for terrorism. Dwelling on how this violence can be combated, Bajpai discusses in detail the case of Kashmir. He argues convincingly about the impracticality of the military option, including war, and the futility of using limited force, as in policing, without commitment to a credible political process, namely free and fair elections. In this forceful and timely essay he not only calls for measured governmental action, but also places responsibility on citizens for restoring long-term peace by finding ways of de-legitimizing violence in Indian society.
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The Book Of Ram
He is Eka-vachani, a king who always keeps his word; Eka-bani, an archer who strikes his target with the first arrow; and Eka-patni, a husband who is eternally and absolutely devoted to a single wife. He is maryada purushottam Ram, the supreme upholder of social values, the scion of the Raghu clan, jewel of the solar dynasty, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, God who establishes order in worldly life. Hindus believe that in stressful and tumultuous times chanting Ram’s name and hearing his tale, the Ramayan, brings stability, hope, peace and prosperity. Reviled by feminists, appropriated by politicians, Ram remains serene in his majesty, the only Hindu deity to be worshipped as a king.
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Hindu Mythology
This is an authoritative and exhaustive account of the Hindu gods and goddesses commonly worshipped in India and their origin and the myths and legends that grew around them. Vedic deities, puranic deities, sacred birds, animals, demons and even lesser gods identified and presented in this one handy volume.
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The Burden Of Democracy
The Burden of Democracy is primarily an informative and intellectual book, which in turn is an elongated essay explaining the probable chaos of Indian democracy. In the book, the author discusses about the plight of Indian democracy even after sixty years of its birth. This book raises some very valid questions, which are often also raised and discussed by common people.In The Burden of Democracy, the author discusses crucial underlined factors of the demolishing Indian democracy and also puts on the podium some very interesting and reasonable suggestions, which if implemented, can bring forth the democracy of this country on the world map. The issues of social inequality, sphere of Indian politics, self-respect of the Indian democracy, public participation in the democracy and the crises of answerability and accountability, are very interestingly discussed in the book.The Burden of Democracy finally urges for a collective action of the Indians in order to help recover the ailing democracy of India. This collective action, the author explains in the essay, will include moral responsibility and social well being.
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Songs Of The Soul
The deep yearnings for divine love and joy that are within each of us found many-faceted expression in the life of Paramahansa Yogananda. Songs of the Soul is an outpouring of his direct perception of GOd - God in nature, in man, in everyday experiences, and in the spiritually awakened state of samadhi meditation. Most of these poems were written during Paramahansaji’s early years in the United States. His writings are not the considered renderings of a poet’s fancies, but a revelation of the interior experiences of a soul ever awake in Spirit, responding to the wonders of nature; to the memories of his beloved motherland; to the deep impressions made by new friends and acquaintances; above all to the divine realizations born of that soul’s intimate communion with God.
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Bazaars Conversations & Freedom For A Market Cultu
Long before the financial meltdown and the red alert on climate change, some far-sighted innovators diagnosed the fatal flaws in an economic system driven by greed and fear. Across the global North and South, diverse people-financial wizards, economists, business persons and social activists-have been challenging the 'free market' orthodoxy. They seek to recover the virtues of bazaars from the tyranny of a market model that emerged about two centuries ago. This book is a chronicle of their adventures. From Wall Street icon George Soros and VISA card designer Dee Hock we get an insider critique of the malaise. Creators of community currencies and others, like the father of microfinance, Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus, explore how money can work differently. The doctrine of self-interest is re-examined by looking more closely at Adam Smith through the eyes of Amartya Sen. Mahatma Gandhi's concept of 'Trusteeship' gathers strength as the socially responsible investing phenomenon challenges the power of capital. Pioneers of the open source and free software movement thrive on cooperation to drive innovation. The Dalai Lama and Ela Bhatt demonstrate that it is possible to compete compassionately and to nurture a more mindful market culture. This sweeping narrative takes you from the ancient Greek Agora, Indian choupal, and Native American gift culture, onto present day Wall Street to illuminate ideas, subversive and prudent, about how the market can serve society rather than being its master. In a world exhausted by dogma Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom is an open quest for possible futures.