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A Double Life
A Double Life traces the life and times of Alyque Padamsee, godfather of Indian advertising and patriarch of English theatre in India. Padamsee takes the reader backstage with him on an exciting, and sometimes hilarious, trip as he unfolds scenes from a career that has encompassed the launch of some of India's most successful brands, such as Liril and Kama Sutra, and blockbuster theatre productions like Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar.
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On Beauty
Set in New England mainly and London partly, "On Beauty" concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.
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As Long as There Are Mountains
Thirteen-year-old Iris won't give up her family farm in northern Vermont -- not without a fight. Unlike her brother, Lucien, who can't wait to get out, Iris feels deeply and happily rooted. Then, tragedy strikes. With a burned-down barn and a father who may be permanently injured, Iris's world topples. If Lucien takes over the farm, it will ruin his dreams of college and being a writer. But if Lucien leaves, Iris's parents will have to sell the property. Will Iris be forced to give up everything she loves?
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Freakonomics
What do estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?Why do drug dealers live with their mothers?How can your name affect how well you do in life?The answer: Freakonomics. It's at the heart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily, from sex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear to traffic jams. And it's all about using information about the world around us to get to the heart of what's really happening under the surface of everyday life.
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Burning Your Boats
One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, criticism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents — as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales — are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction, gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter's marvelous, magical vision.
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The Inheritance Of Loss
In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas lives an embittered judge who wants only to retire in peace, when hisIn a generous vision, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, Desai presents the human quandaries facing a panoply of characters. This majestic novel of a busy, grasping time -- every moment holding out the possibility of hope or betrayal -- illuminates the consequences of colonialism and global conflicts of religion, race, and nationality. orphaned granddaughter, Sai, arrives on his doorstep. The judge's cook watches over her distractedly, for his thoughts are claimed by his son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one gritty New York restaurant to another. When an Indian-Nepali insurgency in the mountains interrupts Sai's exploration of the many incarnations and facets of a romance with her Nepali tutor, and causes their lives to descend into chaos, they are forced to consider their colliding interests.
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The Lost Throne
Carved into the towering cliffs of central Greece, the Metéora monasteries are all but inaccessible. Holy Trinity is the most isolated, its sacred brotherhood the guardians of a secret that has been protected for centuries.In the dead of night, the sanctity of the holy retreat is shattered by an elite group of warriors carrying ancient weapons. One by one, they hurl the silent monks from the cliff-top to the rocks below — the holy men taking their secret to their graves….Halfway across Europe, Richard Byrd fears for his life. He has uncovered the location of a magnificent treasure. But there are those who are dedicated to protecting it, and they will stop at nothing to prevent its discovery.
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Skin
One evening in a bar in California, Pagan Miranda Flores finds herself pointing a gun at a drunk who promises tokeep her happy the way women deserve to be—‘barefoot and pregnant from sixteen to sixty’. That is when she decides to take a break from America, from her job and her lover, and journeys to Goa, where her grandmother Dona Gabriela lies on her deathbed. As she reacquaints herself with her Indian family, Pagan revives old relationships—and disaffections—and is drawn back into the rhythm of life in the village that she knew as a child. Until her old ayah, Esperanca, begins to tell her about the history of her family...In Esperanca’s strange and haunting stories, reality and fantasy overlap in a grand narrative of greed, passion and memory. Pagan learns of an iron-willed matriarch who mainpulated her children and their lives to preserve appearances, a slave runner destroyed by his own ambition, and a family of powerful women who kept alive the magical tradition of the African goddess in the midst of degradation.An engrossing tapestry of tales that spans three continents and several generations, Skin is an exhilarating first novel that celebrates the art of storytelling.‘At heart, each human being is a culture-crossed mongrel of history. Margaret Mascarenhas’ novel re-aligns our breath and senses to stories of Goan history that exist beneath the surface.’—Ginu Kamani‘As a writer Margaret Mascarenhas lets her imagination soar to rarefied heights, and as a reader you have to soar right along... You have not read a novel like this one before. Enjoy!’—Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, author of Tivolem
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The Story Of the World's Greatest Batsman
In the thirteen years that he has been in the public eye, Sachin Tendulkar has been explosive on the cricket fieldand Just as reticent off it. He was barely fifteen years old when he first wrote his name into the record books with a stupendous 664-run partnership with his childhood friend Vinod Kambli. Two year later, he struck his first century in first-class cricket. At eighteen, he became the second youngest man to make a hundred in international cricket, and after that there was no looking back. Records tumbled by the wayside as he captivated audiences first in his home city of Mumbai, then in the rest of India and all over the cricket-playing world. Today, Sachin is widely accepted as the world's finest batsman, with impeccable technique, an incredible array of strokes, and maturity far beyond his years. His teammates and friends swear by him, his fans worship him and there are few, if any, critics of his game or his temperamentIn this biography of the hero of Indian cricket, sports writer Gulu Ezekiel mines interviews, press reports and conversations over the last decade to create an accurate and sympathetic account of the man and his first passion: cricket. He tracks Sachin from his childhood when he first caught the bug of cricket, through his early performances in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments, and follows him on his meteoric rise to international stardom. With unfailing attention to detail, he reconstructs the crucial matches and events that marked Sachin's career and unravels for us the magic of the charismatic cricketer whom Wisden once dubbed 'bigger than Jesus'
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The Adventures Of Mowgli
Rudyard Kipling’s eternal classics, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book are most loved for the stories of Mowgli, the boy who grew up in a wolf pack. This book brings together all the stories of Mowgli. It begins with Father Wolf rescuing an abandoned baby boy from the tiger Shere Khan, terror of the jungle. The child grows up among the animals, befriending Bagheera the Panther, Balu the Bear, and making mortal enemies with Shere Khan the Tiger. He is kidnapped by monkeys, exiled by the wolf pack, disowned by humans, till he finally vanquishes Shere Khan and returns to the forest. But the call of his own kind grows stronger, and he eventually finds his own, tenuous place among men and animals. Kipling’s creations from the two Jungle Books—human and animal— have remained alive in literature and celluloid for nearly a century. They have mesmerized, entertained and educated generations of children. In this special Puffin Classics edition, Mowgli comes alive once more, accompanied by illustrations rendered by Gond artist Durga Bai, and an affectionate, heartwarming introduction by that other favourite children’s writer, Ruskin Bond.
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Amen The Autobiography of a Nun
On 31 August 2008, Sister Jesme left the Congregation of Mother of Carmel. The authorities repeated attempts to have her declared insane, she says, left her no other option. This book, a first of its kind in India, is an outpouring of her experiences as a nun for thirty-three years. Spirited and fun-loving, from a good family, deeply-rooted in Catholicism, Jesme was drawn to religious life at seventeen after a Retreat at junior college. As a nun, seven years later, she felt distressed at the many ills growing inside the convent and being forced to remain silent about them. There was corruption, by way of donations for college seats; sexual relations between some priests and nuns, and between nuns; class distinctions whereby the cheduthies, or poorer and less-educated sisters, did menial jobs; and a wide gap between comforts and facilities enjoyed by the priests and nuns. Jesme was permitted to complete her doctorate in English Literature, to pursue her passion for literature, cinema and teaching college students. She exposed them to classic films, believing that aesthetics enhances spirituality. But these joys were clouded by the troubles she faced. Searing, sincere, and sensitive, Amen is a plea for a reformation of the Church and comes at a time of its growing concern about nuns and priests. It affirms Jesme’s unbroken spirit and faith in Jesus and the Church, living like a nun, but outside the Four Walls of the convent.
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Percy Jackson And The Sea Of Monsters
You can't tell by looking at me that my dad is Poseidon, God of the Sea. It's not easy being a half-blood these days. You mortals can't even see the monsters we have to fight all the time. So when a game of dodgeball turned into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, I couldn't exactly ask my gym teacher for help. And that was just for starters. This is the one where Camp Half Blood is under attack, and unless I get my hands on the Golden Fleece, the whole camp will be invaded by monsters. Big ones. Can Percy survive the treacherous Sea of Monsters and restore order to Half-Blood Hill?
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You're Hired!
IS THIS YOU? Have you ever applied for a job and not been called for the interview? Ever wondered why? Don
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Malicious Medicine
It is both a cautionary report for couples seeking ART and a moving memoir of a young woman desperately seeking to be a mother.� �Anita Nair in the Foreword Married at twenty-three, Anitha Jayadevan was anxious and impatient when a year passed by and she had not conceived. Spurred by family, friends and her own sense of inadequacy and desire to have a child of her own flesh and blood, she decided to seek the help of medical science. In Malicious Medicine she recounts the story of the next eight harrowing years of her life, where words like endometriosis, spermatogenesis, varicocele, IUI and Beta HCG became part of her vocabulary, and visits to infertility clinics, blood tests and scanning in the name of assisted reproductive technology (ART) became part of her everyday existence. The treatment was painful, invasive and expensive, and the medical practitioners more often than not were callous, inefficient and unfeeling. The result was a twin pregnancy after seven long years. But the joy was short-lived as she lost both the foetuses and in the bargain nearly her life. Then, as the final act of betrayal, she discovered that all she had been was a surrogate mother. But Malicious Medicine is not just about the physical ordeal and the psychological trauma Anitha went through. It asks larger questions about the sanctity of life and the importance of ethics that separate the medical profession from an assembly line production. Anitha�s fight is not against medical science. Instead, she pleads for the institution of a code of laws to regulate the use of ART in India so that others are spared her anguish, betrayal and pain.
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Piece Of Cake
Minal Sharma, MBA. Five foot ten twenty-nine-year-old with a hyperactive conscience and a ton of attitude. Minal wants it all-a successful career at International Foods, a lifestyle to match, and a 'totally cool' guy who'll buy her diamonds, bring her flowers, and laugh at her jokes. But given the unending record of her life's embarrassments, it's not going to be that simple. Especially when her mother has decided to take charge of the matrimonial front, and the choice Minal has to make is between a wild and sexy radio jockey and a brilliant but boring oncologist. And it doesn't help that her new colleague on a make-or-break 'Cakes' assignment is a nasty, grudge-bearing kid from her childhood who just might be out to sabotage her career.
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The Circle Of Reason
Following the form of the raga in Indian classical music, Amitav Ghosh slowly builds the tempo of The Circle of Reason. The first part spans several decades, the second unfolds over a few weeks, and the third, like a scherzo, races through a day.Ghosh