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Shadow Armies
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s steady advance over the last three decades has been accompanied by the mushrooming of organizations that polarize communities, incite violence and even kill – all in the name of Hindutva. Dhirendra K. Jha investigates and profiles eight such organizations across India, from Sanatan Sanstha, whose members have been charged with the brutal murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, to Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini.
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The Commonsense Diet
15 Years After Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight Comes the New Diet Manual for the Country Does intermittent fasting really work? Should we go on high-protein diets? Is doing a gut cleanse worth it? Should we be switching to millets? In her insightful new book, Rujuta Diwekar answers these questions and shows us a commonsense way of eating and living a full life. A life without fear and confusion about food. A life where good health is the default. A life of happiness and enthusiasm. Because ghar ka khaana can do that for us. If we let it.
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We Indians
What makes you proud to be Indian and what makes you ashamed to be one? What makes a Hindu a Hindu? Why are Indians such champion sycophants and name-droppers? And does love really matter in an Indian marriage? In his sharp and funny dissection of different aspects of the Indian character, Khushwant Singh tackles these and other questions with his characteristic candour, humour and gift for telling a riveting tale.]
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An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Nara
Sudha Kulkarni was forging a career as TELCO’s first woman engineer when she met the serious, idealistic and brilliant Narayana Murthy, and they fell in love. For the first time comes the story of their early years – from their courtship to Infosys’s founding years, from their marriage to parenthood – told by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. What drew them together and kept them bound tightly through the challenges and loneliness they faced? What was it like to create a startup during the license raj, when there were no VCs, and entrepreneurship was regarded as a dirty word? How did Sudha Murty balance being a career woman, a mother and a startup wife? How did Narayana Murthy’s obsession affect himself and his family? Taking us deep inside the minds, hearts and values of the Murthys, with exclusive access to them, Divakaruni tells their story with emotional depth, bringing them and their worlds vividly alive. This book is about the sacrifices it takes to forge a powerful and lasting marriage, about the early story of Infosys and Indian business before liberalization, and most of all about two icons before they became the legends that transformed the fields of business and philanthropy.
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Welcome to Paradise
Rich narratives that explore the depth of loneliness, heartbreak and deception. Huma’s divided family – Team Cemetery and Team Crematorium– clash hilariously over matters involving pigs and penises as they decide what to do with Amma’s body. Madhura Desai writes an email to the chief justice of India, urging him to choose a ‘nice cut-off age’ to die, sending shockwaves across the nation. Along the shores of Satpati, Nusrat grapples with the loss of her son, and her voice. And Amita tells her husband about her breast implants but not about Bua, Bangalore and beautiful men. Perfectly observed, shot through with light and shadow and wry humour, Welcome to Paradise confirms Khanna’s reputation as one of our most masterful storytellers.
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Spy Stories
From 9/11 to 26/11, Burhan Wani to Kulbhushan Jadhav – the India–Pakistan relationship told from the perspective of the R.A.W. and the I.S.I. With unprecedented access to the R.A.W. and the I.S.I., the world’s most inscrutable spy agencies, Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark describe the workings of bitter rivals, mapping their complicated history from the 1960s to the present day. From the Parliament attacks to Pulwama, 9/11 to Osama bin Laden’s assassination, the rise of terror’s shadow armies to the fall of Kulbhushan Jadhav, here are some of the key events that have shaped the region, told from the split viewpoints of duelling enemies. Levy and Scott-Clark also uncover a darker seam – of the destructive impact of C.I.A. interference, and how the I.S.I. fought for its life against dark forces it once funded, while the R.A.W. created ghost enemies to strengthen its hand. Revelatory and unputdownable, Spy Stories clears the fog to reveal the spies and their assets, as you have never seen them before.
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Shark Tank India
Packed with straight-talking, no-bullshit advice, inspiring stories and leadership lessons from the Sharks and participants, this is the ultimate get-ahead book. In this book you’ll learn: • Why Anupam thinks panic can be good for you • How Amit nearly sunk his first business • The many pivots Vineeta made before she hit jackpot • How Peyush’s mentors helped him out • Why Namita thinks you need more women in your team • How Aman found the perfect co-founder
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Get Epic Shit Done
DO EPIC SHIT made you think. GET EPIC SHIT DONE will make you act! When he was a college student, Ankur bought a book containing answers to the last 10 years’ question papers. That book helped him prepare for the forthcoming exams. In his second book, he attempts to create the same book for life. Written as a conversation between a student and a teacher, GET EPIC SHIT DONE answers 36 life questions that you face almost everyday, questions that you need answers to. GET EPIC SHIT DONE isn’t just a book that will inspire you – it will visibly improve the way you live.
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Rebel Sultans
Deftly and with great vividness, Manu S. Pillai takes us through 400 years of roiling history and returns the Deccan to the centre of our attention – where it belongs.’ SUNIL KHILNANI ‘Minutely researched and yet instantly accessible . . . Rebel Sultans will bring the fascinating history of the medieval Deccan to a whole new generation of readers.’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE ‘In this lively study, Manu S. Pillai does a superb job of re-orienting the narrative of late medieval and early modern South Asia towards the Deccan.’ MUZAFFAR ALAM ‘In Rebel Sultans, the Deccan is presented in seven engaging chapters, each focused on a pivotal moment, character or symbol, that together trace the dynamic history of the region and convey its unique flavour.’ NAVINA NAJAT HAIDAR In 1707 when Emperor Aurangzeb went to his grave, the Mughal empire began to crack into a hundred fractured pieces. It was the lure of the Deccan that drained this conqueror’s energies, putting him on a course of collision with his most threatening adversaries. After all, the Deccan was a land that inspired wonder. Its treasures were legendary, and its kings magnificent. It was a horizon of rousing adventure, attracting talent from beyond oceans. A traveller here could encounter bands of European snipers, available for military hire, or forbidding fortresses where African nobles scaled the heights of power. Diamonds and pearls lay heaped in the Deccan’s bazaars, while in its courts thrived Persians and Marathas, Portuguese and Georgians, presiding over a world of drama and betrayal. A thousand fortunes were made in the Deccan, drawing the formidable envy of generations of Mughal emperors. In Rebel Sultans, Manu S. Pillai narrates the story of the Deccan from the close of the thirteenth century to the dawn of the eighteenth. Packed with riveting tales and compelling characters, this book takes us from the age of Alauddin Khilji to the ascent of Shivaji. We witness the dramatic rise and fall of the Vijayanagar empire, even as we negotiate intrigues at the courts of the Bahmani kings and the Rebel Sultans who overthrew them. From Chand Bibi, a valorous queen stabbed to death, and Ibrahim II of Bijapur, a Muslim prince who venerated Hindu gods, to Malik Ambar, the Ethiopian warlord, and Krishnadeva Raya on Vijayanagar’s Diamond Throne – they all appear in these pages as we journey through one of the most arresting sweeps of Indian history. Unravelling a forgotten chapter in our medieval past, Rebel Sultans reminds us of a different age and a different time in the Deccan – one that ended an empire and rewrote India’s destiny.
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DO EPIC SHIT
Ankur Warikoo is an entrepreneur and content creator whose deep, witty and brutally honest thoughts on success and failure, money and investing, self-awareness and personal relationships have made him one of India’s top personal brands. In his first book, Ankur puts together the key ideas that have fuelled his journey – one that began with him wanting to be a space engineer and ended with him creating content that has been seen and read by millions. His thoughts range from the importance of creating habits for long-term success to the foundations of money management, from embracing and accepting failure to the real truth about learning empathy. This is a book to be read, and reread, a book whose lines you will underline and think about again and again, a book you will give your family and friends and strangers. Ankur hopes for this book to become the most gifted book ever!
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From Bihar to Tihar
No one has made quite such an electrifying political debut in India in recent history. In March 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar the president of the JNU Students Union was arrested on charges of sedition, locked up in Tihar Jail and beaten up by lawyers in Patiala House court. He came out of the crisis as a young political star, dubbed by the BBC as 'India's most loved and loathed student'. This is his story - from his childhood in rural Bihar, college days in Patna, to his political coming of age in Delhi. And it is told in his extraordinary voice - colourful, witty, eloquent, and raw. Bihar to Tihar is the story of a young political star in the making and a rare window into the lives of small town young Indians and their aspirations
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Savarkar The True Story Of The Father Of Hindutva
Savarkar is one of the most fascinating men in Indian history. A man who in the first part of his life wanted Hindu–Muslim unity yet later became the father of Hindutva. A man who called for complete independence twenty years before the Congress but didn’t participate in the Quit India movement. A man who in his younger days was friendly with Gandhi but was later seen as the inspiration behind his killing. Based on Savarkar’s original Marathi papers, accounts of his contemporaries, several of them untranslated from Marathi, court and government records, and newspapers of the time, this new biography is packed with fresh details. Written in a lively, page-turning style, this is a riveting and unbiased account of Savarkar’s life, and the only book you will need to truly understand him. ‘Lively, well researched and balanced. It will fascinate and provoke.’ Gurcharan Das ‘Wonderful. Savarkar truly comes alive.’ Bibek Debroy ‘Superbly written and deeply researched, this book is neither hagiographic nor does it suffer from unbalanced criticism.’ Sudheendra Kulkarni
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The 12-Week Fitness Project
Lose inches. Gain health. Sleep better. In just 12 weeks. Want to get fit but don’t know how to start? Let India’s #1 nutritionist and health advocate Rujuta Diwekar help you. In this ground-breaking book, based on the ‘12-week fitness project’, one of the world’s largest and most successful public health projects, she will guide you step by step, giving you one simple guideline to follow each week. By the end of three months you will have transformed your habits in twelve crucial ways. The result? You’ll find you have lost inches and have better sleep and energy levels, lesser acidity, bloating and sweet cravings and reduced PMO and period pain.
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Love to Hurt You
She likes to hurt. He likes to kill. They say everyone wants love and happiness, but what if that is not true? ‘Everyone is entitled to one true love in life. My true love is money and fame.’ Garun ‘We had made a promise. You said we would be together forever. And you left me alone here.’ Maya ‘She sees pain, she sees fear, she sees his greedy urge to get out of her grip and run away. She smiles.’ Sasha Decadent, dark and gripping, Love to Hurt You is bestselling author Rahul Saini’s most surprising novel yet.
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Mothering A Muslim
The most hard-hitting book on the state of middleclass Indian Muslims today Nazia Erum runs a fashion start-up, and is the mother of an adorable little girl. But from the day Myra was born, she found herself asking questions she didn't have answers for. It began with her daughter's name – should Nazia choose a traditional Islamic name or a more non-religious sounding one so that her daughter couldn't be identified as a Muslim? Nazia was not the only modern middleclass Muslim asking this question. Soon she discovered that finding the right name for Myra was the least of her worries. Talking to over 100 children and their parents across 12 cities, what Nazia uncovers is deeply troubling. She heard stories of rampant bullying of Muslim children in many of the country's top schools, of six-year-olds being hit by their classmates because of their faith, of religious segregation in classrooms and of anxious Muslim parents across the country who monitor their children's dress, speech and actions to protect them. In Mothering a Muslim, she finally lifts the veil on this taboo subject, one that is spoken of only in whispers. Urgent, gripping and heartbreaking, this is essential reading for every Indian.
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Mind Without Fear
For nine years, Rajat Gupta led McKinsey and company – The first foreign-born person to head the world’s most influential management consultancy. He was also the driving force behind major initiatives such as the Indian School of business and the public health foundation of India. In 2011, Gupta was arrested and charged with Insider trading. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, he has fought the Charges and maintains his innocence to this day.In these pages, Gupta recalls his unlikely rise from orphan to immigrant to international icon as well as his dramatic fall from grace. And for the first time, he tells his side of the story in the scandal that destroyed his career and reputation. Candid, compelling and poignant, Gupta’s memoir is much more than a courtroom drama; it is an extraordinary tale of human resilience and personal growth.
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The Queen's Last Salute
Moupia Basu has a master's degree in English literature from St Stephen's College, Delhi University. She grew up in the Delhi of the seventies and eighties. She has worked as a journalist with Times of India, Economic Times, Indian Express and Business Today and has written on a variety of topics including business, education and travel. Her debut book, Khoka, was published in 2015. She lives in Pune.
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THE UNDOING DANCE
Kalyani comes from a lineage of famous devadasis, though there is no place for her talent in the Madras of newly independent India. The devadasis, once celebrated as artists, are shunned as prostitutes in a modern country. In exchange for a comfortable life as the wife of a wealthy arts promoter, Kalyani has to keep her origins hidden and abandon her mother, Rajayi. When a Bharatanatyam dancer from the city sets out to record Rajayis dance repertoire on film, the carefully wrapped-up past threatens to unravel.
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A Stranger Truth
A powerful story of hope that deserves to be widely read. --Bill Gates A portrait of contemporary India like no other . . . always engaging, thoroughly readable . . . An unusually gifted writer. Amitav Ghosh --Ghosh A terrific read . . . an adventure story that is both moving and inspiring. Rahul Dravid A story of an invisible India, hilarious and heartrending, inspiring and disturbing. I couldn t put it down. Vishwanathan Anand --Dravid and Anand About the Author Ashok Alexander spent seventeen years with McKinsey and Company in New York and India. In 2003, he left that firm as a senior partner to take up the building of an ambitious HIV/AIDS prevention programme in India for the Gates Foundation. That venture, Avahan, has been internationally acclaimed for its pivotal role in containing the HIV epidemic in India. Married, with two children, Ashok Alexander lives in New Delhi and nurtures his own NGO, the Antara Foundation, which works in the field of maternal and child health in rural Rajasthan. A Stranger Truth is his first book.]
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Pyjamas are Forgiving
There sitting on that porch, that light-eyed man, a pitta like me, was my ex-husband and that woman whose inner element I was unaware of, unless bitch is accepted as an undiscovered fourth dosha, was his young wife. In the serene sanctuary of Kerala’s Shanthamaaya spa where food is rationed, sex forbidden and emotions centred, Anshu meets someone familiar and deeply unsettling – her ex-husband. Bittersweet, funny and wise, Pyjamas Are Forgiving confirms Twinkle Khanna as one of our great storytellers.
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In Hot Blood
At lunchtime on 27 April 1959, the handsome naval commander Kawas Nanavati was told by his English wife Sylvia that she was having an affair with their flamboyant businessman-playboy friend, Prem Ahuja. Later that evening, armed with a revolver, Nanavati stormed Ahuja's bedroom and shut the door behind him. Three gunshots were heard going off inside. Ahuja was dead. Ahuja's murder set in motion an extraordinary public frenzy ֠thousands descended on the streets of Bombay chanting in favour of the hero Nanavati, and the jury, swept off their feet by the dazzling naval officer in the dock, returned a 'Not Guilty' verdict. This trial was the death knell of the jury system in India. It hurtled a judiciary keen on preserving justice into confrontation with an executive bending to the will of hysterical crowds and tabloids and Nanavati's powerful friends in the establishment. In this laboriously researched book ֠part thriller, part courtroom drama and legal history, and part social portrait of post- Independence Bombay ֠Bachi Karkaria gives a most comprehensive account of the Nanavati case and the Constitutional crisis to which it gave birth.]
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Chup Breaking the Silence About India’s Women
Do you pride yourself on being a strong woman? Do you aspire to be one or support one? Do you consider yourself a feminist? Chances are that you behave in ways that are exactly the opposite, as this path breaking book argues. In this rigorously researched book, based on 600 detailed interviews with women and some men across India’s metros, social scientist Deepa Narayan identifies seven key habits that may dominate women’s everyday lives, despite their education, success, financial status and family background. These behaviours may seem harmless, but each one has enormous impact and it means only one thing – that Indian women are trained to habitually delete themselves. Shocking, troubling and revolutionary, Chup will hold a mirror to yourself – and you may not like what you see.