The Man Who Made Me

Ganapati Bappa Morya !!

Category: Fiction

Gross pages: 62 

I'm always happy to read a book that is less than 100 pages long.

The story is about 'Snigdha Patil'  a journalist who joins 'Mumbai Saga' organization & is asked to interview the elusive ‘Deepa Kulkarni'

She finally gets in touch with Deepa & discovers that contrary to her belief, Deepa's life journey has had her share of thorns .

Deepa is a dreamer who leaves home to realise her destiny .  
Journey towards Destiny is often lonely & a difficult emotional battle, it takes courage to walk the path which will lead to your dreams. 

Search for Destiny can sometimes break relationships (family / friends) , which makes the journey a difficult one because family support is important in the long run ..

Major part of the book is a conversation between Deepa & Snigdha. It feels like you are reading someone’s personal daily journal ..

An interesting fact that comes out from this book is the importance of a guru, a teacher, a mentor who guides you in life & helps maintain your balance. Hence the title of the book 'The Man *Mentor* Who Made Me' . 

Entrepreneur's are often dreamers, Snigdha finally quits her job & starts her own venture.

The summer road trip

The summer road trip

The bright alluring sun had set itself high in the sky. The shimmering rays had filled the atmosphere with a fresh aroma of early summer. I could feel the summer breeze flow past my window which spread the scent of happiness and joy. I and my family were at the dining table ready for breakfast, when grandfather announced in his loud and clear voice, “we are going on a road trip!” everyone’s eyes lit up and with an amazing zeal we cried out, “ROAD TRIP! “

My mother and all my aunts packed some light snacks and other necessities...father and all my uncles got the mechanical things fixed and the car ready...I and my cousins packed some games and ball...

My grandparents, three cousins, two aunts and uncles, mother, father and I...were all set for the trip!

As we drove by, I gazed at the trees alongside. The trees looked green and golden, some were yellow too. The vast mountains were covered with dense dark green and huge trees... we sang songs, shared jokes, played ludo, ate pancakes and then rested for a while. After resting grandfather and grandmother sang together their favourite song, it was a delight to hear them!

We all were soon on the top of a small hill. We stopped just for a while to admire the place... The sky seemed like an endless patch of light blue velvet spread all over. This part of the green ground, especially the hill... it was covered with huge trees. The trees were short but, large. Each tree possessed many interconnecting branches at the top, which gave it an effect of a web. They all had a pastel green shade, some were sea-green too. The sun cast its pale yellow light from between the trees, which poured in like a rain of needles. We could not feel the actual heat. Instead, light breezes blew across. They carried the scent of soil, dampness, forest and earth.

We got back in the car. We descended the hill down. On our way we crossed the countryside, it was quiet pleasant as always!

After an hour or so, we were back to town. The same tall buildings, railways, markets, crowded streets and noise.... we reached home with rather sweet and everlasting memories! The day had been ecstatic! Quality time with family is the best time.... in this time we can share stuff, have fun, learn things and enhance relations with better communication!

At night all I could smell was smoke, mist, petrol, the city smell! I compared the scent to the countryside and the hill which was, damp, forest, fresh and pleasant... so much NATURE like!

-Gauri Kadam        

The Gift

The Gift

It was the night before Christmas. All the houses were decorated with lights and reeds, bells and flowers and not forget Christmas trees! William sat near the window playing with the buttons of his shirt, his eyes shined hazel in the light of the fire, from the fire place below the mantle.

“Will! Will…have you packed the presents?”  Asked Mr. Heronoald, the owner of the house William lived in. William Carstairs, young gentlemen of 16 years. He worked as a servant or rather a care taker for James Heronoald. James or Jem was the son of Mr. Mrs. Heronoald. Jem was a small boy, 10 years of age.

Tonight was Will’s last night with the Heronoalds, because Mr. Heronoald was shifting to China with his wife and his son. Will had been working for them since 4 years. He had to leave school because his parents died in an accident, when the poor boy was only 11 years. That’s when Mr. Heronoald found him. He gave him food and shelter and encouraged him to continue his schooling. Mr. Heronoald had always helped him financially and morally. Mrs. Heronoald was no less than a mother to him. Will had always been protective about Jem. He loved him as small brother.

Over these years Will had developed a special bonding with the Heronoalds, though he was their servant…they never treated him like one. The thought of going away from them was very agonizing. Sometimes the horror of this thought threatened to overwhelm him and plunge him down into a bottomless darkness from which there was no return. Will wondered about how he would live his life without the Heronoalds. Mr. Heronoald had already arranged a small apartment for him and a job to earn his living. But, he was going to miss something very important in his life…now he would not have to clean and polish Mr. Heronoald’s coats…he would not have to drop and pick Jem from school…he would not have to look after Mrs. Heronoald’s rose garden…now there would be no one he could play with, no one to trouble him, no one who would give him hand knitted sweaters every winter, no one who would help him in his studies…

He just sat by the fire… though it warm in the room he felt peculiarly cold, he was pale with moist eyes…soon all these memories rolled down his eyes in the form of tears. He heard someone clomping down the stairs, he quickly wiped his tears off his face and took on a stoic expression, while the Heronoalds came down for dinner.

The room was well decorated with lights, flowers, bells, the Christmas fragrance of the candles filled the room…it was all Red and merry and vibrant!

But, they all seemed impassive, the dinner went on without a sound… all of their hearts were filled with sadness and agony, Mrs. Heronoald could not hold back her emotions but, she just winced…Jem and Will had dinner together in one plate…Mr. Heronoald  just smiled at them.

No one slept well that night…the night seemed cold and long, Will knew this will end at some point and then the rising sun will mark the departure of the Heronoalds from his life…

The next morning Will waited patiently at the entrance, to bid his last good bye to the Heronoalds. The Christmas morning, was the morning where Will usually got his gifts from them…but, today no gift could bring him that joy which would help recover his deep sadness. Mr. and Mrs. Heronoald walked out wearing gray and black. Jem was dressed in a navy blue shirt and light gray trousers. “It’s time for your gift, Will”, said Mr. Heronoald with a smile, Will managed to smile a little. “I and Rose have thought about your gift a lot, and we came to the conclusion that…” he stopped abruptly… “Your coming with us Will car!!!” echoed a cheerful voice, which was none other than Jem!

Will was overwhelmed with joy, his happiness had no limit! It seemed as if everything was perfect and was going to be even better than before… “Come join the family my son!” said Mrs. Heronoald with the biggest smile she could give! And pulled all of them in a warm family hug…

This was possibly the best gift ever…the greatest gift anyone can get… a FAMILY! You know, that they will always be there for you, no matter what…they support you in your bad times and celebrate with you in your good times! A gift you treasure forever…your family :)

-Gauri Kadam

Rainy Weather

Rainy Weather

Tessa leaned against the window, her nose pressed against the glass “I hate damp weather” she exclaimed to herself... she looked expressionless, staring outside hoping for the sun to come above the horizon again!

“Tessa, will you do me a favour?” her mother’s voice echoed from the kitchen.  “Yes, mother” she replied. “Dear get me some meat, spring onions and oyster sauce from the market” ,her mother said impatiently. “Mom, I hate the weather” Tessa winced in despair. “Please Tessie... aunt Harriet’s coming home and I ought to make something special” her mother sounded pleading. “Okay!” she finally agreed.

Tessa put on her gumboots and took her umbrella. The basket in one hand and the umbrella in the other she marched out of her house.

The sky was dark blue, pale grey colour. It smelled damp and muddy, moss grew over many old houses as she walked by... a chilly breeze blew past her, it made the hairs on her back trickle and her fingers tremble. She pulled her overcoat a little more close to her body. She looked up to see, a greying sky that arched overhead, threatening rain... “I thoroughly despise this!” she said with an awful expression.

She was soon in the market place. The hustle-bustle, the crowd, Smell of meat and fish. The market seemed damper than ever...Tessa was probably going to slip over the wet road but, her strong gripped boots were her saviour!

The sight of the market never fascinated her but, today it seemed different... people moved here and there holding vividly coloured umbrellas! The rain seemed like dew drops on the vegetables, it made them look more fresh and new... for the first time she noticed the market place so keenly...

Tessa bought the required ingredients and her way back home. She could smell damp-soil, earthy scent, trees, mud... everything rain like! As she walked by her gaze fell on something, as she looked at her side she saw wild flowers blooming. She neared them to take a closer look... they were tiny and white with deep green leaves. The rain drops that rested on their petals seemed like crystals! The big trees that had dry leaves in summer... now bore a whole new batch of leaves, brighter and greener than ever!

She got home, gave her mother the listed items and hurried to her room. She opened the window and let her hand out to feel the rain... the raindrops that feel on her hands trickled her fingers. They were cold and wet, she loved it. The rain had its own soft coldness, she thought... its own dampness... “Damp weather isn’t that bad!” she grinned to herself.

-Gauri Kadam

Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara

By : Rajiv Bakshi

About : 

I am glad to inform you that I am an Ex Banker from a nationalised Bank . I retired from Bank after putting in 35 years service . Guwahati was my first Branch way back in 1976 & I retired from Machhiwara in District Ludhiana in 2012. I have written a Book on short stories : Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara . It's published by Notion Press Chennai & cost is Rs 200 . Book is also available worldwide through Amazon.com The Book has got good reviews from the readers . 

Once Upon A Dharamyudh

Book Review: Once Upon A Dharamyudh

Author: Vibhor Tikiya
Publisher: Srishti Publishers and Distributors
Pages: 208
Category: Fiction
Price: Rs. 150/-

Review By : @aysh1691_hakim

Blurb:

Dharam is a dream institution for its founders and employees alike, who give it their sweat and blood. In time, it prospers owing to the fine acumen of its owners and efforts of its employees.

Prakash is caught in the web of fulfilling his fathers dying wish and gives up his dream job to take up the mantle of responsibility at Dharam. A radical thinker equipped with modern ways of working, he sets the company and workers on a path of development, though with much resistance to his methods. Udays humble origins and difficult childhood inspire him to dream big, he dreams of equality and fair treatment for the weaker sections of the society. He believes it is his Dharam to raise his voice against any injustice. The fight between a mans belief and an institutions values becomes a tussle between the haves and the have nots, acquiring magnanimous proportions. Both believe they are right and are willing to do what is needed to be done for their Dharam.

*********************

I got an autographed copy from @Share_Books - A Global platform for new Author's to showcase their work, recently. The title does not reveal much.

Once Upon A Dharamyudh tells the story of Prakash, a young man, his mission in life, his passion for it and the journey of a lifetime.

The war is fought for the existence of a spinning mill called Dharam symbolising the war for the victory of Dharma.

The story is from an industry owner's perspective and the challenges they face. This book gives great management lessons on how to run a firm, some ethical tactics are shared.

All in all, it doesn't give you much turns and twists. Just a simple story with little love and romance. It is more about entrepreneurship, the battles, deceit, business and politics.

“Once Upon A Dharamyudh” stands out and makes Vibhor come across as a confident storyteller with a smooth narration.

There is a right man doing the right things often forced by the system to resort to wrong means to achieve the right results. Then there is a right man doing wrong things while appearing to make himself come across as right - an ideological war 'Dharamyudh'.

All the characters are true to life.

Once Upon A Dharamyudh is definitely a very engrossing read with generous sprinkling of verses from the Gita. Story moves from 60s to early 90s without hiccups.

Mighty impressed with Vibhor and loved the way he has kept it awesome within 208 pages.

My Rating: 4.2/5

Author:
Vibhor Tikiya is the author of the bestseller book DADA and has followed it up with Once Upon A Dharamyudh. He is an ME from IISc, MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and an LLB. He believes Dharamyudh highlights the underlying difference in the aspirations of different strata of contemporary society and the ensuing struggle between them guided by the age old Bhagvad Gita.

Hopeless Romantic

                                     By : Mansi Jikadara

The book is a teenage love story between Casey (Introvert) & Jason aka Greek God (Extrovert).

Casey is raised by his dad & she joins a new school as her dad keeps moving because of his work commitments.

Casey lacks self confidence, she underestimates herself, other's love her more than what she does.

The story revolves around teenage school life, prom nights, bad hair day's etc ..

The book is full of grammatical errors. It contains all types of error's possible in English language. 

So why read this book? 

Well, reading a book gives you an insight into what an Author thinks about the world. It is a passive conversation that you have with the author, if you are romantic by heart, then you may enjoy reading this book.

Cheers. 


You can buy the book from here :

http://www.amazon.in/Hopeless-Romantic-Mansi-Jikadara-B/dp/9384027685/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1423814270&sr=8-5&keywords=Hopeless+Romantic

http://www.amazon.com/Hopeless-Romantic-Mansi-Jikadara-B/dp/9384027685/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429722830&sr=8-1&keywords=Hopeless+Romantic+Mansi

Done With Men

The Story is about Kairavi aka Kay who is 25, thinks out loud, lives in Mumbai & works at New Age Traveller.

She goes thru a series of failed relationships prompting her to make a tattoo called: Done With Men & describes her past failed relationships with men as "Pesky Diseases"

Baani, Kapil, Sagar, Ricky, Ed aka Ravi are some of the other characters in the book, some of whom are her friends others ex- boyfriends ...

However, she spends most of her time conversing with herself via "Thought Bubble" 

Things take a right turn when she meets Dr.Vivian in Goa, where she goes for an official assignment & both of them eventually fall in Love.

So, what is it that makes a relationship work?
Men, are happy with Dogs.
Women, are happy with Cats ..
So does one turn oneself into above mentioned animal in order to get the love & affection of the other partner ?? 
* Just Thinking Out Loud .. *

P.S: The book is really funny & 150 pages long (approx), which makes it a perfect weekend read.
( ChickLit, Rom-Com )

DEAD MEAT

The start of a stunning new crime series

Meet Arjun Arora—the toughest detective in Delhi

A chopped-up body recovered from a tandoor oven

A quiet young accountant missing with a suitcase full of cash

Match-fixing and illegal betting in a city in the grip of T20 fever

A lonely detective with a conscience . . .

Private eye Arjun Arora works the streets of Delhi dealing with the shady underbelly of the capital city. Hired to track down a missing person, Arjun stumbles upon a gruesome murder where the suspects seem to be linked to something larger and more sinister.

Part noir thriller and part detective story, Dead Meat introduces us to an unforgettable character—Arjun Arora, a man with a troubled past—who takes us on a dark and memorable journey through the greed and grime of today’s urban India.

Author Bio

Ankush Saikia is the author of the noir thriller The Girl from Nongrim Hills.

WHO, ME?

By: Tina Sharma Tiwari

Will a makeover get the love of her life back? 

Plain Jane Tara has been dumped by her boyfriend for a stunning, rich heiress. Determined to win her love back she plunges right into her 10-year school reunion in a glam makeover. Where she gets into dangers she’d never imagined, stumbles onto secrets she’d never expected that push her headlong into a direction she’d never planned!

Tina Sharma Tiwari is a news anchor on Times Now

Suleiman Charitra

By: Kalyana Malla

Translated from the Sanskrit by A.N.D. Haksar

A marvellous retelling of a biblical tale through Sanskrit eyes

In this delightful celebration of the East and West, a Hindu poet renders the sensual love story of David and Bathsheba for his Muslim patron: the bathing scene, David's infatuation, his pursuit of Bathsheba, and their eventual union.

Kalyana Malla was a renowned sixteenth-century poet, best known for the sex manual Ananga Ranga.

A.N.D. Haksar is a well-known translator of Sanskrit classics.

The Tusk That Did the Damage

By: Tania James

When a young elephant is brutally orphaned by poachers and then captured, it is only a matter of time before he breaks his chains and begins terrorising the countryside, earning his malevolent name from the humans he kills and then tenderly buries with leaves.

Manu, the studious son of a rice farmer, loses his cousin to the Gravedigger and is drawn, with his wayward brother Jayan, into the alluring world of ivory hunting, while his family relationships grow ever more complicated.

Emma is working on a documentary set in a Kerala wildlife park with her best friend. Her work leads her to witness the porous boundary between conservation and corruption and she finds herself caught up in her own betrayal.

As the novel hurtles toward its tragic climax, these three storylines fuse into a wrenching meditation on love and revenge, fact and myth, duty and sacrifice. In a feat of audacious imagination and arrestingly beautiful prose, The Tusk That Did the Damage tells an original and heartbreaking story about how we treat nature, and each other.

Tania James’s debut novel, Atlas of Unknowns, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian literature. She has also written the short-story collection Aerogrammes and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Granta, Elle India, Boston Review, Guernica, Kenyon Review, One Story, Orion and A Public Space. Three stories from Aerogrammes were finalists for Best American Short Stories 2008 and 2011. From 2011 to 2012, she was a Fulbright fellow to India living in New Delhi. She now lives in Washington DC.

Yuva India

Consumption and Lifestyle Choices of a Young India

By: Ray Titus

Yuva India takes a deep dive into the lives of India’s young men and women. In unravelling what makes them tick, Yuva India uncovers the phenomenon of ‘attitudinal convergence’ that’s rapidly growing across youth cohorts in India. Tracing its origin to the arrival and exposure to a ‘composite culture’, the research behind ‘convergence’ zeroes in on how a young India is defining itself using new-age sensibilities.

Drawing on insights collected over a decade, Titus documents and analyses how young men and women in India approach issues of identity, image, sexuality, spirituality, personal relevance, social connections and community, and professional pursuits. In a one of its kind analysis, using comprehensive data from across the nation, he scrutinizes young India’s psyche to make sense of their aspirations.    

Filled with numerous first-person accounts and brand stories, Yuva India provides an insightful understanding of India’s most valuable asset, its youth population. The present and the future of India’s young it unveils will be invaluable not just for business and brand managers, but also for all those who wish to engage with them.

Author bio

Ray Titus is Professor of Marketing and Strategy at the Alliance School of Business, Alliance University. His teaching, research and business consulting interests converge on consumer behaviour and marketing strategy. Prior to academia, he’s worked at the Taj Group of Hotels, INI Technologies, Landmark Gulf Group and Coffee Day.

Titus’s business articles and expert comments have featured in the Globe & Mail, Sunday Guardian, Voice of America, Telegraph, Hindu BusinessLine and other leading media publications. He is also the co-author of the book Business Drama: How Shakespearean Insights Help Leaders Manage Volatile Contexts.

How to Memorize Anything

The ultimate handbook to explore and improve your memory

By: Aditi Singhal & Sudhir Singhal

Can we really memorize anything?

The answer is, ‘Yes we can!’ From Guinness World Record holders (for conducting the largest maths class on memorizing times tables till 99) Aditi Singhal and Sudhir Singhal comes a book that will serve as a manual to explore the immense power of your memory through a scientific yet simple approach. It will:

•        Explain concepts with simple illustrations

•        While teaching you memory techniques, it will also discuss their application in real life, like memorizing appointments, presentations, names and faces, long answers, spellings, formulae, vocabulary, foreign languages and general information

•        Give the scientific interpretation of ancient memory-enhancing practices that will be particularly useful for students, teachers, professors, doctors, managers, marketing and other professionals as well as the common man

Following the unparalleled success of How to Become a Human Calculator, Aditi Singhal and Sudhir Singhal turn their hands to helping you master the right method to input any information using which you can easily memorize anything and, more important, recall it whenever required.

Author note:

Aditi Singhal is an international memory trainer, author, motivational speaker, counsellor and Vedic Math expert par excellence. She has to her credit the Guinness World Record for conducting the largest maths class and three national records for memory and fastest calculation awarded by the Limca Book of Records. She has also been given ‘The Best Memory Trainer’ award by the India Book of Records. Her dream to make calculations simple for all resulted in the bestselling book How to Become a Human Calculator

He Fixed The Match, She Fixed Him !

                                      By : Shikha Kumar

No, it's not a Cricket Match that the author talks about. 

It's about a matrimony match that Kunal *who is from Mumbai* & Shreya *who is from Delhi* find themselves entangled in, a vicious circle of tit-for-tat , playing dangerous games to settle personal scores.

Shreya eventually manages to change Kunal's evil attitude towards her, by enduring his hatred.  
As the author rightly mentions,"Revenge is a two edged Sword"
kunal finally falls in love with Shreya, and both of them overcome initial hiccups that successful relationships often go through.  

The book initially feels sad & depressing to read but eventually as pages turn & the main characters start to rise in Love, the story becomes interesting & humorous to read. 

Caravans

Indian Merchants on the Silk Road
By: Scott C. Levi

The great adventure of the Multani merchants on the Silk Road to ancient Asia

Caravans tells the fascinating story of tens of thousands of intrepid merchants who risked everything to travel great distances and spend years of their lives pursuing their fortunes in foreign lands.

From the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, these merchants lived as ‘guests’ in cities and villages across Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran and Russia. Scott C. Levi examines the sophisticated techniques they used to convert a modest amount of merchandise into vast portfolios of trade and moneylending ventures. At precisely the same historical moment that the rising European trade in the Indian Ocean usurped the overland ‘Silk Road’ trade, the Multani merchants began making their way to Central Asia, linking the early modern Indian and Central Asian economies closer together than ever before.

This elegantly written, meticulously researched book brings a forgotten chapter of India’s business history to life. Caravans is the seventh volume in The Story of Indian Business series edited by Gurcharan Das.

Scott C. Levi is Associate Professor of Central Asian History at Ohio State University. 

And Home Was Kariakoo: Memoir of an Indian African

By: M.G. Vassanji

M.G. Vassanji was born in East Africa and, like many East African Indians of his generation, he emigrated to the West. But Africa remained his primal home—the land whose colours and smells most beckoned to him, the land in which his family roots went deepest. 

In And Home Was Kariakoo, he travels to this homeland to draw a vivid portrait of East Africa today and tells the story of the Gujarati Indians of that region for whom Africa is both home and not home.  Entwined through Vassanji’s accounts is the story of his own childhood in Dar es Salaam.  Part memoir, part travelogue, part history, And Home Was Kariakoo is an insightful, thoughtful, deeply moving meditation on the Indians of East Africa and what it means to call a place one’s home. 

M.G. Vassanji is the author of ten books. The Gunny Sack won the Commonwealth Prize, The Book of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall each won the Giller Prize, while the memoir A Place Within: Rediscovering India won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-fiction. 

The Eye Still Seeks: Pakistani Contemporary Art

By: Salima Hashmi

A superb art book of one of the most arresting art movements in the world today.

Pakistan’s contemporary art scene is arguably the most exciting in South Asia. Well-known curator, artist and teacher Salima Hashmi gives us a superb overview in this lavishly designed book, which includes interviews with artists such as Rashid Rana and pieces by writers like Kamila Shamsie and Mohsin Hamid.

Salima Hashmi is a well-known artist and dean at the School of Visual Arts and Design at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. 

What Will You Give for This Beauty

By: Ali Akbar Natiq

Translated by: Ali Madeeh Hashmi

Qaim Deen sneaks across the Sutlej, into India, to steal cattle—braving cobras, wild boars and the border patrol—and gives generously of his earnings to those in need. Young Nauman’s forbidden love for Nuzhat leads him to seek refuge in a holy place, at terrible cost to his family. Maulvi Abdur Rahman and his neighbour’s bull terrier engage in a hilarious and unrelenting battle of wits. Could Kareeman’s beauty, which hits the village like a storm, be the salvation of Ghafoora the Dimwit?

Possessed of dark irony and a searing moral vision, Ali Akbar Natiq is a storyteller of exceptional talent and manifest power. He renders the robust rhythms of the Punjab countryside, with its undercurrent of violence and poverty, through feuds and feasts, hunts and marriages, mobs and floods, elopements and gossip. Acrobats, holy men, thieves, peasants, landowners, masons and courtesans populate the stories of his virtuoso debut collection What Will You Give for This Beauty?

About the Author

Ali Akbar Natiq began working as a mason, specializing in domes and minarets, to contribute to the family income while he read widely in Urdu and Arabic. Acclaimed as one of the brightest stars in Pakistan’s literary firmament, Natiq has published two volumes of poetry and one collection of short stories.

Ali Madeeh Hashmi is a psychiatrist, writer and translator. He has written about the lives and works of Faiz, Ghalib, Iqbal and Manto. 

Me, My Fiancée and #I Fu*!ed Up

By: Arya Babbar

We all want to be loyal but is love meant to last? 

All Rushabh Shah, a nice Gujarati boy, has done in his life is love his girlfriend and listen to her. So there is not an iota of doubt in his mind when he proposes. Both the families are overjoyed and soon the preparations for the wedding begin.

But then from nowhere doubts begin to creep in and he meets the love of his life—or so he thinks! Panicking, he embarks on a mission to find out whom he truly loves.

Question is, is there such a thing as true love?

This comedy of errors set against the backdrop of the great Indian wedding is unputdownable!

Aarya Babbar is an Indian actor who has worked in several Hindi/Punjabi films & was a participant in recent Big Boss 8 season.  

REGRET

By: Ikramullah

Translated by Faruq Hassan and Muhammad Umar Memon

Deeply moving and elegantly wrought, these two novellas skillfully evoke the long shadow cast by the violence of Partition through poignant tales of families and friendships sundered by the carnage of 1947.

Ikramullah is a renowned Urdu novelist and short-story writer.

Faruq Hassan was an Urdu poet, critic and translator.

Muhammad Umar Memon is an eminent critic, short-story writer and translator.

An Unfinished Agenda

My Life in the Pharmaceutical Industry
By: K. Anji Reddy

An insider’s look at the burgeoning pharma industry in India

From his birth in a village in Andhra to his founding and running Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, now one of India’s largest pharmaceutical enterprises, Dr K. Anji Reddy’s journey makes for an inspiring story. 

That story is told rivetingly in his own words in his memoir, An Unfinished Agenda. This book also takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the science of medicine over the last hundred years and reminds us of the stark challenges that remain.

Dr K. Anji Reddy was one of the leading figures of India’s pharmaceutical industry. He passed away in 2013.

A Mirrored Life

Subtitle: The Rumi Novel

Author: RabisankarBal
Translator: Arunava Sinha

On his way from Tangiers to China, the medieval Moorish traveller Ibn Battuta arrives in Konya, Turkey where the legendary dervish Rumi had lived, danced and died. More than half a century may have passed since his death, but his poetry remains alive, inscribed in every stone and tree and pathway. Rumi’s followers entrust Ibn Battuta with a manuscript of his life stories to spread word of the mystic on his travels. As Battuta reads and recites these tales, his listeners discover their own lives reflected in these stories—fate has bound them, and perhaps you, to Rumi.

A Mirrored Life reaffirms the magical powers of storytelling, making us find Rumi in each of our hearts.

About the Author 

Rabisankar Bal is a Bangla novelist and short-story writer, and has published over fifteen novels, five short-story collections, one volume of poetry and one volume of literary essays. Born in 1962, he has been writing for thirty years. His novel Dozakhnama, acclaimed by the late doyen of Bengali literature Sunil Gangopadhyay as the finest novel of 2010, won the West Bengal government’s Bankimchandra Smriti Puraskar.

About the Translator 

Arunava Sinha translates contemporary and classic Bengali fiction into English. He has seventeen published translations to his name. 

Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy

                                                    By : Mihir S. Sharma

Good times have been promised to India – but we need to make bold changes first. Unless the change is real, enthusiasm about the economy will vanish.

In Restart, Mihir S. Sharma shows what can and must change in India’s policies, its administration and even its attitudes. The answers he provides are not obvious, and require courage. Nor are they all comforting or conventional. Yet they could, in less time than you can imagine, unleash the creativity of a billion hopeful Indians.

About the author:

Mihir S. Sharma was born in Delhi, and grew up in Chandigarh, in Mumbai, in Jamshedpur and in Kolkata. He was trained as an economist and a political scientist before dropping ignobly out of academia. Like many others unable to concentrate on any one thing long enough to write a dissertation, he drifted from one thing to another till he found the closest thing to paid unemployment in a capitalist society: journalism. He now writes and edits opinion for the Business Standard newspaper in New Delhi.

WHEN I WAS 25

 By : SHAILI CHOPRA

Prominent leaders from different spheres share secrets of what they did at 25 and how that transformed their leadership horizon

When I Was 25 is a book about leaders when they were 25. The youth will immediately be drawn to it as they’d relate to that period of life much better. It includes careers graphs and how these successful personalities reached their current success from when they were 25. The list of people who have been profiled include Adi Godrej, KP Singh, Rajdeep Sardesai, Dimple Kapadia,P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor,Indra Noori,Zia Mody to name a few.

 The book is different than others on profiles of prominent leaders as it addresses the youth directly and imparts valuable lessons on how to get to the top—as opposed to simply tell the stories of people already at the top.

 About the author

Shaili Chopra is one of India’s top television editor-presenters. She hosts her own video blog TheShailiChopraREPORT. She has been the Senior Editor and Lead Anchor at ET NOW, the Economic Times Business News Channel and earlier with NDTV.

Shaili anchored the 9 pm primetime slots and conducted the big exclusive interviews of people like Warren Buffett, George Soros, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, PepsiCo’s boss Indra Nooyi, Microsoft’s head Steve Ballmer and many more.

In 2012, Shaili received India’s biggest journalism honour The Ramnath Goenka Award for best in business journalism. She also won the News Television Award for the Best Reporter in India in 2007 and later in 2008, her business-golf show Business on Course, won the Best Show Award. She also won the Media Foundation Best Business Anchor Award for 2010 and in the same year the Federation of Indian Industry gave her the Young Women’s Achiever Award for contribution to media. 

She was awarded the Young Indian Leader fellowship by the Spanish Government in April 2013.

Shaili’s previous book THE BIG CONNECT published by Random House India earlier this year garnered rave reviews and coverage across media in the country. This is her second book with Random House India.

Before Time

                                                              By : Xunaira J

Part I of : The Time Trilogy

The story is based in Pakistan.

The story is about Onaiza - who wants to be an author. 
While her father supports her choice, her mother wishes to see her become a doctor one day.

She is pictured as someone who has very low self esteem & thinks of herself as a loser.

The story in mostly conversations between her & Impassioned aka Asher over Internet Relay Chat Network.

They share & discuss everything under the Sun, including their personal lives, happiness & despair alike. 

While both Onaiza & Asher carry the baggage of their past, Onaiza is ready to move on while Asher is reluctant to do so.

Onaiza eventually develops feelings for Asher, but will she be able to bring Asher back to present so they can have a future together? Maybe the next part of the book will answer this question. 

After reading the book, long conversations that Onaiza & Asher share between them, described in bold, gets monotonous & irritating to read. 
It seems like a private conversation screen shot put directly in the book. 
While it might be fun to read the same on a mobile phone, reading about it in a book feels odd.

We wish Xunaira best of luck, for her upcoming titles.

Undying Affinity

                                                                 By : Sara Naveed

Meaning of the word Affinity :
A natural liking for & understanding of someone or something

The story is majorly set in Pakistan.
It is basically about two individuals Ahmar & Zarish.
Ahmar is a professor at a Business Management University where Zarish is a student.

Both Ahmar & Zarish discover Love in each other, but due to old family enmity, they struggle to be together.

Haroon is a childhood friend of Zarish who falls in love with her, which makes Ahmar & Zarish' love story  complicated.
To add to it, Amber who happened to be Ahmar's love interest at one point in time, comes back into their lives which gives a new & unexpected twist to the story.

 It's a 400 pages book , which feels long b'cos the average size of a book these days in around 300 pages.

Also, part of the book feels like a scene from the movie "Jab We Met"

We found some typo's in the book, which we have brought to the notice of the Author.
This is her first book.

If you like romantic novels, then you should read this book & feel the joy + pain, that Ahmar & Zarish go through ..