BOOKS OF THE WEEK

AROUND INDIA IN 80 TRAINS
By - MONISHA RAJESH

About the Book
In 1991, Monisha's family uprooted from Sheffield to Madras in the hope of making India their home. Two years later, fed up with soap-eating rats, stolen human hearts and the creepy colonel across the road, they returned to England with a bitter taste in their mouths. 
Twenty years later, Monisha came back. Taking a page out of Jules Vernes classic tale, Around the World in 80 Days, she embarked on a 40,000km adventure around India in 80 trains. Travelling a distance equivalent to the circumference of the Earth, she lifted the veil on a country that had become a stranger to her.
As one of the largest civilian employers in the world, featuring luxury trains, toy trains, Mumbai's infamous commuter trains and even a hospital on wheels, Indian Railways had more than a few stories to tell. On the way, Monisha met a colourful cast of characters with epic stories of their own. But with a self-confessed militant atheist as her photographer, Monisha's personal journey around a country built on religion was not quite what she bargained for...
Around India in 80 Trains is a story of adventure and drama infused with sparkling wit and humour.

About the Author :
Monisha Rajesh was born in Kings Lynn in Norfolk and grew up all over England. She read French at the University of Leeds and taught English at a high school in Cannes before studying postgraduate journalism at City University London. She has written for the London Evening Standard, The Guardian, TIME magazine and The New York Times. Monisha now works at The Week magazine and lives in London. This is her first book.
 ISBN : 9788174369130                                                                  PRICE : Rs. 295.00 

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

THE HANGING OF AFZAL GURU
BY - ARUNDHATI ROY

About the Book
On 13 December 2001, the Indian Parliament was attacked by a few heavily armed men. Eleven years later, we still do not know who was behind the attack, nor the identity of the attackers. Both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India have noted that the police violated legal safeguards, fabricated evidence and extracted false confessions. Yet, on 9 February 2013, one man, Mohammad Afzal Guru, was hanged to ‘satisfy’ the ‘collective conscience’ of society. 
This updated reader brings together essays by lawyers, academics, journalists and writers who have looked closely at the available facts and who have raised serious questions about the investigations and the trial. This new version examines the implications of Mohammad Afzal Guru’s hanging, and what it says about the Indian government’s relationship with Kashmir. The writers show how there is hardly a single piece of evidence that stands up to scrutiny and emphasize the urgent need for an impartial, transparent inquiry into the Parliament attack and its aftermath.

About the Author :
Arundhati Roy is a world renowned Indian writer in English. She was born on November 24, 1961 in Shillong, Meghalaya.
She spent her childhood in Aymanam in Kerala, and did her schooling from Corpus Christi, Kottayam, followed by the Lawrence School, Lovedale, in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. She then went on to study architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. She married twice and presently lives with her second husband. She played a village girl in the award winning movie Massey Sahib, directed by her second husband Pradip Krishen in 1984.
The super success of her novel The God Of Small Things put her on the global platform and brought in a sense of financial stability. She worked various jobs before the critical and commercial success of her novel. Having spent her childhood in Kerala, there are imageries of the lush green place in 'The God Of Small Things'.
She has written novels, essays and is more of a social activist. She is actively involved in the Narmada Dam project, Sardar Sarovar project, the war against terror  and India's nuclear weaponization. She has voiced her support for the Kashmiri separation and received criticism from the Indian National Congress and BJP for her remarks.
She  is also a winner of many coveted awards like Booker Prize for her novel The God of Small Things, National Film Award for Best Screenplay in 1989, for the semi-autobiographical screenplay of 'In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones'. She was also awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her work in social campaigns and her advocacy of non-violence. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for her collection of essays on contemporary issues, The Algebra of Infinite Justice which she refused to accept.
Among her literary works are books like The God of Small Things, The End of Imagination, The Greater Common Good, An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire, Public Power in the Age of Empire Seven Stories Press, The Shape of the Beast and Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy to  list a few.
 ISBN : 9780143420750                                                                PRICE : Rs. 299.00 

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

THE SIKH HERITAGE OF PAKISTAN
BY - SAFDAR & JAVAID

About the Book
Pakistan is a land of bounty and diversity with a glorious history of vibrant civilizations and colorful cultures that adorned its landscape. It is a land of legends and heroic tales giving birth to some fascinating folklore which shaped its literary traditions. Some of the oldest texts, like Rig-Veda, were composed on the banks of its rivers and in the religious retreats. No wonder some major religions flourished here. The religious interaction during the medieval period in India inspired new doctrines and reform movements in a bid of synthesize the rival ideologies. The Naths and the Bhaktas rejected the prevailing caste system and laid stress on inner devotion. However, a more coherent and enduring new philosophy, Sikhism, was expounded by Baba Guru Nanak. 
 ISBN : 9789699532016                                                              Price : Rs. 2,850.00 


BOOKS OF THE WEEK

FATEHPUR SIKRI 
BY - SUBHADRA SEN GUPTA 
About the Book
Four centuries ago, a magnificent king built his city of dreams on a hill. And then after a few years he walked away from it, never to return. The reason why Jalaluddin Akbar abandoned the city of Fatehpur Sikri remains a mystery.It is a city, of legends, frozen in time, of a grateful king's act of gratitude to a Sufi saint, and of a warrior who raised a giant gateway as an arrogant symbol of his power. The city saw the most gorgeous gatherings in Akbar's court-the poets Faizi and Abdur Rahim, the historian Abul Fazl, the singers Tansen and Baz Bahadur and courtiers like Man Singh, Birbal and Todar Mal. Few cities reflect the character of its builder like Fatehpur Sikri does; that of a hard headed imperialist who was also genuinely humane and tolerant and embarked on an unusual spiritual quest. To understand Jalaluddin Akbar you have to seek him in the red sandstone shadows of Fatehpur Sikri.

About the Author 
Subhadra Sen Gupta likes to explore the various aspects of Indian history and culture through her fiction and travel writing. Her books try to capture the fascinating, vibrant and many-hued aspects of the people, places and history of India. She also enjoys writing historical fiction for children and scripting comic books.
Prakash Israni, a product of Sir J.J. Institute, is a well-known name in the photography world-covering Bollywood to advertising, travel photography to travel writing. His first picture was published way back in 1972 in a local catholic newsletter in Mumbai, and since then there has been no looking back.
 ISBN 9789381523728                                                                     Price : Rs. 995.00 


BOOKS OF THE WEEK

WHATS LEFT
by - NICK COHEN

About the Book  :
'A roaring polemic of outrage against the moral and political crisis of the liberal tradition. It is already one of the most discussed current affairs books of the new year…At the very least it forces anyone on the left to think carefully about where their movement has ended up in the modern world.' The Guardian
‘The book is a superbly sustained polemic.' Sunday Times
‘Exceptional and necessary…Do not feel you have to be a leftist or liberal to read it, because it engages with an argument that it crucial for all of us, and for our time.’ Christopher Hitchens, Sunday Times
‘This is a brave, honest and brilliant book. Every page has a provocative insight that makes you want to shake the author's hand or collar him for an argument. Who could ask for more?’ The Observer
'(He writes with) a genuine passion and human sympathy about people who have experienced appalling suffering.' Michael Burleigh, The Evening Standard
‘Undoubtedly controversial and provocative “What’s Left?” is, as its title suggests, a bleakly witty but perhaps dimly hopeful examination of what it means to be liberal in an age where the lines that have been drawn in the sand are in danger of being washed away.’ Waterstones Books Quarterly
‘One of the most powerful denunciations of the manner in which the Left has lost its way…Cohen's is a brave voice.'

About the Author :
Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer, The New Statesman and The Evening Standard. In his Channel Four documentaries and general media appearances, he has proved himself to be the witty and excoriating voice of the left. He commands a loyal readership, as his groaning weekly postbag attests. He is the author of two books. ‘Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous’, a collection of his journalism, was published by Verso in 1999 and ‘Pretty Straight Guys’, a dissection of the Blair leadership.
 ISBN : 9780007229703                                                                  PRICE : Rs 510.00