Books of the Week - Saturday, 03rd July, 2022

India, Bharat and Pakistan : 

The Constitutional Journey of Sandwiched Civilisation

By : J. Sai Deepak 

About the Book

India, Bharat and Pakistan, the second book of the Bharat Trilogy, takes the discussion forward from its bestselling predecessor, India That Is Bharat. It explores the combined influence of European and Middle Eastern colonialities on Bharat as the successor state to the Indic civilisation, and on the origins of the Indian Constitution. To this end, the book traces the thought continuum of Middle Eastern coloniality from the rise of Islamic Revivalism in the 1740s following the decline of the Mughal Empire, which presaged the idea of Pakistan, until the end of the Khilafat Movement in 1924, which cemented the road to Pakistan. The book also describes the collaboration of convenience that was forged between the proponents of Middle Eastern coloniality and the British colonial establishment to the detriment of the Indic civilisation. One of the objectives of this book is to help the reader draw parallels between the challenges faced by the Indic civilisation in the tumultuous period from 1740 to 1924, and the present day. Its larger goal remains the same as that of the first, which is to enthuse Bharatiyas to undertake a critical decolonial study of Bharat’s history, especially in the context of the Constitution, so that the religiosity towards the document is moderated by a sense of proportion, perspective and purpose.

About the Author

J. SAI DEEPAK is an engineer-turned-litigator, practising as an arguing counsel primarily before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi. A mechanical engineer from Anna University, Sai graduated with a bachelor’s degree in law from IIT Kharagpur’s Law School in 2009, and has carved a niche for himself as a litigator in civil commercial and constitutional matters. He has been part of several landmark cases, such as those related to the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Basmati Geographical Indications. In 2019, Sai was presented the Young Alumni Achiever’s Award by his alma mater IIT Kharagpur. Apart from delivering lectures on constitutional issues, he writes prolifically for leading newspapers and magazines. He is the author of the bestselling first book of the Bharat Trilogy, India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution.

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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - 16TH MARCH, 2018

The Himalayan Arc 

Journeys East of South-east 

Namita Gokhale 

About the Book ----------------------------------------------------------

The Himalayas, the tallest and the youngest mountains in the world, spread from Afghanistan and Pakistan through India, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar with their northern extrusions - the Ximalaya Shanmai - across the Tibetan plateau in China. Despite border restrictions, the inhabitants of this region continue to share a trans-Himalayan identity, fragile yet enduring. The Himalayan Arc focuses on a crucial, enthralling, politically turbulent, yet often underreported part of this Himalayan belt - the 'East of South-east'. With over thirty contributors, it attempts to describe the sense of shared lives and cultural connectivity between the denizens of this area. Poetry, fiction, and mysticism are juxtaposed with essays on strategy and diplomacy, espionage and the deep state, photographs, folk tales, and fables. From the unique identity of a Himalayan citizen to the 'geopolitical jigsaw' that is the region; from the hidden spy network in Kathmandu to intimate portraits of Shillong, Gangtok, Darjeeling, and other cities; from the insurgency in Assam to a portrait of Myanmar under military rule, the essays, stories, and poems in this anthology highlight the similarities within the differences of the Himalayan belt. Providing insider and outsider perspectives on this intriguing part of the world, The Himalayan Arc is a travel book with a difference. Contributors: Janice Pariat, Salil Tripathi, Ma Thida, Indra Bahadur Rai, Prajwal Parajuly, David Malone, Chetan Raj Shrestha, Kanak Mani Dixit, Sujeev Shakya, Pushpesh Pant, John Elliott, Amish Raj Mulmi, Thomas Bell, Sushma Joshi, Sanjoy Hazarika, Sudhindra Sharma, Tshering Tashi, Abhay K., Manoj Joshi, Catherine Anderson, Andrew Duff, Binodini, Jacqueline Zote, Aruni Kashyap, Sameer Tanti, Nitoo Das, Lutfa Hanum Selima Begum, Uddipana Goswami, Robin Ngangom, Akhu Chingangbam, Indira Goswami, Andrew Selth, Tulsi Badrinath, Meghna Pant, Mamang Dai, Desmond Kharmawphlang

--------------------------------------------------------- About the Author

Namita Gokhale is a writer, publisher and festival director. She is the author of sixteen books and the co-founder and director of the famed Jaipur Literature Festival and Mountain Echoes, the annual Bhutan Literature Festival.

ISBN : 9789352776115   Price : Rs. 699.00

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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - 17TH Feb, 2018

The Book of Chocolate Saints

Jeet Thayil 

 -------------------------- About the Book --------------------------

In incandescent prose, award-winning novelist Jeet Thayil tells the story of Newton Francis Xavier, blocked poet, serial seducer of young women, reformed alcoholic (but only just), philosopher, recluse, all-round wild man and India’s greatest living painter. At the age of sixty-six, Xavier, who has been living in New York, is getting ready to return to the land of his birth to stage one final show of his work (accompanied by a mad bacchanal). As we accompany Xavier and his partner and muse ‘Goody’ on their unsteady and frequently sidetracked journey from New York to New Delhi, the venue of the final show, we meet a host of memorable characters—the Bombay poets of the seventies and eighties, ‘poets who sprouted from the soil like weeds or mushrooms or carnivorous new flowers, who arrived like meteors, burned bright for a season or two and vanished without a trace’, journalists, conmen, murderers, alcoholics, addicts, artists, whores, society ladies, thugs—and are also given unforgettable (and sometimes unbearable) insights into love, madness, poetry, sex, painting, saints, death, God and the savagery that fuels all great art. 

Narrated in a huge variety of voices and styles, all of which blend seamlessly into a novel of remarkable accomplishment, The Book of Chocolate Saints is the sort of literary masterpiece that only comes along once in a very long time.

----------------------- About the Author ------------------------

Jeet Thayil was born in Mamalasserie, Kerala, in 1959 and educated in Jesuit schools in Bombay, Hong Kong and New York. He worked as a journalist for twenty-three years before writing his first novel. His five poetry collections include Collected Poems, English and These Errors Are Correct, which won the 2013 Sahitya Akademi Award. He is the editor of The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. Jeet Thayil’s novel Narcopolis won the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and was shortlisted for five other prizes, including the Man Booker Prize, the Man Asian Literature Prize and the Commonwealth Prize.

ISBN : 9789386021038   Price : Rs. 799.00

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