Books of the Week - Saturday, 11th March, 2023

The Dalai Lama's Special Envoy : Memoirs of a Lifetime in Pursuit of a Reunited Tibet
By - Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari 

About the Book

Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari spent decades drawing attention to the plight of the Tibetan people and striving for the resolution of the Tibetan-Chinese conflict. He was the Dalai Lama's special envoy and chief negotiator with the People's Republic of China in the formal negotiations over the status of Tibet. In this revealing memoir, Gyari chronicles his lifetime of service to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan cause.

Gyari recounts his work conducting formal dialogue with the Chinese leadership from 2002 to 2012, as well as his efforts during the many years of quiet diplomacy preceding these historic negotiations. He details the fits and starts of the parties' relationship, addressing successes as well as failures, and highlighting misperceptions, missteps and missed opportunities on both sides. Gyari grounds the recollections of his time as special envoy in his life experiences, providing a powerful account of the personal side of Tibet's struggles. He describes the Tibetan resistance to the Chinese invasion and the tumultuous early years of the Tibetan community in exile, as well as his family's history and spiritual lineage. A reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist lama forced to flee Tibet during the Chinese invasion, Gyari illuminates how his political efforts fulfilled his spiritual calling.

Informed by his unparalleled experiences, Gyari offers realizable-but provocative-recommendations for restarting the Tibetan-Chinese dialogue to achieve a mutually beneficial resolution of the issue. For all readers interested in Tibet's complex modern history, this book offers an incomparable look inside the decades-long effort to achieve the Dalai Lama's vision of a reunited Tibet.

About the Author

Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari (1949–2018) spent nearly five decades in both governmental and non-governmental positions working to garner international support for the Tibetan cause and resolve the Tibetan–Chinese conflict. He was the special envoy of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and led nine rounds of negotiations with the People's Republic of China. Gyari was also president and executive chair of the International Campaign for Tibet.

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Books of the Week - Sathrday, 04th March, 2023

 Arribada: The Arrival
by - Samantha Kochharr

About the Book

Joy and Ollie. Two souls from different worlds who don't speak each other's language. The Universe brings them together to embark on an unusual, unforgettable journey. Sometimes together, sometimes apart. From living in London with a high-powered job and a lovely family, to losing everything and becoming a handyman in a small Maasai village in Africa, Joy wades through happiness, grief, loss and despair; while Ollie swims in the slow lane of life. When truth, as they perceive it, begins to collapse around them, it exposes their brokenness, shatters their beliefs and reveals their worst fears. It leaves them completely devastated. As they unlearn falsehoods, they discover the truths of life. Helped by the wind, the sea and an indigenous tribal elder, Joy experiences the power of the universal energy that heals all. Ollie finds a friend and the real meaning of existence. When we open our hearts to love and trust, we begin to understand who we really are, our life purpose and our inter-connectedness with everything in the environment.

About the Author

Samantha Kochharr is the Managing Director of a leading cosmetic company in India. She is also the Chief Expert for hairdressing for IndiaSkills, and the Deputy Chief Expert-Hairdressing for World Skills International. She has been mentoring young talent for many years now. She started her journey in the hair and beauty industry at the age of 11 and has worked in the movie and fashion industry internationally and nationally for many years. She is also an avid painter and potter. Born into a business family, she is the daughter of the legendary aromatherapist—Dr Blossom Kochhar.

She has been a practising shaman since 2013 and has extensively studied energy healing. Over the years, she has worked with people from all walks of life as a grief whisperer. Arribada: The Arrival is her first book and it is an extension of her spiritual journey.

Samantha lives in Delhi and loves to cook and bake for her family and friends. Following her passion, she runs a popular delicatessen in Delhi, The Tea Room, where the menu is based on her old family recipes.

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Books of the Week - 26th February, 2023

 Maulana Azad: A Life

by - S. Irfan Habib 

About the Book
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) was an Islamic scholar, freedom fighter, freethinker, journalist, and independent India’s first education minister. Born into an orthodox family of famed Islamic scholars, Azad was deeply influenced by the pan-Islamic philosophies of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Jamaluddin Afghani. Azad had no formal education, but he was an autodidact who taught himself about culture, philosophy, languages, and literature. As a teenager, he successfully published several magazines and newspapers and went on to publish the immensely popular Urdu weekly Al-Hilal through which he tried to persuade Indian Muslims to shake off the shackles of British rule. He became inspired by Gandhi’s non-violent civil disobedience movement and was extremely critical of the Muslim League’s communal politics. He joined the Indian National Congress and was elected its youngest president. As president, Azad fought against the fissiparous politics of the Muslim League as well as the oppressive British regime. After I dependence, he reinvigorated India’s formal education system and laid the foundations for scientific and cultural learning in India. He pioneered free and compulsory elementary education and adult literacy programmes.

In this in-depth biography of Azad, historian S. Irfan Habib takes the reader through some of the most decisive moments in Azad’s life. In ‘The Early Years’, we learn of Azad’s unusual upbringing, his illustrious family, upheavals in the Islamic world, and the initial inklings of Azad’s freethinking outlook on life. ‘Maulana Azad and Critical Thinking in Islam’ examines the various schools of thought, ethical questions, and pan-Islamic debates that shaped Azad’s religious attitudes and his approach to the idea of nationalism. ‘Azad, Islam, and Nationalism’ looks at Azad’s political career and his unwavering belief in composite nationalism and staunch opposition to the Muslim League’s sectarian politics. ‘Ghubar-i-Khatir: Beyond Faith and Politics’ lays bare Azad’s philosophical moorings and personal likes and dislikes through a collection of epistolary essays written during his imprisonment in the Ahmednagar Fort prison in the 1940s. And, finally, ‘Building a New India’ charts Azad’s efforts to stren then the country’s weak education system through initiatives aimed at primary and adult education, his efforts towards the scientific and cultural advancement of the country, and his contribution to the arts and culture of a newly independent nation.
Maulana Azad: A Life is the definitive biography of one of India’s greatest thinkers and nation builders.

About the Author
S. Irfan Habib is a widely published historian of science and modern political history. He was the Maulana Azad Chair at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. He is the author of To Make the Deaf Hear: Ideology and Programme of Bhagat Singh and His Comrades and editor of Indian Nationalism: The Essential Writings.

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