Khooni Vaisakhi

Khooni Vaisakhi

Author: Navdeep Suri

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2019-04-19

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9353029392

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Jallianwala Bagh. 13 April 1919. Twenty-two-year-old Nanak Singh joins the mass of peaceful protestors agitating against the Rowlatt Act. What then turns out to be one of the worst atrocities perpetrated by the British Raj, and a turning point in India's independence movement, also becomes a life-changing experience for Nanak Singh, who survives the massacre, unconscious and unnoticed among the hundreds of corpses. After going through the traumatic experience, Nanak Singh proceeds to write Khooni Vaisakhi, a long poem in Punjabi. The poem was a scathing critique of the British Raj and was banned soon after its publication in May 1920. After sixty long years, it was rediscovered and has been translated into English for the first time by the author's grandson, Navdeep Suri. Featuring the poem in translation and in original, this bilingual book is accompanied by essays from Navdeep Suri, Punjabi literature scholar H.S. Bhatia and BBC correspondent Justin Rowlatt. Khooni Vaisakhi is not only a poignant piece of protest literature but also a historical artefact and a resurrected witness to how Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims came together to stand up to colonization and oppression in one of India's darkest moments.


Khooni Vaisakhi

Khooni Vaisakhi

Author: Nanak Singh

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2019-10-25

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 935357417X

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Jallianwala Bagh. 13 April 1919. Twenty-two-year-old Nanak Singh joins the mass of peaceful protestors agitating against the Rowlatt Act. What then turns out to be one of the worst atrocities perpetrated by the British Raj, and a turning point in India's independence movement, also becomes a life-changing experience for Nanak Singh, who survives the massacre, unconscious and unnoticed among the hundreds of corpses.After going through the traumatic experience, Nanak Singh proceeds to write Khooni Vaisakhi, a long poem in Punjabi. The poem was a scathing critique of the British Raj and was banned soon after its publication in May 1920. After sixty long years, it was rediscovered and has been translated into English for the first time by the author's grandson, Navdeep Suri. Featuring the poem in translation and in original, this bilingual book is accompanied by essays from Navdeep Suri, Punjabi literature scholar H.S. Bhatia and BBC correspondent Justin Rowlatt. Khooni Vaisakhi is not only a poignant piece of protest literature but also a historical artefact and a resurrected witness to how Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims came together to stand up to colonization and oppression in one of India's darkest moments.


Bells of Shangri-La

Bells of Shangri-La

Author: Parimal Bhattacharya

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2023-01-20

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 9356290288

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Almost all of the Himalayas had been mapped by the time the Great Game - in which the British and Russian empires fought for control of Central and Southern Asia - reached its zenith in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Only Tibet remained unknown and unexplored, zealously guarded and closed off to everyone. Britain sent a number of spies into this forbidden land, disguised as pilgrims and wanderers, outfitted with secret survey equipment and tasked with collecting topographical knowledge, and information about the culture and customs of Tibet. Among them was Kinthup, a tailor who went as a monk's companion to confirm that the Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra were the same river. Sarat Chandra Das, a schoolmaster, was also sent on a clandestine mission, and came back with extensive data and a trove of ancient manuscripts and documents. Bells of Shangri-La brings to vivid life the journeys and adventures of Kinthup, Sarat Chandra Das and others, including Eric Bailey, an officer who was part of the British invasion of Tibet in 1903. Weaving biography with history, and the memories of his own treks through the region, Parimal Bhattacharya writes in the great tradition of Peter Hopkirk and Peter Matthiessen to create a sparkling, unprecedented work of non-fiction.


Jallianwala Bagh

Jallianwala Bagh

Author: Rakhshanda Jalil

Publisher: Niyogi Books

Published: 2019-04-01

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9386906929

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Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the butchering of unarmed innocents, is a historic event that haunts the human mind even after the lapse of a century. 1650 rounds fired in a matter of ten minutes, the blocking of exits, preventing help reaching the injured are all acts of unmitigated bestiality. Through a selection of prose and poetry – The direct outcome of this horrific event and an introduction that traces the history of events leading to the massacre – Rakhshanda Jalil, a literary historian and translator from Urdu and Hindi, attempts to open a window into the world of possibilities that literature offers to reflect, interpret and analyse events of momentous historical import. The selection offers ways of ‘seeing’ history, of exploring how an incident that stirred the conscience of millions, one that had far-reaching implications for the National freedom struggle and British rule, found its way through pen and Paper to reach the nooks and crannies of popular imagination filtered through the mind of the creative writer. The stalwarts and acknowledged doyens of Indian literature featured in this volume include Saadat Hasan Manto, Mulk Raj Anand, Krishna Chander, Abdullah Hussein, Bhisham Sahni, Ghulam Abbas, subadhra Kumari Chauhan, Sarojini Naidu, sohan Singh Misha, Muhammad Iqbal, Josh malihabadi, Nanak Singh, to name a few. A collection that can pave the way for further research.


Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna

Author: Yasser Usman

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2014-12-05

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9351188752

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The untold story of Hindi cinema’s first superstar Obsessed female fans routinely sent him love letters written in blood. Hysterical crowds camped outside his house to catch a glimpse of the superstar. And the frenzy unleashed by his public appearances was enough to give law-enforcers a nightmare. In the 1970s, Rajesh Khanna achieved the kind of fame that no film star had ever experienced before—or has since. But having climbed to the pinnacle of success, he then saw it all vanish. And through it all, he remained a fighter till the very end. In this riveting biography, journalist Yasser Usman examines Rajesh Khanna’s dramatic, colourful life in its entirety: from little-known facts about his childhood to the low-down on his relationships and rivalries, from his ambitious hopes to his deep-seated insecurities. What emerges is a tantalizingly written, meticulously researched chronicle of a fascinating and mercurial man—one who was both loved and feared by those closest to him. It is a story that encapsulates the glittering, seductive, cut-throat world of Bollywood at its best and its worst.


Goat Days

Goat Days

Author: Benyamin

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2012-07-17

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 8184756658

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Najeeb’s dearest wish is to work in the Gulf and earn enough money to send back home. He achieves his dream only to be propelled by a series of incidents, grim and absurd, into a slave-like existence herding goats in the middle of the Saudi desert. Memories of the lush, verdant landscape of his village and of his loving family haunt Najeeb whose only solace is the companionship of goats. In the end, the lonely young man contrives a hazardous scheme to escape his desert prison. Goat Days was published to acclaim in Malayalam and became a bestseller. One of the brilliant new talents of Malayalam literature, Benyamin’s wry and tender telling transforms this strange and bitter comedy of Najeeb’s life in the desert into a universal tale of loneliness and alienation.


A Life Incomplete

A Life Incomplete

Author: Nanak Singh

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2019-01-25

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9353026598

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British agitations, are thoughts of going home to his wife. When he returns, he finds out that his wife has died, leaving behind their infant child. As Kuldeep's world collapses around him, he negotiates the divergent pulls exerted by people around him: a holy man who advocates renunciation; his childhood friend Saroj, who has always loved him; and the tempestuous Prakash who hides an unsavoury past. Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author Nanak Singh draws on personal experiences to create this compelling portrait of Punjab in the 1920s. Originally published in Punjabi in 1940, Adh Kidhiya Phool is an intense meditation on the choices people make and the consequences these may have.


The Power of Vital Force

The Power of Vital Force

Author: Rajshree Patel

Publisher: Hay House, Inc

Published: 2019-10-01

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1401956319

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"By contemplating and applying the precious knowledge in these pages, you will learn to make everything in your life easier . . . Relationships. Jobs. Family. Creativity. Happiness. And maybe even doing something more game-changing than you've ever thought possible." - Dave Asprey Why do some people thrive while others just get by? What's their secret to peak performance and maximum happiness? Some call it the zest, the gusto, or the extra edge in life. The ancient Indian spiritual tradition Vedanta calls it prana, or life force. We can call it vital force. By any name, it's the fundamental fuel that activates and optimizes all physical, emotional, and cognitive functions, including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgment, and memory. In modern life, we have forgotten the golden key-the higher our energy, the better our performance in everything we do. Energy naturally impacts mind-set and moves us toward greater happiness, success, and self-awareness. This book gives you back your power with simple tools to take hold of the limitless energy of life itself-more swiftly and easily than you ever thought possible. Rajshree Patel is a former federal prosecutor who discovered Vedanta by accident and went on to become an internationally renowned teacher of its deep wisdom and dynamic practice. In these pages, she reveals: • What vital force is, how it influences every single aspect of your life, how to enhance it-and how your mind, the biggest energy hog, can drain it; • Tools to dial down the chatter of your racing mind and resolve your personal energy crisis; • Why traditional mindfulness meditation may not be your best path to inner peace; • Easy biohacking techniques, from breath work to meditation to movement, that reduce stress and maximize joy; and • Ancient secrets to fuel your purpose and performance in every aspect of your life. The Power of Vital Force is a practical pathway to the unlimited source of energy and intelligence that exists beyond the thinking and reasoning mind.


Afterlives

Afterlives

Author: Abdulrazak Gurnah

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-09-17

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1526615878

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BY THE WINNER OF THE 2021 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 'Riveting and heartbreaking ... A compelling novel, one that gathers close all those who were meant to be forgotten, and refuses their erasure' Maaza Mengiste, Guardian 'A brilliant and important book for our times, by a wondrous writer' Philippe Sands, New Statesman, Books of the Year _______________ While he was still a little boy, Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the German colonial troops. After years away, fighting in a war against his own people, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away. Another young man returns at the same time. Hamza was not stolen for the war, but sold into it; he has grown up at the right hand of an officer whose protection has marked him life. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he seeks only work and security – and the love of the beautiful Afiya. As fate knots these young people together, as they live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war on another continent lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away... _______________ 'One of the world's most prominent postcolonial writers ... He has consistently and with great compassion penetrated the effects of colonialism in East Africa and its effects on the lives of uprooted and migrating individuals' Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee 'In book after book, he guides us through seismic historic moments and devastating societal ruptures while gently outlining what it is that keeps those families, friendships and loving spaces intact, if not fully whole' Maaza Mengiste 'Rarely in a lifetime can you open a book and find that reading it encapsulates the enchanting qualities of a love affair ... One scarcely dares breathe while reading it for fear of breaking the enchantment' The Times