The author of The Madhigattan Encounter brings you yet another astounding chain of thoughts through his second outing as a writer with Hemalkasa: 22 Hours, 22 Streaks. The author’s journey through the forests of Maharashtra’s Hemalkasa sets off a chain reaction in his life, causing him to see everything clearer. His visit gave rise to a new way of thinking and induced provocations, which he now wishes to share with the world. Venkataraman has written Hemalkasa: 22 Hours, 22 Streaks to do so, detailing his nearly daylong stay inside Lok Biradari at Hemalkasa, a social project by Dr. Prakash Amte.
Sometimes in life, you are hit by an unexpected wave of change. A change that will forcibly stir you out of your cocooned comfort zone. You may face despair, loneliness and depression. This is not a dead end but just a test to rediscover yourself and unleash your inner potential. I wasn't ready to put myself through a gruelling training regime. At the same time I had to conquer my fear of swimming in open water and lay those inner demons to rest. When I completed my first Sprint distance Triathlon, I was elated. It motivated me to pursue this sport called Triathlon for which I developed passion over time. Ultimately, I followed my dream of crossing the finish line of the Ironman 70.3, to consider myself worthy of something. For those of you who are thinking about getting into this sport, this bookwill motivate you to take that plunge. And for the rest of us triathletes, you will find a part of yourself in the chapters of this book. Happy reading and keep 'Tri'-ing!
On 25 July 2001, Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi who had become an MP by then was shot dead as she got out of her car near the gate of her New Delhi residence. Sher Singh Rana, Dheeraj Rana, and Rajbir were accused of the crime. Twenty-five-year-old Rana allegedly surrendered in Dehradun and confessed to the murder, saying he was avenging the deaths of twenty-two Kshatriyas at Phoolan's hands in Behmai. Then he escaped from Tihar Jail in 2004 to reach Afghanistan via Bangladesh in order to reclaim the relics of the last Hindu ruler Prithviraj Chauhan from his grave there. He was captured again from Kolkata in April 2006 and sent to Rohini Jail in Delhi. He is still lodged there since the matter is sub judice. Jail Diary is Rana's story in his own words. It begins on the day of his escape from Tihar and goes back and forth in time describing his childhood in small-town India, the beginning of his political career during college days, his induction into Eklavya Sena through which he was introduced to Phoolan, his days as a liquor vendor in Haridwar, and his nerve-wracking adventures as someone who broke one of the highest security prisons in Asia to pursue what, to his mind, was an act of honour.
An engrossing account of how Dilip Donde earned his place in India's maritime history becoming the first Indian to complete a solo circumnavigation under sail.
Self-taught photographer Hugh Mangum was born in 1877 in Durham, North Carolina, as its burgeoning tobacco economy put the frontier-like boomtown on the map. As an itinerant portraitist working primarily in North Carolina and Virginia during the rise of Jim Crow, Mangum welcomed into his temporary studios a clientele that was both racially and economically diverse. After his death in 1922, his glass plate negatives remained stored in his darkroom, a tobacco barn, for fifty years. Slated for demolition in the 1970s, the barn was saved at the last moment--and with it, this surprising and unparalleled document of life at the turn of the twentieth century, a turbulent time in the history of the American South. Hugh Mangum's multiple-image, glass plate negatives reveal the open-door policy of his studio to show us lives marked both by notable affluence and hard work, all imbued with a strong sense of individuality, self-creation, and often joy. Seen and experienced in the present, the portraits hint at unexpected relationships and histories and also confirm how historical photographs have the power to subvert familiar narratives. Mangum's photographs are not only images; they are objects that have survived a history of their own and exist within the larger political and cultural history of the American South, demonstrating the unpredictable alchemy that often characterizes the best art--its ability over time to evolve with and absorb life and meaning beyond the intentions or expectations of the artist.
