The Grand Anicut
The Grand Anicut

Author: Veena Muthuraman

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2021-08-25

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9351950603

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Southern India, first century CE. With the Pandyas conquered, the Cheras all but vanquished and the attention of the king of the north fixed on other lands, Tamilakam is flourishing under Chola rule. Trade in the Chola capital, Puhar, is booming, and King Karikalan's most ambitious infrastructure project is finally becoming a reality: a dam, the Grand Anicut, is being constructed to divert the waters of the Kaveri, to the elation of farmers across the land - and the discontent of the trader class. Amid all this, the arrival of a Roman ship carrying the merchant prince Marcellus sets off a series of events that will alter the fate of Tamilakam. Marcellus is here for more than the spices, gems and circus animals; he is here on a mission from his father, one that will lead him right into the underbelly of this prosperous realm. He encounters spies and robbers, monks and dacoits, innkeepers and street vendors, each with hidden motives - but the Roman has his own secrets, which threaten to set ablaze the simmering tensions that divide the kingdom. Rich in historical detail, this action-packed, riveting tale layered with the eternal struggle between divergent ideas is a fascinating journey into one of the greatest periods in Indian history.

The Thinnai
The Thinnai

Author: Ari Gautier

Publisher: Hachette India

Published: 2021-08-25

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 9389253489

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If there was anything our neighbours envied us, it was our thinnais. The working-class district of Kurusukuppam is not the Pondicherry of tourist brochures. Here, residents are a bewildering mix of Creoles, colonial war veterans, proud communists and French citizens who have never left India's shores. It is a place of everyday tragedies, melodramatic occurrences and stubborn, absurd hope. But life in Kurusukuppam is upturned by the arrival of a curious tramp, Gilbert Thaata, a wizened Frenchman who has clearly seen hard times. Settling down on the narrator's verandah, his thinnai, Gilbert Thaata begins to earn his keep by recounting the tale of the rise and fall of his family's fortunes as the custodians of a mysterious diamond, the Stone of Sita. The fanciful story that unfolds is one that stretches across centuries and encompasses the history of France's colonial legacy in India. As entranced as they are by the raconteur, his listeners cannot help but ask - just who is this old man and how did he fall on such misfortune? Masterfully translated from the French original by Blake Smith, Ari Gautier's The Thinnai offers a panoramic view of Pondicherry's past, the whimsical eccentricities of its present and shines a light on the quirks of history that come to define us.

From Indus to Independence - A Trek Through Indian History
From Indus to Independence - A Trek Through Indian History

Author: Dr Sanu Kainikara

Publisher: Vij Books India Pvt Ltd

Published: 2020-08-01

Total Pages: 638

ISBN-13: 938962052X

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This is the seventh volume of the series on Indian history, From Indus to Independence: A Trek through Indian History, and provides the history of the great Vijayanagara Empire. Named in aspiration of victory—in both the spiritual and temporal realms—Vijayanagara more than lived up to its name for more than three centuries, before it was brought down by a number of factors, some of them beyond its control. Vijayanagara was established at a critical juncture in the politico-religious history of Peninsular India. Even though it was not proclaimed as such, there is no doubt that the kingdom was created as the answer to the ferocious Islamic invasions of the 'Deep South' that was becoming a regular feature in Peninsular India. It succeeded in holding back the invading armies, for three long centuries, thereby blunting the zeal and urgency of the Islamic conquest. These three centuries provided the balm to make the interaction between Hinduism and Islam more congenial than at the outset of the Islamic invasion of the Deccan Plateau. This book provides a detailed historical narrative of the great Vijayanagara Empire and carries out an assessment of its successes and failures. The book provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of the irrevocable and fundamental forces of history that have been instrumental in forming the present that we live today.

Nimble
Nimble

Author: Baba Prasad

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0143131451

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"First published in India by Random House India 2015; this revised edition with a new introduction published 2018"--Title page verso.

The Tentacles of Progress
The Tentacles of Progress

Author: Daniel R. Headrick

Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0195051165

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This penetrating examination of a paradox of colonial rule shows how the massive transfers of technology--including equipment, techniques, and experts--from the European imperial powers to their colonies in Asia and Africa resulted not in industrialization but in underdevelopment. Examining the most important technologies--shipping and railways, telegraphs and wireless, urban water supply and sewage disposal, economic botany and plantation agriculture, irrigation, and mining and metallurgy--Headrick provides a new perspective on colonial economic history and reopens the debate on the roots of Asian and African underdevelopment.

Handbook of Catchment Management
Handbook of Catchment Management

Author: Robert C. Ferrier

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-07-01

Total Pages: 660

ISBN-13: 111953125X

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HANDBOOK OF CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT In 2010, the first edition of the Handbook of Catchment Management provided a benchmark on how our understanding and actions in water management within a catchment context had evolved in recent decades. Over ten years on, the catchment management concept is entering a new phase of development aligned to contemporary and future challenges. These include climate change uncertainty, further understanding in ecological functioning under change, the drive for a low-carbon, energy efficient and circular society, multiple uses of water, the emergence of new pollutants of concern, new approaches to valuation, finance and pricing mechanisms, stewardship and community engagement, the integration of water across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the link between water, energy and food. These developments are framed within an increasingly data rich world where new analytics, sensor technology and processing power are informing increasingly real-time decision making. The challenge is also to increase cross-compliance and policy integration to meet multiple stakeholder objectives, and to link actions to achieve cost-effective outcomes. In addition, there are a number of new and exciting city, region and basin-scale real-world examples of contemporary and new catchment thinking; integrating science, technology, knowledge and governance to address multiple drivers and complex problems from across the globe. The time is now right, to capture the new challenges facing catchment management and water resources management globally. This revised and updated edition of the Handbook of Catchment Management features: Thoroughly rewritten chapters which provide an up-to-date view of catchment management issues and contexts New case study material highlighting multi-sectoral management in different globally significant basins and different geographical locations Up-to-date topics selected for their resonance not only in natural sciences and engineering, but also in other fields, such as socio-economics, law and policy The Handbook is designed for a broad audience, but will be particularly useful for advanced students, researchers, academics and water sector professionals such as planners, consultants and regulators.