The Whispering Tree of Bengaluru
The Whispering Tree of Bengaluru

Author: Sridhar Pai Tonse

Publisher: Notion Press

Published: 2020-12-04

Total Pages: 77

ISBN-13: 1636697100

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On a summer afternoon in 2015, I was driving alone by car along the west coast from Mangalore to Goa. As I revelled at the scenery, I suddenly felt something odd. The next minute, the landscape changed tremendously. A massive wave of emotion took over forcing me to stop. The street was silent. The tree in front of me was ablaze with something I had never seen before. It beckoned. Every leaf, branch, and the trunk lit up with an unimaginable radiance. I was stunned. It was a transformative moment for me. Trees speak. And this Neem tree, growing up along the Margosa Road in the mid-1950s in Malleshwaram, has a story of her own. She develops a special affection for Balu, a child next door. A wonderful relationship develops between them. Till one day, young Balu leaves the city. She misses the little boy. Decades later, she narrates her life, their daily battles for survival, an incredible ‘social web’ that keeps the planet alive. And life in old Bengaluru. What happened to Balu? And to the tree? Did they meet again? What was her life like? What message does she share for humanity? Hear from the whispering tree.

Endlessly Green
Endlessly Green

Author: Savita Hiremath

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 8195131735

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Endlessly Green looks at the history, the science and the art of composting and sustainable waste management through a kaleidoscope of philosophical, moral and ethical intricacies. The author digs into her rich pool of experiential learnings and raw inputs gathered through a decade of research, legwork and fearless execution. This engaging field guide equips community volunteers, activists, students, SWM practitioners and professionals with practical inputs on segregation, composting and organic gardening/farming, making sustainability imaginable in a concrete jungle. In doing so, it helps individuals discover the possibilities of bringing about a change in their environment by engaging their own environmental sensibilities. Endlessly Green is an extraordinary celebration of things small and significant and the fight against waste, culminating in a replicable and scalable end-to-end solution.

Analog/Virtual
Analog/Virtual

Author: Lavanya Lakshminarayan

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2020-02-20

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 9389253098

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We are a Meritocratic Technarchy. We are the future of the human race.’ The world’s nations have collapsed, and a handful of city states form the remains of civilization. Erstwhile Bangalore is now rebranded, ruled by the insidious Bell Corporation. Welcome to Apex City. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and the self must be engineered for the only noble goal in life: success. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the ranks of the Virtual elite and have the new world at your feet. The price of failure is deportation: you are marked an Analog, with no access to electricity, running water or your humanity. Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s extraordinary debut sinks its teeth into this dystopian future, offering a glimpse into a world we may be dangerously close to inheriting. Brilliant, searing and imaginative, the stories in Analog/Virtual will make us question our choices and rethink who we want to be.

The Valley of Flowers
The Valley of Flowers

Author: Frank Smythe

Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing

Published: 2015-08-25

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 191024032X

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In his delightful The Valley of Flowers, mountaineer Frank Smythe takes you on a botanical expedition to the Garhwal Himalaya. Alongside the author, scale the steep craggy mountains and bathe in crystal clear pools; breathe in the scented foothills of the Himalaya and their carpets of peonies, roses, rhododendrons and gentian. Experience 'the keen, biting air of the heights and the soft, scented air of the valleys'. Climber and adventurer Smythe journeys through the Himalaya's Byundar Pass, climbs the Mana Peak, descends into the Byundar Valley, and comes terrifyingly close to an encounter with The Abominable Snowman. The Valley of Flowers is a pleasurable escape for any climber, walker, mountain lover or gardener, or indeed anyone who needs reminding of the beauty and serenity of the natural world.

Language and Society in South Asia
Language and Society in South Asia

Author: Michael C. Shapiro

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe

Published: 2008-09-30

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9788120826076

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During the past two decades there has been a significant amount of research and publication concerning the sociolinguistics of South Asian languages. Language and Society in South Asia is the first major attempt to assess the impact of this new literature. It exposits the methodological and theoretical assumptions of sociolinguistic descriptions of south Asian languages, and contrasts them with the assumptions of earlier characterizations of these languages. An important feature of this book is its detailed examination of numerous schools of linguistic analysis within which most past descriptive work on South Asian languages has been carried out. This is done in language accessible both to the professional linguist and to non-linguists interested in social aspects of language use in South Asia. Among the topics treated in this book are traditional taxonomies of South Asian languages, South Asia as a linguistic area, social dialectology, bi- and multilingualism in South Asia, pidginization, creolization, and South Asian English, ethnographic semantics, and the ethnography of speaking. The work also contains an extensive bibliography of the scholarly literature pertinent to the study of South Asian languages in their social contexts.

Great Stories for Children
Great Stories for Children

Author: Ruskin Bond

Publisher: Rupa Publications

Published: 2011-11

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 9788129118929

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Great Stories for Children is a collection of some of Ruskin Bond's most delightful children's stories. It stars Toto, the monkey, who takes a fancy to the narrator's aunt, much to her dismay, a python besotted by his own appearance, a mischievous ghost who enjoys stirring up the house when things get dull, three young children stranded in a storm on the Haunted Hilland Ruskin Bond himself, who happens to make the acquaintance of a ghost at a resort late one night.

How India Works
How India Works

Author: Aarti Kelshikar

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2018-08-01

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 9352777727

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An article in the Harvard Business Review once said that the most valuable skill for the 21st century manager is the ability to work across cultures. Around the world, it is increasingly recognized that an understanding of a country's work culture plays a significant part in success at one's job. Every group of people has subtle drivers of behaviour, values and beliefs, an understanding of which could help you navigate your way around the workplace. Indians are no exception. We have some innate strengths that we seldom take credit for. Like the uncommon capacity to deal with ambiguity and to think on the fly; the emphasis we place on forming and sustaining relationships at work; and the willingness to go beyond the call of duty as we see our jobs as an extension of our personal lives. And then there are traits that may confuse the uninitiated at first and need some getting used to - such as saying 'yes' to an assigned task when we actually mean 'no', our flexible attitude to time, and the famous Indian head wag. Based on extensive interviews with corporate leaders - Indians as well as expatriates and repatriates, who offer insider and outsider perspectives on the psyche of the Indian in the workplace - How India Works is a guide to the cultural nuances and complexities of working in India. It will make your life in office a little easier.

Where I'm from
Where I'm from

Author: Steven Borsman

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13:

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"In the Fall of 2010 I gave an assignment in my Appalachian Literature class at Berea College, telling my students to write their own version of "Where I'm From" poem based on the writing prompt and poem by George Ella Lyon, one of the preeminent Appalachian poets. I was so impressed by the results of the assignment that I felt the poems needed to be preserved in a bound document. Thus, this little book. These students completely captured the complexities of this region and their poems contain all the joys and sorrows of living in Appalachia. I am proud that they were my students and I am very proud that together we produced this record of contemporary Appalachian Life" -- Silas House

Winds Of Hastinapur
Winds Of Hastinapur

Author: Sharath Komarraju

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9351160882

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'In a few moons the Goddess will claim me, and I do not have a fresh young virgin by my side to absorb my knowledge and take my place once I am gone. The Mysteries of Ganga and her Sight will vanish with me.' 'My hair is white and thin, now. In a few moons, the Goddess will claim me, and I do not have a fresh young virgin by my side to absorb my knowledge and take my place once I am gone. The Mysteries of Ganga and her Sight will vanish with me, and the Great River will become nothing more than a body of lifeless water ... It is my intention, therefore, to tell you the story as it happened, as I saw it happen.' The Mahabharata is the story of women, even though men have focused far too much on the Great Battle. It is women who have set events in motion, guided the action and measured the men. The Winds of Hastinapur begins at the point that Ganga was cursed and sent to Earth. She lives among the mortals and bears Shantanu, the King of Hastinapur, seven children, all of whom she kills. With the eighth, she leaves. That boy, who returns to Earth, will prove to be the key to the future of Hastinapur.The story, as told through the lives of his mother Ganga and stepmother Satyavati, is violent, fraught with conflict and touched with magic. A lady of the river who has no virgin daughter to carry on her legacy, Celestials who partake of a mysterious lake they guard with their very lives, sages overcome by lust, a randy fisher-princess - these and other characters lend a startling new dimension to a familiar tale. SharathKomarraju does not so much retell the epic as rewrite it

Here, There and Everywhere
Here, There and Everywhere

Author: Sudha Murty

Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 9353050332

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Wearer of many hats-philanthropist, entrepreneur, computer scientist, engineer, teacher-Sudha Murty has above all always been a storyteller extraordinaire. Winner of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature, the Padma Shri, the Attimabbe Award from the government of Karnataka for excellence in Kannada literature, and the Raymond Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award, her repertoire includes adult non-fiction, adult fiction, children's books, travelogues and technical books. Here, There and Everywhere is a celebration of her literary journey and is her 200th title across genres and languages. Bringing together her best-loved stories from various collections alongside some new ones and a thoughtful introduction, here is a book that is, in every sense, as multifaceted as its author.