We always strive to bring out an assortment of genres which not only broadens the horizon of our readers but also entertains them to the core. This month we bring out the best of the lot, ranging from classics to self-help. They are as follows:
Drawing on the riveting anecdotes of a solo Indian woman traveler, Notes from a Spanish Diary is a personal account of discovering the aura and flavor of Spain. Munching on the local cuisine and rambling along the lanes of Spanish history and culture, Ranjita Biswas has unfolded her indomitable experiences of travelling beyond her comfort zone, making this book an excellent choice for a tourist as well as an armchair traveler. Genre: Travel
Zanskar to Ziro: No Stilettos in the Himalayas is a travelogue about two women’s decade-long love affair with the Himalayas. Their 10,000-kilometre trail stretched from the remote Zanskar Valley in Ladakh through Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim, Bengaland Bhutan to Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh. It emerges thus as an infusion of luxuriant landscapes and rich history, a successful evocation of a sense of place. The book is further enriched by echoes and allusions from all that the ladies have read, and high-quality visuals. Genre: Travel
A Word Thrice Uttered: Stories on Life’s Realities is a collection of short storiesportraying the diverse realities of lifethrough the protagonists – children,women, men, animals, even some supernatural beings.Readers meet fascinating womenconfronted with irresponsible men anddownright evil ones too. But nothing stops these women from taking the first step to a leap into liberation and self-empowerment. Genre: Fiction
The cornerstone of this lively and highly readable book is the idea of operating from the ‘free spirit’ as opposed to the ego. One subsequently experiences growth, freedom, and contentment. Ajay Sachdeva asserts that life, at its core, is centred on the relationship one has with one’s self—that is, with one’s thoughts and emotions. These in turn influence one’s relationship with one’s ‘external’ world, including families, friends and the workplace. Is Your Mind Really Yours? raises several important questions for the reader to answer, one of the most important of which is: ‘Have we handed over the remote control of our lives to others, whom we allow to determine our […] thoughts, behaviours and even key decisions?’ Genre: Self-help
Published in 1865, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s first Bengali novel Durgeshnandini revolutionized Bengali prose writing. Many consider it to be the first modern novel in an Indian language. Durgeshnandini is set in the sixteenth century during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, when the Mughal army was fighting the Pathans for control over territories in eastern India. Many characters in the book—Mughals, Rajputs and Pathans—are historical figures. With this as the backdrop, the author skillfully sets up a romance between a young Rajput commander of the Mughal army and the daughter of a minor ruler. The romance becomes layered when a charming Pathan princess also falls in love with the Rajput commander in defiance of her suitor, the Pathan army chief. Prevailing social norms barred love across caste and religion. Bankim Chandra seems to question this in this novel in an indirect way. Genre: Fiction
Dance as Yoga addresses the background, technique and embodiment of the odissi dance form. It describes odissi’s mechanism for creating, dispersing, and expressing energy, as well as some early experiments in choreography that extended its accepted parameters with reference to Choreological Studies. It is meant for both performers and audiences to better appreciate the reasons for the restraints inherent in such dance forms and, by doing so, have an informed appreciation of innovation that builds on traditional strengths. Genre: Dance
How did Trisha come up with such an incredible collection of stories? Who or what was her inspiration? Why was she being so suspiciously silent? When Trisha disappears suddenly, complaining of a writer’s block, Debika, her editor for years, is left distressed—theirs was not just a writer-editor association but a bond of friendship and trust. Soon afterwards, the surprising news of her award-winning collection hits the headlines. As Debika braces herself to read the stories, she knows she must let go of her resentment. What she is not prepared for, however, is the shocking revelation that awaits her—a dark secret that will unravel itself in the most mysterious ways. Genre: Fiction, Self-help
Parineeta, the Betrothed (1914) is the love story of Shekharnath and Lalita, set in early twentieth-century Bengal. Lalita is a thirteen-year-old orphan who lives with the family of her uncle Gurucharan. Gurucharan, though a principled man, is forced to take a loan from his neighbour Nabin Roy due to his impoverished circumstances. The two neighbouring families share a very cordial relationship despite Roy’s money-minded ways. Shekhar, Nabin Roy’s younger son has a bantering relationship with Lalita. As time passes, Shekhar and Lalita try to understand the true nature of their feelings. Meanwhile, tensions erupt between Shekhar’s father and Lalita’s uncle on the question of repayment of the old loan. The situation is further antagonized with the arrival of Girin, an eligible bachelor who is attracted to Lalita. A distance appears to build itself between the lovers. Much later, when an eighteen-year-old Lalita visits her old place one last time for selling Gurucharan’s house to Nabin Roy’s heirs, the story takes another unexpected turn… Genre: Fiction
It is not possible to surmise when exactly Tagore started writing Jibonsmriti(My Reminiscences). It is generally believed that after the publication of the play Raja (King, 1910), he was going through the first draft of Jibonsmriti.
Jibonsmriti, was translated into English by Tagore’s nephew, Surendranath Tagore, though retouched and slightly changed by Rabindranath himself. It was serialised in Ramananda Chattopadhyay’s The Modern Review under the title My Reminiscences from January to December, 1916. To thwart the attempt by any foreign publisher to publish it, all the issues of The Modern Review carried the declaration, ‘All Rights Reserved. Copyrighted in the United States of America’. Interestingly, Rabindranath himself advised Ramananda Chattopadhyay to mail one copy each of the issues of The Modern Review carrying My Reminiscences to W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. In April, 1917, it was published as a book by MacMillan, New York, with a colour portrait by Sasi Kumar Hesh as the frontispiece, apart from 12 paintings by Gagnendranath Tagore. Genre: Fiction