Awful Auntie

Awful Auntie by David Walliams from Harper Collins, India.

The screechingly funny new novel from the Number One bestselling author. A page-turning, rollicking romp of a read, sparkling with Walliams most eccentric characters yet and full of humour and heart. From larger than life, tiddlywinks obsessed Awful Aunt Alberta to her pet owl, Wagner-this is an adventure with a difference.

Aunt Alberta is on a mission to cheat the young Lady Stella Saxby out of her inheritance-Saxby Hall. But with mischievous and irrepressible Soot, the cockney ghost of a chimney sweep, alongside her Stella is determined to fight back… And sometimes a special friend, however different, is all you need to win through.

In our For Children section, Rs. 399, in paperback, 416 pages, ISBN : 9780008114947

Philip Larkin, (1/e)

Philip Larkin, (1/e): Life, Art and Love by James Booth from Bloomsbury India.

Philip Larkin was that rare thing among poets: a household name in his own lifetime. Lines such as 'Never such innocence again' and 'Sexual intercourse began / In nineteen sixty-three' made him one of the most popular poets of the last century. Larkin's reputation as a man, however, has been more controversial. A solitary librarian known for his pessimism, he disliked exposure and had no patience with the literary circus. And when, in 1992, the publication of his Selected Letters laid bare his compartmentalised personal life, accusations of duplicity, faithlessness, racism and misogyny were levelled against him.

There is, of course, no requirement that poets should be likeable or virtuous, but James Booth asks whether art and life were really so deeply at odds with each other. Can the poet who composed the moving 'Love Songs in Age' have been such a cold-hearted man? Can he who uttered the playful, self-deprecating words 'Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth' really have been so boorish? A very different public image is offered by those who shared the poet's life: the women with whom he was romantically involved, his friends and his university colleagues.

It is with their personal testimony, including access to previously unseen letters, that Booth reinstates a man misunderstood: not a gaunt, emotional failure, but a witty, provocative and entertaining presence, delightful company; an attentive son and a man devoted to the women he loved. Meticulously researched, unwaveringly frank and full of fresh material, Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love definitively reinterprets one of our greatest poets.
In our Biography section, Rs. 699, in hardback, 544 pages, ISBN : 9781408851661

Being Mortal

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande from Penguin Books India.

Doctors are trained to keep their patients alive as long as possible. But they are never taught how to prepare people to die. And yet for many patients, particularly the old and terminally ill, death is a question of when, not if. Should the medical profession rethink its approach to them? And in what way? With aging populations and hospital costs rising globally, these questions have become increasingly relevant.

In his new book, Atul Gawande argues that an acceptance of mortality must lie at the center of the way we treat the dying. Using his experiences (and missteps) as a surgeon, comparing attitudes towards aging and death in the West and in India and drawing a powerful portrait of his father’s final years-a doctor who chose how he should go – Gawande has produced a work that is not only an extraordinary account of loss but one whose ideas are truly important. Questioning, profound and deeply moving, Being Mortal is a masterpiece.

In our Biography and History of Medicine section, Rs. 599, in hardback, 296 pages, ISBN : 9780670086061
Sales Restriction: Sale In SAARC Countries Only

The Colonel Who Would Not Repent/Prince of Gujarat

The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: The Bangladesh War and its Unquiet Legacy by Salil Tripathi from Aleph Book Company.

Salil Tripathi brings together the narrative skill of a novelist and the analytical tools of a political journalist to give us the story of a nation that is absorbing, haunting and illuminating. - Kamila Shamsie, author of a god in every stone. Between march and December 1971, the Pakistani army committed atrocities on an unprecedented scale in the countrys eastern wing. Pakistani troops and their collaborators were responsible for countless deaths and cases of rape. Clearly, religion alone wast enough to keep Pakistans two halves united.

From that brutal violence, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation, but the wounds have continued to fester. The gruesome assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman-the countrys charismatic first prime minister-and most of his family, the coups and countercoups which followed, accompanied by long years of military rule were individually and collectively responsible for the countrys inability to come to grips with the legacy of the liberation war.

Four decades later, as Bangladesh tries to bring some accountability and closure to its bloodsoaked past through controversial tribunals prosecuting war crimes, Salil Tripathi travels the length and breadth of the country probing the countrys trauma through interviews with hundreds of Bangladeshis. His book offers the reader an unforgettable portrait of a nation whose political history since independence has been marked more by tragedy than triumph.

Many nation-states of Asia and Africa were once celebrated for their bold act of self-determination. They are best understood today through their failure to break free of their bloody origins and their always likely descent into anarchy. Salil Tripathis book resourcefully and grippingly describes Bangladeshs tormented search for truth and justice and its implications for the stability of one of the worlds largest muslim countries. - Pankaj Mishra, author of from the Ruins of empire - The intellectuals who remade asia.

In our History section, Rs. 595, in hardback, 400 pages, ISBN : 9789382277187

Prince of Gujarat: The Extraordinary Story of Prince Gopaldas Desai: 1887 - 1951 by Rajmohan Gandhi from Aleph Book Company.

With the surge of interest in personalities from Gujarat, not least because of the election of the controversial Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India, there is no better time for a biography of a great son of Gujarat and one of Indias forgotten heroes.? Born in 1887 into a clan of princely Patels, Darbar (Or prince) Gopaldas was not only a beloved and just ruler of the people of his tiny state in Saurashtra, he was an active and courageous participant in the struggle for Indias freedom and for social justice.

Championing Dalit rights long before that became acceptable, he declared, when his wife Bhaktilaxmi was pregnant with their last child, that if it was a girl he would marry her to a Dalit boy, he stood out also for his concern for Gujarats Muslim minority and for his defence of womens rights. Egalitarian at a time when rulers measured status by the capacity to humiliate their subjects, he was quick to give up his life of privilege when it became necessary. After he joined the freedom movement in 1920, his life as a prince rapidly became a distant memory, with no fixed abode, he and his family would shuttle between prisons, ashrams and the homes of well-wishers.

Remarkably, although he grew close to Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, he spurned high office for himself, choosing instead to raise and mentor others, including four who became chief ministers, as well as Tribhuvandas Patel, who founded the famous milk cooperative that made Amul possible. In this biography, bestselling author Rajmohan Gandhi uses letters, rare documents, personal accounts and historical narratives to recreate in vivid and moving detail the life and times of a leader of supreme honesty and unalloyed patriotism who a hundred years ago also battled, as a prince, against the hierarchies of Indian society.

In our Politics section, Rs. 500, in hardback, 292 pages, ISBN : 9789383064069

Ambedkar

Ambedkar: Awakening Indias Social Conscience by Narendra Jadhav from Konark Publishers.

While India went through a lot of struggle in the early and mid-20th century, fighting for independence, there were also many internal calamities and chaos that needed much attention. Some of the greatest minds took initiative to restore basic human rights among all sects of Indian society, irrespective of any materialistic differences like economic, caste, religion or financial.

Ambedkar was intellectual, a visionary leader, dreamer and above all, a great human being. He is the Father of Indian Constitution. This book concentrates on Ambedkar’s true spirit, intellectual and thought process evolution and how he grew from strength to strength as a public figure at different points in time. His work towards the upbringing of the downtrodden and the oppressed will be remembered for all the times to come.

In our Biography section, Rs. 595, in hardback, 647 pages, ISBN : 9789322008369

Surveys In Theoretical High Energy Physics 2

Surveys In Theoretical High Energy Physics 2 by Raghavan Rangarajan And M. Sivakumar from Hindustan Book Agency.

Every student of particle physics needs to be well-equipped with a basic understanding of the many concepts underlying the Standard Models of Particle Physics and of Cosmology. This is particularly true today when experimental results from colliders such as LHC (Large Hadron Collider) and RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) as well as inferences from cosmological observations are expected to further expand our understanding of particle physics at high energies.

This volume is the second in the Surveys in Theoretical High Energy Physics Series (SThEP), the aim of which is to bring pedagogical reviews of important topics in high energy physics to the particle physics community.

Topics covered in this collection, based on lectures that were delivered at the SERC Schools in Theoretical High Energy Physics at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad and the University of Hyderabad, include Quark-Gluon Plasma, Thermal Field Theory, Perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics, Anomalies and Cosmology.

Ph. D. students will find the clear exposition useful in obtaining a fundamental appreciation of the subjects. For the advanced researcher, having these diverse subjects discussed in one volume will make it a valuable reference book.

In our Physics section, Rs. 575, in paperback, 308 pages, ISBN : 9789380250670


N=2 Supersymmetric Dynamics for Pedestrians by Yuji Tachikawa from Hindustan Book Agency.

Understanding the dynamics of gauge theories is important because all known interactions are based on the principle of local gauge symmetry. Beyond the perturbative regime however, this is a notoriously difficult problem. Demanding invariance under supersymmetry turns out to provide a better handle, and allows one to analyze supersymmetric gauge theories over a larger region in the space of parameters.

Quantum field theories in four dimensions with extended N=2 supersymmetry are further constrained and have, therefore, been a fertile field of research in theoretical physics for quite some time. Moreover, there are mathematical ramifications that have lead to a successful dialogue with differential and algebraic geometry. These lecture notes aim to introduce the fascinating developments in the understanding of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in a coherent fashion to a serious student of modern theoretical physics.

Starting with a gentle introduction to electric-magnetic duality, the author guides the reader along the important milestones in the subject among which are the work of Seiberg and Witten, Nekrasov, Gaiotto and many others. This is an advanced graduate level text, and it assumes that the reader has a working knowledge of supersymmetry, including the formalism of superfields as well as techniques of quantum field theory such as regularization, renormalization and anomalies.

In our Physics section, Rs. 500, in paperback, 224 pages, ISBN :9789380250700

A Spoke in the Wheel

A Spoke in the Wheel by Amita Kanekar from Navayana.

Upali, embittered survivor of a brutal war of conquest, is given a job by the emperor, Ashoka, the victor of that war—to write the first ever chronicle about the Buddha, three hundred years after he sets in motion the Wheel of Dhamma. For the emperor is set on a new conquest, that of Dhamma…

So begins a search for the Buddha and a fight over his message. Was it renunciation? Individual salvation? Universal compassion? Tolerance, of even intolerance? Questions surface among the Buddha’s followers, fearful and then angry, to be fought over viciously even as the sangha rises to glorious imperial patronage, a patronage that will sustain it for over a millennium and reach it to half the world.

This is the story of that story, of the Buddha as seen by his admirers and questioners. In unassuming but agile prose, AmitaKanekar takes us to the time of the Buddha, then to that of Ashoka, and back again. The wheel is in motion, we move from one to the other, spinning with the wheel, becoming one with change.

In our Religion section, Rs. 495, in paperback, 469 pages, ISBN :9788189059569

The God Who Failed

The God Who Failed: An Assessment of Jawaharlal Nehrus Leadership by Madhav Godbole from Rupa & Co.

No leader of independent India has towered as high over Indian politics as Jawaharlal Nehru. Highly educated and articulate, he had a deep understanding of the history and culture of India and was responsible for laying much of the foundations on which today’s India is built—an enlightened Constitution, parliamentary democracy with adult suffrage, and secularism.

However, of equal significance are Nehru’s failures, for which he and his admirers have been increasingly criticized since the turn of the century. These include the imbroglio that took place when Kashmir became a part of India; the Indo-China border dispute of 1962; his overlooking the growing menace of corruption on his watch; and Nehru’s futile pursuit of his own brand of dubious socialism.

The God Who Failed: An Assessment of Jawaharlal Nehru’s Leadershipprovides an objective and unbiased look into Nehru’s legacy—his triumphs, his failures, and his unfulfilled vision for India. Written by the veteran administrator and author Madhav Godbole, this book is a powerful account of the leader who shaped modern India as we know it.

In our Politics section, Rs. 595, in hardback hardback, 374 pages, ISBN: 9788129135599

Easy Money

Easy Money: Evolution of Money from Robinson Crusoe to the First World War by Vivek Kaul from Sage India.

A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest, wrote singer and songwriter Paul Simon some decades back. Books on the current financial crisis which started in late 2008 are a tad like that. Until w they have tended to deal with certain aspects of the crisis without looking at the bigger picture of what really went wrong.

That bigger picture of the ongoing financial crisis has w started to evolve. Easy Money captures this big picture. The history of money and the financial system as it has evolved over the centuries stand at the heart of this endeavor. It explores the idea that the evolution of money over centuries has led to an easy money policy being followed by governments and central banks across the world, which in turn has fueled humongous Ponzi schemes, which have w started to unravel, bringing the whole world on the brink of a financial disaster.

The book also explains how the lessons of the financial crisis have still t been learned, and in trying to deal with it, governments across the world are making the same mistakes which led to the current crisis in the first place.

In our Management Studies section, Rs. 395, in paperback, 300 pages, ISBN: 9788132113423

The Enlightened Entrepreneur

The Enlightened Entrepreneur by Bhavarlal H. Jain from Rupa & Co.

It is easy for an entrepreneur to look at data and charts to arrive at a business decision, but extremely difficult to look within his soul to find answers.Bhavarlal H. Jain happens to be someone who can do both with ease. He is the founder and chairman of Jain Irrigation, a 1-billion company which was presented with ‘The Good Company Award’ by Forbes in 2012.

His is a company that nearly went bankrupt four times in the last thirty years of its existence, only to rise again. Despite these ups and down, however, Jain has not wavered from a business model that is based on Gandhi’s notion of trusteeship—wherein wealth belongs not to an individual but is used for the benefit of the community.Which is a compilation of lectures that he has given over thirty years.

Replete with instances and expositions of what constitutes ‘enlightened entrepreneurship’—a notion that, Jain iterates, must be embraced by each and every entrepreneur—this book provides invaluable insights into what successes and failures mean to a businessperson, the tenets of effective leadership, and transformational businesses.

In our Biography section, Rs. 395, in paperback, 185 pages, ISBN: 9788129131942

Savage Attack

Savage Attack: Tribal Insurgency in India by Crispin Bates And Alpa Shah from Social Science Press.

In Savage Attack: Tribal Insurgency in India the authors ask whether there is anything particularly adivasi about the forms of resistance that have been labelled as adivasi movements. What does it mean to speak about adivasi as opposed to peasant resistance? Can one differentiate adivasi resistance from that of other lower castes such as the dalits?

In this volume the authors move beyond stereotypes of tribal rebellion to argue that it is important to explore how and why particular forms of resistance are depicted as adivasi issues at particular points in time. Interpretations that have depicted adivasis as a united and highly politicised group of people have romanticised and demonized tribal society and history, thus denying the individuals and communities involved any real agency.

Both the interpretations of the state and of left-wing supporters of tribal insurgencies have continued to ignore the complex realities of tribal life and the variety in the expressions of political activism that have resulted across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent.

In our Sociology section, Rs. 725, in hardback , 306 pages, ISBN: 9788187358695

An Introduction to Hindustani Classical Music

An Introduction to Hindustani Classical Music: A Guidebook for Beginners by Vijay Prakash Singha from Roli Books.

An Introduction to Hindustani Classical Music: A Guidebook for Beginners is Vijay Singha's comprehesive guide to savourand appreciate classical music. Written in a simple and easytocomprehend style, this book delves into the understandingof raga sangeet, semiclassical and fusion music, raga sangeet in Hindi films, as well as the future of classical music in India.

In our Music section, Rs. 250, in paperback, 184 pages, ISBN: 9788174369192 

Development on Trial

Development on Trial: Shrinking Space for the Periphery by Sunanda Sen And Anjan Chakrabarti from Orient Blackswan.

Developing countries today are subject to a process of transformation, from what could be identified as a developmental State to one where the market emerges as the major driving force in the economy. Development on Trial analyses the changing links between State policies and corporate structures as the goal of development in these economies weaken, crumble and then fall apart to give way to a steady withdrawal of the State. This goes with the growing and imperious control exercised by big businesses in the process.

The authors unravel the contradictions between the State and the market as has been spelt out in liberal theory. They draw attention to the new pattern usually described as corporate feudalism where corporations replace or co-opt the ruling State in these countries. This volume has been organised in four sections. The first deals with the State and corporatisation of business. The second section deals with colonial trade patterns, trade, employment and structural changes relating to India and other developing countries during the recent years.

The third section discusses aspects of mobile capital, volatility, and financial exclusion in de-regulated capital markets—issues which have of late been drawing a lot of attention in public debates. The last section studies the dimensions of labour market flexibility in India and in the developing areas in general. Bringing together essays by well-known economists from India and abroad, this volume is an indispensable read for students and scholars of economics and development studies.

In our Development Studies section, Rs. 925, in hardback, 468 pages, ISBN: 9788125051305

Babri Masjid

Destruction of the Babri Masjid: A National Dishonour by A.G. Noorani from Tulika Books.

Destruction of the Babri Masjid: A National Dishonour is a sequel to The Babri Masjid Question 1528–2003: ‘A Matter of National Honour’, published in 2003 in two volumes – a compilation by A.G. Noorani of documents and primary source material on various aspects of the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri Masjid dispute, covering the demolition of the Masjid on 6 December 1992, and the legal proceedings in the civil suits and criminal cases up to mid-2003.

The present volume brings the narrative up to date. It covers the three Allahabad High Court judgments, the Liberhan Commission Report, the tortuous course of the criminal cases, and disclosures and developments in the last decade –from 2003 till the end of 2013. An Introduction surveys the events before and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and analyses the judgments delivered by the three judges of the Allahabad High Court in 2010. ‘In the courts of law and justice, the civil and criminal cases concerning the title to the Babri Masjid and accountability for its destruction, on 6 December 1992, have all but run their course.

Neither legality nor justice has been conspicuous in the proceedings or in the many judgments delivered. On past form, there is little hope for redress in legal proceedings after that grave and utterly wasteful crime. . . . The forces of India’s secularism can ignore the challenges ahead only at the nation’s peril. At stake is the survival of India’s democracy and its corollary, secularism.’

In our Religion section, Rs. 995, in hardback, xiv+506 pages, ISBN: 9789382381471


The Babri Masjid Question 1528-2003, (Vol-I): 'A Matter of National Honour' by A.G. Noorani from Tulika Books.

The Babri Masjid Question, 1528–2003: ‘A Matter of National Honour’ is a compilation by A.G. Noorani, in two volumes, of primary source material on various aspects of the Ramjanmabhumi–Babri Masjid dispute. The documents, chronologically arranged under thematic chapter heads and covering historical, archaeological, legal and political ground, clearly reveal why and how an issue that had been settled in the nineteenth century was revived in the twentieth century, and exploited for sordid political ends.

They bear evidence to the fact that the demolition of theBabri Masjid on 6 December 1992 was a criminal deed that redefined the politics of India. They show how the movement that led up to the demolition and its continuing efforts to justify the building of a Rama temple at the very site of the mosque are driven by the politics of power and religious fundamentalism.

For the Sangh Parivar, raising the Ayodhya issue has a wider aim than that of building a temple at Ramjanmasthan. That aim is the establishment of a Hindu rashtra. What is at stake, therefore, is the survival of secularism, democracy and rule of law in this country. It is a battle for India’s soul.

In our Politics section, Rs. 650, in paperback, xl+416 pages, ISBN: 9789382381457


The Babri Masjid Question 1528-2003, (Vol-II): 'A Matter of National Honour' by A.G. Noorani from Tulika Books.

The Babri Masjid Question, 1528–2003: ‘A Matter of National Honour’ is a compilation by A.G. Noorani, in two volumes, of primary source material on various aspects of the Ramjanmabhumi–Babri Masjid dispute. The documents, chronologically arranged under thematic chapter heads and covering historical, archaeological, legal and political ground, clearly reveal why and how an issue that had been settled in the nineteenth century was revived in the twentieth century, and exploited for sordid political ends.

They bear evidence to the fact that the demolition of theBabri Masjid on 6 December 1992 was a criminal deed that redefined the politics of India. They show how the movement that led up to the demolition and its continuing efforts to justify the building of a Rama temple at the very site of the mosque are driven by the politics of power and religious fundamentalism.

For the Sangh Parivar, raising the Ayodhya issue has a wider aim than that of building a temple at Ramjanmasthan. That aim is the establishment of a Hindu rashtra. What is at stake, therefore, is the survival of secularism, democracy and rule of law in this country. It is a battle for India’s soul.

In our Politics section, Rs. 500, in paperback, xii+320 pages, ISBN: 9789382381464

Art And Craft Of Harappans

Art And Craft Of Harappans by Deo Prakash Sharma from Kaveri Books.

This work is a masterpiece on archaeological material related to Harappan sites, belonging to both Indian and Pakistan. It provides an exclusive documentation of Harappan artifacts and other articles as found in various sites of one of the most ancient civilization of the world. The contents of the material provided herein sprawl from the excavated sites in the north west south Asia, including mineral sites in the region to script to seals, sealing and tablets and last, but not the least, to different types of objects discovered.

The book gives a vivid and lucid description of the settlements, miniature figurines made up of stone/bronze/ceramic, pottery, terracotta articles, jewellery along with appropriate and eye catching illustrations and details which are easy to comprehend and remember. Not only this, the author has even touched on the subject of varied trys, tools implements and weapons existing in that period apart from delving in the than prevailing religious rituals.

This pictorial presentation is not only valuable for a student of ancient history but also for all those who have tendency towards and taste for peeping into the annals of the hoary past.

In our Art and Architecture section, Rs. 2500, in hardback, xviii+238 pages, ISBN: 9788174791375

Hindustani Music in Colonial Bombay

Hindustani Music in Colonial Bombay by Aneesh Pradhan from Three Essays Collective.

This book focuses on Bombay’s role in modernising the world of Hindustani music in the colonial era and in moulding the ethos surrounding this musical tradition. Changing patterns of patronage, performance and pedagogy, are elaborated upon, and adaptive strategies employed by musicians to cope with the new colonial urban environment are examined.

The author discusses the interface between Hindustani musicians and theatre and cinema, and the impact of gramophone recordings and broadcasting on Hindustani music, in the context of Bombay.

Based on primary and secondary source material, and oral histories, this book will be of academic interest to scholars working in the fields of colonial history, music history, urban studies, and musicology, and, of course, to all lovers of Indian classical music.


In our Music section, Rs. 750, in hardback, xii+348 pages, ISBN: 9788188789962