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‘The Everyday Hero Manifesto’: An attempt to transform people’s lives

Splendid question! One that balances creativity, honest productivity and elite performance with family, peak health, noble values, community service with a lot of joy and fun…Robin Sharma speaks N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe

For over twenty-five years, legendary leadership and elite performance virtuoso Robin Sharma has quietly taught business titans, professional sports superstars and entertainment royalty a revolutionary system that has helped these luminaries translate their highest ambitions into daily results. Now, in “The Everyday Hero Manifesto” -his masterwork- this path blazer has distilled the best principles, protocols and tactics from his mentoring method into a gloriously valuable work that is part playbook for explosive productivity, part instruction manual for leading a world-class life and part universal guide to becoming a spiritual heavyweight that lifts the world.

After the success of over 12 books, Robin Sharma has launched a new one titled “The Everyday Hero Manifesto”.

Robin Sharma speaks about his new book which attempts to transform people’s lives and help them achieve undefeatable positivity, spiritual freedom and undisrupted discipline to get rare-air results in life.

Who do you think is a Hero? What trait defines a Hero for you? Is it the success or the qualities and virtues?

A hero-or an Everyday Hero as I call one in my new book-is a so-called ordinary human who refuses to behave like a powerless victim. Our world tells us that we must be famous and great to be a hero yet there are wider versions of heroism. The baker rises at 5 AM to prepare beautiful goods. The coder who does their work to Beethoven-composed music. The single parent who works super hard to care for their children and yet radiates positivity and goodness. Such souls-too-are heroes. The Everyday Hero Manifesto shares a transformational methodology on how anyone can recode their lives to become far happier, more productive, braver and more peaceful.

A lot of your books are on leadership, wisdom and virtues of life. What inspired you to write a book on heroism?
Great question! Heroism is the root of all success, joyfulness and spiritual freedom. Once we learn the rules and daily habits of heroism, we not only rise in our work, become more confident, enjoy richer days and get beautiful things done, we also reclaim the self-honour that so many of us have lost. Through life’s trials, hurts and busyness.

Discipline happens to be one of the toughest areas to conquer for the current generation. Procrastination is a new-age monster. Your book is an instruction manual for discipline as well. How did you discover this problem that people face?

Yes, the book has a number of key chapters on building world-class discipline so we materialize our promise, make our ethical ambitions real and lead the lives we want, versus being reactive and living our lives like a 5-alarm fire. I should mention that The Everyday Hero Manifesto also explains the science and tactics for rest, renewal and feeling more alive. As I write in the book: “success without soulfulness is an empty victory.” Being self-disciplined is incredibly important to winning yet so is enjoying the process of your life.

I added these chapters on building heroic self-control so we become fitter, stronger and more productive in this world of dramatic distraction and limitless interruption after working with so many clients who have shared that they have mighty dreams yet failed to have the discipline to get them done.

The title The Everyday Hero Manifesto leads me to the word Manifestation. How important do you think is it to wake up every morning and manifest your dreams?

Interesting! I used “manifesto” as the work distils the method, models and protocols from my mentoring of billionaires, sports icons and movement-makers. It’s a complete instruction manual for a soaring life.

Yet, you’re right. We must grow our skills at creating the ideals that speak to the higher angels of our greatest nature. And I do think a great and joy-filled life comes from waking up (early) each morning and spending our days creating success and soulfulness, in a way that feels right to us (rather than on some definition sold to us by society).

Your book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari was a huge success and loved by all. It’s been 25 years since the launch of that book. Do you think your thought process has changed or evolved in these 25 years?
Absolutely. And I confess to this in The Everyday Hero Manifesto! I’ve grown a lot and experienced so much over these past 25 years (much good and some tragic). I used to believe in the importance of living in such a way so as to leave a legacy, so those who remain after we die will admire how we’ve lived. Now, I believe that worrying about your legacy is a waste of time. Because we’ll be dead! Just a pile of dust, in a colourful urn. The key is to live beautifully while we’re alive.

I also used to believe that to be ultra-productive one must work harder. Now I believe that “elite performance without deep recovery is a fool’s sport.” Rest is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

Finally, when I wrote Monk, I was very into a super-austere life. While my life is still quite simple and I can be monastic sometimes, I’m more balanced. I enjoy being in the world and savouring its gifts (good food, films and splendid friends) while also tending to my spiritual growth.

You’re an inspiration to many people. Who is your inspiration in life? What quality of theirs do you admire the most?

My mother and my father. My beloved readers from across the planet who model heroism and creativity and kindness daily. Mahatma Gandhi. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Hedy Lamarr, Madame Curie, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali.

How would you describe a beautiful life?
Splendid question! One that balances creativity, honest productivity and elite performance with family, peak health, noble values, community service with a lot of joy and fun.

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This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future

Book Cover credits: Twitter

According to leaked excerpts of the book to Politico, the relationship between the Biden and Harris camps is getting worse and is now characterised by anger, mutual contempt and turf wars, the report said…reports Asian Lite News

A new book claims there is a ‘widening rift’ between US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Daily Mail reported.

The claims are made in forthcoming book, “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future”, by Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin.

The new book emerges as Biden’s approval ratings dropped to a new low of 40 per cent this week.

The book, which will be out in May, is twisting the knife by alleging that the widespread public perception of Kamala Harris as imperious, insecure and out of her depth is shared even in the White House, Daily Mail reported.

According to leaked excerpts of the book to Politico, the relationship between the Biden and Harris camps is getting worse and is now characterised by anger, mutual contempt and turf wars, the report said.

A senator close to her said Harris’ “frustration is up in the stratosphere” and she’s told White House aides in “frank terms” that she doesn’t want her remit to be restricted to a few issues “mainly associated with women and black Americans”, Daily Mail reported.

Biden insiders, meanwhile, prefer a different explanation: The Vice President is simply not up to the job. Harris has gone so far as to complain that White House staff were not standing up when she entered a room, the report said.

“Some of Harris’ advisers believed the President’s almost entirely white inner circle did not show the VP the respect she deserved,” the book says, Daily Mail reported.

“Harris is worried that Biden’s staff looked down on her; she fixated on real and perceived snubs in ways the West Wing found tedious.”

Harris also clashed with the President’s office over her foreign policy role, the authors claim. Her team had wanted her to oversee America’s relationship with Scandinavian countries – an obviously fairly easy job.

But as Barack Obama’s VP, Biden had taken on Central America – a far bigger challenge, as it includes the problem of illegal immigration across the Mexican border.

The Biden camp felt it only reasonable that Harris did the same, alongside overseeing voting reform — another tricky responsibility, albeit one she’d asked for.

The book — whose allegations the administration has done little to dispute beyond noting they are unattributed’ — claims that Biden staff have grown tired of complaints by the VP and her cheerleaders that she’s been set up to fail (although why Biden would want to do that appears less clear), Daily Mail reported.

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What’s within you: Crafting a purpose statement

What keeps you focused month after month, year after year? Vision is about allowing your core values to reveal a foundational and sustainable purpose for your life…writes Vishnu Makhijani

How do you discover your purpose? Once you have found your purpose, how do you use it as a catalyst for real, measurable change in your life – to activate the best version of yourself to effectively confront your toughest challenges? How do you find the right community to help support you in your newfound purpose?

“Discovering a compelling vision for yourself that is rooted in purpose requires getting rooted in your values. From your values… you’ll start to craft a purpose statement for your life. Crafting your purpose statement, though, is just the beginning. Few of us are taught how to navigate the gap between our idealistic aspirations for a life of purpose and the barriers that get in your way,” Tom Lillig and David Shurna told in a joint interview of their book, “What’s Within You” that provides a proven framework to stay rooted in your purpose even as adversity strikes.

“Over the past 20 years, our research shows statistically significant growth across all factors measured for tens of thousands of participants in our programs. Research aside, the testimonials we receive from people every week describing how we ‘changed’ or even ‘saved’ their lives are testament to the effectiveness of the approach,” they added.

“Despite the barriers – both big and small – that each of us face, we can learn how to push past them, reconnect with our purpose, and unleash the best in ourselves and others,” the authors maintain of the “Seven Life Elements” they present in the book that serve as a blueprint to help navigate the torrid waters of self-doubt, and infuse hope and courage to bring about a tectonic shift by breaking the barriers that have always held one back.

The narrative will introduce you to a host of world-famous barrier breakers – among them Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to summit Mt. Everest, and Mandy Harvey, the deaf jazz vocalist whose America’s Got Talent performances captured the hearts of half a billion people – to prove that what’s within you is indeed stronger than what’s in your way.

What then is the seven-step recipe devised by Lillig and Shurna?

First and foremost is Vision. In discovering your purpose, you need to learn the difference between what you want to do in life and what you want to be. Most of us have been oriented toward living life through a collection of goals. But what happens after that? What keeps you focused month after month, year after year? Vision is about allowing your core values to reveal a foundational and sustainable purpose for your life.

The second is Reach. Once you’ve cracked the code on purpose, how do you use that new understanding of yourself to confront your challenges? How do you step outside your comfort zone and fully acknowledge the obstacles that have been keeping you from your best self? With Reach, you will grab hold of the adversary and prepare yourself to overcome these challenges.

The third is Alchemy. By this point, you’ve discovered your purpose and confronted your problems head-on. In ancient times, alchemy was the process of transforming base metals into gold. For us, Alchemy is about the ability to have hope and optimism in the face of adversity.

The fourth is Pioneering. Life asks you to invent solutions that fit your purpose. Pioneering is about developing systems, strategies, and tools that will help you find creative ways to work through even your toughest challenges.

The fifth is the Rope Team. Few things in life are as difficult as admitting that you need the support of others. But seeking out support is actually a strength. As you develop your Rope Team, you will discover how to be the best version of yourself in the company of those who support you.

The sixth is Summits. This is about reflecting on your journey even when you may still be in the middle of it, because sometimes, even in these moments of reflection, you will recognise Summits that you didn’t realise had passed along the way.

The seventh is Elevate. This is the moment where your perspective turns from focusing inward to focusing outward. Elevate is about taking what you have learned on your journey and sharing it with those around you. Just as others have supported you along the way, now it is time for you to become a part of someone else’s support system.

Harkening to Aristotle that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, the authors say that it is only the full combination of these Life Elements that will produce the total and desired effect.

They’ve even devised The What’s Within You manifesto which says in part:

“We choose to embrace our struggle wholeheartedly, and with shattered bones and hurt feelings, we continue moving forward.

For it is our suffering that makes us stronger, and our many falls that fuel our rise.

We draft ourselves into service, passionate warriors for our communal potential.

We come together under our proud but tattered flag, bound by both our brokenness and our bravery.

Marching toward the challenge and guided by our light, we are fearless, resilient and unstoppable, because

What’s Within Us Is Stronger Than What’s In Our Way.”

There it is: Your Roadmap To Living Life With No Barriers, as the book, published by Fingerprint, is sub-titled.

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‘The bluebook: A writer’s journal’

He says that we are surrounded by chaos, and art helps bring order to it. The same is true of diaries — there is a reason why therapists tell survivors of trauma to write down their experiences…reports Sukant Deepak

A look inside an author’s notebook/diary can be enigmatic — there are alphabets, landscapes… and soundscapes too if you are willing to hear. These are snatches you don’t want to escape from for they are a network of trusted spaces — warm, safe — oscillating between genres and styles but intimate at every turn.

Writer Amitava Kumar is present in his absence in his latest ‘The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal’ (HarperCollins India), an outcome of his diary-keeping during the lockdowns owing to the Pandemic.

He says that we are surrounded by chaos, and art helps bring order to it. The same is true of diaries — there is a reason why therapists tell survivors of trauma to write down their experiences.

“We need words to guide us out of the forest,” he adds.

The idea of compiling the art came from his friend Hemali Sodhi, founder of ‘A Suitable Agency’ who wanted to use the drawings he was putting up on social media. “When I was painting, I was slowing down the news, and the writing of captions or providing diary entries as the caption for the images went well with the idea of providing a frame for whatever was happening in our lives and in the world,” he remembers.

Not formally trained in art, Kumar says the exercise was a release from the burden of being a writer and partaking of the joy of doing something that he is not an expert at. He feels that this art and the act of sharing it with a wider audience is the triumph of the amateur.

“A person on a green cricket field during a weekend is not necessarily trying to get into the Indian team-he or she might just be enjoying the game, the pleasure of playing with bat and ball. It is the same with me and art,” says Kumar, a Professor of English at the Helen D. Lockwood Chair at Vassar College in the US.

Ask this Bihar-born author of ‘Husband of a Fanatic’, ‘A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb: A Writer’s Report on the Global War on Terror’ and ‘A Time Outside This Time’ among others, who has written extensively on immigration, if he feels ‘belonged’ to any country, and he asserts, “I am stranded in the barren land between longing and belonging. No, if I were to be truthful, my main allegiance is to language. As a writer, my identity is tied to the marks on the printed page. To put it more dramatically, my passport is The Blue Book.”

Kumar, who wrote on fake news in his last work ‘A Time Outside ThisTime’ feels that the way fake news and hatred has spread, our whole cultural landscape has changed. “Just the other day, I was comparing it to climate change. I was telling my friend that the glaciers of our understanding are melting fast. All these changes are not just monumental or catastrophic, they are irreversible,” he adds.

For someone who believes that self-censorship is death for a writer and once said that rulers tend to think that they will rule forever, which can be dangerous, he elaborates, “I was commenting on the way power works. It goes to the head of those who are powerful. They cannot imagine defeat. They do not dream of death. They think eternal life is theirs. And I think that is their failing. Because, of course, the poor or the oppressed never cease to struggle. I don’t think the urge to freedom ever dies.”

While the mantra he offers his students is to write 150 words and walk every day, he has added the goal of doing a drawing each day. “I truly believe in the ethic of keeping a notebook in your pocket at all times and taking notes,” concludes the author whose next will be a book of drawings and diary entries called ‘The Yellow Book’.

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The Comrades and the Mullahs: Chasing the evolution of Beijing’s Afghan policy

Co-author Stanly Johny notes that the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, after 20 years of war, was one of the defining moments of Asian geopolitics in the 21st century…reports Asian Lite News

This is possibly the first book to look at China’s growing role in India’s neighbourhood via its engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and what it means for India.

The withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan has left a lasting impact on both Afghanistan’s future and on Asian geopolitics. It has also brought China into focus. Tracing the emergence of China as a key player in Afghanistan and the evolution of China’s Afghan policy especially with respect to its relations with the Taliban the book says that Beijing’s dominant role in Afghanistan’s future is a potentially game-changing development in Asian geopolitics, even if questions remain about the former’s appetite to step in to fill the void and the limits of its ambitions.

In “The Comrades And The Mullahs” (HarperCollins), Ananth Krishnan and Stanly Johny examine what Beijing’s interests are and the drivers of its foreign policy, and, more specifically, how its new Silk Road project – the Belt and Road Initiative – is shaping China Afghan relations.

They look at how Afghanistan has emerged as a key point on the corridor heading west from Xinjiang, and discuss the Xinjiang factor, drawing on their travels to China’s western frontiers, as well as the internal dynamics that are pushing Beijing’s westward march.

Another factor is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the terror groups that are leading to an increasingly securitized approach to China’s western regions and beyond, including possible Chinese plans to deploy special forces along the China-Afghan border areas in the Wakhan corridor and Badakhshan region.

China’s Afghan engagement has also deepened its ‘all- weather’ alliance with Pakistan – with Beijing increasingly leaning on Islamabad, particularly in its outreach to the Taliban and other elements in Afghanistan that have long been supported by the Pakistani state – and is a perennial source of tension between Islamabad and Kabul. The authors show how this increasing closeness is alarming for India, and might have far-reaching consequences, especially in Kashmir.

“China, both as an immediate neighbour of Afghanistan and as a superpower-in-waiting, stands uniquely placed to shape Afghanistan’s future,” says co-author Ananth Krishnan, adding: “Yet curiously, the China-Afghanistan relationship remains little understood.”

“This book, the first to focus on this crucial relationship, helps separate the hype from fact and lifts the veil on how Beijing sees its western neighbour. The US exit brought celebration in Beijing, seen as an example of Western decline. Yet it also brought deep concern on what Taliban rule may mean for the region’s security and stability. China does not want to repeat the mistakes of the West. More than ever, Beijing is willing to insert itself as a power player abroad. This book tries to capture this fascinating and evolving dichotomy,” Krishnan says.

Co-author Stanly Johny notes that the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, after 20 years of war, was one of the defining moments of Asian geopolitics in the 21st century and that the pullback and the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul took place at a time when the global contest between the United States and China was already heating up.

“For Beijing, the withdrawal of the United States from one of its backyard countries is welcome news. But when it’s preparing to chart a new path of engagement with Afghanistan’s new rulers, the biggest challenge before the comrades in Beijing is Afghanistan’s history itself. This book tells the story of both Afghanistan’s complex history and the challenges it offers to China at a time when Asian geopolitics is undergoing a paradigm shift,” Johny adds.

Ananth Krishnan is the China correspondent for The Hindu and is currently based in Hong Kong. In 2019, he was a visiting fellow at Brookings India. He was previously the Beijing-based associate editor at the India Today Group. He has reported from China for close to a decade and his reporting has taken him to all but three of China’s thirty-three provinces and regions. He is the author of “India’s China Challenge” (2020).

Stanly Johny is the international affairs editor with The Hindu. A PhD in international studies from the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, he has been writing on international affairs and Indian foreign policy in The Hindu Group publications for nearly a decade. An IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Programme) fellow of the US State Department and an India Australia Youth Dialogue alumnus, he is the author of “The ISIS Caliphate: From Syria to the Doorsteps of India” (2018).

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‘Sisterhood of Swans’ brims with emotion, experience and invisible gravity abyss

Adding that though she cannot speak to the universality of womanhood, by and large, women still yearn for a mate with whom they’ll find fulfilment… Selma Carvalho speaks with Sukant Deepak

For a long time, the idea of a woman in early adulthood making disastrous decisions had been knocking in her head. The scene where Anna-Marie and Sanjay are waiting at the bus stop and Anna-Marie decides to go home with him is the genesis of the book. “Perhaps people can relate to the base instinct which informs our desires,” she smiles.

There is a conscious style at play that comes effortlessly in the book. There is a certain trust in the reader to understand the radical acts that seem so effortless. In British-Asian Selma Carvalho’s exquisite fiction ‘Sisterhood of Swans’ (Speaking Tiger) brimming with emotion, and not just experience, somewhere exists an invisible gravity abyss you cannot resist.

This may be Carvalho debut fiction work, but even her non-fiction floated in a lyrical style. “Most Goan histories emerge from academics, as they should, where the writing is often dense. I wanted to write accessible narratives about my particular area of research which is the Goan presence in colonial East Africa,” she tells  and credits writer Maria Aurora Couto, who took her under the wing and encouraged Carvalho to venture into fiction.

Believing that the short story is the gateway form into literary writing as it allows one the opportunity to hone one’s craft and validates the writer fairly quickly, she remembers being consistently shortlisted in literary contests in the UK, to the point where she had about forty-odd long/short listings on my writer’s bio.

“The publishers of this book acquired the rights to my collection of short stories which had been a finalist for the SI Leeds Literary Prize. They then encouraged me to write a novel. Sisterhood of Swans is my first long-form publication,” she says.

Adding that though she cannot speak to the universality of womanhood, by and large, women still yearn for a mate with whom they’ll find fulfilment.

“‘We belong to the sisterhood of swans seeking to pair for life our species is doomed to disappointment.’ The second line from where the title emerges is the more telling line. Given the complexity of the human condition, a soulmate or even a long-term mate is often a fiction of the imagination. Human relationships are complex organisms with a myriad of conflicting desires. Long-term monogamy is a many-tentacled monster,” she says.

Even though she has lived in the United States for several years, and now in the UK for almost fourteen years, the author says she essentially belong to the Arabian Gulf diaspora, which doesn’t allow for any sense of citizenry. Thus, she grew up within a Goan milieu, always with Goa as her centripetal location, and yet from infancy informed by the diversity which prevails in the Gulf.

“I wanted to create characters very different from the tropes that occur in Goan literature, typically the bhatkar (landed gentry) pitted against the mundkar (tenant/underdog). I wanted to write about modern characters, women who are university-educated feminists and men who are charming cross-cultural philanderers. These characters live within the canon of Goan literary endeavour but exist universally.”

Ask her who is Carvalho essentially– fiction or non-fiction, and she feels that both are disciplines of discovery. Adding that while a lot of documentation of Goan history and culture has to take place in order for it to survive as a record of their collective narrative, she says, “In the past five years, the old guard of Goa’s intelligentsia has been fading and it’s time for my generation to carry the baton. I feel a tremendous responsibility to be in the service of my state, to chronicle and document, and so I find myself returning to this process as a moral obligation.”

Carvalho’s first book ‘Into the Diaspora Wilderness’, which was published 12 years ago by the independent press Goa, 1556, founded by the journalist Frederick Noronha, laments, “There’s a vile literary hubris that dismisses independent publishers which is ironic, given their role in discovering Booker prize listees, preserving regional histories, and works in translation.”

Having finished writing new novels, ‘Horton’ and ‘And Thus to All Tyrants’, which explore relationships, truth-telling, and the immigrant as the ‘other.’, she has started on a non-fiction book titled, Goans of Zanzibar, 1865-1910.

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Netaji’s critical biography: A window to many hitherto untold

He has co-authored “Conundrum: Subhas Bose’s Life After Death”, which features among the bestsellers on Amazon…reports Asian Lite News

The Communist Party of India went on to a prolonged vilification campaign. Sardar Patel issued instruction to Congress leaders to defend the INA soldiers without eulogizing their leader…reports Asian Lite News

This is probably the first critical biography of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose till date.

There are not many Indian heroes whose lives have been as dramatic and adventurous as that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. That, however, is an assessment of his life based on what is widely known about him.

These often revolve around his resignation from the Indian Civil Service, joining the freedom movement, to be exiled twice for over seven years, throwing a challenge to the Gandhian leadership in the Congress, taking up an extremist position against the British Raj, evading the famed intelligence network to travel to Europe and then to Southeast Asia, forming two Governments and raising two armies and then disappearing into the unknown. All this in a span of just two decades.

Now, new information throws light on Bose’s intense political activities surrounding the revolutionary groups in Bengal, Punjab, the United Provinces and what is now Maharashtra and his efforts to bridge the increasing communal divide and his influence among the splintered political landscape; his outlook and relations with women; his plunge into the depths of spirituality; his penchant for covert operations and his efforts to engineer a rebellion among the Indian armed forces.

With this new information, what appeared to be dramatic now becomes more intense with plots and subplots under one man’s single-minded focus on freeing the motherland and envisioning its development in a new era.

Furthermore, one of the most sensitive issues that have prevented political parties and successive governments from talking much about Bose is his joining the Axis camp. While Jawaharlal Nehru and other prominent Congress leaders publicly denounced the move, the Communist Party of India went on to a prolonged vilification campaign. Sardar Patel issued instruction to Congress leaders to defend the INA soldiers without eulogizing their leader.

Was Bose really a Nazi sympathiser? Knowing very well about the strong public opinion that existed among the political leadership and the intelligentsia in India against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and imperial Japan, why did he risk his own political image by allying with the Axis powers?

Pacey, thought-provoking and absolutely unputdownable, Chandrachur Ghose, in Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist (Penguin) opens a window to many hitherto untold and unknown stories of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Chandrachur Ghose is an author, researcher and commentator on history, economics and environment, having graduated from Visva Bharati and the University of Sussex. He has co-authored “Conundrum: Subhas Bose’s Life After Death”, which features among the bestsellers on Amazon.

Ghose is one of the founders of the Mission Netaji pressure group that has been the moving force behind the declassification of secret documents related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. His activism led to the declassification of over ten thousand pages in 2010.

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Capturing the slices of life to showcase the strength

The stories reflect the range and depth of Vaasanthi’s writing and unveil how humanity redeems the individual and provides hope, even in the midst of adversity…reports Asian Lite News

How free are women to make their own choices in the circumstances in which they find themselves? How do ordinary citizens become caught in communal divisions and migrant labourers cope with despair during the pandemic? These are some of the queries posed by the poignant and thought-provoking tales in this book.

Set in various parts of India and abroad, “Ganga’s Choice and Other Stories” (Niyogi Books), this collection of 15 stories by Vaasanthi, one of India’s well-known writers and translated from the Tamil original, powerfully captures slices of life to showcase the courage and strength of ordinary people.

A young woman derided as a freak chooses to live her life on her own terms; women from different backgrounds struggle against gender roles that are defined by rigid and oppressive social conventions; two migrant workers – rendered jobless during a lockdown – try to return to their village and maintain a bond of solidarity, despite different religious identities; a Sikh farmer living near the Line of Control loses his family to cross-border shelling but looks after the orphaned son of his neighbour from a different community.

The stories reflect the range and depth of Vaasanthi’s writing and unveil how humanity redeems the individual and provides hope, even in the midst of adversity.

“The stories are about lived experience and real characters that I have met – most importantly women, who have inspired me and moved me to speak about them, how they deal with injustices within their social circumstances in most unique ways,” Vaasanthi says.

The stories, renowned author K. Satchidanandan says, “surprise and enchant the reader with their thematic diversity and the vividness and vivacity of her characters drawn from different backgrounds. These 15 short stories are apt to give even a reader unacquainted with her many worlds a clear idea of her narrative skill and her deep insight into human situations and the transformations in attitudes and world-views that mark generational changes in the subcontinent. It is a sheer joy to read Vaasanthi’s stories in this representative collection”.

Vaasanthi is a leading writer, journalist, and columnist in Tamil and English. She has published 30 novels, 6 short story collections, 4 volumes of journalistic articles, and 4 travelogues in Tamil in the last 40 years.

She was the Editor of the Tamil edition of India Today for 10 years. Her articles have appeared in leading Indian newspapers and magazines. Her works have been translated in Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, English, Norwegian, Czech, and Dutch.

Two of her novels have been made into Malayalam films. She is the recipient of several awards in Tamil Nadu including the Best Short Story Writer award, Best Novel award for “Ammani”. She has received the UP Sahitya Sansthan award and Punjab Sahitya Akademi award for her novels translated in Hindi and English respectively. Now a freelance writer and journalist, she lives in Delhi.

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‘Indomitable’ story of Arundhati’s life as a banker

Did that mean people like me couldn’t dream? This book is written to prove that India can be the land of our dreams and it is our ability to reach out with the right attitude and the right ideas that will get us there…reports Asian Lite News

Growing up in the sleepy towns of Bhilai and Bokaro, Arundhati Bhattacharya never imagined that one day she would go on to chair India’s largest bank. It was sheer chance that she came to know of the bank probationary officers’ entrance examination through a friend. She applied, was selected and went on to have a glorious banking career spanning four decades.

Indomitable is the story of Arundhati’s life as a banker and the challenges she faced in a male-dominated bastion. She takes the reader through her growing up years and early education in the 1960s, getting to Kolkata for her college education and then into the State Bank of India, where she started her career. The life of a woman banker with a family in a frequently transferrable job isn’t easy. In Arundhati’s life, too, there were breaking points when she almost thought of quitting her career to balance her personal aspirations with her family’s needs. But she didn’t give up. Instead, she faced her challenges with humour and positivity and took up every assignment as a new chapter in learning and adapting.

In her role as the chairman of SBI, she steered the bank through some of its worst phases. She inspired confidence in the banking sector when the NPA crises led to a significant public trust deficit. Under her leadership, SBI metamorphosed into a customer-centric and digitally advanced bank while playing a pivotal role in national development. Some of her human resources initiatives included industry-first practices that were appreciated and later adopted by other banks.
Candid, lucid and humble, Indomitable is the story that will galvanize you to embrace challenges, break barriers, push forward and achieve greater heights.

“From a very young age I listened to many older people talking about migrating to the Western world as it was defined as ‘the land of your dreams’. First it was UK then USA and Canada and thereafter Australia and Singapore. I often wondered why India couldn’t become the land of one’s dreams. But I was told in India things don’t work unless you know people. That capital was scarce and that the multiple barriers to living out your dreams didn’t allow for anything other than a mundane existence to people coming from small towns with no backers or backgrounds.

Did that mean people like me couldn’t dream? This book is written to prove that India can be the land of our dreams and it is our ability to reach out with the right attitude and the right ideas that will get us there. Today’s generation is proving me right and I am so proud of them. So to all those who dared to dream – cheers! Hang in there and you will make it,” says the author, Arundhati Bhattacharya.

“Indomitable is the story of small towns, big dreams and greater achievements. Arundhati’s journey, growing up in the sleepy towns of Bhilai and Bokaro, getting into a challenging banking job and leaving her mark as an exceptional leader is an inspiring tale that will be etched in a reader’s mind for years. We are excited and privileged to be publishing this book,” says Sachin Sharma, Executive Editor, HarperCollins India.
Arundhati Bhattacharya is the first woman to chair the State Bank of India (SBI), a 210-year-old institution, India’s largest bank and a Fortune 500 company. Currently, she is the chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India, a cloud-based SaaS company, listed in the USA and headquartered in San Francisco.

HarperCollins Publishers India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints.
Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Prabha Khaitan Woman’s Voice Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and the Crossword Book Award.

HarperCollins India has been awarded the Publisher of the Year Award three times: at Publishing Next in 2015, and at Tata Literature Live! in 2016 and 2018.HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Egmont, Oneworld, Harvard University Press, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet.
This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

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How Didi Beats Modi in West Bengal?

This is what the book explores as it examines why the BJP lost the plot in West Bengal and what this means for the next General Elections,” says Ghosal…reports Asian Lite News.

In the West Bengal elections of 2021, the longest state polls in the history of India, Mamata Banerjee won the khela, and the BJP lost the plot. How did this happen?

Political journalist Jayanta Ghosal, travelled to all the districts of West Bengal and unearthed certain key factors that helped the Trinamool win the state that he records in “Mamata Beyond 2021” (HarperCollins).

For instance, there was a massive gap in the BJP’s understanding of Bengali identity, which Banerjee was able to exploit. An ‘overdose’ of central intervention, ranging from paramilitary forces to intelligence agencies to target key TMC leaders, added to the BJP’s disconnect with voters. Increasingly, the state felt the divide between New Delhi and Bengal grow.

The book details how Banerjee was successfully able to portray herself as the ‘daughter of Bengal’ who worked tirelessly for the stat’s poor and disadvantaged. It also asks the question: with the state elections under her belt, what will be Banerjee’s path to the General Elections of 2024? Does she consider herself a candidate for the Prime Minister’s post?

“Is Mamata now the No 2 political brand in the country? What is her roadmap for 2024? This is what the book explores as it examines why the BJP lost the plot in West Bengal and what this means for the next General Elections,” says Ghosal.

According to the translator, Arunava Sinha, “This book asks some of the most important questions that will affect all Indians in the next two years leading up to the elections. Most importantly, whether Mamata Banerjee will pay a decisive role”.

“Mamata Banerjee is one politician that everybody is watching and curious about. From her sensational 2021 Bengal assembly win to her plans for 2024, this book goes beyond the headlines to bring us the true story of what makes Mamata Banerjee a fierce political opponent to the BJP in today’s India,” says Swati Chopra, Executive Editor, HarperCollins India.

Jayanta Ghosal, born in 1962, has been a political journalist for the past four decades. He has worked for the Bengali newspapers Anandabazar Patrika and Bartaman, TV channels ABP News, India TV, and is now consulting editor, India Today group. Most of his life has been spent in newsrooms. A journalist, writer, teacher and speaker, he is a student of the history, politics, and culture of West Bengal and eastern India. He has authored several books in Bengali about the region and is also a biographer of Mamata Banerjee.

Arunava Sinha translates classic, modern and contemporary Bengali fiction and non-fiction from Bangladesh and India into English. He also translates fiction from English into Bengali. Over sixty-five of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK and the USA. His recent translations include “The Sickle” by Anita Agnihotri, “Khwabnama” by Akhtaruzzaman Elias, and “Imaan” by Manoranjan Byapari. He was born and grew up in Kolkata, and lives and writes in New Delhi. He teaches at Ashoka University.

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