Amazon launched its first physical bookstore in Seattle in 2015, and later expanded brick-and-mortar stores across the US and abroad…reports Asian Lite News
Amazon has announced to shut down most of its brick-and-mortar storefronts, including Amazon Books, across the US and the UK, as the e-commerce giant aims to shift its focus on opening more fashion and grocery stores.
The retail giant confirmed to ZDNet late on Wednesday that it is shutting over 60 bookstores, Amazon Pop Ups and “Amazon 4-star” shops.
The company said it’s still investing in Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go and its Amazon Style stores.
“We remain committed to building great, long-term physical retail experiences and technologies,” an Amazon spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.
Amazon launched its first physical bookstore in Seattle in 2015, and later expanded brick-and-mortar stores across the US and abroad.
Later, Amazon’s retail footprint expanded with the $13.7 billion expansion of Whole Foods in 2017, along with its own Amazon Fresh grocery stores.
Amazon has also been working on ‘Just Walk Out’ cashierless shopping technology at Amazon Go convenience stores.
In 2018, the company launched Amazon 4-star stores, which sold top-selling items on Amazon.com, as well as items rated four stars or above by online buyers.
Amazon Pop Ups, the stores featured rotating brands and themes, aimed to give customers a “try-before-you-buy” experience.
The company recently announced the launch of Amazon Style, a retail store focused on fashion, said the report.
In Q4 2021, the company reported its physical retail business generated $4.68 billion, up from $4.02 billion in the year-ago quarter.
At the event, EPA is showcasing publications ranging in genres from literature and literary criticism to books…reports Asian Lite News
As part of its ongoing mission to represent Emirati publishers locally and regionally and strengthen their outreach in new markets, the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA) is showcasing 254 titles from 27 Emirati publishers through its ‘Manassah’ platform at the 26th edition of the Muscat International Book Fair (MIBF), which runs until 5th March.
Since the opening, several meetings were held between the EPA delegation and officials representing various cultural entities in Oman. The EPA delegates met with Dr. Abdullah Nasser Al Harrasi, Oman’s Minister of Information, and Sayyid Said bin Sultan al Busaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture Sports and Youth in Oman. The two parties explored cooperation opportunities between EPA and entities dedicated to culture and books in Oman and discussed strategies to facilitate their participation in the forthcoming editions of the Muscat Book Fair, as well as ways to utilise EPA’s experience in establishing Oman Publishers Association.
The delegation also met with representatives of the Promising Generation Libraries and Beirut Library with the aim of creating niche markets for Emirati publishers in Oman and the Gulf region, and to sign off cooperation agreements to broaden the scope of distribution of books published in the UAE. Discussions also centred on joint action in book printing and logistics, and ways to facilitate showcasing these books in local and regional libraries and book fairs to enhance the Arab publishing industry.
At the event, EPA is showcasing publications ranging in genres from literature and literary criticism to books exploring topics of self-development, economics, philosophy, history and heritage, applied sciences and picture books, in addition to translations from a host of foreign languages into Arabic.
Ali bin Hatem, President of the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), said, “Our participation at the Muscat International Book Fair is in line with our commitment to highlight the exceptional works produced by Emirati and other UAE-based publishing houses and showcase the vibrant creative landscape of the UAE. MIBF is an important cultural event for the publishing sector in the Arab world and attracts a high footfall of visitors, Arab publishers, and vital stakeholders in the industry.”
“Through the ‘Manassah’ platform, EPA is uniting the efforts of publishers and supporting the publishing sector in the UAE by showcasing their books under the umbrella of a single pavilion. This facilitates access of Emirati publishers to key international book fairs and contributes to enhancing their visibility and marketing their books in the UAE and on the international stage to create a robust cultural sector that supports our national economy, furthers the cultural movement of the UAE, and emphasises its global significance,” he added.
These instances, and in early literary manifestations — “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) by Washington Irving and of several others, who sleep through the ages to awaken in the future — are more cases of time dilation than time travel. But that would soon change as science fiction emerged and flourished…writes Vikas Dutta
The most plaintive words, across languages, could be “If I could turn back time/the clock”. While what the future will bring hangs heavy on most people, and many may not forgo a way to plumb its secrets; while human science has yet to devise a way to enable time travel, human culture, especially its literature, has no such limitations.
Time travel across various media — from “Dr Who” to “Star Trek: The Original Series” (TV, films, spin-off novels), from Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” to “Back to the Future” series, and from Harry Potter (remember the third installment?), to an array of science fiction masterpieces — shows that the trope has flourished for more than a century now, and become a staple of science fiction.
However, the earliest occurrences crop up in some unexpected places.
The Vishnu Purana tells us of the solar dynasty monarch Raivata Kakudmi, who travels to the abode of the celestial creator Brahma to consult him on a pressing matter. He only spends a day there but is surprised to find, on his return to the mortal realm, that several aeons have passed.
There are similar stories in other traditions too, especially of the “Seven Sleepers”, who hid in a cave to avoid persecution of the Christians in the then Roman empire, went to sleep, and woke up centuries later. A version is also found in The Quran (“Sura Al-Kahf”/”The Cave”).
These instances, and in early literary manifestations — “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) by Washington Irving and of several others, who sleep through the ages to awaken in the future — are more cases of time dilation than time travel. But that would soon change as science fiction emerged and flourished.
The idea of a device, or some unknown natural or supernatural occurrence, propelling the user into the future, or the past, is generally held to begin with H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” (1895), though Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (1843), in which the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted with his past and future, and given a choice to change the latter, is an earlier example in some respects.
Among the earliest known works of time travel, by means of a device rather than supernatural power, is American journalist-author Edward Page Mitchell’s short story “The Clock That Went Backward” (1881), in which two boys go back in time and space, courtesy of the device, and make a mark in history.
As the story was targeted at younger readers, it did not create much of a splash.
Though Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (1889), about the eponymous hero travelling back to the era of the Knights of the Round Table and bringing in elements of the future, came first, it was Wells who laid the basis for the sub-genre of science fiction.
But to be considered a time travel story, a work must contain a few defining elements, such as a mechanism by which to travel through time, usually a time machine.
There is one more key element, which we’ll return to soon.
Time travel stories also come in various flavours.
One is about the inevitability of fate where the protagonists go to the future, only to find a dystopian world which is a consequence of happenings in their own time, and return to their time and try to prevent what they saw from happening.
They may or may not be successful, and if it is the latter, well, you can’t fight fate. The “Time Scout” books by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans are a good example.
Then there are the ones where a trip into the past shows that history is different from what they thought it was, and then they change it so that it conforms to what they “know” as history — they think they “changed the past”, but this has already been done. “There Will Be Time” by Poul Anderson, Eoin Colfer’s “Artemis Fowl”, Robert Heinlein’s “The Door into Summer” and some of his stories serve as examples.
Another variant sees the heroes go to the past because things went wrong there and they want to change it to make a better “present”. This throws up some sub-variants, especially when villains go to the past to change it so that the present is better for them (Austin Grossman’s uproarious superhero novel “Soon I Will Be Invincible”), and thus, bad for the heroes, who might follow them to foil the attempts (Terry Pratchett’s “Night Watch”).
And then, even sometimes well-intentioned time travellers heading to the past to try and make it “better”, may end up making it worse, either by altering the future for the bad, creating a situation where the cause-effect paradigm or even the fabric of reality is threatened, or drawing the adverse attention of entities who would like time to go as it was.
Then, there is what is known as “Hitler’s Time Travel Exemption Act”, where it is impossible to go back and stop a real-life bad thing from happening — say, killing Adolf Hitler before he comes to power, or savingJohn F. Kennedy from an assassin’s bullet. Either it makes things worse — the villain is replaced with an even more evil, but efficient, one or saving a hero has unwelcome consequences, or time itself will prevent this.
Stephen Fry’s “Making History” is what happens when you go back to eliminate Hitler, Stephen King’s “11/22/63” (about saving JFK), and Ben Elton’s “Time and Time Again” (about averting the assassination that led to World War I).
Getting trapped leaves our heroes stuck in the past, and they now have to find how to get to their present in the future, or wait for someone to rescue them. If they can’t, they have to choose between living a quiet life and trying not to interfere with the past, or using their future knowledge to make the past better.
Or they might discover that they’re in a situation and can’t change anything even if they wanted to. An example can be found in Books 2 and 3 (“The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe” — for the trapped part — and “Life, the Universe and Everything”, for the chancy rescue part) of Douglas Adam’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Isaac Asimov’s “The End of Eternity” is about being unable to change anything.
Taking from the multiple worlds theory view of quantum mechanics, some stories presage a visit to the past and changes made there, creating an alternate timeline where the future will have changed, for better or worse, due to their intervention and they might not even be able to return there. (Asimov’s Norby series deals with this as well as Eric Flint’s “1632”, and its sequels by other writers too.)
Then there are the ones about organisations that patrol time and prevent changes which could affect the past/present/future, or threaten causality, space-time, or existence. Poul Anderson’s “Time Patrol” series is among the best.
The temporal paradox element focuses on time travel so affecting causality that it may lead to the time travellers not being able to make the trip at all, and this could lead to the end of time/the world, or their own existence, at the least.
If all this leaves you confused, don’t doubt yourself. It’s now time for one most essential feature of time travel stories left to be revealed — the mind games it entails. Our minds are so attuned to the unidirectional, unispeed movement of time, that the paradoxes and mess of causality that permeate and define it, leaves many struggling to grasp the leaps in logic demanded.
If you still are interested, begin with the anthologies by Mike Ashley for the Mammoth Book and British Library Science Classics series, or for Kindle readers, the Wildside Press Megapacks of time travel stories (four at the last count) for the shorter version, and a whole galaxy of the longer form. Indian examples are virtually absent, with just Shovon Chowdhury’s “The Competent Authority” or Trisha Das’ “Kama’s Last Sutra” qualifying.
Brickhill, however, is unique in having two other works become successful films — “The Dam Busters”, based on an RAF bombing raid on German industry (book, 1951; film, 1955) and “Reach for the Sky” (book, 1953; film, 1956), on the disabled British fighter ace Douglas Bader…reports Vikas Dutta
The ‘egg or chicken’ conundrum is not required to establish whether books or films came first, but it is indisputable that a whole host of blockbuster movies — from the James Bond to the Harry Potter series, from “Dracula” to “Gone With the Wind”, and from “Ben-Hur” to “Jurassic Park” — owe their origin to books. War movies are no different.
A constant occurrence in human affairs from the earliest time, wars, given their effect on a society’s present and the future, the sacrifices they demand, and the moral issues they raise, figure in all forms of literary works. With the advent of cinema, their cultural depiction got a new — and much wider — display.
Since the First World War, war films of all shades, from jingoistic to pacifist, have been a staple of global cinema, being made right even as the conflict they depict rages on, down till the present day. Cinema traditions across the Americas, Europe and Asia have their masterpieces, but it is Hollywood, whose sheer scope and influence makes it predominant, that is most known for its repertoire.
While it has filmed a wide swathe of wars down the ages and around the world, from the Trojan War to the War against Terror, as well as some lesser-known conflicts (the 15th Moorish-Christian battles in Spain known as ‘El Cid’), the pride of place belongs to those set in the Second World War.
But, be they broad-spectrum retellings of major battles like the D-Day (“The Longest Day”, 1962), or the Battle of Arnhem (“A Bridge Too Far”, 1977), or episodes of PoW breakouts such as “The Great Escape” (1963), focused experiences of smaller formations (“Cross of Iron”, 1977, or “Squadron 633”, 1964), or even varying degrees of fiction (“The Bridge on the River Kwai”, 1957, “The Dirty Dozen”, 1967, “Where Eagles Dare”, 1968, and “The Eagle Has Landed”, 1976), all are based on books. Also, most made the transition from the page to the big screen in a considerably short span of time.
Irish-American journalist Cornelius Ryan’s eponymous military histories, which draw on the experiences of as many survivors as available from all sides, came out in 1959 and 1974 — three years before the films based on them; American author E.M. Nathanson’s “The Dirty Dozen” came out two years before the film; and Scottish novelist Alistair Maclean’s “Where Eagles Dare” and Jack Higgins’ “The Eagle Has Landed” just a year before.
There was, however, a lag for “Cross of Iron” based on German author Willi Heinrich’s “The Willing Flesh” (German 1955, English 1956), “Squadron 633” on former RAF officer Frederick E. Smith’s 1956 book of the same name, and most for Australian fighter pilot-turned-author Paul Brickhill, whose work on the PoW escape — of which he had first-hand experience — came out in 1950.
Brickhill, however, is unique in having two other works become successful films — “The Dam Busters”, based on an RAF bombing raid on German industry (book, 1951; film, 1955) and “Reach for the Sky” (book, 1953; film, 1956), on the disabled British fighter ace Douglas Bader.
But there are major differences between the printed and the reel versions. Some are due to the limitations of the form, say, the need for a condensed narrative, or the inability to delve into the background or to represent the thought processes of a character on screen, but most are instances of artistic licence, driven by the need to create a compelling or dramatic scene even if it is made up.
In “The Longest Day”, the scene showing a group of French nuns, led by the Mother Superior no less, hurrying into a war zone to minister to their injured compatriots makes for splendid viewing, but never happened in real life. Then, at the end of “A Bridge Too Far”, the actor playing the role of a British General, who masterminded the campaign, is shown speaking the phrase from which the book and the film’s title is drawn — he did say that but at a different point, in another context. Then, the motorcycle chase towards the end of “The Great Escape” makes for thrilling viewing, but never happened in real life.
Political and commercial reasons may also play a role in changes. “The Great Escape” was heavily fictionalised, with all its protagonists being composites of the real-life inmates and their roles jazzed up for the stars playing them. American officers, moreover, were given prominence, despite the fact that the PoWs who broke out were British and other Allied personnel.
The Americans were involved in planning and preparations for the escape, but their entire contingent had been moved to a different camp more than half a year before the escape.
On the other hand, some of these books do not make it easygoing for the filmmaker.
“The Dirty Dozen”, the film that is, shows the selection and training of the personnel for about two-thirds of the running time and the operation in about the final third. Guess, how much the book, over 500 pages in most editions, devotes to the denouement? Just the last two dozen-odd pages, with most of this being a report for the general concerned, and spending the rest as a character study. You won’t even recognise most of the film’s ‘Dirty Dozen’.
There are more examples of divergences, but let’s now look at another half-a-dozen war books and their film adaptations, which are lesser-known, but deserve both reading and viewing.
Less known than his contemporary Nicholas Monserrat of “The Cruel Sea” (1951; film, 1953), British naval officer-turned-writer Denys Rayner’s “The Enemy Below (1956; film, 1957) is a fictional but authentic tale of a cat-and-mouse game between an Allied destroyer and a German U-boat somewhere in the South Atlantic Ocean, spread over five days and ending with both in the same boat (figuratively and literally).
On land, much drier land, is British novelist Christopher Landon’s “Ice Cold in Alex” (1957; film, 1958), about two British soldiers and two nurses, pulling back after an advance by Field Marshal Rommel’s Afrika Corps, getting separated from their convoy, and forced to make the arduous drive across the desert to safety.
While Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” (1961; film, 1970) is the defining satirical novel of World War II, American novelist William Bradford Huie’s “The Americanisation of Emily” (1959; film, 1964) is a no less barbed look at how some officers will go to any extent to achieve glory, even as some seek to avoid it at any cost.
German novelist Hans Helmut Kirst’s “The Night of the Generals” (1962; film, 1967) is the incongruous tale of a dogged German military policeman seeking to catch a serial murderer of prostitutes, believed to be one of the three generals in the vicinity, even as indiscriminate massacres go on all around.
The company has added several award-winning authors just in the last one year including Nandini Nair and Pervin Saket. Chief Editor and resident poet is Sarita Saraf, a writer with an intense passion for philosophical literature…writes Vishnu Makhijani
Growing up in Kanpur, Chitwan Mittal heard “wonderfully imaginative stories” from her ‘dadi at mealtimes and from her convent-educated mothers’ vast collection of storybooks. Moving to Boston for an undergraduate programme in English Education, she spent her weekends browsing the childrens section of giant bookstores longing to connect with her home and culture, to “someday stumble upon books with pictures and stories native to South Asia” but sadly, it never happened.
After she chose to pursue a masters in Values in Education in London, she was determined to be involved in curriculum development for school children and for the past decade-and-a-half has been doing just that, culminating in the establishment of AdiDev Press, an independent publishing house that has just released two new titles that celebrate the diversity, values and unique inner selves of children and has lined up another 20 books for release during the year.
“Since 2005, I have been actively involved in children’s education and served on the committees that established Indian Institute of Teacher Education and Children’s University for the Government of Gujarat. Both institutes are focussed on experiential learning and holistic development through innovative education tools. In addition, I set up an education consultancy – ‘Educational Innovations’ to empower schools in Tier2 cities, to make curriculums more holistic and engaging.
“In 2015, we moved to Singapore and as a young mom and I started my hunt for culturally relevant content for my two boys – Aditya and Dev. I soon realized that not much had changed and South Asian storybooks were still hard to find. I decided to stop looking and start creating the very books that I always missed stories that represent South Asian people and culture. And, AdiDev Press came into existence, based on the names of my sons,” Mittal told IANS in an interview.
Its two new books are certainly the right fit.
“My First Hanuman Chalisa” is an illustrated translation of the devotional hymn, each page including the original text in Awadhi with an English transliteration that children can read, understand and enjoy. There is also a QR code on the back cover that enables parents and children access verses and word meanings being read aloud.
“Are Your Emotions Like Mine?”, with its simple text and magical illustrations, not only helps young children identify their emotions, but also teaches them how to cope through the simple strategy of taking a deep, deep breath.
Mittal has managed to put together a pretty formidable team, with social media being a great boon.
“It was due to platforms such as Instagram and Behance that I was able to identify so many talented South Asian illustrators living in India and different parts of the world. Today, we work with illustrators from Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Goa, Chennai and even Singapore and France. We have recently commissioned samples from South Asian illustrators based in the Caribbean, UK, and Sri Lanka,” she explained.
Mittal was “lucky enough” to be able to work with award-winning illustrator Debasmita Dasgupta and equally fortunate to have collaborated with architect and urban designer Shruti Hemani who created the picture book on emotions using traditional forms of line art and drawing on her experience of urban design.
Ambika Karandikar created such fun illustrations for the upcoming “J is for Jalebi”, that she was signed her on for a set of bilingual books. Art Director Aparajitha Vaasudev “took on the challenge of illustrating Hanuman in a completely original manner, adding elements of magic, fantasy and pop culture to create unforgettable imagery. It is unlike any other depiction of Hindu gods that have been seen before”, Mittal elaborated.
The company has added several award-winning authors just in the last one year including Nandini Nair and Pervin Saket. Chief Editor and resident poet is Sarita Saraf, a writer with an intense passion for philosophical literature. Ashwitha Jayakumar is the historical researcher who ensures that the text and visual representation for each book, especially those based on historical characters, is based on thorough research and analysis.
“We have a very exciting line-up of books releasing in 2022,” Mittal said adding: “We are launching our series of biographies for children called ‘Learning TO BE’ that introduces young children to big values in an engaging manner.
The first three titles to be released in February are “Kindness with Mahavira”, “Service with Guru Nanak” and “Peace with Buddha”. There is a series on Women in Science that includes “Passion” on oceanographer Aditi Pant, “Courage” on Anandibai Joshee (one of the first female doctors of Western medicine), “Perseverance” on botanist Janaki Ammal, and Commitment with physicist Bibha Choudhuri. The set on sportswomen includes “Trust” on P.T. Usha, “Resilience” on Bhakti Sharma (the first Asian woman and the youngest in the world to set a record in open swimming in Antarctic waters), “Adaptability” with Arunima Sinha (the first female amputee to climb Mt Everest), and “Transformation” on (Revolver Dadi) Chandro and (sister-n-law) Prakashi Tomar.
“We believe that biographies can be powerful tools to inspire and uplift. And we are committed to developing this series by writing books on performing artists and change makers,” Mittal explained.
In addition, there are a plethora of other books on South Asian mythology, festivals and culture under development.
“The stories we are told form the fabric of our childhood. And, I want to ensure that we at AdiDev Press play a role in giving our children the head start they need in discovering their roots, appreciating their culture and defining their values as they embark on their life journeys,” Mittal concluded.
Drawing on his own memories and impressions of this unique land, he pays homage to the country that has been his home for 84 years…reports Asian Lite News
As the sunny rays of winter pour through our windows, curl up on your reading chair and indulge in these binge-worthy reads.
Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist by Chandrachur Ghose
New information throws light on Bose’s intense political activities surrounding the revolutionary groups in Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and United Provinces, 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 sub-plots under one man’s single-minded focus on freeing the motherland and envisioning its development in a new era.
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 and thought-provoking Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist will open a window to many hitherto untold and unknown stories of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
The Puffin Book of 100 Extraordinary Indians
100 inspiring stories of outstanding achievements! The Puffin Book of 100 Extraordinary Indians is a celebration of achievements and personal stories of those who forged new paths for themselves and others in a way that it continues to affect modern lives.
Written as short anecdotal biographical sketches, the book presents the lives of scientists, doctors, activists, painters, sportspeople, dancers, political leaders and many more from different walks of life. Featured in this collection are names like Irom Sharmila, Dutee Chand, Bhagat Singh, Gauri Sawant, Virat Kohli and Sundar Pichai.
Whether they climbed the heights, swam the depths, mastered science or track and field, picked the baton of education or activism – each of their stories is replete with big and small victories that continue to inspire.
A Little Book of India by Ruskin Bond
As India completes 75 years of independence, we bring to you a slice of our beloved country in the words of our favourite author, Ruskin Bond. Drawing on his own memories and impressions of this unique land, he pays homage to the country that has been his home for 84 years. Bond talks fondly about the diverse elements that make up this beautiful land — its rivers and forests, literature and culture, sights, sounds and colours.
A Little Book of India is an amalgamation of the physical and spiritual attributes of our homeland, and takes you on a journey filled with nostalgia and devotion.
A short story collection by S. Hareesh X ADAM
Four Belgian Malinois puppies, raised by an ex-serviceman, who end up in four different life situations; two men who play a game made out of death notices clipped from newspapers; a man who exploits his friend’s disability to satisfy his own bestial needs; a government employee who is intoxicated by the taste of wild meat and sinks deeper and deeper into the toxic world of hunting; two buffaloes who break away from their butcher, leading an entire village to chase after them; an old man who rejoices in the death of a sworn enemy who was once his friend.
S. Hareesh’s Adam explores the more difficult of human emotions — lust, anger, jealousy, vengeance and greed. Translated from the Malayalam, the collection presents nine unusual stories about ordinary people, their passions and their diverse destinies in a world where humans, animals and nature collide. Hareesh’s unique style of storytelling, which mixes astute social observation with an irreverent and sarcastic tone, makes these stories invigorating, and pushes the craft of the short story to new and refreshing realms.
‘The Authentic Yoga’ Book, Brings Yoga Closer To One and All
Heartfulness launched The Authentic Yoga originally written by Shri P. Y. Deshpande with additional content by Heartfulness Guide – Daaji, that includes the Foreword and a new chapter presenting the yogic practices in the light of Heartfulness for everyone to benefit from Yoga directly. The book gives a deep insight into the true state of Yoga in finding unity within body, heart, and soul in totality that can rightly translate us into being ‘human’.
Homemaker-CEOs can teach MBAs, corporate managers and businesses much more than you ever imagined…reports Asian Lite News
From stories that detail the shenanigans of animals, to the BCCI’s impact on Indian cricket, to discovering the unity in diversity that is India through the workings of the 15th Finance Commission, to the saga of India’s first manufacturing park for medical devices to lessons homemaker-CEOs can teach MBAs, corporate managers and businesses, to magical foods that will change your life, to the agony and ecstasy of falling and failing in live, Rupa Publications invites you to Bond with the best this February.
Here’s what’s on offer:
All Creatures Great and Small – By Ruskin Bond
‘Samuel was a snail of some individuality. Some considered him to be the bad snail in the family, but that was because he did not listen to his elders and liked to do things on his own… Birds and butterflies recognized no man-made borders, so why should snails?’
If there is one thing that never gets old or boring or repetitive, it is stories that detail the shenanigans of animals. Often extremely entertaining, animals act in certain ways that are intriguing, wondrous and fascinating.
In ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, Ruskin Bond, known for his signature simplistic and witty writing style, brings us stories and personal essays that speak to this animal-human equation. He takes us into the world of ambitious snails, conniving eagles, monkeys that love hot baths, humans who befriend them and many other exciting tales!
On Board: Test, Trial, Triumph – My Years in BCCI – By Ratnakar Shetty
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is an institution that elicits extreme reactions. While some marvel at the remarkable work it has done to promote and develop cricket in India and elsewhere, others decry it as being myopic, arrogant and money-minded. However, nobody can deny the impact the BCCI has had not only on Indian cricket, but also international cricket and the influence it commands. Over the years, the professionalism and excellence displayed by Indian cricketers on the field has been complemented by the zeal and diligence of those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to take Indian cricket to where it is today.
‘On Board’ offers the reader an opportunity to walk through the corridors of this extraordinary institution and enter its meeting rooms, where many issues were discussed and momentous decisions taken. Penned by Prof Ratnakar Shetty, who has been an integral part of the BCCI’s evolution from being just a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to the most powerful cricket board on the planet, the book is an engaging read.
Those Were the Days: Tales From The 15th Finance Commission – By Ashok K. Lahiri
The Finance Commission has played a critical role in India’s federal structure since 1952. Every five years, this constitutional body produces a report recommending what share of the Union Government’s divisible tax pool should be devolved to the states, and how this aggregate should be distributed among the different states, among other recommendations on fiscal governance. In between its appointment and submission of its Report, the Finance Commission tends to spend the intervening period in the relative secrecy of internal discussions and state visits.
Despite the excitement about the Commissions in the media, and among the public, leaders and bureaucrats in states, little is publicly known about the rich experiences that the members and staff of the Commission gain while visiting all the states of our large and diverse country, and their interpersonal interactions.
‘Those Were the Days’ captures vignettes of such experiences of the 15th Finance Commission. It is a book not of history or economics or even secret deliberations within the Commission, but one that captures the joys of working as a team, a sense of discovery of the unity in diversity that is India and the great camaraderie that it enjoyed with leaders and civil servants in the different states. Made in Lockdown: India’s Medtech Growth Powered by AMTZ – By Jitendra Sharma
AMTZ is India’s premier medical technology park with common manufacturing and scientific facilities that include specialized laboratories, warehousing and testing centres such as the centre for electromagnetic compatibility and safety testing, centre for biomaterial testing, centre for 3D printing, centres for lasers, MRI magnets, gamma irradiation, moulds and many other industrial service centres.
This book highlights the real strength of AMTZ – not just the products to fight the pandemic, but a broader ambit of the healthcare value chain. ‘Made in Lockdown’ is all about how AMTZ showcases modern India as a leader in the medical technology global stage.
Every Mother Is a CEO: Management Lessons From My Mother – By Dhanjit Vadra
Homemaker-CEOs can teach MBAs, corporate managers and businesses much more than you ever imagined.
Doesn’t managing a home’s finances, nurturing the family’s nutritional and emotional needs and planning the workflow of everyday activities of different family members count as management?
‘Every Mother Is a CEO’ answers these questions and more. In a breezy, conversational style, the author Dhanjit Vadra – Managing Director, Allen &Alvan Pvt Ltd and CEO, Allen & Alvan Defence & Aerospace – recounts the ways in which his mother Urmil Vadra worked tirelessly towards managing a large household, raising a family and assisting his father build a hardware manufacturing empire from scratch.
Heal With Foods: Magical Ingredients That Will Change Your Life – By Manjari Chandra
A vibrant, healthy you starts with your gut!
Our food choices are driven by what we subconsciously feed to our brain, influenced by advertisements, peers, societal norms and many environmental factors. Immaculately designed packets and their strategic placement on store shelves compel us to buy foods that, in reality, we do not need. These are the foods that deteriorate our overall health, particularly the gut, when in fact, the gut defines and influences every aspect of our health – from digestion and body weight, to mood, hormonal balance and immunity. And gut health can only be enhanced by eating nutritionally rich, wholesome foods.
Premier Amour: First Love – By Abhay
A love story that is at once exciting and tender!
The fact and fiction about love stories inevitably merge at some point, and one becomes the other. The proof lies between these pages.
Just like the lovebirds in real life, Bhanu and Bhushan experience the ecstasy and agony of falling and failing in love. But will they rise again in love? Will their first love give them a second chance? Those who have loved will get a clue from these lines:
A woman’s heart in love is like a peacock in the rains. It has to give in to much singing and dancing, flutter its rainbow feathers and spread them in an oversized arch, then strut all over the place wearing that colourful cloak, announcing to the world that it is the season of love.
First love is a rare lucky charm. Always wear it close to your heart.
To love and to lose in love is worse than not to love.
I am still recovering from a fractured heart, and it is unfair to give someone something that is broken.
Some women prefer to win their man, not steal him.
Is it possible for a society to exist without religion? Nireeswaran, the most celebrated of Malayalam novelist V.J. James’ works, uses incisive humour and satire to question blind faith and give an insight into what true spirituality is…reports Asian Lite News
With a wide choice of books, you can count on many beautiful pages of words to read and consider while starting off the New Year.
Open House with Piyush Pandey
Authors: Piyush Pandey and Anant Rangaswami
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Pvt Ltd
Open house
Piyush Pandey takes readers on a voyage through his mind-his work, thoughts, and experiences-in Open House. People have asked him questions over the years, and he has answered them. There are three types of questions: serious, incisive, and frivolous. Is advertising a viable career path? Should political parties hire ad agencies? Why does Ogilvy work for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? Should those who don’t like the advertising take the law into their own hands? Is Ogilvy & Mather a lala firm? What does advertising’s future hold? Is Piyush Pandey too old for this line of work?
This book, which has been expertly edited by Piyush Pandey and Anant Rangaswami, is honest, irreverent, and educational. Open House will both entertain and enlighten you with its practical wisdom and deep insights.
THE MUSLIM VANISHES
Author: Saeed Naqvi
Publisher : Penguin Random House India Pvt Ltd
The great poet Ghalib, part of a long tradition of eclectic liberalism, found Benaras so compelling that he wrote his longest poem on the holy city, ‘Chiragh-e-Dair’ (Mandir Ka Diya or Lamp in the Temple):
‘Ibadat khaana-e-naaqoosian ast,
Hama na Kaaba-e-Hindostan ast.’
(Devotees make searing music with conch shells,
This truly is the Kaaba of Hindustan.)
Remove Ghalib and his legion of devotees from the equation. Will Hindustan be left with a gaping hole or will it evolve into something quite different? Saeed Naqvi’s play The Muslim Vanishes tries to answer such question. The decibel levels on these topics are too high, with each side strongly defending their own narratives for a discourse to take place. Caste, the Hindu-Muslim split, Pakistan-Kashmir-the decibel levels on these issues are too high for a conversation to take place. Is there a way out of this bind? Saeed Naqvi, razor-sharp, gentle, and humorous, springs an inspired surprise on us by combining grandma’s bedside stories, Aesop’s fables, and Mullah Nasruddin’s faked flaws. Is it capable of putting out the fire?
Nireeswaran
Author – V.J. James
Publisher : Penguin Random House India Pvt Ltd
Is it possible for a society to exist without religion? Nireeswaran, the most celebrated of Malayalam novelist V.J. James’ works, uses incisive humour and satire to question blind faith and give an insight into what true spirituality is.
Antony, Sahir, and Bhaskaran, three atheists, embark on an elaborate prank to prove that God is nothing more than a myth. They put up a mutilated Nireeswaran idol, which is basically anti-god, to demonstrate how worthless their faith is. When miracles begin to be credited to Nireeswaran, such as a man waking up after a twenty-four-year coma, an unemployed man unfit for government work receiving a contract, and a prostitute transforming into a saint, throngs of people go to worship the bogus deity. The trio is caught in the middle of a dilemma. Will they be able to defeat their own creation? Is their obstinate thinking a sign that atheism is a religion in and of itself? It’s possible that belief and disbelief are two sides of the same coin. The Hidden Hindu
Author: Akshat Gupta
Publisher : Penguin Random House India Pvt Ltd
Prithvi, a twenty-one-year-old, is on the hunt for Om Shastri, a mysterious middle-aged aghori (Shiva devotee) who was tracked down more than 200 years ago and taken to a high-tech facility on an isolated Indian island. When the aghori was drugged and hypnotised for questioning by a team of experts, he claimed to have seen all four yugas (Hindu epochs) and even participated in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Om’s amazing prior disclosures, which defied the laws of mortality, perplexed everyone.
Om had been searching for the other immortals from each yuga, the crew discovers. These strange secrets have the potential to upend current ideas and change the trajectory of history. So, who is Om Shastri, exactly? Why was he apprehended? In this exhilarating and revealing journey, board the boat of Om Shastri’s secrets, Prithvi’s chase, and the exploits of other intriguing immortals from Hindu mythology.
The Climate Ninja by Merlinwand book
Merlinwand wants to teach the kids about global warming. The effects of climate change are being discussed all around the world. The storytelling is what sets their story apart. Their goal isn’t to preach (as all textbooks do), but to raise awareness in a humorous way. A little human and his companion from the planet Mootza had an informative talk. While on a cruise with his parents, the miniature human falls into the ocean by accident. He encounters Rumpus, an extraterrestrial from Planet Mootza, after being rescued by a dolphin. Rumpus has been on this island for a long time, since his planet was devastated by pollution.
The two have an engaging talk, and the small human recognises the seriousness of pollution (water, soil, noise, and air) on the planet. After that, he declares himself to be The Climate Ninja. The most intriguing aspect of the book is that the client gets to choose the protagonist’s name and appearance. They are given the option of choosing two of the four categories of pollution: air, noise, water, and soil pollution.
Pandit Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra- Illustrated Tales From Ancient India
Panchatantra is a fantastic collection of moral stories drawn from Panchatantra’s five books: mitra-bheda, mitralabha, kakolukyam, labdhapranasam, and aparksitakarakam. The legendary tales of Panchatantra continue to amaze young readers and adults alike with delightful narrated stories of smart animals, birds, and people. Young readers will be transported to another world by the gorgeous illustrations, where they will learn about life lessons, human nature, and how to achieve success.
How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change: Turning Angst into Action Climate change
Shugarman, a climate campaigner, has developed a pointedly apolitical work geared at helping parents and children talk about climate change. She also offers advise on how to protect children from feeling unhappy or overwhelmed (information that applies to adults as well) and how to encourage youngsters to pursue their unique passions while keeping the overall vision in mind. Many people are talking about global warming these days, and the prospect of a climate calamity may scare many children. How do we talk about these important issues in a way that is both informative and doesn’t exacerbate anxieties? What can we do to ensure that our children have the best possible future in a disaster-plagued world? This book will answer all of your questions. Fear and grief can be overcome with the help of this book.
World’s Greatest Leaders: Biographies of Inspirational Personalities
This is a painstakingly researched book that honours the accomplishments of charismatic, powerful, and influential individuals who have influenced the course of history. Young inquisitive minds will be piqued by age-appropriate information, amusing facts, and vivid graphics, which will aid in the development of reading skills and general knowledge. It’s a fantastic book for teaching your child and yourself about the world’s greatest leaders. It also teaches life lessons and even personal ethics that parents sometimes neglect to impart to their children.
Works of literature, spanning from the author of the first modern best-seller to a Nobel Literature laureate and more, offer an insightful record of previous manifestations of life-changing epidemics…reports Vikas Datta
An insidious, and unseeable, force is out there, able to strike anyone to cause sickness, and in some cases, death. The only way to stay safe is to keep away from almost everyone else — but that is easier said than done in our urban, inter-connected, and interdependent lives.
There is widespread panic as rumours abound and the crisis brings out the best and worst in people. A description of our Covid-hit world? No, pandemics have hit us earlier too — and are reflected in our literature.
Pandemics/plagues have been regular occurrences across human existence — at the rate of two or three per century, but their dispersal in time and space, their varying impacts, and limitations of memory lead them to be forgotten by future generations. The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 may be beyond the frame of current human experience, but how many can recall the Asian influenza of 1957 or the swine flu of 2009?
Works of literature, spanning from the author of the first modern best-seller to a Nobel Literature laureate and more, offer an insightful record of previous manifestations of life-changing epidemics.
Let us see some half-a-dozen odd of these, avoiding speculative thrillers about man-made virulent organisms being set loose or the genre where everyone becomes a mutant/zombie, before answering the obvious question: Why should we want to read about something we are now experiencing first-hand with all its attendant sufferings and disruptions?
Among the oldest is 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’ (c. 1350-53), written as the lethal ‘Black Death”, which devastated Eurasia, was at its peak.
The narrative framework of this collection of 100-odd stories is that ten wealthy young nobles of Florence — seven women and three men — leave the city for a secluded villa in the countryside for two weeks, where they spend all their time telling each other these tales.
While the stories are usually of love — romantic, tragic, and erotic, they also deal with the power of fortune, will, lust, ambition, and of clever repartees, and the characters include generous nobles, lecherous clergy, and travelling merchants.
However, one effort to steal away from the disease that doesn’t go too well can be found in Edgar Allan Poe’s story ‘The Masque of Red Death’ (1845).
First published as “‘The Mask of Red Death’ (1842), it tells how Prince Prospero, ruling over a plague-stricken realm, tries to avoid it by hiding in an abbey, with many other wealthy nobles, Not only that, they also hold a masquerade ball, but amid the revelry, there comes an unbidden guest, and eventually, “… Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all”.
But, the first account of living amid widespread disease is ‘A Journal of the Plague Year: Being Observations or Memorials, Of the most Remarkable Occurrences, As well Publick as Private, which happened in London During the last Great Visitation In 1665’ (that was how book titles ran in those days), by Daniel Defoe, known better for ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
Presented as an eyewitness account of an anonymous resident, who chooses to stay back in the city, the book published in 1722 gives a vivid description of the sufferings of the residents of London (“A casement violently opened just above my head, and a Woman gave three frightful screeches, then cried ‘Oh! Death, death, death!’”), as the fatalities rise from week to week.
It also analyses how certain groups or individuals fared, the effects on the Church and the government, enlivened with plenty of black humour, verging on the satiric.
Organised chronologically, though without chapters and containing plenty of digressions, it is still systematic and well-researched, leading to literary scholars arguing down the ages whether to treat it as an authentic history or fiction.
Mary Shelley, better known for ‘Frankenstein’, also ushered in the dystopian apocalyptic genre of science fiction with ‘The Last Man’ (1826).
Set in the 21st century, it tells how a plague infects and decimates mankind, and how survivors try to will on to live, while fighting other hostile human settlements.
But with its characters based on her late husband, the poet Shelley, whose biography she was forbidden to write by his family, and friends such as Lord Byron, it also bemoans the failure of their political ideals, as well as the tragedy of human isolation.
While the first modern work on the issue is Jack ‘Call of the Wild’ London’s ‘The Scarlet Plague’ (1912), set in 2073 — some six decades after the eponymous plague has denuded the planet of most of its people and reduced the survivors to a rough existence, which shows how the clock of human progress can be turned back — the definitive work is Albert Camus’ ‘La Peste/The Plague’ (1947).
Set in the then French Algerian town of Oran, it depicts an outbreak of plague, the resulting quarantine, and the response of the varied characters — a doctor, a visiting journalist, a priest, a mysterious visitor, a civic official, and many others — while giving insights into the nature of suffering and powerlessness of individuals to change their destiny in an absurd existence.
At a deeper level, it can be seen as an allegory of the real-life political plague (Nazism) that affected Europe till two years before the publication of the book, but also on Camus’ views about the human condition.
There are many more, across genres. ‘The Andromeda Strain’ (1969), the first book by Michael Crichton under his own name, shows a group of American scientists dealing with a lethal extra-terrestrial micro-organism. Connie Willis in ‘The Doomsday Book’ (1992) brings together time travel and plague and epidemics in the past and the present. And Catherine Ryan Howard’s ’56 Days’ (2021) shows how rather impetuous romantic choices, in the shadow of a pandemic, can have lethal consequences.
But now, to answer why we should read books of this ilk. For one, fiction, for those not totally fixated on TV or web-streaming, offers a way of understanding the scope of the crisis, with stories helping to comprehend something that may seem too huge and frightening to process. Two, it shows that our ancestors also faced such crises, and how they tackled them. And finally,
they provide reassurance that life continues, and it’s up to us to do what we make of it with our choices.
The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Meeting for Friendship amongst Peoples (Rimini Meeting)…reports Asian Lite News
The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Meeting for Friendship amongst Peoples (Rimini Meeting), Italy and Europe’s leading cross-cultural entity that hosts the world’s most notable thought and enlightenment leaders, to strengthen and create new channels of communication between Emirati, Arab and European cultures and launch bilateral initiatives and events to further advance literature, arts and the creative industries.
For more than 40 years, the Rimini Meeting – one of Europe’s most important cultural and literary events, has been bringing together presidents, world leaders, thinkers, scholars, artists, and intellectuals of every discipline and from across the world of culture, to exchange ideas and open dialogues for mutual enrichment. The annual gathering, held on a 120,000 sq m area, attracts more than 800,000 people annually, including participation of tens of thousands of volunteers. YouTube broadcasts of its activities has reached over 2.5 million viewers.
Prominent world personalities hosted at Rimini Meeting over the years include Pope Francis; Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former UN Secretary-General; Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of Germany; and Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Rimini Meeting has also convened American scholar and philosopher Naom Chomsky; French playwright Eugène Ionesco; Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky; and many Arab leaders and thinkers including Abdelaziz Bouteflika, former President of Algeria; Amr Moussa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt; Mostafa El Feki, diplomat and historian; Dr. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, scholar of Quranic studies; Usama Al Abd, academic; and Bishop Anba Ermia.
The MoU was signed by HE Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman of SBA, and Emmanuele Forlani, Managing Director of Rimini Meeting, via a virtual meeting on the Zoom platform. The signing took place in the presence of Bernhard Scholz, President of Rimini Meeting; Marco Aluigi, Congress Manager of Rimini Meeting; Khoula Al Mujaini, Director of Fairs and Festivals, SBA; and Mansour Al Hassani, Head of Sales, SBA.
The MoU stipulates the terms for launching mutual initiatives to promote human values, as well as investing in arts, literature and knowledge to reinforce cross-cultural communication between the UAE, Italy and Europe, in addition to promoting the cultural landscape and the authors and artists in both countries.
Ahmed Al Ameri said: “SBA believes that culture is the strongest tool to build bridges between the world’s peoples and cultures. Under the directives and vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, SBA is committed to partnering with leading cultural entities and organisations to strengthen cultural cooperation and build long-term relations with countries worldwide.”
“Sharjah is leading intellectual dialogue between the Arab world and global nations and through this agreement, the emirate looks forward to expanding opportunities for greater convergence between Arab and Italian cultures, and to introduce Arab authors and Arab history to our counterparts in Europe on one of the most prestigious communication platforms in the world,” Al Ameri added, pointing out that the emirate is eager to welcome Italian cultural entities, publishers and creative authors to the numerous international events organised by SBA.
Al Ameri emphasised that the objectives of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) align with those of Rimini Meeting, most notably in promoting mutual understanding and building bridges between the world’s countries and civilisations, by exploring authentic cultural aspects that espouse noble human values and ethics in relationships.
For his part, Bernhard Scholz, President of the Rimini Meeting, thanked the SBA for its resolute efforts in enriching the global cultural movement, and pointed out that the agreement between the two parties was the outcome of SBA’s continuous initiatives in this regard. The agreement offered an inspiring example of bilateral relations between two countries to the world, he added.
Bernhard Scholz stated that Italians are aware of the historical depth and contemporary impact of Arab culture and pointed out that the emirate’s cultural project sheds light on the Arab cultural wealth, and enriches other cultures too, through joint initiatives with vibrant entities in the region and across the world.
An SBA delegation had previously met with the Rimini Meeting management during a cultural tour across various Italian cities in September to explore cultural collaboration, and forge closer ties with Europe’s foremost cultural entities.
