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For Lucknow, the year 1784 might have passed as its predecessor, unsung and cheerless, but for a significant piece of news. A messenger from Calcutta announced the arrival of the Laat Sahib, or the British Viceroy of India. The people of the fetid capital of Awadh by the Gomti river were invigorated. It meant employment. Writer Srikumar recreates the last days of Awadh, ravaged by poverty, grime and a sliding culture in a language that is lyrical, lucid and haunting. Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula strives to come to terms with his new British masters as uncertainty looms on the fates of Begum Shams-un-Naisa, prince Wazir Ali and the royal aides. The answer to immortality in a fast-changing India lay in one of the country's biggest Imambara...It is the Begum's secret. Serious Men
When the formidable reputation of Acharya, who is obsessed with the theory that microscopic extra-terrestrials are falling on earth all the time, is rocked by a major scandal, Ayyan sees in the crisis an opportunity to make his son a national hero. Alternately funny and poignant, Serious Men is a savage satire on class, love, relationships, and our veneration of science. Though provoking. A Masterful Spirit It presents the life and achievements of Homi J. Bhabha, one of India's outstanding scientists who shouldered the beginning of India's nuclear programme, through previously unpublished letters, photographs, paintings and students. The book is an exercise in acquaintance with different facets of Bhabha's personality as a physicist, institution builder, concerned citizen, artist and connoisseur of the arts. Extreme American
Makeover Sameera, 'Sparrow' to her friends, is used to feeling invisible. But all is about to change. As her father's campaign for the US presidency gathers steam, Sameera trades her summer vacation for a crash course in becoming a celebrity. Step 1: Fabulous Makeover, of course! As it turns out, the makeover is amazing. But some of the campaign staff is not content with a trendy haircut, stilettoes and designer outfits. They have decided to package Pakistan-born, straight-talking Sameera as "Sammy" Righton --- a giggly, carefree, all-American girl. What they don't know is that Sameera has a mind of her own. And plenty to say. Not to mention a blog that could go live to millions. A riveting book written in a smart language.
Dibyendu Palit, a celebrated novelist and short-story writer, has explored the psyche of the Bengali middle class and their emotional upheavals. Eight years into her marriage to Ashim, responsible and conscientious to a fault, Jeena, an attractive housewife finds herself drawn to Partha Mukherjee. Stolen glances and clandestine meetings lead to a weekend trip to Puri while Ashim is away on business. At Puri, however, after a night of passion turns violent, Jeena is besieged with doubts about illicit relationships. Aftertaste Mummyji, the matriarch of a prosperous business family, lies comatose in a Mumbai hospital. Manipulative and determined, Mummyji has seen her family through with bribe, food and adoration. Surrounding her are the four children -- the weak Papaji, who is in need of cash; Samir, the dynamic head of business with a bad marriage and a demanding mistress; Suman, the spoilt beauty of the family who wants Mummyji's jewels; Nina, Suman's unlucky sister, who has always been in the shadow. Each one of them wants Mummyji to die for different reasons. Mumbai-based journalist Namita Devidayal rips open the politics in traditional Indian business families in her second novel after The Music Room.
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The Begum's Secret
Ayyan Mani is just another
man in Mumbai, stranded in the "rot" of a good marriage, an
unremarkable life and a dead-end job as personal assistant to an
insufferable astronomer called Arvind Acharya at the Institute of Theory
and Research. To breathe some life into the drudgery that has set in,
Ayyan weaves an outrageous fiction around his 10-year-old son.
Illicit