Homi J Bhabha: A Renaissance Man among Scientists

MAKING parachutes out of umbrellas while appreciating Mozart and Beethoven by the age of eight. A mind so active, he couldn’t sleep. A love for art, a love for books. Perhaps this diversity is what makes great minds, and this diversity defines Homi J Bhabha, one of India’s greatest nuclear physicists. This monograph brings to light his life and times — his early work on cosmic rays, his struggles to translate theories into experiments. It encapsulates his vision for India and sheds light on his rich legacy, which still inspires generations of aspiring physicists.

WINNER of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for short story, S Hareesh’s ‘Adam’ is an exploration of dark human emotions. Two men play a game made of death notices in newspapers; an old man rejoices in the death of his friend-turned-foe; a government employee obsessed with the taste of wild meat; two buffalos break away from the butcher… The stories in this collection, says the author, reflect the language and lifestyle of his land. Originally in Malayalam, these have been translated by Jayasree Kalathil, who also translated his novel ‘Moustache’, which faced the wrath of the right wing.

JAGVIR GOYAL’S debut novel ‘Sun of a Dark Sky’ is unlike the technical books he has previously written. The 350-page novel narrates the story of Aarav, an engineer who moves from a private company to the government sector. Having grown up on lessons of honesty and patriotism, he firmly believes that you get paid for good deeds in a veiled manner. In his attempt to stick to these values while dealing with a rotten system, he faces resistance at every step. Yet he doesn’t succumb to the pressures. Full of twists and turns, the book narrates an account of an engineer’s struggle to sail through the waters of deceit and dishonesty.