# data[].attributes.description
Working as a maid to pay for her meals at the age of six and living in a notorious neighbourhood known for its brothels, Kanan Devi was the unlikeliest superstar. She had no lineage, no godfather and no resources to draw upon. Yet, beginning as a child artist at the age of ten, she rose to become one of the biggest screen divas of her time, commanding a fee of Rs 1,00,000 for a song and Rs 5,00,000 for a film. She was eventually feted with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Kanan Devi: The First Superstar of Indian Cinema is the incredible story of Kanan Devi's ascent as she went on to star and sing with stalwarts of the era like K.L. Saigal and Ashok Kumar, among many others. She became the voice of the musical works of Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, R.C. Boral, Pankaj Mullick, Kamal Dasgupta and many others and must be credited with bringing Tagore and Nazrul directly to the public arena much before their respective works had evolved into what is now called Rabindra Sangeet or Nazrul Geeti. Kanan Devi was not only one of the few stars to have been successful both in silent films and the talkies, she was also one of the few artists to be internationally recognized in Hollywood magazines as a gifted singer and actor, hobnobbing with the likes of Vivien Leigh.But it is not only her cinematic achievements that set her apart. She was a woman of many dimensions: a fashionista, a producer who made many successful films in the fifties and sixties, a philanthropist for women in theatre and film-centred welfare projects, and a feminist before the word gained currency, walking out of relationships when they came in the way of her profession. She possessed astute financial acumen and, remarkably for a woman of her time, managed her own investments and income.Mekhala Sengupta's well-researched account not only brings to life a fearless pioneer who fought stereotypes to live life on her own terms, but is also a loving ode to a lost era of Indian cinema.

# data[].attributes.description
Are ideologies a pair of binoculars that enable us to see far? Or are they a pair of blinkers that keep us from seeing even that which is at hand? How is it that communists; equipped as they are with the one great Theory that explains everything; fumble ever so often in seeing the obvious? How did the Theory lead them to declare the Second World War as an 'Imperialist War' one day; and a 'People's War' the next? How did it lead them to undertake to sabotage the Quit India Movement for the British? How did it lead them to trumpet the demand for Pakistan 'better than the Muslim League'? To declare in 1947 that India had not really become independent? To insist that Pandit Nehru was just "a running dog of imperialism"? To launch an insurrection in 1949 on the premise that India was ripe for an armed revolution? To fumble so much in their response to the end of the communist bloc? Arun Shourie; one of the most respected commentators on current affairs in India today; illustrates the malady by reconstructing what the communists did during the Quit India Movement. In the process he uncovers the secret negotiations they conducted and the secret understanding they struck with the British; the reports they submitted to the imperial rulers about the work they were doing to subvert the movement Mahatma Gandhi had launched. He concludes with a review of the reactions of Indian communists to the break-up of the Soviet empire; showing how their mental make-up and habits have not changed in the six decades since independence.

# data[].attributes.description
The novelized version of the cult film, Mera Naam JokerIt was by all accounts one of the biggest gambles in Hindi cinema of the time: five years in the making, with a running time of over four hours and two intervals, including two of the best-known circus troupes of India and the Soviet Union. Add to that an outstanding musical score. Mera Naam Joker was to be Raj Kapoor's magnum opus. Whetting audience appetite were indications that it would also be the Showman's most autobiographical film. Nothing, it seemed, could come between the film and box-office glory. Shockingly, the film bombed at the box-office - and so badly that RK Films, one of India's foremost studios, was almost wiped out in the wake of that disaster. Interestingly enough, over the last forty years, the film has attained a cult status and is one of the highestselling home videos in India.At the time of the film's release, its writer K.A. Abbas, in an act years ahead of its time, also published the novelized version of the film to great commercial success. Mera Naam Joker: The Complete Story is that book. A perceptive introduction by Suresh Kohli, analysing the tortuous making of the film and the reasons for its failure, also offers an insight into the creative process through which a story transforms into a film.

# data[].attributes.description
Krishan Chander is a stalwart of the Progressive Writers' Movement and a venerable name in Urdu and Hindi short story writing. His timeless stories astound both in terms of quality and sheer volume, yet he remains under-read outside his own languages. With simplicity and stylistic flair, this much-awaited volume brings together a novella and three stories that represent the best of his oeuvre. In 'The Dark River', a gothic tale of love and murder unfurls amidst great beauty. It will take all of Lata's strength to navigate the underbelly of Mumbai with nothing but a vermillion dream in 'Same Old Desire'. In 'Plums', the narrator realizes that there are things that time cannot touch: the citrus mischief of love, memories and plums. Even the most hardened criminal cowersbefore the silence of those who havenothing more to lose in 'Breaking the Strike'. Varied and evocative stories that carry the delicate essence of Urdu and Hindi into another language.

# data[].attributes.author
Suresh Kohli, Krishan Chander, Suresh Kohli

# data[].attributes.description
When the East India Company sells one of its village bungalows to a Bengali aristocrat, the erstwhile manager, Hamilton sahib, finds himself homeless in his adopted country. A mother leaves her house and her notions of chastity in order to feed her children.A Muslim woman fights for her right to be identified as herself - not by her caste, religion or husband's name. One of the most powerful writers of his time, Sunil Gangopadhyay traces the dreams of a generation of men and women, through the forgotten bylanes of Calcutta, past the canal that flows next to the newly built VIP Road, across the broken bridge to the village of Chitalmari, and further back in time, to the mysterious cave where the Buddha's shadow still appears, and to the Primal Woman, who preceded Eve as Adam's lover but had to pay a huge price for asking to be treated as Adam's equal. Within these pages, you will read about the desperation that drives human actions, the struggle to cull one's sense of self and the unending search for faith.Translated with rare feeling and felicity by Aruna Chakravarti, one of India's finest translators, these fifteen stories explore a startling range of ideas that showcase the master storyteller at his finest.

# data[].attributes.author
Aruna Chakravarti, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Aruna Chakravarti

# data[].attributes.subtitle
Ten Tales of Exceptional Entrepreneurship from Bangalore's Software Miracle

# data[].attributes.description
Traditionally, big business in India was the domain of a handful families. There were few stories of educated middle-class professionals making it big. Then Bangalore burst onto the global business stage. With its fast growing software sector and young, ambitious men and women looking to break new ground, it has dramatically altered the scene as far afield as Silicon Valley. Start-up City is an ode to this new idea of enterprise and to a world where everyday people are making modern business history. There is Bharat Goenka, whose father pushed him to develop a user-friendly accounting software that has captured more than 80 per cent of the market; B.V. Venkatesh, who started his own venture at the ripe age of fifty-eight; Ravi Rangan, who made kiosks a medium of governance to empower the common man; and many more who started out on empty pockets but built companies that are worth crores today. These tales of struggle and success hold lessons too. Policymakers can spot and correct the factors that deter new ventures, while budding entrepreneurs will find ways, means and the inspiration to strike out on their own. Most of all, though, they are a testament to where grit, determination and single-minded focus can get you in life.

# data[].attributes.description
In Eye on Cricket, Samir Chopra, a professor of philosophy and a long-time blogger at ESPNcricinfo, offers us a deeply personal take on a game that has entranced him his entire life in the several lands he has called home.In these essays, Chopra reflects on a childhood centred on cricket, the many obsessions of fandom, the intersection of the personal and the political, expatriate experiences of cricket, historical regrets and remembrances, and cricket writing and media.Nostalgic, passionate and meditative, Eye on Cricket is steeped in cricket's history and its cultural significance, and reminds the most devoted spectators of the game that they are not alone. It shows how a game may, by offering a common language of understanding, bring together even those separated by time and space and culture.

# data[].attributes.description
'This novel has the same charm as John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Intensely nostalgic and engrossing.' - Hansda Sowendra Shekhar<br/> Denis McGowan left India for Hong Kong to make his fortune.As the years passed and his printing press prospered, he losttouch with home. But as news of Hong Kong's impendinghandover by Britain to China trickles in, McGowan's stablelife seems suddenly uncertain. And it stirs up his memory,filling him with nostalgic ache for his village in India. That's when young Robin McGowandecides to travel to the village his father speaks of sooften: McCluskieganj, an Anglo-Indian agricultural havenfounded in the 1940s in what is now Jharkhand. Only, when he gets there, he finds that the villageis nothing like the idyllic home of his father's childhood.Overrun by outlaws, riddled with politics and controlled by landmafia, this is not the place where the nature-loving tribalshad once peacefully co-existed with the Anglo-Indians whochose India over Britain in 1947. This is a true-to-life portrait of an extraordinary village.

# data[].attributes.subtitle
Narratives of Four Generations of Pakistanis and Indians

# data[].attributes.description
The Journey of Partition itself -- after Partition. <br/>The Partition of British India and the subsequent creation of two antagonist countries is a phenomenon that we are still trying to comprehend. Millions displaced, thousands slaughtered, families divided and redefined, as home became alien land and the unknown became home. So much has been said about it but there is still no writer, storyteller or poet who has been able to explain the madness of Partition.Using the oral narratives of four generations of people -- mainly Pakistanis but also some Indians -- Anam Zakaria, a Pakistani researcher, attempts to understand how the perception of Partition and the 'other' has evolved over the years. Common sense dictates that the bitter memories of Partition would now be forgotten and new relationships would have been forged over the years, but that is not always the case. The memories of Partition have been repackaged through state narratives, and attitudes have only hardened over the years. Post-Partition events -- wars, religious extremism, terrorism -- have left new imprints on 1947. This book documents the journey of Partition itself -- after Partition.

# data[].attributes.subtitle
Why Some Sail through while Others Don't

# data[].attributes.description
Remember your placement season? There might have been friends you graduated with. You got more or less the same marks, and joined the same organization as trainees. Now, mid-career, you wonder why some of them have powered ahead while the rest are stuck with old responsibilities and designations. You cannot understand what it is that those who continue to grow are doing differently, what it is that helps them reach the top while others fall behind. Superior knowledge, sharper skills, or just sheer luck? Our mid-career is characterized by several questions that start bothering us: Should we stay put and grow, or quit and move to a better-paying, bigger profile? Are we leaders or followers? Should we continue drawing salaries or build our dream start-ups? Shaken by confusion, the self-confidence of our early years changes into misery--and, eventually, a crisis. In Mid-career Crisis, Partha Basu draws upon years of leadership experience in the corporate world, and offers life stories and professional insights. If you are just starting your career, this book will help you avoid common mistakes and prepare you for your mid-career crisis--because face one you will. And if you are already in one, it will show you the way out before it's too late.

# data[].attributes.description
Eat Dust was born out of personal anguish. Hartman de Souza saw a hill that he had struggled to climb in the 1990s literally disappear as mining operations ravaged it. As he followed the trail of the missing hill, De Souza was confronted with burnished orange deserts where once all was verdant. Enraged, he travelled the length and breadth of Goa, painstakingly documenting the operations of the state's powerful mining mafia. At once travelogue, investigative journalism and family memoir, Eat Dust maps the culture, topography and cultural diversity of Goa. When the mining starts again, as it seems poised to, De Souza's chronicles will stay behind like the taste of strong coffee, taken with less sugar to give it bite.

# data[].attributes.description
There was once a young boy who loved nothing more than making music. He dreamt of sharing his music with the world. One day, his dream came true.From a childhood spent strumming away at a guitar in Delhi to one of the most successful music composers in Mumbai: this is the story of Shantanu Moitra. His ebullience and sheer sense of adventure light up this memoir. Finding himself all alone at Jaisalmer station at three in the morning as a schoolboy; days as a client servicing drone in an advertising agency; collaborations with the biggest names in Hindi cinema; the making of Parineeta, his greatest hit; an all-consuming love of astronomy; near-death escapades in the Himalayas; his surreal moment with Diego Maradona at Milan airport - these stories provide a fascinating glimpse of the man behind the music.On the Wings of Music is a collection of reminiscences, anecdotes and self-revelations, embellished by photographs from Moitra's personal albums. These are delightful vignettes that chart the growth of a timid, self-effacing boy into a music composer of international repute. Charming and compelling.

# data[].attributes.author
Aruna Chakravarti, Shantanu Moitra, Aruna Chakravarti

# data[].attributes.description
'Subimal Misra may be the most important Bengali writer alive whom you have never heard of.' - The Statesman 'Long before Roberto Bolano, Misra had captured the disturbing, enigmatic landscape of the counterculture in a way that is subversive without being pretentious, Indian without being exotic, and somehow both contemporary and classic at once.' - The New Indian Express<br/>Audacious experimentalist and self-declared anti-writer, Subimal Misra is the master of contemporary alternative Bengali literature and anti-establishment writing. This collection brings together twenty-five stories that record the dark history of violence and degeneration in Bengal of the seventies and eighties. The mirror that Misra holds up to society breaks every canon of rectitude with unfailing precision. The stories also plot the continuous evolution of Misra's writing as he searches for a form to do justice to the reality that confronts us.Deeply influenced by Godard, Misra uses montage and other cinematic techniques in his stories, which he himself calls 'anti-stories', challenging our notions of reading and of literature itself. Brilliantly translated by V. Ramaswamy, Wild Animals Prohibited: Stories/Anti-stories startles with its blasphemy, its provocative ideas and its sheer formlessness.

# data[].attributes.description
When. You. Wake. Up. Tomorrow. Everything. Will. Be. Just. The. Same. Yet. Different.<br/>Time is arguably our biggest enemy. And memory, perhaps, our greatest curse. Which makes forgetting the hardest thing to do.These are stories of difficult pasts, and the struggle to leave them behind. Identical-twin rickshaw drivers are wrongly suspected of terrorism in paranoid Bombay; a Calcutta merchant envies each saree he sells for the intimacy it'll share with the woman who buys it; an illicit love affair is conducted over nine potent text messages; a lonely astronaut sings out loud, hoping his voice will find an ear somewhere; adivasis, jawans, Naxalites, policemen and journalists in Orissa are caught in a web of violence unleashed on them by both their own histories and that of a nation helplessly repeating it. Forty-nine tales that speak of the power of forgetting.

# data[].attributes.description
Spring back to shape after having a baby<br/> Namita Jain, a wellness specialist with over twenty-five years of experience, reveals within these pages the real reasons behind post-pregnancy weight gain. She gives a tested and proven exercise and diet regimen that is best suited to your recuperating body. Step-by-step exercises that will boost your energy levels as well as give you a flatter stomach, including illustrations that will help you get the posture and technique right. The healthiest breastfeeding positions, along with a diet chart that takes care of your special vitamin and mineral needs during this period. Tips on how to fight post-partum blues, and deal with numerous problems like sleep deprivation, sore breasts, backaches and dry skin. Advice on how to listen to your body for cues which tell you when you are overdoing things, for rest is as important as a workout. Tailored to fit into the hectic routines of a new mother, this guide to post-pregnancy weight loss will soon have you feeling--and looking--better than ever!

# data[].attributes.description
Filmmaking is a chance to lead many lifetimes  Robert Altman <br/> Director: the invisible, omnipotent presence in cinema; a word that holds spaces inaccessible to most people. In Directors Diaries, Rakesh Bakshi demystifies that figure through the voices of twelve of the most iconic film-makers of our time. In doing so, he happens upon the greater questions of destiny and chance and how sometimes random encounters end up determining the course of a persons life. Bakshis interviews turn into deep and intimate conversations: Imtiaz Alis transformative experience as a reader during summer vacations, locked in a room; Govind Nihalanis visits with his father to temples in Udaipur, which influenced him as a cinematographer and filmmaker; Ashutosh Gowarikers disappointment at faring poorly in his board exams and being forced give up his dream to study architecture, which led him to seek avenues in theatre, folk dance, group singing, elocution contests in college, eventually leading him to cinema. Farah Khans passion for dance as a child and how she stopped dancing for almost fourteen years because her father did not like it and began doing so only after he passed away. How cinema became Subhash Ghais great escape, whenever his parents argued, he would run away to watch a film. How Vishal Bhardwaj composed his history lessons as songs so he could memorize them, and how he accompanied his friend on the harmonium at food festivals in Pragati Maidan to earn a livelihood. An invaluable record of Hindi cinemas old and new voices, and a study of the changing face of it, Directors Diaries is also an inspiring account of people battling great odds to achieve their dreams.

# data[].attributes.description
A no-holds-barred biography of one of India's most successful cricket captains<br/>Sourav Ganguly is a difficult icon. He is undoubtedly one of India's most successful captains, one who moulded a new team when India was at its lowest ebb, reeling from the betting scandal. There can be no argument about his cricketing genius, right from the time he scored a Test century at Lord's to the time he led India to the 2003 World Cup final. But the world of cricketing fans is divided into those who adore him fiercely and despise him greatly. He could be arrogant on occasion: Ganguly allegedly refused to carry the drinks as a twelfth man. He constantly challenged authority. Greg Chappell discarded him from the team during his stint as coach. Ganguly cared little for convention: remember the bare-chested celebration at an Indian win?Yet, in all the years of his roller-coaster ride through Indian cricket, no one questioned the man's utter devotion to the game or his team. In this account of one of India's greatest cricketers, shot through with intimate details, Saptarshi Sarkar tackles controversies around the legendary cricketer head on.Racy and gripping, Sourav Ganguly: Cricket, Captaincy and Controversy investigates the big events in Dada's interesting career. It probes the symbiotic relationship between the man and the cricketer. What was Ganguly thinking before a match? Why did he demand that the grass be trimmed just before start of play at the Nagpur pitch? What was the Indian dressing room like? What was that Greg Chappell chapter all about?An unflinching biography of a man who never shied away from controversies, this is as much a ready reckoner for Sourav Ganguly fans as it is an examination of a crucial era in Indian cricket.

# data[].attributes.description
Literature on Kashmir tends to focus on politics, the army, border skirmishes, on India and Pakistan. The very real human beings - whose lives the alternately raging and simmering conflict has an inexorable hold on - are often relegated to the background. In a State of Violent Peace is an attempt to humanize the conflict through lived experience and it provides an insight into the complex situation in Jammu and Kashmir.There are the stories of Surayya Ali Mattoo and Khaleda Begum, the daughters of Sheikh Abdullah; Krishna Misri, who was literally hounded out of Kashmir by militants; writer and academic Neerja Mattoo, who chose to stay on in Kashmir despite the dangers; Bilal, a former militant; Asmat, the wife of a militant; Brig. Sher Jung Bahadur of the Battle of Skardu; Naseer Ahmed Shah and Girija Dhar who braved threats and attempts on their lives by militants, and several otherss.These are tales of compassion, courage and faith in Kashmiriyat to counter the broader focus of conflict reportage. The shifting perspectives and contradictory facts in these histories assert that there is no singular narrative for the people of Kashmir.

# data[].attributes.description
One of the most significant voices of our age, Farrukh Dhondy writes provocative columns, thought-provoking plays and unusual children's fiction. He is just as much a screenwriter, novelist and public intellectual. But it is in the short story that Dhondy excels. Honest, nuanced, often searing, they are a mirror to his worlds, both British and Indian. The Fifth Gospel: Complete Short Fiction brings together all the short fiction that Dhondy has published. East End at Your Feet, Dhondy's debut collection of shorts, brings together stories about Indian students in the United States -stories that remain every bit as fresh and surprising as they were four decades ago. From a tale of exorcism in London to a story-telling computer that loses its head, the stories in Trip Trap are well worth the trip, but beware of the trap! Come to Mecca is a bittersweet exploration of young first- and second-generation Britons and their conflicted sense of racial identity. His children's stories, in Janaky and the Giant, are characteristically complex. Set in various cultures across the world, the animal and children protagonists are often flawed, but never hopeless. For those who have never read Dhondy's fiction for children, this is an excellent introduction. Also included here is the novella, The Siege of Babylon, a hostage-situation thriller that opens out into a moving, biting human story centred on a white girl who is fascinated by young black boys. The stories in this omnibus edition were all published to critical acclaim over the past four decades. Here they are, within the covers of one book. It is as ardent, knotty, varied and original a collection as one could wish for.

# data[].attributes.description
Look behind the scenes of fifty celebrated songs, from an estimated repository of over one lakh!'De de khuda ke naam pe': when Wazir Mohammed Khan sang these words in India's first talkie, Alam Ara, he gave birth to a whole new industry of composers, lyricists and singers, as well as an entirely new genre of film-making that is quintessentially Indian: the song-and-dance film. In the eight decades and more since then, Hindi film songs have enraptured listeners all over the world. From 'Babul mora, naihar chhooto jaye' (Street Singer, 1938) to 'Dil hai chhota sa' (Roja, 1992); from the classical strains of 'Ketaki gulab' (Basant Bahar, 1956) featuring Bhimsen Joshi to the disco beats of Nazia Hassan's 'Aap jaisa koi' (Qurbani, 1981); from the pathos of 'Waqt ne kiya' (Kaagaz Ke Phool, 1959) to the exuberance of the back-to-back numbers in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), here is an extraordinary compilation, peppered with trivia, anecdotes and, of course, the sheer joy of music. Find out answers to questions like:With which unreleased film did Kishore Kumar turn composer?In which song picturization was dry ice first used?Which all-time classic musical was initially titled Full Boots?Where was the title song of An Evening in Paris shot?The idea for which song originated when the film-maker visited Tiffany's in London?Which major musical partnership resulted from the celebrations around an award function for a commercial jingle for Leo Coffee? How many of your favourites find mention here? Make your own list!