Volume XXXVI No. 11 – NOVEMBER 2012

Now that I am Fifty by Bulbul Sharma is a collection of short stories about women who have entered the fifties and their experiences at reaching that milestone.

The book is a collaboration between two different genres and cultures—Sweta Srivastava Vikram (USA) and Claire Anna Watson (Australia) met as part of an Artists exchange programme and this is the result of their interaction—a combined expression of poetry—both written and visual.

Ibrahim, a youngster from a rich Saudi family in Riyadh goes out to the restaurant with his mother and sisters, and comes out shell-shocked. He has seen his father take a young woman to a ‘family cabin’. The immediate inference (and it turns out to be the right one) is that his father has married again…

The Journey of a Burning Boat is a work of fiction which sweeps its reader deep into the unrelentingly brutal, inhuman, world of the flesh trade. A subterranean world whose existence everyone is aware of and which manifests itself often in newspaper headlines, only to be forgotten or pushed to the peripheries…

Curious Lives is a collection of five ‘moralistic adventures’, previously and separately published, set in the world of virtuous ferrets. The cover of the book has a pair of bright yellow eyes gleaming from behind dense foliage. It is just the eyes that can be made out and it is just as well. The internet informs…

Toke means puffing a pipe or pot filled with marijuana. And true to its title, you get high with the novel’s surreal plot. The story is set in motion as you are introduced to Nikhil the protagonist who is fighting to come out of ganja-induced hallucinatory dreams. He is a regular guy with a regular job and suffers from regular bouts of insecurity…

A work of non fiction, the book highlights one man’s courageous and sometimes frus-trating but always enduring struggle against politicians. He is often confronted by apathy in his quest to help protect the rhino. But he also enjoys small victories and help and support from unexpected quarters…

Nirvan Shrivatsava steps into Shore Mount, a posh residential school, with the weight of his lineage on his young shoulders. Three generations of Shrivatsavas, including his parents and older brother, have been stars at the same school and Nirvan is uneasy with his legacy. Third Best is a coming of age novel that traces Nirvan’s life from Class VII to Class XII—from being a bullied junior to a respected senior…

The moment I read ‘Arun, Barun, Kironmala’, ‘Sukhu and Dukhu’ and ‘Saat Bhai Champa’ I had regressed to being a wide eyed seven year old listening breathlessly to my maternal grandmother, my Didima, weaving her magic around a Bengali rupkatha. She knew every story of Dakshinaranjan’s Thakurmar Jhuli…

The indefatigable Subhadra Sen Gupta! All children from eight to eighty (this phrase was made famous by Satyajit Ray) must be her fans. No one has done more to make history accessible and as much fun as her numerous books on the nationalist movement and leaders testify…

Sachin: Born to Bat by veteran journalist Khalid A.H. Ansari and edited by Clayton Murzello is a unique poem to cricket’s popular batsman, Sachin Tendulkar born in Mumbai to Ramesh Tendulkar and Rajni Tendulkar. The book is a chronicle of the achievements of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar…

An outcome of a three-way collaboration between British Council, Abhinav Bindra Foundation and Tulika Publishers, India’s Olympic Story is a slim book targeted at teenagers but can also be useful to anybody interested in a quick read about the Olympic Games and India’s achieve-ments at this greatest sporting extravaganza.

Once upon a time, there was a woman who could not sing. She did not know any song. All day long, while going about their daily work, all the other women would sing. She was enchanted by their singing, and wanted to know how she could get a song to sing…

If you are looking for a book to gift a 7-year old that doesn’t depict 10-year olds acting like grownups to solve a murder mystery, but something that tells a story about child-like children who live close to the earth, are faced with the not so pleasant reality in the process…

Children are the citizens of the future. To become a good adult, it is important for them to be good citizens as well. The book is a timely aid to parents and teachers, in reiterating and simplifying what the main principles and goals of the Indian Constitution are.

Anushka Ravishankar has done it again. She effortless in style and is a very contemporary story teller. The illustrations by Shilo Suleiman complete this package.

This is an annotated version of Gandhiji’s works, first published in 1932. This volume has been annotated by Lalita Zachariah who is a noted expert on Gandhiji’s works.

Enslaved Innocence: Child Labour in South Asia examines the exploitation of children in India which has the largest number of child labour in the world today.