Hachette India – förlag

''Uchchaishravas broke through the frothy white waters and galloped across the ocean bed...'' He was the magnificent seven-headed heavenly steed who flew across the skies faster than human thought. A symbol of Lord Indra''s glory Uchchaishravas carried him in grand processions dangerous battles and exciting adventures. Read about his splendid life...

‘The battle raged in the skies … Jatayu refused to give up, taking on Ravana with his giant claws and mighty wings…’ He was majestic, he was strong, he was the wise king of birds. Blessed by the gods and armed with celestial powers, Jatayu races to the sun, saves Dasharatha from Shani’s deadly glance and, in the end, fights the powerful Ravana, sacrificing all he had in the name of justice and loyalty. Read his inspiring story…

ARE...YOU...READY FOR A FANTASTIC FLASHBACK FOODVENTURE? Have you ever wondered what the first meal was on the moon, or the last one on the Titanic? Was a stuffed turkey actually part of the first Thanksgiving dinner, and did Queen Marie Antoinette really say, ''Let them eat cake!'' during the French Revolution? Take a trip back in time to 15 important events in the past on the WayBack Pod with trivia-crazy Siya and budding chef Sam. Discover a secret ingredient in Sir Edmund Hillary''s Camp IX tent just before he reaches the top of Mt Everest, take a peek into the royal court at Calicut as explorer Vasco da Gama spices up the proceedings, sniff the salt in the air on the Dandi March with Gandhiji...and get a taste of history like never before. What''s more, to savour the real flavour of these adventures, try out the yummy, easy recipes inspired by these key historical moments, sprinkled throughout the book! COLOUR PHOTOS INSIDE!

‘Most families have their share of rebels, adulterers, addicts, ambitious actors, reformed playboys, lovers of exotic animals, and the occasional mute, right?’Akola Suresh, recently returned from the US, finds that in the three years that she’s been away, ‘home’ has become more unravelled than ever. Surrounded by ever-bickering parents whom she addresses by their first names, aged grandparents struck with all manner of old-age eccentricities, a brother who is narrowly skirting the path to social pariah-hood, and a younger sister aspiring to be the hottest new star in Kollywood, Akola is quite sure of one thing – ‘bonded’ is a word they could never entirely apply to themselves.But when old, hurtful secrets are revealed and a frightening incident shakes them all to the core, it’s time for the Sureshes to abandon their happily dysfunctional lives and, finally, be family.''

Her strong sense of self reduced by an overpowering love-sickness that she can do little to contain, Avidha finds her commitment to the cause beginning to thin...After all, the Bhopal gas tragedy is no longer news.The dwindling band of her activist friends - journalists, lawyers and NGO members - with whom she has been fighting the Supreme Court verdict effectively nullifying Union Carbide''s legal and moral responsibility towards the gas-leak survivors, have their own problems and different thresholds for compromise. Impeachment is an insightful portrayal of the complex power dynamics between the representatives of the Indian legal system, the educated liberal classes who lent support to the survivors of Bhopal, and the same victims, who do not have the financial means or the legal knowledge to defend themselves.

Why do people fight?What’s the use of education?Is India rich or poor?Why are stories important?Can anyone be a leader?Is science only about exams?Will planting trees save the earth? Growing up throws up a lot of questions – about people, events and the world around us. Sometimes the answers are in simple black and white, wrong and right, but mostly they are not. In this book, ten truth-explorers and idea-shapers share with you their thought-provoking views on important topics close to your heart and mind. Drawing on their experiences, they help you see many different sides of a question and arrive at the most important truth – your own conclusion, your own interpretation, your own answer.Subroto Bagchi on LeadershipShaheen Mistri on Education Vivek Menon on Nature Meeta Kumar on the EconomyManjula Padmanabhan on Gender BiasOmair Ahmad on ConflictBibek Debroy on God and ReligionRoopa Pai on StoriesHartosh Singh Bal on Science and MathsKapil Dev on Sports

Zanghara South Waziristan. August 5, 2009: In a carefully orchestrated midnight attack US drones zeroed in and killed the dreaded leader of the infamous Tehreek-e-Taliban as he lay with his wife on his father-in-law''s terrace.A riveting, highly-informed conspiracy novel set in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US, The Eye of the Predator is an arresting account of an unlikely group of men who slept with the enemy in a desperate bid to fight the monster of Pakistan.The question is who tipped off the CIA?Baitullah Mehsud the dreaded leader of the Pakistani Taliban had grown too big for his boots. His delusions of grandeur, his manic dreams of ruling all of Pakistan and his brazen and bloody terrorist acts were making many people uneasy. The US, the ISI, the Karzai Government, the Government of Pakistan and various splinter groups of the Taliban - all of whom had at one time or the other partnered with him - now wanted him dead.

The spiralling crisis in Jammu and Kashmir; the Naxalite-Maoist menace that seems to be intensifying with every passing day; the disturbing reach of proxy governments run by militant groups in Manipur and Nagaland – today, a quarter of India is being held hostage by violence and anarchy. What has pushed the country, which has otherwise held together through seemingly insurmountable odds in the past, to the edge? Who and what is responsible for the state of affairs as it stands today? In a series of dispatches from the epicentres of what they call the country’s ‘battle zones’, Neelesh Misra and Rahul Pandita unveil the tensions, frustrations and heartbreaks, and the challenges and justifications, that are everyday realities in these troubled regions. Civil administrators talk about the widespread misappropriation of development funds in tribal and remote areas; security and police personnel describe extreme confrontations in the face of inadequate training and equipment; rebel ranks and former insurgents reveal how unemployment, lack of education and rampant exploitation have fuelled their defiance against the establishment and encouraged secessionist activities; self-styled vigilantes assert their need to provide what they consider ‘security’ and ‘justice’ in areas that have seen little of either. And, at the heart of the on-going turmoil, ordinary people mourn the loss of their loved ones – to starvation, lack of healthcare facilities and militancy – even as they voice their demand to be heard. The stories are many; the cast varied. Yet, collectively, they present an alarming picture of systemic failure on the part of the Indian state. A potent reminder of the mistakes that the government of India cannot afford to repeat, The Absent State is a work of great significance – an essential read for anyone who wants to make sense of the tumult of our times.

A politically weighted cricket match between Pakistan and India provides the setting for the hilarious farce, set in a delightful ‘Yes Minister’ format. The Pakistani Premier''s sudden decision to invite himself to a cricket series to be played in India creates uncertainly, panic and bureaucratic gamesmanship in New Delhi. Seemingly above such mundane concerns, India''s elderly Prime Minister, devoted to movies, scotch, and late mornings, adds to the confusion with random utterances and occasional temper tantrums. His official factotum, a bureaucrat named Swami, plays the confusion for all it is worth, attempting to advance his career and settle old scores.Old rivalries between the Foreign Service and the domestic bureaucrats flare up as the day of the Pakistani Premier''s visit approaches. Matters get stalled as rival departments choose to hide behind arcane laws. Conscious of his place in history and of the damage a botched visit would cause, the Prime Minister stages his own protests. Swami is forced to chart a treacherous course between his political and bureaucratic masters. A parable rooted in the absurdities of modern India, this novel takes a light-hearted dig at the pretensions of people who matter.

Six months in dreary and cold Brussels – and no headway with her handsome colleague Luc – has convinced systems analyst Seetha, brought up in ‘steamy’ Madras, that she must move on. The British Government’s immigration laws allow writers and artists to be granted a visa even if they have no job, so Seetha decides that she is a writer – and her first creative assignment is her visa application form. Harish, escaping the slums of India, has slogged hard in Belgium for the last fourteen years, and finally has saved enough to fulfil a lifelong dream: watch a cricket match at Lords in London. Amit seems to have everything – except his strict father’s approval, which he may win if he finds a way to launder the $2 million his father moved out of India ‘during the restrictive years of Nehruvian socialism’. To Ratnesh, who hates the Indian caste system, and as a Dalit, plans to seek asylum in the UK, all’s fair in love, war, and getting a visa. Even using the naïve Harish for his own ends. And across the desk from them all, holding their fate in his hands, is British visa officer Doug Evans… who himself does not know what is going to happen at the end of the two days in which these characters'' lives, dreams – and visa applications – cross paths.

Welcome to Shore Mount — one of India''s most prestigious co-ed residential schools. Here, short skirts reign and sports stars are revered, and skinny dips and sneaking girls into boys'' rooms are as much a part of the curriculum as the cool Mr Gomez''s literature lessons... Into this world arrives Nirvan Shrivastava, with tremendous expectations weighing on his shoulders. After all, he''s following in the footsteps of three generations of brilliant Shrivastavas immortalized on every possible honors board in the school. As he hesitatingly negotiates the crazy roller-coaster ride that is life at Shore Mount, he finds true buddies in Gautam, an unlikely musical genius obsessed with all things edible, and Faraz, the slick ladies'' man. Together the boys discover that in Shore Mount survival means much more than braving the chill of heater-less dorms, or scrubbing toilets clean with toothbrushes. And as they learn to stand up to vicious bullies on and off the playing fields and survive the agony of heartaches and broken bones, they find themselves hurtling towards adulthood far sooner than they could have ever imagined...

Now updated with a new chapter on Rahul GandhiThe Congress party has always stayed one step ahead of the opposition by constantly reinventing and re-aligning itself to stay in sync with the political realities of the day. Its president, Sonia Gandhi, pulled off a master-coup in 2004 by declining the prime-ministership, while the incumbent Congress Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is the first prime minister since Nehru to lead the party into two Union government terms. In 2013, Rahul Gandhi was elevated to the post of Congress vice-president amid much fanfare and optimism. Tasked with reviving the grand old party, the young politician remains, in the minds of many, the best hope to lead the Congress into the next century, marking a new moment in the Congress’s concept of ‘continuity with change’.In his bestselling book 24 Akbar Road, seasoned journalist and veteran Congress watcher Rasheed Kidwai puts together an incisive and engaging account of the Congress’s shape-shifting nature and its tenuous hold at the Centre, providing a dispassionate observer’s glance at affairs within the Congress. Kidwai brilliantly tracks the story of the contemporary Congress in the years after the Emergency, using the Congress seat of power at 24 Akbar Road as his vantage to draw a compelling account of the Congress leadership from Indira, Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi to Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri, to the present- day trinity of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi.In this revised and updated edition, Kidwai analyses Rahul Gandhi’s appointment to assess what the Congress needs to do to remain India’s nerve of power in the coming years, and whether the new vice- president can rally the party to a third consecutive victory at the Centre.''

Mahatma Gandhi never said, “What can I do, I’m only one person.” Instead he said, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world”. And he did. The Mahatma and the Monkeys brings together the most interesting incidents that shaped Gandhiji’s life and his most important sayings. From his quest for truth, non-violence, equality and freedom, from the lessons he learned, and from his powerful words, every young reader can learn to be a little bit like Gandhiji.Through what he did and what he said Gandhiji inspired millions of Indians and made one of the mightiest empires in the world bow down to his dream: freedom for India. That’s what made him an uncommon man and the greatest leader of the millennium. And that’s why, even decades after his death, his work and his words matter in today’s world. This book introduces Mahatma Gandhi to the young reader and, through anecdotes from the leader’s life, helps him or her understand the guiding principles of Gandhiji’s life and what he stood for. It also offers a carefully selected collection of Gandhiji’s quotable quotes for personal inspiration, or use in essays and speeches at school.