Bücher veröffentlicht von Speaking Tiger Books

In her first book of poems, science and fiction writer Kamla Dutt shows us the landscapes of longing and memory-the geographies of love, nostalgia, regret and consolation. With extraordinary sensitivity, combining frank emotion with clinical observation, she explores public and private realities: complex family ties; heart-ease and heartbreak; the aftermath of Punjab''s Partition; alienation in the country of one''s birth; the immigrant''s imperfect sense of belonging. As poet and novelist Nirupama Dutt notes in her preface, ''The reader will roam freely through these pages as if through a familiar garden, moving from one poem to another guided by the quiet strength and wisdom of someone who has truly lived.''  

DescriptionThree bullets were shot into the chest of Mahatma Gandhi by a certainNathuram Godse on the evening of 30 January 1948. His true motivations,however, are today actively obscured, and his admirers sit in the Indianparliament as members of the ruling establishment. This book is a timelyeffort to remind us that Gandhi''s killing was not a random act of a mindlesskiller. It was the culmination of a cold-blooded conspiracy.The men who stood trial for the murder of Gandhi claimed that they wereacting for a stronger, more united, India. Their 78-year-old peace-loving target,they felt, was the single biggest impediment to achieving that goal. They accusedhim of dishonesty and treachery; he was blamed for the Partition of India, for''appeasing'' Muslims; and condemned for ''fail[ing] in his duty'' to the people ofthis nation. To them, Gandhi had to die because ''there was no legal machineryby which such an offender could be brought to book''. Do any of the accusationshave any claim to truth whatsoever? If not, what, then, was the actual intentionthat these arguments made by Godse were attempting to hide? And was V.D.Savarkar, among others, involved in the conspiracy?Ashok Kumar Pandey''s Why They Killed Gandhi, translated from the celebratedHindi original, lays bare the facts of the murder, and offers a passionatedefence of the Mahatma and his politics, while simultaneously delivering atrenchant polemic against the ideology of bigotry and perpetual violence thatkilled him.

DescriptionHarekrishna Deka, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award and one of Assam''sforemost writers, is renowned for his short stories that are as incisive as theyare moving. In this selection of his finest short fiction, Deka gives us a searingvision of the human condition, even as he brings alive the unique landscape ofAssam in unforgettable images.In the title story, an old woman, the only eyewitness to a crime, is forced toconfront her own role in a long-forgotten murder, and the guilt that has laindormant in her for years rears its monstrous head. ''The Temple'' examines howsociety and religion create the ''other'', and what happens when the marginalizedrefuse to lurk at the edges. ''The Captive'' takes the reader through the forestsand small hamlets that were once the refuge of militants as it tells the story of akidnapped man and his unfathomable empathy with his captor.Startling, insightful, and original in tone and form, Guilt and Other Storiespresents a world that is both tender and painful. Through the collection runsa vein of rich, dark humour along with a deep, inimitable understanding ofAssamese society, culture and history. Brilliantly translated by Mitra Phukan, acelebrated writer herself, these stories will live in the reader''s mind long afterthe last page has been turned.

A fascinating look into the lives, struggles and triumphs of the women scientists who spearheaded Mangalyaan-India's mission to Mars.In late 2013, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched Mangalyaan-India's first inter-planetary mission-after just eighteen months, at a fraction of the cost of similar missions by foreign space agencies. The next year India became the first Asian nation to reach the Mars orbit and the first in the world to do so in its first attempt.This historic mission, among ISRO's other great successes, was spearheaded by the most talented, dedicated and badass group of women scientists that the world has ever seen. Nandini Harinath and Ritu Karidhal calculated the spacecraft's trajectory to Mars, besides overseeing the mission operations; Moumita Dutta and Minal Sampat designed the complex scientific instruments involved in the mission; while numerous other 'Wonder Women' have been instrumental in ISRO's other pathbreaking work.Those Magnificent Women and Their Flying Machines narrates the inspiring stories of these extraordinary women: how they overcame the naysayers and gender barriers in a field dominated by men to achieve the impossible. Now India is ready to launch Gaganyaan, its first space mission with humans on board, at least one of whom will be a woman. Women in science are set to reach for the stars-and beyond.

One of our most courageous and eloquent storytellers, Nayantara Sahgal's superb mastery over language and history make this bold new work a compelling story that is as disturbing as it is beautifully told. Prabhakar, returning home one evening, comes upon a corpse at a crossroads, naked but for the skullcap on his head. Days later, he listens to Katrina's stark retelling of a gang rape in a village, as chilling as only the account of a victim can be. And in a macabre sequence, he finds his favourite dhaba no longer serves gular kebabs and rumali roti, while Bonjour, the fine dining restaurant run by a gay couple, has been vandalised by goons. Casting a long shadow over it all is Mirajkar, the 'Master Mind', brilliant policy maker and political theorist, who is determined to rid the country of all elements alien to its culture-as he, and his partymen, perceive it. A professor of political science, Prabhakar observes these occurrences with deepening concern. Is the theory he put forth in his book-that it is not the influence of those who preach goodness and compassion that prevails, but the matter-of-factness of cruelty-playing out before him? In the midst of all this, he meets Katrina, beautiful, half-Russian, wearing the scars of a brutal incident as a badge of honour. Together, they discover that, even in times that are grim, there is joy to be had.

An extraordinary book that combines travel- and history-writing with brilliant storytelling to give us a portrait of Mumtaz Mahal, in whose memory Shah Jahan built the Taj, and also a portrait of India before it was changed by liberalization. In the early 1980s, researching for his bestselling novel Taj, author Timeri-Tim-Murari began the first of his journeys in the footsteps of Arjumand Bano, the precocious daughter of a Mughal nobleman. Arjumand went on to become Mumtaz Mahal, chief consort of Emperor Shah Jahan, and empress of the Mughal kingdom until her death in 1631, giving birth to their fourteenth child. Over the next two decades, the grieving emperor had the Taj Mahal built in her memory-their final resting place, and the world's most enduring symbol of love. Tim went on his journeys at a time before air travel was common in India, when they were protracted affairs undertaken mostly by train. In these travels of discovery-in Delhi; in Agra, the centre of Mughal power and site of the Taj Mahal; in the desert cities of Rajasthan, where Shah Jahan waged ceaseless campaigns, Mumtaz Mahal at his side; and in Burhanpur in the Deccan, where the empress breathed her last-the author found fascinating glimpses of an empire at its zenith, and of a consuming love. Intertwined with these insights were the shabby realities of modern India-the obstinacies of the bureaucracy that controls monuments, the industries which deface them, and a citizenry that remains unaware of its own history. A brilliant meld of travel and history writing, Empress of the Taj is not only the story of a fabled queen, and the magnificent obsessions of royalty; it is also an invaluable record of a lost era in India.

New Delhi was the grandest planned capital city of the British empire. In its meticulous urban plan it owed as much to earlier imperial traditions of Delhi as it did to Western movements such as the Garden City and City Beautiful. It is interesting to examine the process by which this plan came into being, and the interactions between the people responsible for it. This new city also became the centre of a culture at the cusp of Indian and British Indian society - centering on the shopping precinct of Connaught Place, restaurants, clubs, cinema theatres and other institutions. In the years immediately following independence and partition, came a sudden expansion of the metropolis beyond the limits of New Delhi. This left the original New Delhi as a predominantly administrative centre, with a low density of population, and an oasis of green. Far from being a sterile space however, its many cultural institutions, public spaces and thriving shopping precincts have given it a persisting vibrancy.

'The essays in Uncertain Journeys: Labour Migration from South Asia document the price people pay to earn a dignified livelihood, as well as the joy and pain of distance employment. They […] help us to understand the labour migrant from South Asia as a human being, and not a mere remittance machine for the family or a precious foreign-exchange earner for the home country.'-From the introduction by A.S. Panneerselvan The topic of labour migration appears constantly in the media, but too often, the issues take precedence over the people involved-the migrant workers who leave Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to work long hours in precarious situations across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Here, eleven journalists explore the lived realities of migrant workers from South Asia-their aspirations, fears and dreams; how global forces determine their freedom; how they navigate the policies that attempt to regulate their lives; and their hopes for a better future which carry them through years of unrelenting toil. Uncertain Journeys asks fundamental questions about the nature and costs of labour migration. Essays about the plight of Indians stranded in Kuwait due to bankrupt employers query whether labour-sending countries can assume that their responsibilities to their citizens abroad end with enabling remittances. The horrifying stories of men and women suffering forced labour, abuse and de facto imprisonment demand whether the blurred borderlines between migration and human trafficking effectively enable modern-day slavery. Most crucially, the book questions whether human beings can be reduced to a mere commodity. Written with empathy, yet with a critical take on the stories being told, this book is an important contribution to the conversation about labour migration in South Asia.

'Elegant, lucid and funny, this book will appeal to as many readers as there are desires.'-Shohini Ghosh'The history of desire in India,' writes Madhavi Menon in this splendid book, 'reveals not purity but impurity as a way of life. Not one answer, but many. Not a single history, but multiple tales cutting across laws and boundaries.' In Bhakti poetry, Radha and Krishna disregard marital fidelity, age, time and gender for erotic love. In Sufi dargahs, pirs (spiritual guides) who were married to women are buried alongside their male disciples, as lovers are. Vatsyayana, author of the world's most famous manual of sex, insists that he did not compose it 'for the sake of passion', and remained celibate through the writing of it. Long hair is widely seen as a symbol of sexuality; and yet, shaved off in a temple, it is a sacred offering. Even as the country has a draconian law to punish homosexuality, heterosexual men share the same bed without comment. Hijras are increasingly marginalized; yet gender has historically been understood as fluid rather than fixed.Menon navigates centuries, geographies, personal and public histories, schools of philosophy, literary and cinematic works, as she examines the many-and often surprising-faces of desire in the Indian subcontinent. Her study ranges from the erotic sculptures of Khajuraho to the shrine of the celibate god Ayyappan; from army barracks to public parks; from Empress Nur Jahan's paan to home-made kohl; from cross-dressing mystics to androgynous gods. It shows us the connections between grammar and sex, between hair and war, between abstinence and pleasure, between love and death.Gloriously subversive, full of extraordinary analyses and insights, this is a book you will read to be enlightened and entertained for years.

Part of the bestselling 'Little Book' series, a new title by India's favourite author Ruskin Bond What can a flower teach us about courage? Or a little red ant?When is speaking up brave, and when holding one's peace?Why must we look on with suspicion at all that comes easy? What is the ultimate measure of man?Ruskin Bond, India's favourite writer, draws from his own experiences, and those of some of the world's greatest thinkers and doers, to offer words of inspiration and wisdom. A Little Book of Courage is the perfect guide-to dip into and to gift-for the good times, and the tough.