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Directors' Diaries
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 trans formative 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.
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The Heat And Dust Project
Living in a sunny barsati in south Delhi, Saurav Jha and Devapriya Roy are your average DINK couple, about to acquire a few EMIs and come of age in the modern consumerist world. Only, they don't. They junk the swivel chairs, gain a couple of backpacks and set out on a transformational journey across India. On a very, very tight budget - 500 rupees a day for bed and board. And The Heat and Dust Project begins. Joining the ranks of firang gap-year kids and Israeli boys and girls fresh out of compulsory army service, they travel across a whacky, whimsical land, where five thousand years of Indian history seem to jostle side by side. It is, by turns, holy and hectic, thuggish and comic, amoral and endearing. In buses that hurtle through the darkness of the night and the heat of the day, across thousands of miles, in ever new places, the richness of this crowded palette spills over into their lives. From rooms-by-the-hour to strange dinner invitations and spectacular forts and tantrums, this is a tale of the hysterical searching of youth, of eccentric choices and the supreme test of marriage.
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Karachi Raj
And how is one to extract Karachi from oneself? The city gathers wanderers and dreamers into its bosom, contradictory, impenetrable, endlessly jostling its subjects to make room for new ones. And in this city of subterranean terrors and surprising bouts of goodness, a brother and a sister grow into their own. Seema and Hafiz, born into a Basti, long to make something of themselves. But when Seema wins a scholarship to attend university, she finds that social barriers are not easily defied and when Hafiz finds himself smitten by a coworker's wife, he learns of the mutability of love and friendship. Meanwhile, Claire, an American anthropologist, discovers that while her professional training will only take her so far in her quest to unravel Karachi, living in the Basti is an education in itself. Anis Shivani's debut novel is an ambitious work that aches with intimacy even as it encompasses an entire generation into its bold, panoramic vision. Karachi Raj is the sort of book that will shape our understanding of urban Pakistan for years to come.
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The Supermom Cookbook
The SuperMom Cookbook takes Madhuris creativity into an exciting new space the kitchen! Her cooking skills of 30 years come handy to rustle up wholesome meals for kids. Using sneak and tweak cooking techniques, kiddie junk food favourites like burgers, pasta, pizza, bhel and noodles are transformed into delicious, healthy, balanced meals!Sneaking in the nutrition, (kids will never know!) and tweaking the unhealthy stuff, is what SuperMom cooking is all about. Once you acquire the SuperMom mojo, the world is your oyster. Amaze your family with wholesome food from different regions of India and indeed, from different parts of the globe. Older kids can even participate in the kitchen and create their own favourites.
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Bloodline- The Ruby Circle (Book 6)
Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. After their secret romance is exposed, Sydney and Adrian find themselves facing the wrath of both the Alchemists and the Moroi in this electrifying conclusion to Richelle Mead's New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series. When the life of someone they both love is put on the line, Sydney risks everything to hunt down a deadly former nemesis. Meanwhile, Adrian becomes enmeshed in a puzzle that could hold the key to a shocking secret about spirit magic, a secret that could shake the entire Moroi world . . .
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The Hangman's Revolution (W.A.R.P 2)
The Matrix meets Oliver Twist! WARP: The Hangman's Revolution is the second book in a major new series by Eoin Colfer, the bestselling author of Artemis Fowl. F.B.I. AGENT CHEVIE SAVANO IS TRAPPED IN A NIGHTMARE FUTURE. Unless she can return to 19th-century London and change the course of history, millions will die. Luckily she has Riley the boy magician and a Victorian gangster with lovely hair to help her battle two crazed villains, who have brought the military technology of the future back in time - with potentially disastrous consequences. The stakes are higher than the hangman's noose and only Chevie can save the day. Assuming she can avoid being killed by a couple of psycho warrior-nuns first . . .
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Born In The Second Wind
The fortitude which won Kamlesh the cycle race had the designs of victories her future awaited. Though the battle was still her own, it was for her son Jeet to win for her. The tide takes a turn for the worse when the very people who should have been the springboard to Jeets success, pull the ladder from right under his feet. The inconsistencies of the unjust world left her tentative and worried and her son, battered and bruised. Jeet had fallen. Thats when Jeets angel - the Doppelganger - emerges with the second wind, which if unleashed would take Jeet to unprecedented heights. Will he remain fallen? Will he not throw his dice in the game called life anymore? Will his courage rise with every attempt of intimidating him? Above all, will he be Born in the Second Wind?
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Ready..Steady..Exit
Gautam completed Chartered Accountancy after several attempts and to his luck, landed up with Anand - a close friend and brilliant CA - to launch an Accounting Services company named FAB. He finds love in the same profession, without much ado. Can life really be all that simple and straightforward? Can mere accountants build a valuable, visible, scalable and glamorous enterprise that could also grab business from across borders? Thats when Vimal comes in with a delectable package - an impressive consulting profile and his smart and very beautiful sister Ruchi, who agrees to support these starryeyed entrepreneurs with her marketing acumen. FAB grows but relationship depletes. Some pull the strings, while others become puppets. Should they continue with the current arrangement or exit completely? Ready..Steady..Exit is a humorous, dramatic, romantic, enlightening and entertaining read. This story and narrative will inspire every reader, even more so if you are an entrepreneur or a Chartered Accountant or someone associated with financial services.
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Once Upon A Dharamyudh-Battle For Dreams
Dharam is a dream institution for its founders and employees alike, who give it their sweat and blood. In time, it prospers owing to the fine acumen of its owners and efforts of its employees. Prakash is caught in the web of fulfilling his fathers dying wish and gives up his dream job to take up the mantle of responsibility at Dharam. A radical thinker equipped with modern ways of working, he sets the company and workers on a path of development, though with much resistance to his methods. Udays humble origins and difficult childhood inspire him to dream big, he dreams of equality and fair treatment for the weaker sections of the society. He believes it is his Dharam to raise his voice against any injustice. The fight between a mans belief and an institutions values becomes a tussle between the haves and the have nots, acquiring magnanimous proportions. Both believe they are right and are willing to do what is needed to be done for their Dharam.
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Tiffin
As I dug into my memory for those snacks or tiffin I recalled the many anecdotes and narratives about the people and places associated with these recipes. My replies grew into lengthy stories and my girls loved them. 'Amma, send us more recipes for tiffin', they wrote. Those stories were rambling and multifaceted and they are all here in my book. 'Tiffin', derived from 'tiffing', a historical British term for small meals or snacks to accompany a drink, is a staple meal in most Indian households. A popular television chef on the local Arlington cable network, Rukmini Srinivas, or 'Rukka', regularly whips up mouth-watering delicious tiffin for her viewers with an ease and prowess befitting a seasoned epicure. In this delightful memoir-cum-cookbook, Rukka shares the memories and recipes of delectable food that she has cooked and eaten over many decades. Having traveled extensively-from Poona, Madras and Delhi to Berkeley, Stanford and Boston-she realized, at a very young age, the indispensability of authentic home-cooked food. She records here her emotional and deeply personal bond with food-from Chitappa's masala vadai and Appa's vegetable cutlet to bondas on Marina Beach, Narayana's bajji and Amma's Mysore pak. Alongside, she shares stories from her childhood in British Poona, of making vegetable cutlets with a Victorian meat grinder, college days in the Madras of a newly independent India, cooking for author R. K. Narayan and her travels around the world with her husband, the renowned social anthropologist, M. N. Srinivas. Like the traditional metal tiffin box, which has found its way into modern food, Rukka's pure-vegetarian recipes are an interesting amalgamation of old-school cooking techniques, with innovative twists. Including charming anecdotes and over a hundred easy-to-follow delicious recipes accompanied by evocative photographs, Tiffin is a richly satisfying feast for all those who believe in food, family and friendship.
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After All This Time
What if you find out it's the end of the road for you? Lavanya gets the shock of her life when she discovers that she's HIV positive. The revelation shakes her out of the monotony that her life has become. It's time for a change. She finally dumps her loser boyfriend, quits her high-paying but extremely demanding job and goes back home to meet her family after nearly seven years. At home she finds a bucket list and she knows it's a sign of what she needs to do. With her is an old neighbour and friend who's just broken off with his girlfriend. Sparks begin to fly! However, what she learns is that you need to really live before you begin to love!
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The Good Sleeper
Cry it out or co-sleep? Bassinet or swing? White noise machine or Bach? How many hours anyway? For something so important, there's too much conflicting information about how best to get your baby to sleep through the night and nap successfully during the day. This book is a straightforward, no-nonsense answer to one of the biggest challenges new parents face when they welcome a brand new baby home. This book is written for exhausted parents, giving them immediate access to the information they need. Reassuring and easy to understand, Dr. Kennedy addresses head-on the fears and misinformation about the long-term effects of crying and takes a bold stand on controversial issues such as co-sleeping and attachment parenting. With polarizing figures and techniques dominating the marketplace-and spawning misinformation across the internet - Dr. Kennedy's methods and practices create an extensively researched and parent-tested approach to sleep training that takes both babies and parents needs into account to deliver good nights and days of sleep and no small dose of peace of mind. The Good Sleeper is a practical, empowering-and even entertaining-guide to help parents understand infant sleep. This research-based book will teach parents the basics of sleep science, determine how and when to intervene and provide tools to solve even the most seemingly impossible sleep problems.
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Our Final Invention- Artificial Intelligence And T
Artificial Intelligence helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see and even who you date. It puts the 'smart' in your smartphone and soon it will drive your car. It makes most of the trades on Wall Street and controls vital energy, water and transportation infrastructure. But Artificial Intelligence can also threaten our existence. In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI's Holy Grail-human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful and more alien than we can imagine. Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs and groundbreaking AI systems, our final invention explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI. Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own? And will they allow us to?
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A Giant Cow-Tipping By Savages
Modern mergers and acquisitions, or M&A as it's more commonly known, is a new phenomenon. The buying and selling, the breaking up and combining of companies--the essence of M&A--has been a part of commerce throughout history, but only in our era has M&A itself become a business. In 2007, it was a $4.4 trillion global enterprise. And yet, it remains largely unexplored. Discrete stories have been pulled from the annals of M&A, both true and fictionalized, that have become touchstones for wealth and excess. Who can forget Gordon Gekko and his "Greed is Good" speech? But while there have been a few iconic characters and tales to emerge, no one has told the rich history of M&A, until now. John Weir Close provides a look into that world and the people who created it. "A Giant Cow-Tipping by Savages" reads like "Dallas" meets "Wall Street," told through an intriguing narrative that not only brings to light in gritty detail all of the back room drama of such powerful players as Carl Icahn, Joe Flom, Marty Lipton, and Bruce Wasserstein, but also reveals how the new generation, including activist whirlwind Bill Ackman and iconoclastic new Delaware judge Leo Strine, will dominate the next tsunamic, and imminent, M&A boom.
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Finding Zero
The story of how we got our numbers-told through one mathematician's journey to find zero. The invention of numerals is perhaps the greatest abstraction the human mind has ever created. Virtually everything in our lives is digital, numerical or quantified. The story of how and where we got these numerals, which we so depend on, has for thousands of years been shrouded in mystery. Finding Zero is an adventure filled saga of Amir Aczel's lifelong obsession-to find the original sources of our numerals. Aczel has doggedly crisscrossed the ancient world, scouring dusty, moldy texts, cross examining so-called scholars who offered wildly differing sets of facts and ultimately penetrating deep into a Cambodian jungle to find a definitive proof. Here, he takes the reader along for the ride. The history begins with the early Babylonian cuneiform numbers, followed by the later Greek and Roman letter numerals. Then Aczel asks the key question-where do the numbers we use today, the so-called Hindu - Arabic numerals, come from? It is this search that leads him to explore uncharted territory, to go on a grand quest into India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and ultimately into the wilds of Cambodia. There he is blown away to find the earliest zero-the keystone of our entire system of numbers-on a crumbling, vine-covered wall of a seventh-century temple adorned with eaten-away erotic sculptures. While on this odyssey, Aczel meets a host of fascinating characters-academics in search of truth, jungle trekkers looking for adventure, surprisingly honest politicians, shameless smugglers and treacherous archaeological thieves-who finally reveal where our numbers come from.
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Unbound- 2000 Years Of Indian Women's Writing
Profound, exhilarating, haunting, angry and meditative, Unbound is a collection that will shatter stereotypes about women's writing in India. Unbound is a collection of some of the most significant writing by Indian women over the past two thousand years. Divided into eleven sections, it encompasses writing on various aspects of life-spirituality, love, marriage, children, food, work, social and individual identity, battles, myths and fables, travel and death. While many of the pieces are commentaries on the struggle that women undergo to overcome obstacles - social and political - all of them showcase the remarkable creative ability of their creators. The term women's writing has often been used to limit and stereotype the work of women writers. But it also has a larger and more constructive meaning and that is the sense in which it has been used to inform and describe the context of the book. As Annie Zaidi explains in her introduction - women bring to their writing the truth of their bodies and an enquiry into the different ways in which gender inequity shapes human experience. Selected from hundreds of novels, memoirs, essays, short story collections and volumes of poetry that were either written in English or that have been translated into English, the pieces in this collection include the most distinctive and powerful voices from every era. There are verses from the Therigatha, written by Buddhist nuns (Circa 300 BCE) and writing by poet-saints like Andal, Avvaiyar, Lal Ded, Mirabai, modern classics by writers like Ajeet Cour, Amrita Pritam, Arundhati Roy, Attia Hosian, Bama, Bulbul Sharma, Irawati Karve, Ismat Chughtai, Kamala Das, Krishna Sobti, Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Mannu Bhandari, Mrinal Pande, Nayantara Sahgal, Pinki Virani, Qurratulain Hyder, Rashid Jahan, Romila Thapar, Sarojini Naidu, Saudamini Devi, Shivani and powerful new voices from our time like Arundhathi Subramaniam, Nilanjana Roy, Nivedita Menon.
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The Risk Factor
Our most revered business icons of the last few decades are the bold risktakers, such as Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs. Yet in today's stock market-driven economy, companies are playing it safe, with too many leaders focused on short-term gains, rather than value creation. The result is a static business culture that generates forgettable results--even as the world demands big solutions. So how do we get back in the risk-taking game? In "The Risk Factor," Deborah Perry Piscione takes the most comprehensive look at this crucial, undervalued leadership behavior, and outlines how companies must support risk-taking across the enterprise. Exploring the heroes of risk, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and technologists, and the role risk-taking and failure tolerance play in their success, she makes a compelling case not only for big, flashy mergers or acquisitions, but also for unorthodox choices in everything from leadership to corporate social responsibility. Drawing on case studies from a wide range of now-famous giants (Netflix, Salesforce) and successful start-ups (Tesla, NetApp), she distills lessons for both new entrepreneurs and established companies whose longtime risk aversion has cost them more than they realize.
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Dead Companies Walking
Hedge fund manager Scott Fearon explains why failure in business is not only common, but necessary-and how spotting it early can pay off. Unlike most investors, who live in fear of failure, Scott Fearon actively seeks it out. He has earned millions of dollars over the past thirty years shorting the stocks of businesses he believed were on their way to bankruptcy. In Dead Companies Walking, Fearon describes his foolproof formula for spotting these doomed businesses and how they can be-extremely profitable investments. In his experience, corporate managers routinely commit six common mistakes that can derail even the most promising companies-they learn from only the recent past, they rely too heavily on a formula for success, they misunderstand their target customers, they fall victim to the magical storytelling of a mania, they fail to adapt to tectonic shifts in their industry and they are physically or emotionally removed from their companies operations. Fearon has personally interviewed thousands of executives who were headed, unknowingly, for bankruptcy-from the Texas oil barons of the 80s to the tech wunderkinds of the late 90s to the flush real estate developers of the mid - 2000s. Here, he explores recent examples like J. C. Penney, Herbalife and Blockbuster Entertainment to help investors better predict the next booms and busts-and come out on top.
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30 Women In Power- Their Voices, Their Stories
30 Women in Power carries the inimitable voices of Indian women who have been pioneers and led large organizations in banking, law, the media, advertising, government services, health care, consulting, the fast-moving consumer goods sector and the not-for-profit space. In these narratives told up, close and personal thirty of Indias greatest women achievers speak of the guiding principles that have held them in good stead, the role models who have anchored them, the childhood influences that have shaped their values and the interests outside the world of work that have revitalized them. Coming from all walks of life, these empowered woman discuss their many successes and their dreams for the future. Yet, they also venture to disclose the setbacks that have preceded hard-won conquests, the barriers, psychological or otherwise, that may have held them back at certain points and the compromises theyve had to make to reach the top. Through these honest and contemplative revelations, thirty women in power answer those questions that confront all working women from how best to balance the personal and the professional, to how to dismantle gender biases. Equally, the essayists consider seminal issues that concern every committed professional, man or woman - What are the qualities that define a leader? Where does one find a mentor? What are the ingredients in the recipe for success? Edited by business leader extraordinaire Naina Lal Kidwai, this topical and relevant book is a must-read, not only for the lessons it provides, but also for the intimate accounts it offers of lives powerfully lived.
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The Moral Arc
Bestselling author Michael Shermer's exploration of science and morality that demonstrates how the scientific way of thinking has made people and society as a whole, more moral. From Galileo and Newton to Thomas Hobbes and Martin Luther King, Jr., thinkers throughout history have consciously employed scientific techniques to better understand the non-physical world. The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment led theorists to apply scientific reasoning to the non-scientific disciplines of politics, economics and moral philosophy. Instead of relying on the woodcuts of dissected bodies in old medical texts, physicians opened bodies themselves to see what was there, instead of divining truth through the authority of an ancient holy book or philosophical treatise, people began to explore the book of nature for themselves through travel and exploration, instead of the supernatural belief in the divine right of kings, people employed a natural belief in the right of democracy. In this provocative and compelling book, Shermer will explain how abstract reasoning, rationality, empiricism, skepticism-scientific ways of thinking-have profoundly changed the way we perceive morality and indeed, move us ever closer to a more just world.
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Simple Plane Love
A perfect landing is a mirage, the more you chase it, the more it eludes you. Meet Captain Meera Khanna. As a first officer on an Aeroflot Aviation plane, with a luxurious apartment in the beautiful city of Manila, she seems to have it all. Flying to exotic destinations, navigating turbulent flights through typhoons and handling engine failure are all in a days work. Even when a leg injury forces Meera to take time off her busy schedule, she has the perfect solution - an exciting vacation to Subic Bay with her glamorous best friend Diana, aka Dee. And nothing could have been a better idea, what with the unexpected arrival of her childhood friend, the suave Aditya. But when Aditya seems to want more than friendship, it throws Meera off-kilter. Will Meera's perfect life come to an abrupt landing? Or will she find her happily-ever-after? In Simple Plane Love, join Captain Meera on a rollicking adventure, where navigating an aeroplane seems simpler than negotiating the many twists and turns of love.
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Never Kiss Your Best Friend
Go lingerie-shopping with him. Pass out drunk with her on the same bed. Cry on his shoulder when you break up. Bore her with football talk at 3 a. m. Ask him for advice on how to keep your boyfriend 'happy'. Watch a cheesy movie with her and cry freely. Ask him to rate your butt. Dance with her in your boxers. But never, ever kiss your best friend. In this sequel to the bestselling Just Friends, find out what happens when headstrong and impulsive Tanie Brar meets her equally crazy best friend Sumer Singh Dhillon after five long years of separation. Heart-warming and poignant, Never Kiss Your Best Friend redefines the rules of friendship with its story of a boy and a girl who are soul mates in every sense.
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Alibaba's World
A riveting insider account of the rise, culture and influence of Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant that is changing the face of global business. In September 2014, a Chinese company that most Westerners had never heard of held the largest IPO in history - bigger than Google, Facebook and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest e-commerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over ten years, while building a customer base more than twice the size of Amazon's and handling the bulk of e-commerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride? In Alibaba's World, author Porter Erisman, one of Alibaba's first Western employees and its head of international marketing from 2000 to 2008, shows how Jack Ma, a Chinese schoolteacher who twice failed his college entrance exams, rose from obscurity to found Alibaba and lead it from struggling startup to the world's most dominant e-commerce player. In this, the first English language account of Alibaba's extraordinary success, Erisman shares stories of weathering the dotcom crash, facing down eBay and Google, negotiating with the unpredictable Chinese government and enduring the misguided advice of foreign experts, all to build the behemoth that's poised to sweep the ecommerce world today. And he analyzes Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape-with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba - and its inevitable descendants - is both essential and instructive.