September is looking promising with publishers set with unputdownable releases. We’ve hand picked a list that we found intriguing from the titles released and to-be-released this September by publishing houses like HarperCollins, Aleph Books and Rupa Publications.
HARPER COLLINS
For Now, It is Night by Hari Krishna Kaul translated by Kalpana Raina, Tanveer Ajsi, Gowhar Fazili & Gowhar Yaqoob releasing 24 September 2023| Fiction/Translation (216 pp | Rs 399)
Hari Krishna Kaul, one of the very best modern Kashmiri writers, published most of his work between 1972 and 2000. His short stories, shaped by the social crisis and political instability in Kashmir, explore – with an impressive eye for detail, biting wit, and deep empathy – themes of isolation, individual and collective alienation, corruption, and the social mores of a community that experienced a loss of homeland, culture, and language.
In these pages, we will find: friends stuck forever in the same class at school while the world changes around them; travelers forced to seek shelter in a battered, windy hostel after a landslide; parents struggling to deal with displacement as they move away from Kashmir with their children, or loneliness as their children leave in search of better prospects; the cabin fever of living through a curfew…
Brilliantly translated in a unique collaborative project, For Now, It Is Night brings a comprehensive selection of Kaul’s stories to English readers for the very first time.
According to Sanjay Kak the book is, ‘A valuable introduction to one of contemporary Kashmir’s most distinguished, if unsung, literary voices … This volume makes itself indispensable to the ways in which we seek to understand the vexed recent past of Kashmir.’
Similarly, Neerja Matto is also all-praises for the book. She says it is, ‘Masterful … The frustrations and disappointments of the people, both Muslims and Pandits, are sensitively felt and fearlessly depicted.’
Authors like Mirza Waheed and Farah Bashir have called Kaul’s work “visionary” as the “conjecture a lost time”
ALEPH BOOK COMPANY
The Less You Preach, the More You Learn: Aphorisms for Our Age by Shashi Tharoor and Joseph Zacharias (INR-499, PP-200)
The aphorism is one of the oldest forms of literary expression and has been around for thousands of years. It is a concise statement or observation that expresses a general truth, principle, or nugget of wisdom, ideally in a memorable or witty manner. Some of the most famous intellectuals and writers in history have expressed themselves memorably in aphorisms including Seneca, François de La Rochefoucauld, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Oscar Wilde. In this book, Shashi Tharoor and Joseph Zacharias have coined over 200 aphorisms on practically every aspect of modern life. Wise, witty, and memorable, the aphorisms in The Less You Preach, The More You Learn provoke, stimulate, and entertain.
The Indian Village: Rural Lives in the 21st Century by Surinder S. Jodhka (INR-799, PP-296)
‘India lives in its villages’.
This statement popularized by Mahatma Gandhi is often referred to in discussions about the country, its past, and its possible future. But what exactly is the Indian village? In the most basic sense, the ‘village’ is a kind of human settlement, always standing in contrast to the ‘town’ or ‘city’. Yet, it is also an idea, one which has undergone myriad shifts over the course of our nation’s history.
In The Indian Village: Rural Lives in the 21st Century, award-winning sociologist Surinder S. Jodhka critically examines the changing nature of the village in India, both as an idea and as a lived reality. Reflecting on the colonial construction of India as a land of village republics, a representation that was turned on its head in different ways by Indian nationalists in the early twentieth century, and the post-liberalization nation, this book provides a detailed account of how rural lives have been transformed in India through the decades. The book also looks at India’s modern villages to showcase the current diversity within agrarian and rural realities with specific focus on the processes of development and democracy in rural areas.
The Indian village, the author suggests, is not a relic of the past. It has always been a dynamic reality and it lives on in an active relationship with the wider world. Besides its many other aspects and processes, it enables the city to prosper, just as the city keeps the village going. Radical, innovative, and grounded in impeccable scholarship, The Indian Village is a seminal study of rural India.
RUPA PUBLICATIONS
INSIDE THE BOARDROOM How Behaviour Trumps Rationality by R. Gopalakrishnan and Tulsi Jayakumar (INR-595, PP-224)
The largest private airline in India went bankrupt, as did the bank that could not say no to its borrowers who defaulted on huge loans. Could these disasters have been foreseen, if not averted? Would it have helped if the directors on the board had spoken up before the corporate failure?
Inside the Boardroom explores the downfall of these companies and many more in the light of directors’ behaviour and its impact on corporate governance. R. Gopalakrishnan and Tulsi Jayakumar believe that corporate success goes beyond having significant knowledge of accounting rules and governance regulations. They boldly assert that directors’ behaviour in the boardroom is less rational than may be widely believed! Being human, directors’ decisions are naturally subjective and prone to behavioural bias, especially when confronted with manifestations of power, passion and authority in the boardroom, or even a secret desire to be accepted by others. Hence, successful directors and boards need to be deep observers of human behaviour and boardroom dynamics because behavioural and cultural nuances are significant aspects in most incidents of mismanagement leading to governance failure.
Lucidly described with a plethora of real events and insightful instances, Inside the Boardroom showcases the authors’ experience with governance and boardroom behaviour. It brings to light misbehaviours in the boardroom, early warning signs of failing governance in companies and some magical mantras for CEOs and independent directors to prevent failures.
More than a Mama: A Memoir on Motherhood by Chhavi Mittal (INR-184, PP-295)
‘Before you continue on this beautiful journey, ask yourself: what is the thing that defines you? Not as a mother, not as a wife, but as you.’
More than a Mama is a heartfelt, unrelentingly honest memoir that portrays the life-changing wonders of motherhood. From pregnancy to postpartum, the author traces her journey as she filters expectations from reality and busts common myths. She creates a world that prioritizes her needs as an individual and a mother and provides valuable insights on diet, fitness and mental health during pregnancy as well as postpartum.
Candid, light and effervescent, the book explores various themes such as how to read the signs of your body, how to develop a covetous mind–body connection, how to eat what is right for you, how to customize your own workout and diet plan and, above all, how to boost your confidence as a mother. Followed and loved by millions worldwide as an actor and content creator, Chhavi Mittal opens herself up through her writing and shares her secrets of how, slowly but surely, she learned to do it all.
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