Countdown

On 11 May 1998 the Indian government tested five nuclear devices some forty kilometers from Pokaran. Seventeen days later Pakistan tested nuclear devices of its own. About three months after the tests, Amitav Ghosh went to the Pokaran area, after which he visited Kashmir as part of the defense minister???s entourage. He also went to the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram Mountains where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have been exchanging fire since 1983. Ghosh then travelled through Pakistan and Nepal. Countdown is partly a result of these journeys and conversations with many hundreds of people of the subcontinent.

In An Antique Land

Packed with anecdote and exuberant detail, In an Antique Land provides magical and intimate insights into Egypt from the Crusades to Operation Desert Storm. It exposes the indistinguishable and intertwining ties that bind together India and Egypt, Hindus and Muslims and Jews. By combining fiction, history, travel writing and anthropology, to create a single seamless work of imagination, Ghosh characteristically makes us rethink the political boundaries that divide the world and the generic boundaries that divide narratives.

Eating India

Banerji [is] one of the most evocative of Indian food writers, blending an exact understanding of techniques with an abiding curiosity about the many human stories behind the art of food' ???India Today In Eating India, award-winning food writer Chitrita Banerji takes us on an extraordinary journey through a national cuisine formed by generations of arrivals, assimilations and conquests. Traveling across the length and breadth of the country???from Bengal to Goa and Karnataka, via the Grand Trunk Road, then northwards to Amritsar, Lucknow and Varanasi, on to Bombay and Kerala???Banerji discovers a civilization with an insatiable curiosity, one that consumes the old and the new with eager voracity. Weaving together myths and folklore associated with food, the people and their culture, the author narrates captivating accounts of life in the subcontinent: the legend behind the weeklong harvest festival of Onam; the strictly observed rules of kosher in the Jewish households of Cochin; the best Benarasi thandai that has a dollop of bhang in it; and the food and culture of the indigenous people who hover on the edges of mainstream consciousness, among others. Eating India is also peppered with fascinating titbits from India's history: the use of 'shali' rice to make pilafs during the Mughal period; the advent of chillies with the arrival of the Portuguese; British, apart from Goan, influence on Parsi society that prompted the Parsis to open the first girls' school in India in 1849; and the medieval movable feast that unfolded on the travellers' platter as they moved from east to west on Sher Shah Suri's Sarak-i-Azam. At different points in her journey, Banerji shows us how restructuring old customs and making innovations is what India is all about: food in India has always been and still is fusion???one that is forever evolving. Certain to enchant anyone enamoured of Indian food and culture, Eating India is a heady blend of travelogue and food writing.

From The Holy Mountain

In his third book william dalrymple has dug deep to present the case of the middle easts downtrodden christians more hard-hitting than either of his previous books, from the holy mountain is driven by indignation while leavened with his characteristic jauntiness and humour, it is also profoundly shocking time and time again in the details of dalrymples discoveries i found myself asking: why do we not know this? the sense of unsung tragedy accumulates throughout the chapters of this book from the holy mountain is the most rewarding sort of travel book, combining flashes of lightly-worn scholarship with a powerful sense of place and the immediacy of the best journalism but more than that it is a passionate cri de coeur for a forgotten people which few readers will be able to resist-philip marsden, spectator

Everybody Loves A Good Drought

The human face of poverty The poor in India are, too often, reduced to statistics. In the dry language of development reports and economic projections, the true misery of the 312 million who live below the poverty line, or the 26 million displaced by various projects, or the 13 million who suffer from tuberculosis gets overlooked. In this thoroughly researched study of the poorest of the poor, we get to see how they manage, what sustains them, and the efforts, often ludicrous, to do something for them. The people who figure in this book typify the lives and aspirations of a large section of Indian society, and their stories present us with the true face of development.

The Rise And Fall of Nations

The crisis of 2008 ended the illusion of a golden era in which many people imagined that prosperity and political calm would continue to spread indefinitely. In a world now racked by slowing growth and mounting unrest, how can we discern which nations will thrive and which will fail? Shaped by prize-winning author Ruchir Sharma's twenty-five years travelling the world, The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks economics as a practical art. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country's future, it spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners and losers in the global economy. Each rule looks at a nation's political, economic, and social conditions in real time to filter out the hype and noise. He shows, for example, how slow population growth is eroding economic growth, and ranks nations by how well they respond. He describes the way cycles of political complacency and revolt fuel economic booms and busts. Amid growing tensions over inequality, he demonstrates how billionaire lists yield clues to which economies are most or least threatened by extreme wealth. In a period when the world is struggling with trillions of dollars in new debt, he explains which nations are most likely to avert this threat or buckle under it. Sharma's rules are based on the data he has collected over many years at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York, where he is now Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist. This is a book of original research, not mere opinion. The final chapter takes the reader on a surprising world tour of the likely winners and losers in the near future. The Rise and Fall of Nations is enlivened by Sharma's stories from the road and his encounters with presidents, tycoons, and villagers from Rio to Beijing. It is a pioneering field guide to understanding our impermanent world.

Maximum City : Bombay Lost And Found

Bombay's story, told through the lives, often desperately near the edge, of some of the people who live there. The complex texture of these extraordinary tales is threaded together by Suketu Mehta's own history of growing up in Bombay and returning to live there after a 21-year absence. Hitmen, dancing girls, cops, movie stars, poets, beggars and politicians - Suketu looked at the city through their eyes, and in looking found the city within himself

Tibet, Tibet : A Personal History of a Lost Land

Tibet has long fascinated the West, but what really lies beyond our romantic image of a Buddhist mountain kingdom of peace and spirituality? Travelling through the country, French meets warrior monks, nomads and a nun secretly fighting Chinese communist rule, but also young Tibetans with a more pragmatic attitude to their situation. Interweaving these encounters with little-known stories of war and turmoil from Tibet's past, he reveals a more nuanced, fascinating and surprising picture of this complex place than any other book has done.'Mixes a compelling subject, magnificent prose and deep understanding' The Times'Inspired and heartfelt ... shows that Tibet was never the peace-loving paradise so many generations of well-wishers have longed for it to be' Pico Iyer, Los Angeles Times 'Tibet, Tibet, so good they named it twice ... French is a writer of generous talents' Sunday Timesn 'French has produced something very different from what he calls "Tibetophile" literature, something greatly superior in its honesty and lack of false sentiment' Spectator 'A gripping mix of history, travel writing and personal memoir ... vividly told' Observer

And the Teesta Flows

And the Teesta Flows is the biography of a mountain river - the Teesta. The book traces the river's course right form its origin in North Sikkim to its confluence with the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. However, what lies as an undertone in this narrative is the story of a girl - Teesta, the river her namesake - who lived to see only thirteen summers. Authors Utpal and Samita Chauduri have constantly travelled to the Himalayas seeking a reflection of their daughter in the perennial flow of the river Teesta. Thus begins a story. Written in the style of a diary without chronology, the book sketches the diversity of the people living by the Teesta, delineating the tales of their philosophies, their lifestyles, their livelihoods and their emotions. The anecdotes that find place in the narrative are the authors' first-hand experiences of interactions with them. A memoir, a piece of dedication, an offering in remembrance of a loved one, call it what you may, this book is bound to touch your heart.

Indian Tibet Tibetan India : The Cultural Legacy Of The Western Himalayas

Inspired by the first cultural expedition into the Western Himalayas by August Hermann Francke in 1909 which resulted in the region's denomination as Indian Tibet, the author has travelled for years in the long inaccessible Indo-Tibetan border regions after they were opened to the public in the beginning of the 1990s. In secluded and remote high-altitude-valleys of breath-taking grandeur he documented some of the last refuges of Tibetan and early Indian culture and photographed people and the unique testimonies of their art, religion and architecture. With the aid of rare archival and contemporary textual and visual materials, many seen here for the first time ever, the author draws a comprehensive picture of the fascinating history of the exploration of the present Indian border region towards Tibet. Knowledgably he describes the customs of its various inhabitants many of whom still follow their age-old traditions which at present are being stimulated and revived by the many exiled Tibetans that have found a new home in the region, thus designating it as 'Tibetan India.' Contents: Foreword: Variety Endangered-Michel Peissel; Introduction and Acknowledgements Indian Tibet; Tibetan India-Cultural Exchange, Cross-relations and Interactions in the Western Himalayas; The Exploration of the Western Himalayas; Shimla and Kinnaur The Britons and the Fairy Land; Spiti Buddha's Mountain Desert; Lahaul Meeting Place of the Sun and Moon; Western Himalayan Buddhist Art.Influences, Styles, Developments; Zanskar Valley of the White Copper; Rupshu Lakes and Nomads; Ladakh Little Tibet of Passes; Nubra Dunes to Central Asia; Dahhanu Refuge of the Lost Aryans

Three - Quarters of a Footprint: Travels in South India

I travelled with Mrs Trivedi from Madras to Bangalore, overnight on the mail train. ???First class this time so that you are not overwhelmed???. It was my second night in India and I was already overwhelmed???. Joe Roberts stayed five months with the Trivedis in Bangalore. Using that as a base he travelled all over southern India. Wherever he went he met extraordinary people???Major Trivedi warned him that ???nothing is as fixed as you think???. In Pondicherry he found Rita, a melancholy divorcee banished to an ashram. He encountered worshippers at the great temple at Madurai and on the holy island of Rameswaram. He mingled with the vociferous crowds at the snakeboat races at Arunmala and in Cochin he was offered heroin in the Jewish cemetery??? Funny, empathetic, and always entertaining, Three Quarters of a Footprint has established itself as a travel classic about modern India.

A Search In Secret India : The Classic Work On Seeking A Guru

The late Paul Brunton was one of the twentieth century's greatest explorers of and writers on the spiritual traditions of the East. A Search in Secret India is the story of Paul Brunton's journey around India, living among yogis, mystics and gurus, some of whom he found convincing, others not. He finally finds the peace and tranquility which come with self-knowledge when he meets and studies with the great sage Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Once Upon A Time In The Soviet Union

The fantastic motorcar rally undertaken by two young French couples on the forbidden roads of the Soviet Union Dominique Lapierre, aged 25 and Jean - Pierre Pedrazzini, 27, two star reporters of the prestigious French news magazine Paris Match, obtained from Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 the extraordinary authorization to cross the iron curtain aboard their own automobile and to travel 13,000 kilometers on the forbidden Soviet roads. Never before had any foreigner been able to live such an adventure. In the whole of Soviet Russia there was only one petrol pump selling high octane gasoline and no Soviet citizen had ever seen an automobile painted in two colours. From Poland to the mountains of Ural, from the villages of White Russia to the beaches of the Black Sea, from the Kremlin to Stalin's birth place in Georgia, Lapierre, Pedrazzini and their Parisian wives discover the secret faces of a people hidden behind the walls of the Cold War. As they get deeper into their adventure, they are struck by an alarming question: how has the Soviet regime managed to convince a nation deprived of freedom that it is the happiest one on earth? Beyond its unbelievable adventures, this trip is a dive into a world that explored the history of mankind.

City Of Djinns : A Year In Delhi

Delhi is a city like no other, one which, in spite of being as old as time, is culturally dominated by relatively new dwellers. Interspersed with accounts of meeting assorted Delhiwallahs including Sufis, eunuchs, Persian scholars and an Englishwoman who stays behind after the Raj's hasty exit, City of Djinns seeks out the essence of this ancient town in a travelogue like no other. Moving, profoundly insightful and compulsively readable, City of Djinns is a loving exploration by one of the great historians of our time of the city he choses to call home.

Her Master Key : A Hotel Housekeeper’s Stories From Inn-dia

She uncovers incredible and amusing stories from luxury hotels in India. She captures extraordinary episodes of infidelity, bigotry and brings to light the absurdity of travellers. She highlights the struggles of white-collared, blue-collared and non-collared staff to break the stereotypes around hotel professionals. While much has been written and read about star hotels in the West, the tales from India remain untold.It???s time we read these stories!

Where The Indus Is Young : A Winter In Baltistan

One winter in the mid-1970s, Dervla Murphy, her six-year-old daughter Rachel and Hallam, a hardy mule, walked into Baltistan close to Pakistan-held Kashmir???the frozen heart of the Western Himalayas. For three months they travelled along the perilous Indus Gorge and into nearby valleys, making a mockery of fear, trekking through the forbidding Karakoram mountains and lodging with the Balts, who farm one of the remotest regions on earth. Despite the hardship, Dervla never forgot the point of travel, retaining enthusiasm for her magnificent surroundings and using her sense of humour to bring out the best in her hosts, who were often locked into the melancholic mood of mid-winter. This hair-raising, quirky and vivid account of their adventure is a classic of travel writing.

Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster

Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day, eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions.

An Area Of Darkness

A luminous and challenging work of autobiographical travel writing. An Area of Darkness is V.S. Naipaul's semi-autobiographical account-at once painful and hilarious, always concerned-of his first visit to India, the land of his forbears. From the moment of his inauspicious arrival in Prohibition-dry Bombay, bearing whisky and cheap brandy, he began to experience a sense of cultural estrangement from the subcontinent. It became for him a land of myths, an area of darkness closing up behind him as he travelled . . . The experience was not a pleasant one, but the pain the author suffered was creative rather than numbing, and engendered a masterful work of literature that is by turns tender, lyrical, explosive and cruel. With spectacular narrative skill, Naipaul provides a revelation both of India and of himself: a displaced person who paradoxically possesses a stronger sense of place than almost anyone. 'A masterpiece of travel-writing' Paul Theroux 'Brilliant' Observer.

A Short History Of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. Bill Bryson's challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry and particle physics, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, A Short History of Nearly Everything is the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.