Dhobi Girl


Book Description

Starting from a colony of labourers, Anuja and Ratna make it good in life, both becoming reputed doctors in different fields. The developments in Ratna’s life have far-reaching consequences on that of Anuja, though she has chosen to tread a path of her own. The kaleidoscope of life draws many people into the ambit of Anuja’s and Ratna’s lives. Chief among them are Devi, Ratna’s wife, and Jay, the young woman he tumbles into love with, and the children he has through them both. And all through their lives runs the evil presence of Nathaniel. From the struggle for life in the labour colony, we are transported to the professional successes in Chennai, from the peace of an Edinburgh hideaway to the deathly cold of the Swiss Alps, from the mystical piety of the banks of the Ganga to the tension-filled operation theatre. There’s murder, there’s rape, there’s sacrifice, there’s scheming, there’s forgiveness, and above all, there’s love. The details dovetail to make a comprehensive, comprehensible plot of the joys and sorrows of life, of despair, resilience and resurgence.




Dhobis of Delhi


Book Description

Dhobis of Delhi: An Urban Ethnography from the Margins, 1974–2023 is a saga covering more than four decades of interactions with an 'untouchable' caste--the Dhobis (washermen and washerwomen), who are among Delhi's oldest inhabitants. It describes their ways of life, economy, livelihood, struggles, and adaptation to the city's changing demographic, cultural, and politico-economic profile. Utilizing an experiential perspective and a gendered and feminist approach, the author elaborates on the Dhobi identity, which is focused on their community (biradari), and discusses their struggles to be identified as skilled professionals at par with others, rejecting at the same time the political identity of being Dalit. Discarding their earlier subjugated sense of the self, the Dhobis are developing an emerging consciousness as democratic citizens, nurturing ambitions of a future where they will find acceptance as a community. To that end, the book also analyses how their marginalized caste-based occupation and skills ensure for them a livelihood and viability within the market economy. Highlighting the community's strategies and tactics of survival and resilience against all odds, Dhobis of Delhi is thus the story of a city viewed through the eyes of those who live on the lowest rung of its social hierarchy but whose contribution to the life of the city is essential, albeit invisible.







The Fortune Men


Book Description

BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • Based on a true event, this novel is “a blues song cut straight from the heart ... about the unjust death of an innocent Black man caught up in a corrupt system” (Walter Mosley, best-selling author of Devil in a Blue Dress). In Cardiff, Wales in 1952, Mahmood Mattan, a young Somali sailor, is accused of a crime he did not commit: the brutal killing of Violet Volacki, a shopkeeper from Tiger Bay. At first, Mahmood believes he can ignore the fingers pointing his way; he may be a gambler and a petty thief, but he is no murderer. He is a father of three, secure in his innocence and his belief in British justice. But as the trial draws closer, his prospect for freedom dwindles. Now, Mahmood must stage a terrifying fight for his life, with all the chips stacked against him: a shoddy investigation, an inhumane legal system, and, most evidently, pervasive and deep-rooted racism at every step. Under the shadow of the hangman's noose, Mahmood begins to realize that even the truth may not be enough to save him. A haunting tale of miscarried justice, this book offers a chilling look at the dark corners of our humanity.







What Lies Between Us


Book Description

In the idyllic hill country of Sri Lanka, a young girl grows up with her loving family; but even in the midst of this paradise, terror lurks in the shadows. When tragedy strikes, she and her mother must seek safety by immigrating to America. There the girl reinvents herself as an American teenager to survive, with the help of her cousin; but even as she assimilates and thrives, the secrets and scars of her past follow her into adulthood. In this new country of freedom, everything she has built begins to crumble around her, and her hold on reality becomes more and more tenuous. When the past and the present collide, she sees only one terrible choice. From Nayomi Munaweera, the award-winning author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors, comes the confession of a woman, driven by the demons of her past to commit a single and possibly unforgivable crime. Praise for Island of a Thousand Mirrors: "The paradisiacal landscapes of Sri Lanka are as astonishing as the barbarity of its revolution, and Munaweera evokes the power of both in a lyrical debut novel worthy of shelving alongside her countryman Michael Ondaatje or her fellow writer of the multigenerational immigrant experience Jhumpa Lahiri." - Publishers Weekly "The beating heart of Island of a Thousand Mirrors is not so much its human characters but Sri Lanka itself and the vivid, occasionally incandescent, language used to describe this teardrop in the Indian Ocean." - The New York Times Book Review







People of India: Rajasthan (2 pts.)


Book Description

The Two Volumes On Rajasthan Are A Part Of People Of India Project Undertaken By The Anthropological Survey Of India. The Volumes Contain An Ethnographic Survey Of All The The 228 Communities That Inhabit Rajasthan. An Excellent Reference Tool.




Never Break


Book Description

Alia, a abandoned girl child from the slum was raised in the family of sex worker. Poor, prostitution, disgraceful society around her nothing pinned her live life like others in the slum. Her thoughts were different and out of box which made her desire towards writing. She thought her writings should speak to the world. She thought problems she faced should give solution to others and inspire many from such backgrounds. A sixty year old, Azeem Khan, now a scrap collector was once a editor-in-chief of popular news house aided Alia in her journey to be writer but failures in each stage of her life making her downfall. Is that possible for her to transmute her intangible thoughts into reality? Where she is out of reach for education, money, family and society. Other cruxes like love, sex, relationships, sexual assaults, terrorism, status etc., made book absolutely captivating.