Linguistic Kaleidoscope: Celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav


Book Description

‘Linguistic Kaleidoscope: Celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ Edited by Dr. Bulbul Gupta ji is a response of academicians from across the country to the Indian government’s clarion call to commemorate and celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence. The anthology brings together milestone poems or poems of enduring popularity composed at any point time in history and belonging to scheduled languages, official languages, and classical languages (a total of 23 languages) of India. It represents the east, west, north, and south of the country besides paying tribute to such poets and their compositions etched deeply in the minds and hearts of multitudes. The book aims to be an interesting and significant part of the official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav that commenced on 12 March 2021 and ends post a year on 15 August 2023.




Raj Kapoor


Book Description

'If cinema did not exist, I would be non-existent.' - Raj Kapoor In this warm, thoughtful memoir, veteran filmmaker Rahul Rawail goes back to his days spent in R.K. Studios where he was nurtured and taught to handle the ropes of filmmaking from the Master himself-Raj Kapoor. Through stories only he can tell, Rawail delves not only into the techniques of the legendary filmmaker, but also into hitherto unknown aspects of Raj Kapoor's eccentric personality-his quirky sense of humour, his insights into life, the relationship he shared with his crew and his associations with artists of three generations. The book also examines how the lessons he learnt under the tutelage of Raj Kapoor carried Rahul Rawail through directing his own blockbuster films including Love Story, Betaab, Arjun and Dacait. Raj Kapoor: The Master at Work offers unique insights into what it took for Raj Kapoor to be an exceptional filmmaker, with his understanding of human emotions, virtues of music and the art of visual storytelling. Within these pages, one sees behind the enigma who lived and breathed cinema, in his before-seen role as a teacher, mentor, parent and guru.







Foreigners


Book Description

From an acclaimed, award-winning novelist comes this brilliant hybrid of reportage, fiction, and historical fact: the stories of three black men whose tragic lives speak resoundingly to the problem of race in British society. With his characteristic grace and forceful prose, Phillips describes the lives of three very different men: Francis Barber, “given” to the 18th-century writer Samuel Johnson, whose friendship with Johnson led to his wretched demise; Randolph Turpin, a boxing champion who ended his life in debt and decrepitude; and David Oluwale, a Nigerian stowaway who arrived in Leeds in 1949 and whose death at the hands of police twenty years later was a wake up call for the entire nation. As Phillips weaves together these three stories, he illuminates the complexities of race relations and social constraints with devastating results.




Beyond Hindu and Muslim


Book Description

Questioning the conventional depiction of India as a nation divided between religious communities, Gottschalk shows that individuals living in India have multiple identities, some of which cut across religious boundaries. The stories narrated by villagers living in the northern state of Bihar depict everyday social interactions that transcend the simple divide of Hindu and Muslim.




Delhi By Heart


Book Description

A sensitively written account of a Pakistani writer's discovery of Delhi Why, asks Raza Rumi, does the capital of another country feel like home? How is it that a man from Pakistan can cross the border into 'hostile' territory and yet not feel 'foreign'? Is it the geography, the architecture, the food? Or is it the streets, the festivals and the colours of the subcontinent, so familiar and yes, beloved... As he takes in the sights, from the Sufi shrines in the south to the markets of Old Delhi, from Lutyens' stately mansions to Ghalib's crumbling abode, Raza uncovers the many layers of the city. He connects with the richness of the Urdu language, observes the syncretic evolution of mystical Islam in India and its deep connections with Hindustani classical music - so much a part of his own selfhood. And every so often, he returns to the refuge of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the twelfth-century pir, whose dargah still reverberates with music and prayer every evening. His wanderings through Delhi lead Raza back in time to recollections of a long-forgotten Hindu ancestry and to comparisons with his own city of Lahore - in many ways a mirror image of Delhi. They also lead to reflections on the nature of the modern city, the inherent conflict between the native and the immigrant and, inevitably, to an inquiry into his own identity as a South Asian Muslim. Rich with history and anecdote, and conversations with Dilliwalas known and unknown,Delhi By Heart offers an unusual perspective and unexpected insights into the political and cultural capital of India.




Witnessing Partition


Book Description

This book interrogates representations – fiction, literary motifs and narratives – of the Partition of India. Delving into the writings of Khushwant Singh, Balachandra Rajan, Attia Hosain, Abdullah Hussein, Rahi Masoom Raza and Anita Desai, among many others, it highlights the modes of ‘fictive’ testimony that sought to articulate the inarticulate – the experiences of trauma and violence, of loss and longing, and of diaspora and displacement. The author discusses representational techniques and formal innovations in writing across three generations of twentieth-century writers in India and Pakistan, invoking theoretical debates on history, memory, witnessing and trauma. With a new afterword, the second edition of this volume draws attention to recent developments in Partition studies and sheds new light as regards ongoing debates about an event that still casts a shadow on contemporary South Asian society and culture. A key text, this is essential reading for scholars, researchers and students of literary criticism, South Asian studies, cultural studies and modern history.




AMETHYST COUNTRY


Book Description

Devastated by the collapse of her marriage, Helen Bradshaw flees London for Achill Island on the West Coast of Ireland hoping that her new job researching painter, Grace Henry, will offer her an escape. Achill is wild and beautiful, but island life poses many challenges, she feels isolated, lonely.







The War Trilogy


Book Description

Three screen plays and commentary on films made by Rossellini about World War II.




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