Sameer, a Way with Words


Book Description

On life and works of Sameer, Hindi film lyricist; includes a filmography researched and compiled by Vishwas Nerurkar and a set of 2 audio CD's titled, Sameer's journey, containing 34 songs written by him.




Members Only


Book Description

First the white members of Raj Bhatt's posh tennis club call him racist. Then his life falls apart. Along the way, he wonders: where does he, a brown man, belong in America? This award-winning novel "offers deep insight into the ways the characters are shaped by racism" (Publishers Weekly). ¶ An NPR Best Book - A Millions Most Anticipated Title of 2020 - A Rumpus Best Book for Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month ¶ Raj is often unsure of where he belongs. Having moved to America from Bombay as a child, he knew few Indian kids. Now middle-aged, he lives mostly happily in California, with a job at a university. Still, his white wife seems to fit in better than he does at times, especially at their tennis club, a place he's cautiously come to love. But it's there that, in one week, his life unravels. It begins at a meeting for potential new members: Raj thrills to find an African American couple on the list; he dreams of a more diverse club. But in an effort to connect, he makes a racist joke. The committee turns on him, no matter the years of prejudice he's put up with. And worse still, he soon finds his job is in jeopardy after a group of students report him as a reverse racist, thanks to his alleged "anti-Western bias." Heartfelt, humorous, and hard-hitting, Members Only explores what membership and belonging mean, as Raj navigates the complicated space between black and white America.




Stealing the Ambassador


Book Description

Caught between a father who thought success and freedom could be found only in America and a grandfather who risked his life to guarantee such ideals in their homeland of India, twenty-three-year-old Rajiv Kothari is lost in a nation he has always called home and beckoned by the one his father left long ago. Stealing the Ambassador is a literary page-turner that blends the experiences of a first-generation Indian American with those of his immigrant father and revolutionary grandfather, their intertwined stories probing the balance between fiction and history, between old country and new, between fathers and sons. Following his father's sudden death, Rajiv finds himself alone and bewildered. As he attempts to reconstruct his father's life, he begins to better understand his own, and when he chances to meet a new Indian immigrant, eerily reminiscent of his own father, their uncanny interaction grants Rajiv insight into the euphoria that his father felt when he first arrived in the country and its gradual deterioration into frustrated estrangement. Events lead Rajiv to a reverse migration, back to the subcontinent of his father's birth. There he reconnects with his aged grandfather -- once a saboteur responsible for bombings in pre-Independence British India and now mysteriously destitute. Discovering the source of this impoverishment, Rajiv is awakened to a second understanding of his childhood hero, a reconsideration that illuminates the relationships between grandfather, father, and grandson while pointing to new definitions of bravery and familial loyalty. Stealing the Ambassador is a stunning debut from the young Sameer Parekh. In depicting the ways that families are at the source of both our frustration with and our loyalty to identity, Parekh sheds new light on the immigrant experience and on the complexity and power of family relations.




Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard


Book Description

Cyberbullying is the intentional and repeated act of causing harm to others through the use of computers, mobile phones, and other electronic devices. The authors look at the potential consequences of this deliberate behaviour and present strategies for effective identification, prevention, and response. They also include illustrations of what cyberbullying looks like, tips for identifying cyberbullies or targets and strategies for responsible social networking. This resource will assist in confronting technology-based aggression and ensure the safe and responsible use of computers and the internet.




The Blind Writer


Book Description

Together, the five stories and novella in this collection follow the lives of first- and second-generation Indian Americans living in contemporary California. The characters share a similar sensibility: a sense that immigration is a distant memory, yet an experience that continues to shape the decisions they make in subtle and surprising ways as they go about the complicated business of everyday living. The collection is anchored by the title novella about a love triangle between an aging, blind writer, his younger beautiful wife, and a young man desperate to start a writing life. Over several months, the three will get to know one another and move toward a moment that will change the lives of each of them forever.




One Fine Day


Book Description

Life can and will change for good or bad. Whether sudden or planned, physical or emotional, personal or professional, big or small, one fine day we will all have to face a new normal. When your day comes, what will you do? One fine day, unimaginable tragedy happened to Sameer Bhide. His entire life came crashing down, starting with a life-changing, debilitating stroke, the loss of work, and a divorce. One Fine Day is the amazing story of his struggle to come back from the brink with the help of a diverse community of friends and caretakers, as well as an integration of Western medicine with Eastern holistic care. Sameer’s example of positivity, gratitude, and grace will help you accept a new normal— whatever it may be—as a gift. In sharing his personal story, experiences, ideas, approaches, and suggestions, he hopes One Fine Day will help readers: > build resilience to face any life change or adversity > find positivity, express gratitude, and build perseverance in the healing process > look at the unexpected benefits and find possibilities in any life change > find possibility where most people would see none (the art of the possible) > adjust to a new life that they may not have chosen > supplement cutting-edge Western medicine with holistic Eastern medicine and care




School Climate 2.0


Book Description

Bullying is not new, but its venues have expanded to include social media and mobile phones. When students receive hurtful, threatening, or sexually explicit electronic messages, it affects their ability to concentrate on schoolwork. Renowned cyberbullying experts Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin connect the off-campus high-tech behaviors of teens to the school environment and provide educators with a road map for developing a positive school climate that counteracts cyberbullying and sexting. School Climate 2.0 differentiates cyberbullying from traditional bullying and offers specific strategies for improving school climate.




Sunset by the River


Book Description

Love isn’t always simple. It sometimes has some of the most unexpected and inexplicable twists and turns as it unravels in one’s life. And more often than not, it also holds the power to break even the strongest of us. And who knows that better than Ayaan? Ayaan Vaidya, a young, ambitious, successful techie working for the corporate world has it all going perfectly fine, until one routine afternoon, when, in the middle of a conference, his phone buzzes to life with a call from an unknown number. The caller, however, is well known. He ignores it, initially, but the caller is persistent. It isn’t until he gives in and attends to it that an unexpected Pandora’s Box gets unlocked that’ll set him down a road that’s absent of any U–turns. Will he reach his destination in time, or will it be too late by the time of his arrival?




The Way Things Were.


Book Description

When Skanda's father Toby dies, estranged from Skanda's mother and from the India he once loved, it falls to Skanda to return his body to his birthplace. This is a journey that takes him halfway around the world and deep within three generations of his family, whose fractures, frailties and toxic legacies he has always sought to elude. Both an intimate portrait of a marriage and its aftershocks, and a panoramic vision of India's half-century - in which a rapacious new energy supplants an ineffectual elite - 'The way things were' is an epic novel about the pressures of history upon the present moment. It is also a meditation on the stories we tell and the stories we forget; their tenderness and violence in forging bonds and in breaking them apart. Set in modern Delhi and at flashpoints from the past four decades, fusing private and political, classical and contemporary to thrilling effect, this book confirms Aatish Taseer as one of the most arresting voices of his generation.




Cyberbullying Prevention and Response


Book Description

Just as the previous generation was raised in front of televisions, adolescents at the turn of the 21st century are being raised in an internet-enabled world where blogs, social networking, and instant messaging are competing with face-to-face and telephone communication as the dominant means through which personal interaction takes place. Unfortunately, a small but growing proportion of our youth are being exposed online to interpersonal violence, aggression, and harassment via cyberbullying. The mission of this book is to explore the many critical issues surrounding this new phenomenon. Key features include the following. Comprehensive – The book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date look at the major issues that teachers, school administrators, counsellors, social workers, and parents need to be aware of with respect to cyberbullying identification, prevention, and response. Practical – While the information is informed by research, it is written in an accessible way that all adults will be able to understand and apply. Expertise – Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja are Co-Directors of the Cyberbullying Research Center (www.cyberbullying.us). Chapter authors represent a carefully selected group of contributors who have demonstrated both topical expertise and an ability to write about the topic in clear, easily accessible language. This book is appropriate for teachers, administrators, parents and others seeking research-based guidance on how to deal with the rising tide of cyberbullying issues. It is also appropriate for a variety of college level courses dealing with school violence and educational administration.