Chalta Hai India


Book Description

India once commanded a massive 30 per cent share of the global GDP and led the world in most fields, but today the country sadly is a developing nation. People often attribute India's sluggish progress to the malaise called the Chalta Hai ('It's okay', 'Let it be') attitude, but not everyone agrees with that presupposition. Debates on the subject are often inconclusive and discomfiting questions remain unanswered. Are we really a Chalta Hai nation? Is Chalta Hai ingrained in our DNA or is it just a bad habit which can be easily exterminated? Will this attitude stop India from becoming a global power? Alpesh Patel delves into this quirky Indian approach and answers these questions by examining the country's pace of progress in fields such as education, infrastructure, films and sports since Independence. The book revisits our cultural, ideological and political history over three millennia to trace the roots of the Chalta Hai attitude of Indians. Interesting facts and unsettling inferences force the reader to introspect and awaken him to the need for an urgent action. Finally, the book charts out methods and suggestions on how to get rid of the Chalta Hai attitude and take India closer to the dream of becoming a developed nation.




Implosion


Book Description

The Great India Story by a respected international journalistSince independence in 1947, India has muddled through, turning confusion and adversity into varying degrees of success. From his experience and perspective as both a business and political correspondent, John Elliott examines how this came to be. At a time when there is a widespread clamour for change and for a new form of politics, he looks at how corruption has eaten into all aspects of Indian life and questions the decades of rule by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, and suggests democracy provides a smokescreen for much that is wrong. He explores the impact of liberalization, traces the build-up of social unrest over corruption, women's rights, and the exploitation of land and the poor. He also reflects on the limitations of a hesitant foreign policy and looks in detail at why India's defence forces are so depleted.At the heart of the problem, he argues, is the 'quick fix' attitude known as 'jugaad' and the laissez faire acceptance of 'chalta hai' that together have eaten into the social and political fabric and heavily influence what India is, and is not, today. He uncovers a secrets 'M document' that mapped out the 1991 reforms, and reveals how was an unwitting spectator at a Pakistan briefing meeting for the 1991 Kargil war.Incisive and ambitious in its attempt to gather together the many strands that make up a controversial India narrative, Implosion is a timely contribution to the debate on nationhood,development, the exercise of power, people's rights and the changing demographics of a country facing a Tryst with Reality.




Metahuman


Book Description

Is it possible to venture beyond daily living and experience heightened states of awareness? Deepak Chopra says that higher consciousness is available here and now. “Metahuman helps us harvest peak experiences so we can see our truth and mold the universe’s chaos into a form that brings light to the world.”—Dr. Mehmet Oz, attending physician, New York–Presbyterian, Columbia University New York Times bestselling author Deepak Chopra unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. How does one do this? By becoming metahuman. To be metahuman, however, isn’t science fiction and is certainly not about being a superhero. To be metahuman means to move past the limitation constructed by the mind and enter a new state of awareness where we have deliberate and concrete access to peak experiences that can transform people’s lives from the inside out. Humans do this naturally—to a point. For centuries the great artists, scientists, writers, and many so-called ordinary people have gone beyond the everyday physical world. But if we could channel these often bewildering experiences, what would happen? Chopra argues we would wake up to experiences that would blow open your body, mind, and soul. Metahuman invites the reader to walk the path here and now. Waking up, we learn, isn’t just about mindfulness or meditation. Waking up, to become metahuman, is to expand our consciousness in all that we think, say, and do. By going beyond, we liberate ourselves from old conditioning and all the mental constructs that underlie anxiety, tension, and ego-driven demands. Waking up allows life to make sense as never before. To make this as practical as possible, Chopra ends the book with a 31-day guide to becoming metahuman. Once you wake up, he writes, life becomes transformed, because pure consciousness—which is the field of all possibilities—dawns in your life. Only then does your infinite potential become your personal reality.




Provisional Authority


Book Description

Policing as a global form is often fraught with excessive violence, corruption, and even criminalization. These sorts of problems are especially omnipresent in postcolonial nations such as India, where Beatrice Jauregui has spent several years studying the day-to-day lives of police officers in its most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. In this book, she offers an empirically rich and theoretically innovative look at the great puzzle of police authority in contemporary India and its relationship to social order, democratic governance, and security. Jauregui explores the paradoxical demands placed on Indian police, who are at once routinely charged with abuses of authority at the same time that they are asked to extend that authority into any number of both official and unofficial tasks. Her ethnography of their everyday life and work demonstrates that police authority is provisional in several senses: shifting across time and space, subject to the availability and movement of resources, and dependent upon shared moral codes and relentless instrumental demands. In the end, she shows that police authority in India is not simply a vulgar manifestation of raw power or the violence of law but, rather, a contingent and volatile social resource relied upon in different ways to help realize human needs and desires in a pluralistic, postcolonial democracy. Provocative and compelling, Provisional Authority provides a rare and disquieting look inside the world of police in India, and shines critical light on an institution fraught with moral, legal and political contradictions.




Mad(e) In India


Book Description

Mad(e) In India is a frank and funny exploration of India and Indians. With disarming wit, this book explores Indianness and its many facets—who we are as a people and a nation, our quirks, superstitions, myriad gods and goddesses and holy men, our packed cities and streets, our obsession with film stars and filmy style, our jugaadu ways of solving all problems big and small, our diverse cuisines, cultural traditions and art forms, and the unity in diversity that bridges our superficial differences. The authors skillfully showcase the qualities that quintessentially make up the idea of India. Diverse and complex as India is, readers are sure to understand it better and delve into its warm and generous heart as they turn the pages. Written in a conversational style, generously spiced with humour and insight, and interspersed with a rich variety of Indian phrases, this book is an entertaining and light-hearted read.




THE GOLDEN BIRD 2.0


Book Description

The Golden Bird 2.0 draws from India’s rich past to take a fresh look at its potential for a glorious future—a second golden age, shaped by powerful public will, economic wherewithal, and the nation’s status as the world leader. What made ancient India the Golden Bird in the first place? What did China, the Land of the Dragon, have in common with India, and when did these two ancient civilizations diverge on their paths to global success? Raina Singhwi Jain discusses the immediate need and measures for a quantum jump in our attitude towards development. While conventional wisdom suggests improvements in manufacturing, the ease of doing business and digital technology, Jain goes a step further, drawing surprising parallels between other areas that beg our attention—process engineering, communication design, journalism, and education. This is a work of reflection and a call to action, urging Indian denizens to act now for a revival of the genius that lies dormant within each one of us.




In India: Everything is Sunshine and Rainbows!


Book Description

Why do Indians lack social etiquettes and civic sense? Why foreign tourists find their Indian experience bittersweet? Why do our Film and Television industry the epitome of mediocrity? Why do Indians take offense at almost everything? Why do our politicians, bureaucrats, police, and justice departments contribute to a skewed and a corrupt system? Why do core Indian problems like poverty, hunger, overpopulation, and illiteracy get superseded by religion, patriotism and blissful ignorance? In a country, that is fast approaching the mark of, the largest population in the world, has somehow convinced herself and her citizens that everything around them is sunshine and rainbow. You see poverty, hunger, corruption, crime, injustice and brutality all around yet few feel the need to call a spade a spade. India is a country with immense diversity, rich tradition,and a unique culture. This book is a collection of essays under three different section and discusses issues of religion, politics, people, culture, traditions, films, problems etc. The book talks constructively about various issues concerning India; it can evoke an incredulous gasp from an outsider and an empathetic nod from a fellow Indian. The book points out issues that affect India and need the reader’s attention, jokes around and becomes serious when it needs to be. The book showcases the viewpoint of a country’s young population that is largest in the world and wants to show that constructive criticism is what this country needs to fulfill her moral and philosophical growth potential.




The India I Dream of…


Book Description

How many of us complain about our country and believe nothing will ever change? How many of us crib about the dirt in this country but still litter openly? How many of us abuse our ministers and government but still never vote? Most of us, right? Harsh, Dev and Nikita are three such Indians. Until one fateful day………… What do the three of them do then? Keep quiet and sulk about it for the rest of their life, crib and complain and forget about it like they always do or fight for justice. They do none of the above. Instead they turn to facebook.com. But what they fighting for? Will we Indians ever care? Can the new age social networking tools really help? Will the country ever change or will the ‘chalta hai’ attitude prevail??? Come and be a part of the change………..




The Happiness Trail


Book Description

We live in a fast-paced and highly competitive world. The last few years have seen changes not witnessed in centuries. Have all these developments increased our sense of well-being? Data seems to suggest otherwise! The Happiness Trail shows us an attainable, contextual way to achieve two seemingly complementary goals, happiness and success, that we many a time discover to be contradictory. In this book Ramesh Venkateswaran lays down five easy-to-follow approaches to a happy and successful life, which he calls the five I's: Integrity, Interact, Involve, Imbibe and Impact. Armed with this road map, the ever-elusive happiness seems within reach and success a natural consequence.




Women Healing Women


Book Description

Much has been written on the plight of women in Indian society, but this book presents an effective practical response to the appalling injustices - and a model of hope for agencies and programs for oppressed women around the world. This book recounts the true story of "Maher", a remarkable project and centre for battered women and children located near Pune, India. Founded in 1997, the project has provided refuge to more than 1250 women, half of whom might otherwise have been murdered, committed suicide, or starved to death. Maher is an interfaith community that honours all religions and strongly repudiates caste distinctions - making it a rare beacon shining new hope upon some of the gravest problems in India and around the world. The book is rich with stories - poignant first-hand accounts by women and children whose lives have been transformed by the Maher project. Later chapters explore the larger implications of this pioneering work, with guidance for implementing similar projects elsewhere. Written in a concise narrative style, "Women Healing Women in India" is an easy and compelling read.