Biography India

Director of the cult 1980s film Chashme Baddoor and critically acclaimed movies such as Sparsh and Saaz; seasoned Marathi theatre personality; winner of three National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards; recipient of the Padma Bhushan - Sai Paranjpye has many feathers in the patchwork quilt of her creative life. Sai started her career at All India Radio, later graduating from the National School of Drama and making her way into theatre, television, documentaries, and movies, working with some of the most highly regarded names of the Hindi film world.

While almost always overlooked, the 1.5 million Indian soldiers who served the British Empire in World War I played a crucial role in the eventual Allied victory. Despite their sacrifices, Indian troops received mixed reactions from allies and enemies alike - some were treated as liberating heroes, some as mercenaries and conquerors themselves, and all as racial inferiors and a threat to white supremacy. Yet even as they fought as imperial troops under the British flag, their broadened horizons fired in them new hopes of racial equality and freedom on the path to Indian independence.

It is 1918, six months after the end of World War I, and Rosalind awaits the return of her father from the war. While it is common practice for British children in India to be packed off to boarding school at the age of 6, Rosalind is unusual because she lives and is schooled in India because her mother insists.

While a young man, Devi Mukherjee worked with Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian resistance movement and was imprisoned for five months. After release, Devi began a spiritual quest throughout India, traveling some 45 years at various times.

Nariman Karkaria, a young Parsi from Gujarat, had always wanted to see the world. So he left home as a teenager with fifty rupees in his pocket to do just that. After working in Hong Kong and Peking for a few years, in 1914, when war was in the air, he decided to volunteer for the British Army. Passing through China, Manchuria, Siberia, Russia and Scandinavia, he reached London early in 1915 and managed to register as a private with the 24th Middlesex Regiment. He was now a Tommy.

Born into a "formerly untouchable manual-scavenging family in small-town India," Yashica Dutt was taught from a young age to not appear “Dalit looking.” Although prejudice against Dalits, who compose 25% of the population, has been illegal since 1950, caste-ism in India is alive and well. Blending her personal history with extensive research and reporting, Dutt provides an incriminating analysis of caste’s influence in India over everything from entertainment to judicial systems and how this discrimination has carried over to US institutions.

Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider’s account of the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job.

Mumbai, 2008. On the night of November 26, Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists attacked targets throughout the city, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the world's most exclusive luxury hotels. With a deep understanding of the region and its politics and a narrative flair reminiscent of Midnight in Peking, journalists Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy vividly unfold the tragic events in a real life thriller filled with suspense, tragedy, history, and heroism.

1920s India. Flames of revolt against colonial rule had engulfed the country, making the British tense. They knew domestic spies were essential to track and quell the calls for independence. Nandlal Kapur, like many young Indian men, was recruited as a spy. But, while the pay was good and the life adventurous, Nandlal restless and uneasy, his love for his country at constant odds with his new reality. As he travelled through India on various missions, and met revolutionaries from all walks of life demanding freedom from oppression, he grew determined to attack the beast from within.

First published in 2010 in Malayalam as Oru Police Surgeonte Ormakkurippukal, this is the best-selling memoir of Kerala's most famous forensic surgeon, Dr. B. Umadathan. Popularly known as the "Sherlock Holmes of Kerala", Dr. Umadathan revisits some of his strangest and most interesting cases, like the Chacko murder masterminded by Sukumara Kurup; the sensational Polakkulam case; and the baffling Panoor Soman case.

Fanatical about cricket since he was a boy, Miles Jupp would do anything to see his heroes play. But perhaps deciding to bluff his way into the press corps during England's Test series in India wasn't his best idea. By claiming to be the cricket correspondent for BBC Scotland and getting a job with the (Welsh) Western Mail, Miles lands the press pass that will surely be the ticket to his dreams. Soon, he finds himself in cricket heaven - drinking with David Gower and Beefy, and sharing bar room banter with Nasser Hussain.

My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions is the life story of India's 11th President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who started off as an insignificant little boy Rameswaram, but ended up becoming the president of the country, besides being a brilliant scientist as well. The book portrays the struggle that Dr. Kalam had to endure, as he climbed the ladder of success in life.

In 1876 Sophia Duleep Singh was born into Indian royalty. Her father, Maharajah Duleep Singh, was heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs, one of the greatest empires of the Indian subcontinent. Sophia transcended her heritage to devote herself to battling injustice and inequality, a far cry from the life to which she was born. Her causes were the struggle for Indian Independence, the fate of the lascars, the welfare of Indian soldiers in the First World War--and, above all, the fight for female suffrage.

How to Be a Writer is peppered with nuggets of practical advice for every person who is aspiring to write and be published, all told in Ruskin Bond's characteristic understated, tongue-in-cheek, humorous style. So, what is it that a person requires the most to become a writer? A love of books, of language, of life, an observant eye and a good memory, along with enthusiasm, optimism, and persistence. This book is an exclusive glimpse into the writing credo of Ruskin Bond, an author who has had an incredibly successful writing career spanning over 70 years.

Deeply affected by the death of his entire platoon in the Vietnam War, Lance Corporal Brian Tibbitts embarked upon the pursuit of the real meaning and purpose of life. To his dismay, none of the major spiritual and religious texts he read could fully answer his questions, until he found Bhagavad-gita As It Is and met its author, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. At the age of twenty-one, Brian Tibbitts became his disciple, and at the age of twenty-nine, became Indradyumna Swami when he entered the renounced order of life.

In 1611, 34-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the 20th and favorite wife of Emperor Jahangir, who ruled the vast Mughal Empire. Nur's confident assertion of talent and power is revelatory; it far exceeded the authority of her female contemporaries in Renaissance Europe, including Elizabeth I. Here, she finally receives her due in a deeply researched and evocative biography that awakens us to a fascinating history.

स्वतंत्रता आंदोलनात संघाचा सहभाग होता परंतु संघानी त्याचे श्रेय घेतले नाही. संघसंस्थापक डॉ. हेडगेवार यांनी स्वातंत्र्य संग्रामात भाग घेण्यासाठी आपल्या डाँक्टरी पेशाचा स्वेच्छेने त्याग केला. डॉ. हेडगेवार यांचा जन्म १ एप्रिल,१८८९ साली नागपूर मध्ये झाला. नागपूर मध्ये १९०४-१९०५ मध्ये स्वातंत्र्य चळवळीचे वारे वाहू लागले. त्या आधी इथे पोषक वातावरण नव्हते. तरी १८९७ साली राणी व्हिक्टोरिया यांच्या राज्यारोहणाच्या हिरक जयंती निमित्त शाळांमध्ये मिठाई वाटप करण्यात आली. आठ वर्षाच्या केशवनी (डॉ हेडगेवार) ती मिठाई न खाता कचऱ्यात फेकून दिली.

What does it take to become an IPS officer? Hours of rigorous physical training, mental toughening and systemic conditioning at the national police academy, along with a never-give-up attitude, unwavering courage, grit and determination. Win All Your Battles, first published in Marathi as Kar Har Maidan Fateh, is the fascinating story of how Vishwas Nangre Patil rose from his humble village origins to become a steadfast, upright police officer and youth icon.

Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of 26. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary - and yet how typical - her family history truly was.

In the 1970s, Rajesh Khanna achieved the kind of fame that no film star had ever experienced before or has since. But then he saw it all vanish. They say superstardom destroyed him. But was it something else buried deep in his past? In this riveting biography, award-winning journalist Yasser Usman examines Rajesh Khanna's dramatic, colorful life in its entirety, from little-known facts about his childhood to the lowdown on his relationships and rivalries, from his ambitious hopes to his deep-seated insecurities.