The Holidays are here… and while its fun to catch up with friends and family, it’s also the perfect time to pick a book to read over your New Year vacation or if you’re home, curl up to in front of the fireplace. Check out these new titles:
All The Right People
Priyanka Khanna held a preview for her first book- All The Right People in Worli, Mumbai on 28th November, 2022. The preview was attended by Karan Johar, Kajol and Ananya Panday amongst other celebrities.
Tamil Actress-fitness icon Ramya Subramanium’s first book, Stop Weighting
Ramya, the confident influencer of today, was once a naive and self-conscious teenager, who suffered bullying and body shaming. Just as any other insecure adolescent would, she began a long and tortuous journey to become ‘thin’. Ludicrous crash diets, intense workouts at the gym and an all-pervading sense of inferiority afflicted her for nearly a decade.
In the midst of this, Ramya was catapulted into fame at an early age when she got her first break as a television anchor. But with the media attention came all the toxic side-effects of being a celebrity. Until she decided to take back control over her life. Today, Ramya is healthier and happier than she has ever been. In Stop Weighting: A Guidebook for a Fitter, Healthier You we find out how she achieved this.
Pico Iyer’s new book- The Half Known Life
After half a century of travel, from Ethiopia to Tibet, from Belfast to Jerusalem, Pico Iyer asks himself what kind of paradise can ever be found in a world of unceasing conflict. In a spectacular journey, both inward and outward, Iyer roams from crowded mosques in Iran to a film studio in North Korea, from a holy mountain in Japan to the sometimes spooky emptiness of the Australian outback.
At every stop, he makes connections with unexpected strangers – mystics and taxi drivers and fellow travellers – and draws on his own memories, of time spent in a Benedictine monastery high above the Pacific, of regular travels with the Dalai Lama, of hearing his late mother speak of sunlit moments in pre-Partition India.
By the end, he has upended many of our expectations and dared to suggest that we can find paradise right in the heart of our angry, confused and divided world.
Aruna Gopakumar and Yashodhara Lal’s book- And how do you feel about that?
For too long, therapy has been seen as taboo in our society and is shrouded in myth–it’s only for the weak or ‘crazies’, it’s just blaming your parents, a therapist ‘only listens’ and so on. In this book, Aruna Gopakumar and Yashodhara Lal bust those myths and show you how therapy actually works.
With decades of combined experience in the field, these two therapists share fascinating stories based on their practice. You’ll meet the woman who sends secret messages to her husband during arguments; the towering tattooed man who realizes he can’t save his sister; the teenager whose life is revealed in the tale of a lonely bear; the divorced man angry with his ex-wife for starting to date again; the fiery gay young man impatient to change the world; the lady who won’t relax until her daughter is perfect; and many more.
In this collection of fifty stories, readers can get a fly-on-the-wall perspective on what takes place in the intimate setting of the therapy room. Inspired by the conversational yet reflective style of internationally recognized works like ‘The Examined Life’ by Stephen Grosz and the recent bestseller, ‘Maybe You Should Talk to Someone’ by Lori Gottlieb, this book is a powerful contribution by two Indian therapists to the much-needed conversation about mental health and the role of therapy. The range of issues in the book include everything from the challenges of being gay, dealing wth divorce, perfectionism, overly strict parenting, troubled relationships with food, repetitive conflict in long term relationships, issues of anger, anxiety, low confidence and more.
Both the authors are IIM graduates, about a decade apart from the same campus IIM-Bangalore, and share the commonality of having several years of corporate experience before making the unusual decision to turn to the field of psychotherapy.
3 Tips by Meera Gandhi
3 Tips: The Essentials for Peace, Joy and Success by global philanthropist and the Founder of The Giving Back Foundation, Meera Gandhi covers several topics related to mental health and wellness.
The book breaks down complex issues into 3 simple tips for each subject which anyone can pick up and implement into their own lives. Anyone feeling lost or in need of guidance can easily dive into the many subjects covered and find themselves gently nudged into a direction that brings them a greater awareness and clarity of their present situation in the context of a greater spiritual perspective.
This book is a continuation of Meera’s focus on creating highly accessible and practical resources in the mental health, wellness and spirituality space. In fact, supporting mental wellness initiatives is the third pillar of The Giving Back Foundation.
India in search of Glory by Ashok Lahiri
India and Indians have made some progress over the last seventy-five years since Independence. The literacy rate has gone up. The Indians have become healthier, and their life expectancy at birth has also gone up. The proportion of people below the poverty line has halved in number. But the shine from the story fades when development in India is compared with that in the Four Asian Tigers and China. It looks good, but not good enough. India looks far away from the glory it seeks. This is the core subject matter of India in Search of Glory.
The book tries to argue why India could not achieve more since Independence and what all it could have achieved. It paints a picture of its possible future and highlights the areas that need immediate attention.
The Classic Indian Guide To Citizen-Craft, Translated For The Contemporary Reader by Nitin Pai
Nitin Pai, co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent think tank and school of public policy, translated the manuscript of The Nitopadesha that came to his hands. It is a unique blend of fables and stories that covers politics, economics and philosophy. Published by Penguin Random House India, it is scheduled to release in January, 2023 and is currently available for pre-order.
In the distant land of Gandhara, there once was a janapada called Chakrapuri. Its elders were a worried lot. Their children were uninterested in the welfare and upkeep of the janapada. Most of them were consumed by self-interest and avarice, seeking personal gains, even at the cost of their fellow citizens. Realizing that the young must learn the arts and crafts of citizenship, the Sabha of Chakrapuri decided to employ Nitina of Takshashila, whose wisdom was said to be unparalleled, to teach their children. So it came to pass that the unconventional scholar was entrusted with the charge of these boys and girls for the next ninety days.
Thus begins the Nitopadesha. A labyrinth of stories in the style of the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales, this is a book about good citizenship and citizen-craft that will speak to the modern reader. Covering aspects such as what citizenship means, the ethical dilemmas one faces as a citizen and how one can deal with social issues, Nitin Pai’s absorbing translation is an essential read for conscientious citizens of all ages.
Nitin has been blogging on international relations and national security issues at the Acorn since 2003. Pai was a gold medallist at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, from where he has a master’s degree in public administration. As an undergraduate scholar, he studied electrical engineering at Nanyang Technological University, after which he spent more than a decade in the telecommunications and technology industry, including a long stint as a policymaker in the Singapore government.
Gunjan Ahlawat’s new book – Soul is beautiful
This is an invitation to to cut through the clutter and noise of the world around you. With the guidance of visual designer Ahlawat Gunjan you’ll learn to see, observe, reflect, and practice artistic techniques developed through years of training.
This beautiful collector’s edition of SLOW IS BEAUTIFUL prepares you to welcome a new artistic vision into your life by building a relationship with form, colour, and composition in a uniquely accessible way.
These unique easy-to-use prompts, highlighted by vibrant ink and nature-inspired watercolour paintings will motivate you to draw, erase, paint, experiment, create and, most importantly, embrace your mistakes.
Rethink Ageing: By Reshmi Chakraborty & Nidhi Chawla
Veena Iyer, aged sixty-six, got a degree in dance movement therapy. She is training to upgrade her skill and now runs various workshops.
B.R. Janardan, aged eighty-seven, started running after sixty and has sixteen full marathons under his belt.
These important stories illustrate the shifting narrative for ageing in India. They battle the ageism that is deep-rooted in Indian culture with fixed notions of ‘approved’ behaviour. Grandchildren? Yes. Pilgrimage? Yes. But companionship? Gasp! A second career? Why the need?
India will have over 300 million senior citizens by 2050. ‘Active ageing’ has become a popular topic of conversation in urban India and is the process of developing and maintaining functional activities as one gets older. Therefore, it is no longer uncommon to meet people like Janardan or Iyer in our fast-evolving society. We have an ageing society that is living longer and adapting to nuclear families, faraway kids and amorphous social support. Urban Indians are navigating health challenges, isolation and shifting social barometers to practise active ageing, the best form of preventive healthcare. Biological age no longer defines and limits us. After all, why should age prevent us from living the lives we want to?
Energize Your Mind by Gaur Gopal Das
In this book, bestselling author and life coach Gaur Gopal Das decodes how the mind works. He combines his anecdotal style with analytical research to teach us how to discipline our mind for our greater well-being. Throughout this book, he provides interactive exercises, meditation techniques and worksheets to help us take charge of our mind.
This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to work towards a better, more fulfilling future for themselves.
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