Growing up in the small town of Sripuri, six-year old Hari believes his mother died from tuberculosis. It's what his father, Vasan, has always told him. But when Hari seeks more answers from his distant yet affectionate father, who, between his meditation classes, dietary experiments and constant headaches has little time for Hari, he soon realizes that he is trespassing on forbidden territory. And then a couple arrives at their doorstep, claiming to be his real parents. Hari's life takes a course over which he has no say. Spanning decades and told from the points of view of the four central figures, Bystanders is the tale of the unlikely friendship between one man driven to prove his worth in the world, another determined to lose himself in the moment, and the woman they love, who will fight against all odds to claim what is hers - her son.

Bystanders

Literature & Fiction

Vidya Madabushi

Literary

Westland Publishers

<p>Over the past two decades, Hindu nationalism has been coupled with a form of national-populism that has proved to be potent at the polls―first in Gujarat and then in India at large. One man has been the driver of this change: Narendra Modi. He evolved a highly personalized political style, seducing Indians with the promise of development on the one hand and polarizing the electorate along ethno-religious lines on the other. Both facets of his particular national-populism were communicated directly to voters through numerous and diverse channels of communication that have come to saturate the public space. Drawing on original interviews conducted across India, Christophe Jaffrelot shows how Modi’s government has moved India toward a new form of democracy: an ethnic democracy that equates the majoritarian community with the nation and relegates Muslims and Christians to second-class citizens who are fair targets for vigilante groups. This muscular Hindu nationalism thrives on attacks against secularists, intellectuals, universities, and NGOs. Jaffrelot explains how the political system of India has acquired authoritarian features for other reasons too. Eager to govern not only in New Delhi, but also in the states, the government has centralized power at the expense of federalism and undermined institutions that were part of the checks and balances. Modi’s India is a sobering account of how a once-vibrant democracy has gone wrong.</p>

Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy

CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT

Kabir:: The life and work of the early modren poet-philosophar

Biographies & Memoirs

Purushottam Agrawal

Arts & Literature

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