Padma Bharatis

Compulsive Nose-Picking and Other True Tales is a collection of short stories that touches upon subjects ranging from love to loss to survival and unbelievable coincidences, including some wild ones. The anecdotes, written in an accessible style and laced with dollops of humour, are sure to inform, entertain and inspire readers.

Little known in his own country, Sri Aurobindo was nevertheless one of the more significant personalities of twenty century-India. After studying humanities in England, he embarked on a political struggle to challenge Britain’s colonial domination over India. In 1906, he founded the newspaper Bande Mataram, laying the groundwork of India’s future independence, notably through Passive Resistance, which was later adopted by Gandhi. But far from Gandhi’s pacifism, Sri Aurobindo was convinced that freedom could only be achieved via action, and even via armed struggle.

Absorbed by India’s century-old wisdom, his commitment to his country was doubled by an unremitting inner spiritual quest.

In 1910, Sri Aurobindo began another life in Pondicherry. In his written works, notably The Life Divine, published in 1920, he propounded an “Integral Yoga” describing the conditions of the “The Great Passage”, meant to lead to the next evolution of mankind.

His work influenced and attracted disciples from around the world to his ashram, founded in 1926 with his companion Mira Alfassa, and later to the Auroville community, a few kilometres from Pondicherry.

Through this biography, Luc Venet reveals the unfolding of Sri Aurobindo’s exceptional force and opens up the path to a new evolution of humanity.

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, Dr Bhargava, the director general of Indian Council of Medical Research, assembles a crack team of India’s most brilliant minds, including Dr Nivedita Gupta, Dr Priya Abraham and Dr Pragya Yadav. Together they mount a mission to save humanity from the unseen enemy. The challenges they face are daunting. They must navigate the treacherous waters of international diplomacy and deal with excessive bureaucratic control. Often enough, they find themselves battling against time and misinformation fuelled by fake news. Along the way, they are forced into moral dilemmas to make life-ordeath decisions that affect the nation and its people. As they work tirelessly to develop and distribute a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus that threatened to ravage India, they face opposition from foreign interests and intense scrutiny from the media. The Vaccine War is an inspiring tale of scientific ingenuity, perseverance and the triumph of the human spirit. It celebrates the heroes who fought relentlessly behind the scenes to protect their nation and offers a poignant reminder that unity and science can overcome even the most formidable challenges.

The word ‘Bangaliyana’ roughly means ‘the Bengali way of life’. Bangaliyana, the book, is a delightful look at the author’s experience of life through his doodles and cartoons. Each page is infused with the vibrant spirit of Bengali culture, cuisine, and language from the author’spoint of view.

Being a probashi Bengali, the author straddles the ‘native’ and the ‘cosmopolitan’ effortlessly and shares a unique perspective of the intersection by blending personal anecdotes with humour. The heart of the book beats with humour because of a delightful medley of doodles and cartoons. Over the span of the last decade, the author, a self-taught cartoonist, dedicated most of his weekends cartooning. Among numerous cartoons he created during this period, his exploration of Bengalis and Bangaliyana filled one of his sketchbooks up to the brim. It was within those pages that the seed of inspiration for this book took roots.

The book defies being pigeonholed into a single genre. It is part memoir and part short story/humour. While everyday situations have provided a rich repository of ideas for the sketches, the book also captures moments of nostalgia from the author’s growing-up years. It allowed him to dig deep into his memory bank to fish out stories that most probashis will instantly relate to. Bangaliyana is not a critique of Bangla or Bengali culture but a tribute to the spirit of a true-blue Bengali. Whether you are a probashi or simply curious about the Bengali way of life, this book promises a heartfelt laugh.