Our Freedoms

What is freedom? With the political and religious space in India shrinking, what do the promises made by the nation’s founders mean? The question was posed to a cross-section of scholars and the answers came out in the form of essays and poems. Written immediately after the anti-CAA and NRC protests, the book brings together a range of scholars, incluiding the likes of Romila Thapar and Aatish Taseer. The answers have an immediacy and urgency, making the book an important read.

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As the name suggests, ‘Regional Disparities in Punjab’ is Dr Anil Behl’s impressive endeavour to determine the levels and patterns of development in the state, be it agriculture, industry, social indicators or demographics. As the exhaustive study seeks to provide critical information on the contours of development, it also suggests setting up five planning regions in Punjab on the basis of physical and socio-cultural homogeneity for balanced growth.

Twenty-eight editions and 200,000 copies — Kaajal Oza Vaidya’s bestselling book ‘Krishnayan’ has now been translated into English. It retells Krishna’s final moments. Fatally wounded, as he awaits death under an Aswattha tree, he reminisces about his time in the mortal world and the women in his life. The erudite royal consort Rukmini; Satyabhama, who dazzled him with her charm; Draupadi, his friend; Radha, the one with Krishna in heart and soul. Originally in Gujarati, the book’s reimagining of what these women meant to Krishna is vivid and intense.

Ever since Perumal Murugan said in 2014 that too much hate had forced the writer in him to stop writing, he has become the rockstar of dissent. While Murugan soon returned to writing, English readers began getting a taste of the writer’s work with many translations coming out. And here comes ‘Four Strokes of Luck’, a collection that will delight his admirers, and introduce new readers to his hallmark empathy, humanity and humour. These stories of lives on the margins, of loners and outcasts seeking meaning and happiness, are tender, heartbreaking and always surprising.

Here come two stellar volumes filled with some of the greatest stories ever written for children. The writers and writings are from across the spectrum. In the book for older children, Tagore shares space with Premchand, Shakespeare and Tolstoy. In the book for younger kids too, if there are tales from ‘Panchtantra’, there are ‘Aesop’s Fables’ too; if there is AA Milne, there is Hans Christian Anderson as well. There are chances that a voracious reader has read some of these, but, trust us, one wouldn’t have read most.