English Literature

Buddhadeva Bose, the noted Bengali littérateur, once observed that the greatest treasure of Bangla literature is its children’s and young adults’ literature. The achievements of stalwarts as various as Rabindranath Thakur, Upendrakishore Ray Chowd...

If trees could talk, they’d have so much to tell: The story of two broken hearts, that stolen first kiss, those last words of a mother to her son, endless cups of tea and never-ending chatter, of nostalgia, an act of brutality and a tale of passio...

The thirteen stories in this compilation are the truest representation of life by the Bard of Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore. These heart-warming short stories are both dramatic and poetic in effect. The stories are aesthetically orchestrated and con...

‘The long story of my coming hither lies there dumb, in one meandering line of dust stretching from the morning hilltop to the brink of bottomless night.’ A Tagore classic that is part of a set of twelve books thathave been translated by the Maste...

‘The source of your insult is not anyone outside it is in yourself. There are other princes besides you. They always bear in mind that I am their tutor, and I also know that they are my pupils.’ A Tagore classic—a play that is part of a set of twe...

‘My song will be like a pair of wings to your dreams, it will transport your heart to the verge of the unknown. It will be like the faithful star overhead when dark night is over your road.’ A poetry collection that is part of a set of twelve book...

The six dance-dramas translated in this book cover a culmination of Rabindranath Tagore's dance-interest in the latter's most effulgent manifestation. It was only in the last half decade of Tagore's life that his dance-consciousness reached its ze...

Sarojini Naidu: Her Way With Words

This play is a dramatised version of the first few chapters of Tagore’s novel Rajarshi, but the plot of the drama is a great improvement upon that of the novel. It was staged a number of times during Tagore’s life and is part of a set of twelve bo...

Ritwik Ghatak, the famous filmmaker, is known all over India and abroad for some of the greatest films made in India, which set the scene for future film making. But his short stories works of miniaturist art in their own right are less known. The...

An insightful look into the muse and music of one of the greatest artists produced by India. The book follows Bismillah Khan as he grows from child to man, pupil to legend. It traces his journey from the small town of Dumraon to Benaras and thence...

A dramatic encounter with a belligerent tiger a near-death experience, hunting for missing tigers, a mystifying leopard who attacks humans at will with no fear, tracking and monitoring tigers and the fascinating story of an aggressive male tiger. ...

Duchlan Castle is a gloomy, forbidding place in the Scottish Highlands. Late one night the body of Mary Gregor, sister of the laird of Duchlan, is found in the castle. She has been stabbed to death in her bedroom – but the room is locked from with...

In this classic play Tagore dramatised the concept that the religion of man is much higher than the religion of rituals and scriptures. The conflict here is not only between obedience to ‘moth-eaten scriptures’ and religion of one’s choice but bet...

Jennie de Villiers, an idealistic and politically engaged student, suddenly has to flee her native South Africa with a boyfriend whom she no longer loves—only to be stranded as an exile in neighbouring Swaziland. Fending for herself in a new cultu...

Glimpses of Bengal: Select Letters 1885-1895.

Travels formed an integral part of the personae and creative artist that was Rabindranath Tagore. During his travels to England and the USA (1912-13 and 1920) Tagore wrote essays for publication in various Bengali journals. In 1939, Tagore selecte...

‘But I am thankful that my lot lies with the humble who suffer and bear the burden of power, and hide their faces and stifle their sobs in the dark.’ A Tagore classic—a poetry collection that is part of a set of twelve books that have been transla...

About the Book -Features two novellas by a supreme story-teller and writer of Urdu prose -Day, a realistic story, is a meditation on the trauma of migrations -Dastan, a traditional tale of wonder, is a lyrical narrative of adventure, magic and gra...

Calcutta nights (Raater Kolkata) is the real-life story and memoir of the enigmatic ‘Meghnad Gupta’, pen name of famed Bengali fiction writer Hemendra Kumar Roy. Translated into English by Rajat Chaudhuri almost a century after the first publicati...

Amal diverts all his focus and time on a new project, hoping to give new meaning to his life. Rishi delves deep into the beauty of Kaziranga, his friend, his muse, to get away from a traumatic past. The articles written on the national park featur...

A Bonsai Tree is not a memoir; it is an autobiography. Memoir is a selective slice of life focused to advantage; autobiography is the whole messy life as it unfolded. It is the story of one of the millions of families whose lives were shattered by...

Published in 1865, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s first Bengali novel Durgeshnandini revolutionised Bengali prose writing. Many consider it to be the first modern novel in an Indian language. Durgeshnandini is set in the sixteenth century during the ...

D. Jayakanthan’s short stories depict the life of common people in Tamil Nadu in the middle of the 20th century and reflect his progressive thinking. Selected and translated by the author’s daughter, these stories sensitively explore situations in...

Ruskin Bond: The Mussoorie Years... is a delightful tribute to a friend of forty years. Ganesh Saili captures memorable moments in the life of Ruskin Bond, right from infancy to the present day. Presented in this book, interspersed with photograph...

This book is an attempt to analyse the need to realise that despite there being so many dates dedicated to women, there are 300-odd days when there is nothing special that life has to offer them—where each day is still an unending drudgery and whe...

One of the greatest works of poetry in the modern times, Tagore’s Gitanjali was originally published in Bengali on August 14, 1910 as a collection of 157 poems. However, while translating it in English later on, Gurudev, as Tagore was popularly kn...

An active career spanning seven decades is unusual. And to describe Ashoka Gupta (1912-2008) simply as a ‘social worker’ is not enough. Till the last day of her life, she was a dynamo, who generated exhilaration and energy in those around her. In ...

Speaking straight from the heart, the narrative is well-knit and crisply put together. It goes back to the exciting days of Rajiv Gandhi’s prime ministership and gives a glimpse into the discussions that took place at the highest political level.

These three intense narratives are set in distinctly diverse yet paradoxically convergent worlds tailing the trajectory of some very unusual bonds. What makes this collection unique is the intriguing carry over, from one narrative to another.

This book throws up questions largely considered taboo in traditional societies and compels the reader to address them honestly. It telescopes the time and space of myths, history and reality to recreate Aditi’s experience of life.