The Ghosts Of Meenambakkam

One dark and stormy night, Dalpathado unexpectedly crosses paths with the narrator at Meenambakkam airport. The faceless, middle-aged man from Dalpathado’s past is there mourning the unexpected death of his daughter in a plane crash. After they spend a dangerous night in each other’s company, lashed by rain and reminiscence, neither man remains the same. Ghosts of Meenamkbakkam is a meditation on the violence that detonates human lives and the idea of love that endures all mayhem, even in death.

Reminiscing of a time long lost, Fourteen Years with Boss gives a delightful insight into the workings of the Gemini Studios of Madras—one of the most influential film-producing organizations in India—and its founder, the brilliant and multifaceted S. S. Vasan. Filled with vivid sketches of actors, extras, directors and the ‘boss’, Ashokamitran recreates life at the studio so that it materializes in the reader’s mind with the perfect balance of humour and nostalgia.

Tamilnadu’s politics and culture befuddle outside observers. Ruled for half a century by two regional parties – DMK and AIADMK – its politics has been marked by language pride, non-Brahmin movement, caste-based reservation, regionalism, welfare populism, and cinema. Despite the negative coverage it tends to get from outside, Tamilnadu is a developed state scoring high on all human development indicators. In Tamil Characters, noted historian A. R. Venkatachalapathy provides a ringside view of contemporary Tamilnadu beginning with an assessment of political figures such as Periyar and Anna, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa, and significant poets, writers and thinkers including Subramania Bharati and Iyotheethos Pandithar. The final section discusses contentious issues such as language politics, prohibition, jallikattu and Dalit rights.

A perfect amalgam of irony, wit and wry humour, Still Bleeding from the Wound is a collection of stories from the greatest living Tamil writer. Ashokamitran’s deceptively simple narratives take the reader deep into the poignant struggles waged by ordinary middle-class men and women for survival, dignity, and a hint of moral grace. His nuanced prose is richly diverse in the range of characters and situations they portray, marking him as a master storyteller of our times.

There is no linear path to reach the top. In today's day and age, when there is so much competition and nepotism that is being spoken about, one has to wonder: Does talent and merit have a chance? In my opinion, they do. So how does one knock on the door of success and reach the boardroom? This book takes you through the crucial ten steps you need to climb as you progress in your career to reach the top via the author's own personal journey. Each chapter deals with one specific quality that a CEO is required to have and is accompanied with a worksheet next to it that will help you chart your growth. Peppered with wisdom and experience, each story will help you understand the implications of your decisions and the right career stage that one should look at making a move. An absolute must-have for anyone looking to make a mark in their corporate career.

This book would have been completed earlier but for events that disrupted millions of lives across India, including those of journalists : the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, by a Hindu mob on 6 December 1992 and the communal riots that followed across the country. In January 1993, the selective massacres of Muslims at Bombay and the devastating revenge bomb blasts there two months later led to extensive travelling and reporting for the New York Times. In addition, there was 'normal reporting' : the Punjab, environmental, economic and political issues such as the billion dollar scam.

This book is a translated collection of 3 novellas, spanning three decades of Ashokamitran s work. The stories are about women trapped by an almost absolute lack of resources (financial, intellectual and emotional). The narrative in all three novellas moves in a series of short scenes, building tension with a relentless layering of detail. The exploitation of these women and their daily struggle against it is exposed in all its terrifying ordinariness. The stories have all the identifiable characteristics of Ashokamitran s writing irony, interiority, sensitivity.