Under The Banyan Tree

The stories of Raghbir Dhillon delight, entertain, and educate as they offer a glimpse into Indian culture, its sects, gods, and social rules and practices, but beyond this cultural veneer universal human qualities shine through and elevate these narratives beyond the simple elements of fiction.

Two students, Laila and Abdallah met in High School in the early 1950s. Upon graduation in 1953, Laila went to London to further her education and Abdallah opted to join the labor market as a teacher of English in a night school. After two years of working, Abdallah wanted to have a better future. He applied to and was accepted by the American University of Beirut (AUB) as a full time student. While walking on campus, Abdallah spotted Laila's sister Najwa who also was a student at the university. He asked her about Laila. Najwa said, Laila is still in London and she asked about you. Abdallah told her to please say hello to her for me. Six months later, Abdallah asked Najwa about Laila. She said well, Laila is back home in Beirut now. Abdallah said, hopefully she and I will cross paths again. A week later, on June 15, 1958, Abdallah saw a pretty young lady sitting on a bench under the Banyan tree. He approached her reluctantly and asked if she were Laila. She responded by asking if he is Abdallah. Both rekindled their relationship after five years of separation. They dated on and off for two years and decided to get engaged on October 20, 1960. They got married on December 15, 1962 after which they traveled to the United Stated as Abdallah was accepted to the graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley.

This book documents the history of Government House and Barrackpore Park along with a photographic series of its present day restoration.

The history of Australia’s north coast is a story of ancient industry and international trade with tentacles that reached as far as China. It tells of travel to the far reaches of the world where an old, mid-19th century Groote Eylandt man, spoke of chasing huge fish across cold seas and hunting furred creatures on seas hard as stone. It’s a story of great, forgotten empires on Australia’s doorstep and rich Sultans who claimed that Australia’s north as their own long before Cook laid eyes on it. It’s a story very few Australians know about. When marine biologist Graeme Dobson asked elders about the origins of a strange stone structure in the middle of a bay, off a tiny island, near the coast of Arnhem Land they replied ‘Not ours’, and so began a remarkable quest that became a mystery wrapped in an adventure, folded into history. His research took him to the far corners of Arnhem Land and into the Seas and Islands to its north. It led him back through time, past missionaries, colonists, huge fishing fleets, Dutch map-makers, Portuguese explorers-come-slavers, unknown settlers and miners, and pearl cultivating tribesmen until he finally found the answer in another bay off another tiny island, this time in the remote Indonesian Aru Islands. This is a mystery/adventure with a difference, plus fascinating insights into little discussed history of northern Australia.

Under the Banyan Tree is the first comprehensive study of the evolution and flourishing of the picturesque during the British Raj. Romita Ray argues that this concept allowed British artists and writers traveling in India to aestheticize the Indian landscape, its people, and the biota (the banyan tree and the elephant, above all). These ideas not only shaped specific landscapes in India, but also fed the imagination of a global audience throughout the British empire. The material in this engaging text ranges from river landscapes and tea plantations to elephants and bejeweled Indian princes, shedding light on how the concepts of picturesque beauty and pleasure were diversified in India, sometimes dramatically beyond their conventional parameters. Exquisitely illustrated with unusual and beautiful images, Under the Banyan Tree is both a starting point for examining the function of the picturesque and an insightful addition to scholarship investigating British art and empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Minnie O'Brien reflects back on her long life in rural Ireland and her struggle to hand her farm over to her youngest son.

The book is a compilation of everything love is all about, written in the form of poetry. The form may not be perfect, perfect not the rhyme scheme; what makes this book a beautiful read is the imperfection of the theme. Love itself is not a perfect emotion, an endeavor of life full of imperfections; ups, downs, highs, and lows, that’s just how love goes. Heartbreak and love, Siamese twins, ain’t it? So are happiness and this feeling, love, joined at the hip. So, read on if you ever loved, or if you wish to, someday; because at that moment you too are a poet!

A stunning, powerful debut novel set against the backdrop of the Cambodian War, perfect for fans of Chris Cleave and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labour, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood - the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author's extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyanis testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience. 'In the Shadow of the Banyanis one of the most extraordinary and beautiful acts of storytelling I have ever encountered' Chris Cleave, author of The Other Hand 'Ratner is a fearless writer, and the novel explores important themes such as power, the relationship between love and guilt, and class. Most remarkably, it depicts the lives of characters forced to live in extreme circumstances, and investigates how that changes them. To read In the Shadow of the Banyan is to be left with a profound sense of being witness to a tragedy of history' Guardian 'This is an extraordinary debut … as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday