Tell Me A Story
Rupa Bajwa
Picador India
The tale of a small-town girl who lives her mediocre life blissfully until her family circumstances demand that she move to a big city. And New Delhi has something else in store for her as it adds to her solitary journey of love and loss. She finds herself in a sudden head-on collision with a world completely alien to her. The tale reminds us of how fragile the connections of our sane-seeming lives are.

Impeachment
Anjali Deshpande
Hachette India
Coming from a journalist associated with the struggle of Bhopal victims, the reader tries to find truth in the fictional account set in the backdrop of the tragedy. As the protagonist fights the Supreme Court verdict that nullifies Union Carbides legal and moral responsibility towards the gas-leak survivors, one is reminded that the victims and those who lent them support may necessarily not have the financial means or the legal knowledge to defend themselves – and they have a story of their own!

Tamarind City - Where Modern India Begins
Bishwanath Ghosh
Tranquebar India
A witty biography of a city where tradition is worn all year round. As the moody, magical Madras coexists with the bursting-at-the-seams, tech-savvy Chennai, the author refuses to take sides. While Chennai embraces change, its people hold its age-old customs and traditions close to their heart making it a unique city where ‘the marriage of tradition and technology’ takes place. An evocative portrait, drawn without reservation – sometimes with humour, sometimes with irony – but always with love.

My Days In Prison
Urmila Shastri
Harper Vantage
It’s a disturbing yet inspiring, bilingual edition of a freedom fighter’s prison diary as she chronicles her days post her arrest during the 1942 Quit India Movement. The account of inhuman atrocities that the jail authorities heaped on freedom fighters and other prisoners is upsetting. An intimate chronicle of an epoch-making era!

The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam
Taj Hassan
Hachette India
Set in the deep, neglected interiors of India, this is a simple story that looks through centuries of caste divide and crippling hardships, in a town where no one ever questions the balance of power. So when the local barber Ramu Hajjam is beaten absurdly for accidentally cutting the Subedar’s cheek, his son, burning for vengeance, realises the only justice open to them is of the violent kind. Fascinating!

The Householder
Amitabha Bagchi
4th – HarperCollins Publishers
Another IITian turned author, Amitabha Bagchi’s simple and lucid writing is his greatest asset. This is his second offering after Above Average and yet again, through his texts, the author has brought to life the smells, sounds and sights of the place where the story is set – in this case, Delhi. The story of Naresh Kumar, a PA to an IAS officer and his ever-demanding family issues is exciting. The characters are easy to relate to, the story, though predictable in the end, has the capacity to keep you completely engaged.

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