Nasheman News : Veteran author Nayantara Sahgal unveiled her new novel “The Fate Of Butterflies” at a function attended by bibliophiles and several known faces from the literary and political world, here on Wednesday.

The novel, Sahgal said, confronts the toxic dangers of “war, religious polarisation and authoritarian charisma — a dystopian future that is already upon the world”.

Sahgal was introduced by author Namita Gokhale during the launch at Oxford Bookstore. “The Fate Of Butterflies” is published by Speaking Tiger and is priced Rs 450.

In a conversation with Sanjoy Roy, producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Sahgal said all her novels have been stories of the times she has lived in and how they contributed to the making of India. “But this novel is about the unmaking of India,” she said, pointing to the horrors of innocent people being lynched.

Sahgal, a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family and one of the most vocal critics of Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government draws inspiration from Nazi Germany.

Alleging that India was under a dictatorial regime, the 91-year-old writer said while Germans were told that Jews were a danger to them, the majority community in India is being told that it is under threat from the country’s Muslims. She said ministers have spread this fear.

Remarking that she is a believing Hindu, Sahgal said she “absolutely rejects” the ideology of Hindutva.

“What’s happening in the country has nothing to do with Hinduism, but a political ideology that has nothing at all to do with religion,” she said.

 Nasheman News : Filmmaker Vishesh Bhatt will be producing a web series based on late R.K. Laxmans book “Servants Of India”.

The book is a combination of work of fiction and a few incidents that Laxman experienced himself. 

“R.K. Laxman had interesting stories to tell and his vulnerable characters enhanced his vision. I am so glad that his family believed in me and gave me the opportunity to make this series,” Bhatt said in a statement. 

“I am really looking forward to working on this project and bringing his characters to life with contemporary twists,” he added. 

RK IPR Management — a company founded by R.K. Laxman — has expressed confidence in Bhatt and his plan to make the series. 

In the series, every character will have a certain idiosyncrasy. Bhatt wants to adapt the characters with a new age and quirky treatment.

 Noted writer Anand Neelakantan has described India as a land of inequality and has said that even though the concept of equality has always been there in the country, it has never been put to practise.

Neelkantan, who is the writer of the famous “Baahubali” series, explores some unknown stories hidden in epics and scriptures. His new book “Vanara: The Legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara” tells the honour, love, jealousy and betrayal we seldom read of.

“India is a land of inequality. The concept of equality was always there in Indian thought but never in practise. In my novel, ‘Vanara’, Kishkinda is established as a place of equal opportunities. One of the subplots of the story is how this city so established with such lofty ideals slowly descended to become a highly unequal society, mirroring present day India.

“The entire caste system evolved as a tool of grading people and treating people unequally. Whatever arguments one may say about caste or Jaati differing from Varna etc, in practice, for at least 2,000 years, the discrimination on the basis of caste and creed has existed in India and the same continues to hold India back from evolving into a modern society,” the 45-year-old author told IANS.

He maintained that in India discrimination based on religion, caste, language, economic condition and the colour of the skin is a practise.

“One cannot shut our eyes to this reality and talk only about glorious things of our nation. Real patriotism is accepting our faults and working to rectify the same rather than blind glorification of anything related to religion, country or culture,” he said.

Neelakantan said that the interest in Puranas for an average Indian had never waned and emphasised that the Puranas have always played an important role in Indian psyche.

“Why it looks so amplified is because of the power of social media, 24 X 7 news channels. Even Gandhiji used the concept of Ramarajya in the freedom struggle. Puranas were once used to teach people how to live. Storytelling is a powerful tool of conveying ideas and the rich stories of Puranas were used to make the knowledge of Vedas and Upanishads in an accessible format for the common man. Once, it was a tool to unite people like how Gandhiji did. It is unfortunate that some people are using such age-old tales to divide people for selfish gains,” said the author.

Comedy drama “Green Book” will hit the screens in India on November 23.

Anil D. Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment will release the movie in the country, read a statement.

The film is based on a true story of friendship and relationship between working class Italian-American bouncer who becomes a driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960’s American South. The film is not a biopic but is inspired by the true story about friendship between Donald Shirley, an erudite African-American pianist and his white chauffer Tony Lip.

“Green Book” had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018, and won over not just the audiences but also went on to win the People’s Choice Award. Directed by Peter Farrelly, the film has Viggo Mortensen essaying the role of Tony Lip and Mahershala Ali essaying the role of Shirley.

Mortensen said: “This is a movie about a relationship between a black man and a white man before the Civil Rights Act, and the backdrop is one of obvious socio-economic and racial tension. In many ways, we’re facing the same problems today that are depicted in the film. There are a lot of mirror images and mirror concepts that our story deals with, between 1962 and now, and I think people will find that enlightening as well as entertaining.”

Ali said: “This is a perfect film for audiences around the world because it’s about people who are different and who are able to discover their similarities and teach each other things about their differences. They’re able to accept each other. These men come from very, very different worlds and they become allies.”

The film also has Don Stark and Linda Cardellini in supporting roles.

IANS

“The Diary On The Fifth Floor By Raisha Lalwani”

The Diary on the Fifth Floor is not just a story about a girl dealing with her issues. This book is about our society and how we are all going through similar experiences. The book is about the lack of emotions in our everyday interactions. It is about our inability to emote & express ourselves. We hear stories from friends & family, from our neighbors. They aren’t pleasant so we express our sympathy & then forget about them. Writing gave me an emotional outlet to express these deep-seated feelings of our everyday struggle, of our joys, of our loneliness & our longings

The Diary on the Fifth Floor is a fascinating tale of a 25 year old woman that takes hold of us from the moment she enters the hospital; more precisely, the 5th floor. Visibly terrified, she clutches at her cloth bound Diary, caught in the horns of a terrible dilemma, whether or not to hand over the diary to the doctor. She fears that she will be declared insane if her tangled web of thoughts, unspooling in dark mysterious stories is read by the dissecting eye of a doctor.
What does this diary contain?

As the novel progresses, we are drawn into characters & stories that are toe curling, strange & haunting in their raw intensity. What is the story of this woman? What secrets lie in the pages of her Diary?

What happens on the fifth floor?

The book revolves around one single question. It is not asked upfront but has been sent out in the void & resurfaces at the end of every chapter

Raisha Lalwani elabores on her novel, “Having lived in Bombay, Jaipur, Delhi & Dubai, life has been one long travel tale! I went to a bunch of schools in different cities & most of my experiences, friends & memories revolve around these cities. After having graduated from The University of Delhi, I decided to test the waters of International Business. When I started writing, it was without any distinct goal in mind. Some write for money, others as a hobby, I write for peace & quiet it brings me. Writing was how I could express myself & it has made me braver than I thought I could be.
It is funny how “nocturnal” was the 1st ever word that came to my mind when I thought about who I am. Whether it was studying for my Board exams back in the year 2004 or working on my book all these years later, I feel my mind is more active during the later hours of the evening. Like my husband says, I am a “homemaker” by day & a writer by night.”

Bestselling author Chetan Bhagat, who has been facing a lot of flack after screenshots of his WhatsApp conversations were leaked on social media, asserted on Wednesday that he is being “attacked and vilified”.

“I want you to know that I am suffering because my name is being dragged into needless controversies, and my family and I are being harassed. In the garb of the #MeToo movement, which definitely has genuine cases, I am being attacked and vilified. Let me tell you upfront — I am not a harasser. Never was, never will be,” Bhagat said in an elaborate four-page statement.

The bestselling author, whose latest book “The Girl in Room 105” released on Tuesday, said that the screenshots in question were of “a flirtatious, but friendly and polite conversation”.

He maintained that such “baseless allegations” affect his wife, 70-year-old mother, his elderly in-laws and his twin teenaged sons.

“Each of them suffer in their own way,” he added, before mentioning that #MeToo movement “is leading to some positive change”.

“Fine, suffer a bit if it is helping overall. I stopped promoting my new book, which I have worked on every day, for years. For the first time ever, I didn’t even thank my readers on the launch day, even though I am flooded with literally hundreds of messages daily across my social media congratulating me. As if I am some convict, I am supposed to shut the hell up lest the mob unleash its fury,” he added.

The celebrity writer with a Twitter following of over 12.3 million further released three brief excerpts from a story by an “erotica writer”, the woman who released his screenshots.

The three samples, Bhagat maintained, were meant “to turn you on” and were “extremely explicit, it is porn, not erotica”. He said that he asked her the questions he could have asked a writer like her anywhere –at a panel at a lit fest, for instance.

“Cut to many years later – guess what? Chetan’s name is being dragged through mud, let me join the party — and she puts out those screenshots. Her buddies high-five her, without knowing any context, and she becomes a victim too,” he added.

In an apparent reference to the screenshots released, he said that “WhatsApp allows you to delete your own chats, making it seem the other side was doing all the talking”.

Bhagat said that the #MeToo movement has its “good parts” and has some “good people with genuine grievances”.

“I am with them. However, the movement is already getting corrupted and genuine survivors will suffer if people don’t take it seriously,” he said.

Bhagat further said that he is “also going to stop feeling ashamed” and is now going to start talking about his new book, which he described as “a labor of love”.
“Please don’t try to ride on my fame, spoil my moment and definitely, definitely do not hurt or harass my family,” he said.

IANS

Even in the face of “extraordinary pressure to assimilate with the host populations”, Tibetans living in exile in India have been extremely successful in retaining their ancestral way of life, says Sudeep Basu, whose recent book “In Diasporic Lands”, attempts to chart the story of Tibetan refugees and their transformation since the exodus.

“The success is a result of a concerted effort on the part of the government of India and the Dharamsala administration to enable Tibetan refugees to preserve their culture and pursue economic activity against all odds,” Basu, an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Studies in Social Management, Central University of Gujarat, told IANS in an interview.

He contended that the creation of a series of permanent agricultural settlements throughout India in the initial years of refuge was a successful rehabilitation strategy. He also said that many Tibetans living in transit camps or working on road repair were resettled “within a period of five years” and became economically “self-sufficient”.

“Gradually, with greater education extended to Tibetans, many have moved out of these settlements into other occupations, exploring new possibilities among their hosts. In time, sweater-selling business, hotel business and tour operations, proved more lucrative and less time-consuming for the aspirational India-born Tibetans,” he pointed out.

His book is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Darjeeling and the author’s findings suggest that an uncertain future has not deterred Tibetans, refugees in Darjeeling since 1959, from achieving material and non-material success.

“The point of consideration for the new generation in Darjeeling town has been the prospect, desirability and extent of participation in the affairs of the homeland, besides pursuing business and work-related ventures. Through public acts of mobilisation, Tibetan diasporic communities are seen to display their loyalty to the Tibetan cause and yet not antagonise their hosts through ostentatious display of wealth. Their act of restraint and a ‘non-violent’ disposition creates an amiable relation with host communities. This makes life in Darjeeling more bearable for them, but to achieve this requires constant negotiation and a balancing act,” he said.

In the book, Basu argues that places and identities are “redefined and transformed” by refugees negotiating their “belonging in an alien country” over time. Asked how, he shared an example, pointing out that nearly all Tibetan refugees in Darjeeling town under the Foreigners Registration Act have also obtained the Registration Certificate (RC) as an emphatic proof of their Tibetanness.

“The RC remains one of the most powerful unifying symbols for the Tibetan exiles. Yet Tibetan refugees in Darjeeling town continue to identify themselves or are identified by others as Indian citizens, in certain contexts. It becomes difficult to distinguish between a façade and a reality, since refugees are unwilling to disclose how they identify themselves with others. This gives off the image that refugees ‘imagine’ themselves as being part of the host society or producing real or fictitious forms of cosmopolitan identity,” Basu said.

In the book, he also talks at length about the “lived meanings” that Tibetan refugees in Darjeeling attach to their life in exile and to the spaces they live and work in. He said that their strategies of living “without feeling the constraints of otherness” are vital to leading a dignified life.

“The landscape of Darjeeling into which the Tibetans moved following the exodus was relatively close by and topographically not entirely dissimilar to Tibet… The re-creation of familiar features from the lost environment as recaptured in the architectural design of houses built in and around the refugee settlement, making of thangka paintings and handicrafts, rituals of naming houses and streets with their spatial and temporal symbolism, inner decoration of refugee homes with pictures of the Potala palace and the Dalai Lama, continue to provide meaning and purpose to refugee lives,” Basu maintained.

But while Tibetan refugees negotiate their lives in exile, what does Tibet as a homeland stand for them now?

Basu said that the continuing traffic between Tibetans, both physical and on the internet, on both sides of the Himalayas and dispersed in the diaspora has produced an increased awareness among Tibetan refugees of the inter-connectedness of places.

“Forced migration and the seeming impossibility of return to one’s home country have produced feelings of longing, despair and idealisation concerning Tibet and Tibetanness among Tibetans over time. The condition of protracted exile has also produced a ‘virtual Tibet’ through the proliferation of vibrant social media communications among lay Tibetans in Tibet and in the diaspora as well as the Tibetan government-in-exile,” he said.

According to the figures presented in the book (from the Tibetan Demographic Survey of 1998), 2,411 Tibetans live in Darjeeling town; 442 in Ghoom; 2,023 in Kalimpong; 447 in Kurseong; and 641 in Sonada.

“In Diasporic Lands” is published by Orient Blackswan, and is priced at Rs 775.

(IANS)

Meet Tanya, the protagonist of a new quick-read from Pakistan, who has “got a pretty good life, working for a Karachi newspaper and smoking-drinking-flirting her way through minor romantic escapades”. The author, Taha Kehar, says that her character is his attempt to cultivate a narrative about what it means to be a woman in Karachi. But are there really many “politically opinionated, liberal, urban women that are both feisty and fearless”, as Tanya is, in Pakistan today?

Kehar, the author of “Typically Tanya”, said that it wasn’t entirely necessary for women in Pakistan (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) to be “liberal” or “urban” in order to have “bold political opinions or take on a fearless, feisty approach to life”.

“Although Pakistan is an inherently patriarchal society where women are subjected to restrictions and excessive surveillance, no measure of constraints can stop them from thinking, dreaming and forging their way in the world. Women in Pakistan have entered the public domain and are reclaiming it by negotiating gender confrontations and challenging archaic norms,” Kehar told IANS in an email interview from Karachi, describing his frame of mind as he shaped Tanya’s character.

He shared that Tanya may epitomise the struggle of Pakistani women, but she belongs to “a privileged segment of Karachi’s elite” that “can operate within a bubble and turn a blind eye to the ground realities”.

“By virtue of her social status, she manages to evade some patriarchal demands and has the freedom to ignore the restrictions imposed by the public sphere. But even then, it would be flawed to assume that she isn’t influenced by patriarchy in her everyday life. While writing ‘Typically Tanya’, I had to remain mindful of these subtle nuances,” he said.

Kehar, himself a journalist, said that he wanted to break away from Western ideas of Karachi as “a battle-hardened, conflict-riddled city” and understand it from the perspective of its citizens.

He also admitted that the male gaze could claw its way into the narrative and possibly even shrink the space for the female perspective. “The primary challenge was to elbow away all male-centric notions to prevent them from distorting Tanya’s perspective,” he said, adding that he discussed his protagonist’s traits with some of his female friends, who spent their days cooped up in newsrooms like Tanya does in the novel.

Maintaining that Tanya’s experiences may not be “entirely representative” of all independent and modern Pakistani women, Kehar, however, asserted that like most of them, Tanya recognises “the importance of making her own choices” and “taking charge of her own life”.

The author, published in both Indian and Pakistani media, said that Indian readers might enjoy Tanya’s humour, her friendship with Inder, an Indian journalist who is reporting from Pakistan. The book might also interest some readers who enjoy political polemics.

Asked to describe his novel for Indian readers, the author obliged, saying: “‘Typically Tanya’ is about Karachi, journalism and relationships between misfits. It is about a woman’s journey in negotiating these minefields. The protagonist isn’t obsessed with marriage and is unwilling to compromise her own dignity at the altar of a groom chosen by a rishta aunty.”

Kehar has previously published a collection of poems and “Typically Tanya” is his debut novel. Published by HarperCollins India, it is priced at Rs 299.

(IANS)

An Urdu version of the book ‘Exam Warrior’ penned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was launched here on Saturday, officials said.

The book was launched at a function organised by the India Islamic Cultural Centre. The event was attended by three cabinet ministers, film actors and hundreds of school children.

The book, which was launched earlier this year, already has versions in 14 languages including Hindi and English. Urdu is the 15th language in which the book has been published.

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and MoS for PMO Personnel Jitendra Singh attended the launch, along with film actors Rishi Kapoor, Annu Kapoor and filmmaker Muzaffar Ali.

“No one else could have written this book. Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister to have come from the ground-level after many years….We have spent many decades in a feudal hangover,” Singh said at the event.

In praise of Urdu, he said there are many people who are not able to read Urdu script but want to read it, and for them it is not unlikely that an Urdu version written in the Hindi script may be launched in future.

Javadekar, who had recently launched the Telugu translation of the book, said that it is not only for children but for parents also who unnecessarily pressurise their children during exams.

The book, which has 25 chapters in all with lessons on how to beat stress during examinations, was distributed to all school children present there.

Chetan Bhagat Reveals The Cover Of His Upcoming Novella

Best-selling author Chetan Bhagat has revealed the cover and a “movie-style promo” of his new book “The Girl In Room 105”, “a funny kind of thriller” about a Kashmiri Muslim girl & a Hindu boy, in a Facebook live on his fanpage on recently.
The book, published by Westland, will be released in Oct, 2016. Terming the book as “not a Chetan Bhagat love story”, the author pointed to its “an unlove story” tagline.
What’s interesting is that Chetan Bhagat also released a “movie-style promo” for it, reasoning that youngsters love videos, but the idea is “to bring them back to books”.
The story is about “a boy who is trying to unlove his ex-girlfriend and gets involved in something bigger”, said the “2 States” & “One Indian Girl” author.
He went on to say it is about a boy, Keshav Rajpurohit, who is from an IIT and teaches in a coaching centre, and is trying to “unlove his ex-girlfriend” Zara, a Kashmiri Muslim.
The dramatized promo has the lead, Keshav Rajpurohit, asking his audience: “Have I told you my dad is a senior member of the RSS?”
The 2 minute long promo shows him drinking one night as he receives a message from Zara and goes to meet her upon her asking.
However, in the confusion about whether Zara sent those messages, the promo ends, leaving “an element of surprise” for the audiences, as Chetan Bhagat put it in the 25 minute Facebook live.
He said people will love the suspense & humor in the book, because it is “a funny kind of thriller”, “a mystery but a funny mystery”. The book cover reveal comes after Bhagat invited his fans to #GuessTheTitle during social media contests.
Answering questions from viewers, Bhagat said the “unloving part” of the story comes from him.
“I find it very difficult to get over people. I just can’t move on. How can you move on when your heart is attached to someone,” he said.
“How can you unlove? It’s not like unplug.”

Asked about why he changed his genre, Bhagat responded that one cannot keep repeating the same formula just because “one thing is a hit”.

Bhagat also answered a question about the protagonist’s name, Keshav Rajpurohit, which is in line with his practice of naming his lead characters after Krishna.
“Krishna’s name is taken billions of times when you make that small change in a name,” he said, adding it is a not a coincidence that his heroes’ names have been based on Krishna since the last 8 times.
A viewer asked Bhagat if a movie can be expected, as his books have continuously been cinematically adapted.

The movie will come later and my readers are more important, Chetan Bhagat said, adding that he likes to keep books exciting.
He said “The Girl In Room 105” can be pre-ordered online on Amazon. The book will hit the stands in Oct, 2018.