Disha is a timid girl, brought up by her parents as a homely, quiet girl, trained to be seen rather than heard.She marries Giri, a man her parents choose for her. She goes on to be the ideal Indian wife—barely questioning or rebelling, and catering to the needs of her husband and an insecure mother-in-law.Despite her constant inner conflict arising out of introspection, observation, and education, she remains largely silent and unheard in her marriage, as she was during her...

This book gives a focused view of boron nitride (BN) nanostructures, including their structure, synthesis, properties, and various energy and healthcare-related applications. It covers varied dimensional structures of BN, along with other crystalline phases, and important properties of all these structures. It also covers different synthesis routes for all types of BN nanostructures, functional groups, defect engineering, etc. Further sections cover energy storage and conversion, biomedica...

The eco-friendly remediation technologies for the degraded environment are indeed the “need of the hour”. Even though the regulatory mechanisms are in place to control the discharge of untreated contaminants into the natural environment, still, we could see a different picture; hence, remediation and restoration of the environment becomes an ardent requisite. The present-day fast pace of industrialization without proper disposal planning is impacting the water bodies adversely, generating ...

“Huxley’s final word about the human condition and the possibility of the good society. . . . Island is a welcome and in many ways unique addition to the select company of books—from Plato to now—that have presented, in imaginary terms, a coherent view of what society is not but might be.” — New York Times Book ReviewThe final novel from Aldous Huxley, Island is a provocative work of utopian fiction and a counterpoint to his world...

"In the months that followed I watched His Holiness working on a new book . . . I began to think that perhaps the time had come for me to turn my paws to a book of my own . . . one that tells my own tale . . . How I was rescued from a fate too grisly to contemplate, to become constant companion to a man who is not only one of the world’s greatest spiritual leaders and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, but who is also a dab hand with the can opener."Not so much fly-on-the-wall ...

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the DayHere is the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a novel where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II.

A tremendous first novel from an exciting young author.Feted for its electric chaos, the city of Bombay also accommodates pockets of calm. In one such enclave, Mohan, a middle-aged letter writer – the last of a dying profession – sits under a banyan tree in Fort, furnishing missives for village migrants, disenchanted lovers, and when pickings are slim, filling in money order forms. But Mohan's true passion is collecting second-hand books; he's particularly attached to novels with m...

"Startlingly good" stories of Nepali society set against the backdrop of violent Maoist insurgencies ( San Francisco Chronicle).From an author like "a Buddhist Chekhov," The Royal Ghosts features characters trying to reconcile their true desires with the forces at work in Nepali society ( San Francisco Chronicle). As political violence rages, these people struggle with their duties to their aging parents, an oppressive caste system, and t...

Where innocence, deceit and love collideAnand is a Bangalore success story: successful, well-married, rich. At least, that's how he appears. But if his little factory is to grow, he needs land and money and, in the New India, neither of these is easy to find.Kamala, Anand's family's maid, lives perilously close to the edge of disaster. She and her clever teenage son have almost nothing, and their small hopes for self-betterment depend on the contentment of Anand's wife: a w...

Based on a true story, Shiokari Pass is a moving tale of love eclipsed by sacrifice and tragedy.The hero of this Japanese novel is the young and idealistic Nobuo Nagano, who finds himself forced to make a heart-rending decision, when he must choose between his childhood sweetheart, Fujiko, and his newly found Christian faith. Set in Hokkaido at the turn of the nineteenth century, when for the first time Western culture and ideas were beginning to challenge...

R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The four novels collected here, all written during British rule, bring colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism.Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for...

One of the most beloved Buddhist books of all time—having inspired popular musicians, artists, a documentary film, and countless readers—is now in an expanded, new edition, loaded with extras. Absolutely absorbing from start to finish, this is a true story you might truly fall in love with.At only 24, Maura O'Halloran left her Irish-American family stateside and traveled to Japan, where she began studying under a Zen master. She would herself become recognized as a Zen master, in a...