Women warriors, young men and Chanakya (IANS Books This Weekend)

Get to know extraordinary women and their highs and lows, flick through the story of four men who grope for answers in accordance with their unique disposition and circumstances, and also gain Chanakya's age-old wisdom.

The IANS bookshelf has very interesting reads to offer this weekend.

1. Book: Women Warriors In Indian History; Author: Yugal Joshi; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 177; Price: Rs 195

"Women Warriors in Indian History" explores the life of 10 Indian women warriors as narrated by other historical characters. While Italian traveller Marco Polo recounts the story of his contemporary Queen Rudramba, Emperor Jahangir narrates the tale of Durgavati to his future consort.

Legendary Tatya Tope unfolds Avantibai's heroics to Lakshmi Bai and the eunuch General Malik Kafur regales a young sultan with Raziya Sultana's exploits. Put together chronologically, from the slave dynasty to the first war of Indian independence, these stories showcase the changing canvas of Indian history. More importantly, the narratives bring forward the exceptional qualities of these women warriors, while fighting against gender, social, religious and political odds and opposition. They prove that women are unequivocally strong leaders who have waged and won many battles with courage and conviction down the ages.

Well-researched and engagingly narrated, this book familiarises readers with these extraordinary women and their highs and lows -- and provides a glimpse into their unique, yet relatively lesser-known lives.

2. Book: The Ordinary, the Enchanted and the Quaintly Happy; Author: Sachin Jha; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 240; Price: Rs 195

Life is full of choices -- some easy, some difficult, some impossible. How much can reason and logic assist in making the impossible possible?

"The Ordinary, the Enchanted and the Quaintly Happy", composed as a string of parables, traces the journey of four young men who have had little clarity about life as children and, to them, adulthood seems no different. It is the story of four friends -- Raghu, the ordinary and insecure; Abhay, the talented and successful; Aari, the debonair; and Abeer, the wise and contented.

Each of them gropes for answers in accordance with his unique disposition and circumstances. Then just as they seem to be giving up on life, it emerges that Abeer could have a solution at hand! However, a freaky incident unsettles the equation once again. Can logic and reason bail them out of this crisis?

3. Book: Inside Chanakya's Mind; Author: Radhakrishnan Pillai; Publisher: Penguin; Pages: 212; Price: Rs 350

Chanakya was one of the best strategic thinkers of the world. In the fourth century BC, he wrote the Arthashastra, an unrivalled political treatise that has since been used by leaders across the globe. In Inside Chanakya's Mind, for the first time, Radhakrishnan Pillai, the bestselling author of Corporate Chanakya, distills Chanakya's age-old wisdom for the masses.

--IANS

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