Books published by Speaking Tiger Books

Since he was a young boy, Ruskin Bond has made friends easily. And some of the most rewarding and lasting friendships he has known have been with animals, birds and plants-big and small; outgoing and shy. This collection focuses on these companions and brings together his finest essays and stories, both classic and new. There are leopards and tigers, wise old forest oaks and geraniums on sunny balconies, a talking parrot and a tomcat called Suzie, bears in the mountains and kingfishers in Delhi, a family of langurs and a lonely bat-and many more 'wild' friends, some of an instant, others of several years. Beautifully illustrated by Shubhadarshini Singh, this is a gift for nature-and book-lovers of all ages.

Jim Corbett, ace hunter and inimitable raconteur, was also a gifted observer, not just of the jungle but also of the people around him. In the seventeen sketches included in 'The Hunter's Friends', readers will meet the men and women Corbett lived, hunted and worked with, both in Kumaon-Corbett's stomping grounds for most of his life- and in Mokameh Ghat, where he was employed by the Railways.'Kunwar Singh', intrepid poacher of the Kaladhungi jungles, tells young Corbett the cautionary tale of his friend, who was taught a harsh lesson by a tiger because he couldn't climb trees; in 'Putli and Kalwa', Corbett befriends a brave young girl leading a bullock to her uncle's house even as the man-eater of Muktesar prowls about in search of a victim. And, in 'Adventures with Magog', Corbett's delightful and touching profile of his hunting dog, he describes the terrifying yet funny consequences of disturbing a sleeping tiger.Compassionate, insightful and witty, 'The Hunter's Friends' is a book to read and to keep returning to.

The Fortunate Tiger and Other Close Encounters selects the most thrilling adventures of Jim Corbett of Kumaon, legendary hunter and author. Corbett, who bagged his first leopard at ten, with a rifle won in a marksmanship competition, ranged far and wide across Kumaon and Garhwal for much of his life, rescuing villages terrorized by man-eating felines. And, in the stories of his exploits-'The Fortunate Tiger', which seemed to enjoy divine protection from his bullets; 'The Man- eating Tigress of Chowgarh', who stalked Corbett even as he went looking for her; 'The Talla Des Killer', which he was forced to track while nursing a burst eardrum; and 'The Final Man-eater' of Corbett's career, a tigress which he lured and shot using himself as bait-Corbett gives us some of the greatest shikar tales ever told. Nature and adventure writing at its very best, The Fortunate Tiger and Other Close Encounters is a classic for all time.

This feeble blemished light, this dawn mangled by night, This is not the morning we had all so longed for... -Faiz Ahmed FaizIn the two decades since the early 1990s, when India confirmed its allegiance to the Free Market, more of its citizens have become marginalized than ever before, and society has become more sharply riven than ever.In Looking Away, Harsh Mander ranges wide to record and analyse the many different fault lines which crisscross Indian society today.There is increasing prosperity among the middle classes, but also a corresponding intolerance for the less fortunate. Poverty and homelessness are also on the rise-both in urban and rural settings- but not only has the state abandoned its responsibility to provide for those afflicted, the middle class, too, now avoids even the basic impulses of sharing. And with the sharp Rightward turn in politics, minority communities are under serious threat-their very status as citizens in question-as a belligerent, monolithic idea of the nation takes the place of an inclusive, tolerant one.However, as Harsh Mander points out, what most stains society today is the erosion in the imperative for sympathy, both at the state and individual levels, a crumbling that is principally at the base of the vast inequities which afflict India. Exhaustive in its scope, impassioned in its arguments, and rigorous in its scholarship, Looking Away is a sobering checklist of all the things we must collectively get right if India is to become the country that was promised, in equal measure, to all its citizens.

Nandita Haksar's magnum opus traces the tortured history of Kashmiri nationalism through the lives of two men: Sampat Prakash, a Kashmiri Pandit and Communist trade union leader who became active in politics during the Cold War years, and Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri Muslim who became active in the early days of the Kashmir insurgency. The ideas and deeds of many other individuals and groups are woven into this twin account which tries to examine how Kashmiri nationalists are caught in the web of international intrigue, as they negotiate the rivalries between the old and new superpowers and also the competing nationalisms of India and Pakistan, which invariably translate into Hindu-Muslim antagonism. Both Prakash and Guru refused to give up the idea of a more inclusive Kashmir, with space in it for all faiths and nationalities. Their paths crossed at a juncture of history when both believed that their vision of Kashmir was possible. But their dream has been all but destroyed by the forces of history, leaving Prakash and his comrades alone and isolated, and leading to the hounding and execution of Guru. This nuanced, multi-layered book combines personal and public narratives, political analysis and the rare insights of an activist who led the campaign to save Mohammad Afzal Guru from the gallows. Singular in scope and focus, and spanning a period of over eight decades, from the 1930s until 2015, this is an unprecedented examination of the history of modern Kashmir.

The first Dalit autobiography to be published, Baluta caused a sensation when it first appeared, in Marathi, in 1978. It quickly acquired the status of a classic of modern Indian literature and was also a bestseller in Hindi and other major languages. This is the first time that it has been translated into English.Set in Mumbai and rural Maharashtra of the 1940s and '50s, it describes in shocking detail the practice of untouchability and caste violence. But it also speaks of the pride and courage of the Dalit community that often fought back for dignity.Most unusually, Baluta is also a frank account of the author's own failings and contradictions-his passions, prejudices and betrayals-as also those of some leading lights of the Dalit movement. In addition, it is a rare record of life in Maharashtra's villages and in the slums, chawls and gambling dens of Mumbai.