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HT Picks; New Reads
A collection of Manipuri myths, a novel about a long-distance relationship, and the Gita as a text that helps the contemporary reader navigate capitalist modernity - all that on this week’s list of recommended reads
Manipur Myths Retold
This is a collection of endearing and vibrant retellings of Manipuri myths told for the first time ever to the outside world. Here, the reader will learn why man gets wrinkles and a stoop, why the cat buries its poop and why a doll is worshipped in a village called Kakching, among other things. Discover 12 magical tales from Manipur, the mountain land in the north-east of India on the border with Myanmar. Passed down by learned scholars, balladeers and grandmothers over hundreds of years, these unknown myths and fables are enriched with beautifully rich paintings that will transport you to Manipur!*
The dance of a long distance relationship
Keteki is charming but allergic to commitment; Ved is smitten but something of a toxic bachelor. As they begin the intricate and transformative dance of a long-distance relationship, they also navigate changes in their lives. Set in Assam and London, Keeping in Touch is edgy, funny, and uncompromisingly modern. The Times (UK) pronounced that Joseph has “the wit and delicacy of a latter-day Mrs Gaskell” while Metro said “Joseph’s skill is finding the poetry inside modest dreams, small tragedies and disappointments.”*
Ethical Action in an Age of Flux
The Bhagavad Gita needs no introduction. The universe to which it refers, on the other hand, feels like it could well do with one. Marked by flux, our increasingly incomprehensible global world presents considerable ethical, political and social challenges. Could the Gita, for all its philosophical abstraction, serve as an introduction to navigating this space of capitalist modernity? What can it tell us about global warming and violence, inequality and suffering, pandemics and the savage oppression of vulnerable groups? Rohit Chopra’s examination of the Gita interrogates the relevance of its ideas to these questions and to the present moment. This book is a timely meditation for a period characterized by crisis while also speaking to a time beyond. It uses the Gita as a lens through which to look at pressing questions of war, difference and uncertainty. Combining philosophical discussion, meticulous research and sharp political insight, The Gita for a Global World does what the ancient text has done for years – illuminate and provoke while asking each of us to choose how we will act to meet the challenges of the present and future.*
* All copy from book flap.
