HT Picks; New Reads

This week’s reading list includes a masterclass on how to plan, build, sustain and grow a start-up, an interdisciplinary scholarly catalogue that examines a series of photo-performances by the artist Pushpamala N, and a volume of graphic narratives that subverts conventional story telling

How to Win the Start-up Battle

A book on growing a start-up, a catalogue of artist Pushpamala N’s photo performances of the Indian nation personified as a woman, and graphic narratives that subvert conventional story telling - all that on our list of good reads this week. (HT Team)

171pp, Rs395; Rupa (A masterclass on how to plan, build, sustain and grow a start-up)

Early stage investor Bhaskar Majumdar reveals why it is critical for entrepreneurs to have an ‘everything started as nothing’ attitude to innovate and create value. He gives a masterclass on how to plan, build, sustain and grow a start-up, and stay miles ahead of competition with the ‘everything started as nothing’ mantra. This book is an account of what works and what does not in the Indian start-up ecosystem from someone who has had a front row seat as the scene emerged to become the third largest in the world. Leveraging real anecdotes and stories from entrepreneurial ventures across a vast spectrum including the technology, agri and small-scale businesses, manufacturing and social sectors in India, the author highlights the emergence of winning scalable businesses in today’s ruthless marketplace. The business entrepreneurs featured have succeeded by focussing on solving unique country-specific problems rather than aping successes from other markets. Apart from his own experience of the start-up world, Majumdar also shares stories of Abhinay Choudhari (co-founder of Big Basket), Amod Malviya (co-founder of udaan), celebrity chef and entrepreneur Sanjeev Kapoor, Phanindra Sama (co-founder of redBus), Anand Deshpande (Founder and CEO of Persistent Systems), and Rajesh Jain (India’s first Internet billionaire) among others. This book is for those who seek to create ‘everything from nothing’.*

Pushpamala N’s Woman and Nation

136pp, ₹1495; Roli Books (Catalogue on a series of photo-performances by artist Pushpamala N on the Indian nation personified as woman, mother, and goddess.)

This interdisciplinary scholarly catalogue examines Motherland, an important series of photo-performances by the artist Pushpamala N on the Indian nation personified as woman, mother, and goddess. The series shows Pushpamala taking on Mother India’s myriad personifications: nubile beauty and saintly renunciant; militant goddess wearing a garland of skulls or receiving the ultimate sacrifice of a warrior’s head; the mother surgeon activating the birth of model citizens; and destitute widow, bent from years of abject labour. As she does so, she reveals that nations are invented, as are national embodiments. The artist’s burden is to reveal the ingredients of such inventions.*

An anthology of graphic narratives

320pp, ₹1499; Penguin (Of dystopias, imaginary cities and kaleidoscopic dreamscapes)

From Noah Van Sciver, Tanitoc to Jerry Antony, Sudhanya Dasgupta and Monisha Naskar, Gayatri Menon, Debjyoti Saha, Alendev Vishnu, Anirban Ghosh, Solo and Ojo, Ekta Bharti and Pavan Rujurkar, among others, Longform 2022 presents stories that subvert conventional narratives. Through pieces about ordinary people, autobiographies, travel tales and more, this volume establishes comics as a permanent feature on a reader’s shelf. The anthology takes us through around-the-corner dystopias, imaginary cities and kaleidoscopic dreamscapes.*

*All copy from book flap