Neeraj's Books

  Years published: 2019 and 2021  A revered Indian warrior, raised by a generous Britisher and serving the East India Company ruled by an India-hating generation of Britishers, falls in love with the sister of his regiment's British leader.  Ever obedient to the Company Bahadur, he refuses to believe in the growing tensions between the natives and the Company. Only when his cousin becomes a martyr for defying British orders does he realise the graveness of the situation. His reputation makes him a welcome ally for the freedom force, but his love prevents him from fully committing to the task at hand. Who will he save: the motherland he is willing to die for or the love of his life?  The Mastaan series by Vineet Bajpai is a true entertainer revolving around the First War of Independence ( or the Sepoy Mutiny) of 1857. The author has crafted a gripping tale with history, black magic, betrayal and war contrasted with the tenderness of love.  The author takes his ti...

  First Published: 1999 Oxford India Paperback Edition: 2003 When we watch the news, we try to look for a comprehensive coverage of the matter in interest. If we are to look for a comprehensive coverage of the first four and a half decades of India's constitutional experience, look no further than Granville Austin's Working a Democratic Constitution.  Working a Democratic Constitution, written by Granville Austin, an American expert on the Indian Constitution, captures the essence of India's tryst with a Constitution over 45 years, along with providing exciting backstories to many incidents.  The writer has adopted the traditional style of writing an academic book. However, the equal importance and coverage the author gives to backstories and incidents as he does to the matter at hand keep the reader engaged. He adopts a higher level of vocabulary, which perfectly capture the meaning of a sentence but may be difficult for beginner readers.  Though the book ends with...

First Published: 1900 Format Accessed: Amazon Kindle Edition Stories with children as protagonists, beginning in a state of misery but always ending on a high note... Working just like a "Once upon a time..... happily ever after" story, you have Charles Dickens' Children Stories. The book, a series of twelve stories retold by his granddaughter and others feels like a Cinderella bedtime story told over and over again with different protagonists, settings, supporting characters etc. but more believable. Dickens hasn't changed the theme of the stories, which is both good and bad; good because it makes for an easy read, bad because it makes the reader wonder whether this is indeed one of Dickens' creations, which is usually filled with excellent plots. The good news is that the book is a collection of easy stories for children and is written in simple Old English, which is worth reading for them. It is also useful for parents who feel that they have run out of ideas f...

First Published: 1984 Fortieth Reprint Edition: 2020 Written by one of India's foremost lawyers and a former Ambassador of India to the United States, Nani A. Phalkivala's We, The People is a collection of opinions, talks, speeches and commentaries made on a wide range of subjects, from International relations to Indian constitutionalism from his days as a barrister till the time of being an Ambassador...... The book itself is divided into four major parts with subparts, each containing opinions he either said on a platform or wrote in a newspaper. Widely renowned to be a multi-faceted personality, it would be hard to believe for a reader (including me) that a lawyer-specialized in law-has been able to provide an opinion on Taxation and Socialism with the same expertise as a genuine expert in the subject. He swings from professional to personal and back in most of the writeups and all writings in this book (both he wrote or spoke) are written in formal English, which is expecte...

  Original language: French Year first published: 1759 Format: Amazon Kindle Edition A philosopher who believes till the end that "this is the best of worlds" and his royal pupil who finds it to be the opposite in the harshest way possible, coupled with a bit of travelling around the world and loads of characters... You have Candide. Voltaire's Candide revolves around the story of Candide, the son of a noble, who is educated by Dr Pangloss, the royal philosopher who irrespective of everything he has been through, still believes that "this is the best of worlds". How life proves both Dr Pangloss and his student Candide wrong form the rest of the story. Considering that this is a 300-year-old book read today, many of its standards, themes etc. may be outdated for the readers and it's not right to critique them, considering the audience of the time period. But the story itself constantly reminds the reader that unlike what Pangloss says, the "best of world...