Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.)

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Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-04-2004

Try Weapons of Peace if you dont have that yet.Definte MUST haver.
Borrowing might be a good idea. <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' />

Anyone knows where Indian history books can be found..like "The Cholas" By Nilakanta Shastri ...etc.I would love to collect those history works!

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-04-2004

QUOTE(amarnath @ Aug 3 2004, 10:00 PM) Dont buy that book !
Not worth it.
Author has put in a lot of imagination...like....it sounds like a bollywood movie story reallyÂ <!--emo& Confused

leepy--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sleepysmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sleepysmileyanim.gif' /> 
Amarnath,

That book is a work of fiction. Hence, Mr. Padmanabhan has to use his imaginaton to the fullest extention.........after all he can't predict things like I/we do here. <!--emo& Wink

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' />

Anyway, the book is not a bad read. Once I started it.....I finished it in less than a day. But I think the book is over-priced a bit. For folks in India the book should have been around Rs 250 - 300 and not where it is right now.

BTW. Is that weapons of peace book the same one by Raj Chengappa?? If yes, then I would definiteley recommend it.

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-05-2004

Krishna

Pardon Pardon <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /> . But from the General who gave away the "War == Jolly Good" interview <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /> , one would expect some thing good other than fiction.

yes , Its Weapons of Peace by Raj Chengappa ! <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' />

Boss , for once can you say what your signature is all about <!--emo& Sad

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /> <!--emo& Confused

kull--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/aaskull.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='aaskull.gif' />

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-05-2004

While leaving office Gen Padmanabhan had mentioned that he'd be interested in writing children's book during his retirement years. So writing fiction could have been a personal pass time rather than any serious work.

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-05-2004

Rs.500+ of my fathers money , for a Retired General's Past time ! <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

Ok Ok My Bit for that soldier ! <!--emo& Smile

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Anyway i am in great need for this book "The Colas" / "The Cholas" by Nilakanta Sastri...

Any hints ?

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-16-2004

Just happend to read a few pages from , John Keays India : a history

He writes in length about Dating the Ramayana , Mahabharatha , doesnt want to agree with Romila Thapar <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /> ..he somewhat dates Mahabharatha to 3012,,around that time something.

I was surprised to find a western chap , going on to state such facts rather than dismiss them as myths.

Overall good book to buy and read and store.

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-16-2004

Finished reading Hawksley's The Third World War a couple of days back.

Everything's ok, well not exactly.....but I'm willing to let it go. However one thing doesn't go down well with me: If the pakis ever nuke Delhi, India would not just chill out saying, "How can we do this to other human beings........blah blah blah after saying how our people had suffered." It won't be an issues of 'what do we gain in return' but of retribution, punishment.

Mr. Hawksley, grow up a bit. India would not wait to get all her cities nuked before responding or even going to the extent of letting it go. As soon as the pakis, or anyone else for that matter, decides to nuke an Indian metro..............Agnis would be airborne........

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 12-02-2004

Hi
I am in need of the following books for my personal collection
( AND no , i dont plan to write civil services exam after reading those)

The Cholas : K.A.Nilakanta Shastri
Mauryas: Ashoka and Decline of the Maurya - Romila Thapar.
Guptas : S.R Goyal. 

Also any book/folk tale about the Guptas are also welcome.

Nitpick : Compare Samudra Gupta and Raja Raja Chola , you find a lot of similarities.Strange !

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 12-23-2004

Offtopic post.. Couldnt find a good thread for this interesting read. Parsuram posted this on sulekha newshopper..

QUOTEThe business of publishing
- By H.Y. Sharada Prasad

Most publishers would jump with joy if one of their books is selected as a textbook. For that would mean an assured sale of a few hundred if not a few thousand copies, depending on the courses for which they are prescribed. It would mean that the investment made on the first edition is quickly recouped instead of waiting for a few years. Even more happy would be the authors. Authorship and publishing are not activities which are particularly remunerative in our country.

But, would you believe it, there was a publisher in Karnataka who resented the prospect? He hated the job of printing the same book a second time, although one of the elementary rules in the economics of publishing was that profits came from second and subsequent editions. He would ask the lucky author to give his book to some other publisher. The name of this maverick was G.B. Joshi. The story of the publishing house, the Manohar Granth Mala of Dharwar, which he established in the Thirties and guided for more than 60 years, is closely intertwined with the course of Kannada literature during these decades. Rarely has a single publisher done so much for a literature. A surprisingly large number of the masters and masterpieces in the language, from Shivarama Karanthâs Marali Mannige to Girish Karnadâs Tughlaq, were published by Joshi. He was an indefatigable talent scout with a high rate of hits. He had the help of literary giants of the calibre of Bendre, Gokak and Mugali in the early years to evaluate manuscripts. Later the role was performed by the critic Kirtnath Kurtakoti. Joshi and Kurtakoti made a formidable combination.

Joshi was not an impressive man to look at. With his indifferently wrapped dhoti, crumpled coat worn over a hanging shirt, and most-days-unshaven chin and a thatch of white hair over which perched a black cap, he could pass off for a small-town bill collector. Nor was he known for his conversational prowess. The attic of his office in Dharwar was famous as a meeting place of authors of all ages. Joshi himself sat in a corner, taking little part in the animated disputations, but ensuring a continuous supply of tea and snacks.

Many who frequented this literary watering hole have put together their reminiscences and tributes in a book that has just come out, for Joshi would have been a hundred this year. The book is a collection of essays in affection and gratitude, and several of them speak of Joshiâs quirks. More than once he shooed off people who offered to bear the production costs if he would publish their books. But if he thought there was a potentially good book in someone, he would pursue him with exasperating persistence. Many instances have been given of Joshiâs unbusinesslike methods. He rarely paid royalties or supplied statements of sales. But none of his authors felt they had been short-changed. They knew of his utter dedication to the cause of literature. They knew that in the early years he had in fact hawked their books from door to door.

But Joshi was not just an enabler of creative writing. He was a creative writer himself. He wrote plays under the pseudonym Jadabharata, which reveal his mastery of the dramatic form. He was also an engaging essayist. One of his sketches is on the early life of the singer Bhimsen Joshi, who is his brotherâs son.

Even as I was turning over the last page of the book on G.B. Joshi, I received a book by another publisher. Dare to Publish is the autobiography of Dina Nath Malhotra, a pillar of the publishing industry of our country. The subtitle of the book is Memoirs of a Publisher who Pioneered the Paperback Revolution in India, and the book gives a graphic account of his entrepreneurial acumen which built up a business house which publishes books in many languages with print orders running into six figures.

Malhotraâs story begins in Lahore, where right from childhood he inhaled the smell of printing ink. His father, Rajpal, was a publisher himself, who brought out books on religion and politics. One book Rajpal brought out in 1926 had the title Rangeela Rasool. It dealt with the life of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in a manner which enraged the Muslim community. The author, an Arya Samajist called Pandit Chamupati, had taken a promise from Rajpal that his name would not be revealed. Rajpal was prosecuted and sentenced but the order was struck down by the high court. An angry mob attacked Rajpalâs press. To quote from the book, "Unfortunately Mahatma Gandhi wrote an article in his weekly paper Young India denouncing what my father had done... The article fuelled the fire." A few months later, Rajpal was fatally attacked by a Muslim fanatic. The author was six years old at the time. The impression this left on his mind can very well be guessed. He found some consolation from the fact that 69 years later, in 1998, his father was posthumously given the Freedom to Publish Award by Mr L.K. Advani at the World Book Fair in New Delhi.

After partition and a short stint as a college lecturer, Dina Nath Malhotra returned to his fatherâs profession. The early travails of Rajpal and Sons, the steady climb of the author in the profession, and the manner in which he widened his horizons through foreign travels are described. The narrative gains steam when he comes to his dream of launching a paperback revolution in Hindi. His visits to Europe and America and Japan had convinced him that if any country needed low-priced books, it was India. Books could be low-priced only if the costs of paper and printing and binding were kept at the minimum. Unit costs of printing could be brought down only if the print orders were large. At the same time, the product had to be attractive. Above everything, the subjects had to be interesting. The crux, however, was distribution. The usual bookseller would not be interested in the low margin of commission that a low-priced book would fetch. Apart from convincing him that he would be able to earn more because of the higher demand, new outlets had to be created through the adoption of mass distribution methods. Books need not be sold only through book shops but through even provision stores, chemistsâ shops and department stores, if special racks were provided.

Malhotra describes how he got such special racks made from steel wire prepared for the Hind Pocket Books, the care with which he selected the first 10 titles, and how the book world gasped when he decided on print orders of 6,000 copies. Until then the condition of Hindi publishing was such that print orders were generally 1,000 copies, of which 500 were sold in the first year. Malhotra ensured that there would be close cooperation with the two big railway book chains, A.H. Wheeler and Higginbothams. When everything was ready, a massive advertisement campaign was organised in the Hindi press.

Then the first set of 10 Hindi books of Hind Pocket Books were released. The response was sensational. The first print runs of 6,000 were sold out in a month, and the figure soared to 30,000 in four months. This achievement brought Malhotra a pat on the back from Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain. His publishing house acquired its own premises and Malhotra records with satisfaction that Saraswati Vihar has become something of a place of pilgrimage. The success in Hindi prompted the company to undertake publishing paperbacks in English, Urdu and Punjabi as well. (When I found that the honour of topping the print order chart went to Gulshan Nandaâs Jheel Ke Us Paar, I developed some doubts about the criteria adopted by the company in regard to the selection of titles.)

Many honours have come to Mr Malhotra. He has been president of the Federation of Indian Publishers, book consultant to UNESCO, chairman of the 24th International Publishersâ Congress, and first chairman of the Joint International Copyright Committee of UNESCO and WIPO, and recipient of the International Book Award for 1988. His son and daughter-in-law as well as his grand-daughter are now taking care of the publishing house.

Autobiographies are apologias or certificates given by authors to themselves. Even so when a patriarch concludes a survey of his life by observing, "What can be more satisfying than the fact that our publishing house is into its fourth generation?" the reader experiences a curious feeling of comedown. What about the larger question of the role of publishing in enlarging peopleâs access to knowledge and in deepening their discernment? Another niggling question: Why did this master publisher not take the aid of a good copy editor?

H.Y. Sharada Prasad was adviser to Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 01-07-2005

QUOTEI need a (the more the better) desi site where I can order a whole bunch of books in one go and not have to pay like $5/$10 shipping for each book. Prices must be the desi Rs version and not the inflated dollah ones

Try BibliaImpex run by Pradeep Goel (Sita Ram Goel's son ?). The price including shipping is about 1.5X the indian price

bibimpex@nda.vsnl.net.in),2/18 Ansari Rd., New Delhi - 110002, India

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 01-16-2005

Hi Kaushal,

Is this the website for Biblia Impex :-

http://www.bibliaimpex.com/

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 01-17-2005

QUOTEIs this the website for Biblia Impex :-

http://www.bibliaimpex.com/ 
Yes.

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 03-15-2005

I'm planning to buy a few Indian books and I don't want to end up buying from anti-Hindu sites. Can you recommend any good sites. In the past I used indiaclub.com for a few books. I looked at Hindunet.org but they don't sell books.

Thanks

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 03-15-2005

indiaclub.com is good and reliable.

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-30-2006

QUOTE(Sid @ May 1 2004, 11:26 PM)Probably one of the oldest indian children magazine and one of my favorite.
They have a very neat site where you can register to recieve a story everyday in email.
http://www.chandamama.org/chandamama.htm
[right][snapback]11394[/snapback][/right]


QUOTEJuly 1947. India was just a month away from attaining freedom from the British. It was then that two men, who had participated in the freedom struggle, decided to prepare the young generation for an India that would soon be free.
They were the legendary filmmakers B. Nagi Reddi and his friend Chakrapani. Nagi Reddi became the publisher of a magazine called Chandamama that was to be edited by his dear friend, Chakrapani.Â Read on at: 60 years of Chandamama

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Guest - 08-30-2006

QUOTEThe good news is that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam is digitising old copies of Chandamama, recognising the magazine as a part of India's heritage. Reddi also has plans to start an interactive Chandamama on Internet and also move on to multimedia.

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - Bodhi - 01-03-2008

Suruchi Prakashan (publishing wing of RSS) goes online

Buying Books From Indian Sites (online.) - gursikh11 - 02-09-2012

You can also try probity comics based on Sikhism link is given below. I have read it, it is well to read.