The unruly Brahmaputra has always been an agent in shaping both the landscape of its valley and the livelihoods of its inhabitants. But how much do we know of this river’s rich past? Historian Arupjyoti Saikia’s biography of the Brahmaputra reimagines the layered history of Assam with the unquiet river at the centre. The book combines a range of disciplinary scholarship to unravel the geological forces as well as human endeavour which have shaped the river into what it is today. Wonderfully illuminated with archival detail and interwoven with narratives and striking connections, the book allows the reader to imagine the Brahmaputra’s course in history. This evocative and compelling book will be interesting reading for anyone trying to understand the past and the present of a river confronted by the twenty-first century’s ambitious infrastructural designs to further re-engineer the river and its landscape.

The Brahmaputra is by some margin the largest river in India. After its confluence with the Ganga in Bangladesh, it becomes the largest in Asia. In The Braided River, journalist Samrat Choudhury sets out to follow its braided course from the edge of Tibet where it enters India down to where it meets the Ganga at a spot marked by the biggest red light district in Bangladesh. Along the way, he meets suspicious Indian spies, gets packed off on the back of a cement truck by soldiers, visit a shelter home for baby rhino and elephant orphans in Kaziranga, and hops from river island to riverside town meeting the locals. The tales of these encounters spice up a story that weaves in the history of the emergence of the border between India and China in Arunachal Pradesh, the formation of the Assamese identity -- a matter of great contemporary relevance owing to the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act -- and the ecological challenges posed by proposed dams. This is a genre-bending book that touches upon several hot-button issues -- environmental, military and political -- as it blends travel, memoir and history with the present.

Birthplace of legends, embracing the great religions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, the mighty Brahmaputra begins its journey as a tiny glacial stream high on the desolate plateau of western Tibet, and sweeps eighteen hundred miles through three countries, to end, as wide as a sea, in the Bay of Bengal. No one is known to have travelled its entire length, a challenge described by one explorer as the 'last great Asian adventure'.In River Dog, celebrated travel writer Mark Shand chronicles his attempt to complete this journey. Undeterred by seemingly insurmountable political and geographical logistics and bureaucratic tangles, using superhuman patience, persistence and the black art of persuasion, Mark is constantly manipulated by the power of the legendary river.

2020-2021 Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Award List Notable Social Studies Trade Books list – Winning Title! 2019 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award - Winning Title Florida Book Award Gold Winner Recipient of the 2019 Eureka! Honors Award Winner -Best of 2019 Kids Books - Most Inspiring Category As a boy, Jadav Payeng was distressed by the destruction deforestation and erosion was causing on his island home in India's Brahmaputra River. So he began planting trees. What began as a small thicket of bamboo, grew over the years into 1,300 acre forest filled with native plants and animals. The Boy Who Grew a Forest tells the inspiring true story of Payeng--and reminds us all of the difference a single person with a big idea can make.

A historical and mythological account of the seven holy rivers in the Hindu religion interspersed

Fifty-two years after the pink-headed duck was last seen in the wild, Rory Nugent set off for India in search of this exceptionally rare bird. In Calcutta he prowled the fowl market, where a few of the ducks used to appear during the Raj. Traveling on to Delhi, he was befriended by a Cambridge-educated smuggler, and he learned of remote regions to the north where the duck might be found. In Sikkim, following the trail of a Yeti, he became lost in the Valley of Bliss and nearly imprisoned inside a forest of rhododendrons, each the size of a ranch house. Making his way to Assam, he bought a 13-foot skiff and paddled the Brahmaputra River from Burma to Bangladesh, with stops on an island, considered to be Kali’s left breast, and at a Tantrist temple, where he stumbled on a grisly ritual in a graveyard. In a secluded marsh along the river he may have spotted the world’s rarest duck.

In Eleven Superbly Crafted Stories Jahnavi Barua Takes Us Into The Private, Individual Worlds Of A Varied Cast Of Characters And Exposes The Intricate Mesh Of Emotions So Often Concealed Under The Façade Of Everyday Lives. Innocent Desires And Furtive Longings, The Complexity Of Fierce Love And The Terrible Consequences Of Its Betrayal, Simple Aspirations That Compel Brave Action, Life S Startling Reversals That Reveal Deep Insecurities And Yet Pave The Way For Forgiveness And Reconciliation These Are Just Some Of The Themes Played Out In These Remarkably Nuanced Snapshots Of Life. Predominantly Set In The Verdant, Politically Charged Landscape Of Assam, Yet Constantly Transcending The Particular, The Stories In Next Door Are Unerringly Human. Subtle And Evocative In Their Telling, They Mark The Introduction Of A Highly Accomplished Voice.