In the final year of college, Anurag’s life was falling apart – he vowed never to see Aditya, his best friend of many years again. Of course, what Aditya did was unpardonable! Not just losing his best friend, Anurag’s love Urmi too got married to someone else the day unemployed Anurag got the job of a flight purser in an airline company. But life has its twists and turns, and one never knows where it will take him. Anurag too could have never imagined all that happened thereafter. In this page-turner of a spellbinding novel, every reader would ride the crests and troughs of myriad emotions – love, hate, anger, depression, excitement and joy – that fill life’s every moment – and savour the essence of true love that is mystic and magical.

First published by Anansi in 1972, No Pain Like This Body remains a classic of Canadian and Caribbean writing. Set in a turn-of-the-century Hindu community in the Eastern Caribbean, the novel describes the perilous existence of a poor rice-growing family during the August rainy season. Their struggles to cope with illness, a drunken and unpredictable father, and the violence of the elements end in unbearable loss. Through vivid, vertiginous prose, and with brilliant economy and originality, Ladoo creates a fearful world of violation and grief, in the face of which even the most despairing efforts to endure stand out as acts of raw courage.

Inspired by contemporary Indian authors, Betsy Karel went to Bombay seeking visual equivalents for the humanity, humor, mystery and psychological energy of their stories. Unlike many photographers drawn to the cacophony of urban India, she focuses, often in an intensely personal way, on individuals going about their everyday street lives. She waits patiently in the bustle of Bombay, as individuals transform public spaces into private places, forging islands of intimacy. She captures a poignant lyricism in the familiar, and the true jadoo (magic) of the city. Karel, born in New York City, now lives in Washington, DC. She worked as an award-winning photojournalist in the 1970's and early 80's. Here she collaborates with acclaimed writers Ardashir Vakil and Suketu Mehta, who have written companion pieces.