This book chronicles Tan Sri Dr K.S. Nijhar’s incredible journey in life, from his birth in the back of a bullock cart somewhere between the sleepy hollows of Kroh and Kelian Intan in Perak, Malaysia, through grinding poverty, obscurity and life-threatening ordeals to academic distinction, career success, political astuteness and wide renown. Nijhar’s personal journeys are set against the backdrop of the birth of a nation, from pre-war Malaya to independence and beyond, through his struggles and triumphs in the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), and the relentless pursuit of his goal to serve the community and nation, blazing a trail for other micro-minorities in party leadership, and creating national history. Conveyed with candour and humour, Nijhar shares unforgettable experiences and hard-won, sometimes bitter lessons on how to be the best one can be. Today, at eighty, the “bullock cart boy” shares his life’s philosophy, “Dream and dare, and never give up!” and dedicates a message of hope to future generations, everywhere.

Cecilia Valdés is arguably the most important novel of 19th century Cuba. Originally published in New York City in 1882, Cirilo Villaverde's novel has fascinated readers inside and outside Cuba since the late 19th century. In this new English translation, a vast landscape emerges of the moral, political, and sexual depravity caused by slavery and colonialism. Set in the Havana of the 1830s, the novel introduces us to Cecilia, a beautiful light-skinned mulatta, who is being pursued by the son of a Spanish slave trader, named Leonardo. Unbeknownst to the two, they are the children of the same father. Eventually Cecilia gives in to Leonardo's advances; she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. When Leonardo, who gets bored with Cecilia after a while, agrees to marry a white upper class woman, Cecilia vows revenge. A mulatto friend and suitor of hers kills Leonardo, and Cecilia is thrown into prison as an accessory to the crime. For the contemporary reader Helen Lane's masterful translation of Cecilia Valdés opens a new window into the intricate problems of race relations in Cuba and the Caribbean. There are the elite social circles of European and New World Whites, the rich culture of the free people of color, the class to which Cecilia herself belonged, and then the slaves, divided among themselves between those who were born in Africa and those who were born in the New World, and those who worked on the sugar plantation and those who worked in the households of the rich people in Havana. Cecilia Valdés thus presents a vast portrait of sexual, social, and racial oppression, and the lived experience of Spanish colonialism in Cuba.

Includes stories about family and social roles and lay and monastic values.

This book is a suspense thriller of a historical event where the reader stays glued to the book to see what comes next. The happenings described in the book are real, events related are real, only a story has been tailored to make the forgoing more interesting. It is story of 50 wealthy families who dare the odds and leave their familiar surroundings after repeated Muslim invasions of their hometown, during 1730-1760 AD period, after the collapse of the Moghul Empire in India. They migrate to the Hills of Punjab, now Himachal Pradesh in search of safety and security. They travel 130 miles to another kingdom with their bag and baggage. Secure in their new surroundings, they prosper again. Within a few years after their arrival they are wealthy but their prosperity became a thorn to the local unsavoury people. They conspired to grab some of their money. The conspiracy they hatch was to rob a returning wedding party fully laden with gold & silver and decamp with the money and jewellery. They succeed in their conspiracy but unfortunately kill the groom in the process. Heartbroken, the bride, only 17 years of age, jumps into her husband's funeral pyre. The book in two parts, covers both their travel while braving the elements as well as danger of wayside marauders and the growing up of a young accomplished girl during these unsettled times. Finally she is married and on her wedding day finds her husband dead, a victim of robbery. The place where all the forgoing happened is a place of worship and pilgrimage to her descendants. The site is marked by a century old stone structure and is visited by the family to remember her supreme sacrifice.

First published in 1928, the studies in this book illustrate the lives of children within various different times and social contexts. Created following the enthusiastic response which greeted the original Boys and Girls of History, this volume concentrates on the period subsequent to the Middle Ages in the history of Britain and home and overseas. As with the original, reconstructions of daily life are used as a means of avoiding the generalised tone employed in many historical accounts, the aim being to develop the young reader's knowledge through a sense of empathy with the figures being described. Highly readable, and containing a large number of beautiful illustrations, the text was again co-authored by the renowned historian Eileen Power, together with her sister Rhoda Power. It will be of value to anyone with an interest in early twentieth-century history books for young readers.

Sixteen accounts of the daily life of boys and girls in Great Britain and her colonies from the middle ages to the nineteenth century.

In Bombay Is My Office, His Holiness Lokanath Swami captures events and experiences with Srila Prabhupada during a notable epoch in the history of ISKCON’S founding in India.