Memories of Fire is the compelling story of five childhood friends, four of whom are meeting after a gap of fifty-four years. They embark on a journey into the past, laden with nostalgia and humour, and encompassing all the ugly and wonderful things life has to offer.
Inspired by true events and interspersed with the dark contemporary history of India and Pakistan, Ashok Chopra’s first novel is peopled with remarkably realistic characters who tackle prejudice, prestige, privilege and even prison head-on. He skilfully weaves together five storylines as the friends move in and out of each other’s worlds. The result is a defining voyage through life, one that queries tough choices and the price one is willing to pay for them.
Here we come across the dissident Czech writer Václav Havel, who later became the nation’s President; the South African Nobel LaureateNadine Gordimer, with her pronounced antiapartheid novels; the Chilean-American Isabel Allende, ‘the world’s most widely read Spanish author’; and Günter Grass, hailed as the ‘literary spokesman of his generation’.
For nearly forty years Ashok Chopra has been responsible for publishing some of the biggest names in India: Khushwant Singh, Sobhaa De, Fali S. Nariman, Dom Moraes, Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins are part of his illustrious list. In this candid and colourful memoir, Chopra brings his long experience to explain what works and what doesn’t in Indian publishing: Why do some books last, while others don’t? Is there a winning formula for publishers and writers? What do readers in India want? How does one go about commissioning textbooks and reference guides? What should one do about the culture of bans and censorship? And how is the market holding up in this age of e-books and digital readers?
Agnostic Khushwant - There Is No God!
Instead of entering into a pointless debate on whether or not God exists, it is more important to bear in mind that belief in the existence of God has little bearing on making a person a good or a bad citizen. One can be a saintly person without believing in God and a detestable villain believing in Him. In my personalized religion, there is NO GOD!
Khushwant Singh, over the decades, has built up a reputation for coming up with something new and controversial in each book, and he does not disappoint his readers this time too. He begins with a chapter on the ‘need for a new religion – without God’, in which he questions the relevance of God. He then moves on to describe how religion has proved to be more harmful than beneficial and, in the process, debunks astrologers and the breed of so-called ‘godmen’.
Our happiness, as also our unhappiness, comes from own volition and reactions – constantly liking this, disliking that; wanting this, not wanting that – without realizing that our reactions are impermanent, transitory phenomena.
If you’ve ever been in the pursuit of happiness, or want to know more about that elusive and mysterious state of being, here’s the perfect book. With writing from some of the greatest spiritual thinkers in our country, Golden Cloud, Silver Lining is full of wisdom, insight and gentle guidance to those seeking a life of happiness but who simply don’t know where to look for it.