Bells of Shangri-La

Bells of Shangri-La PDF Author: Parimala Bhaṭṭācārya
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789388326926
Category : Asia, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description

Bells of Shangri-La

Bells of Shangri-La PDF Author: Parimala Bhaṭṭācārya
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789388326926
Category : Asia, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description


Bells of Shangri-La

Bells of Shangri-La PDF Author: Parimal Bhattacharya
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9356290288
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Almost all of the Himalayas had been mapped by the time the Great Game - in which the British and Russian empires fought for control of Central and Southern Asia - reached its zenith in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Only Tibet remained unknown and unexplored, zealously guarded and closed off to everyone. Britain sent a number of spies into this forbidden land, disguised as pilgrims and wanderers, outfitted with secret survey equipment and tasked with collecting topographical knowledge, and information about the culture and customs of Tibet. Among them was Kinthup, a tailor who went as a monk's companion to confirm that the Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra were the same river. Sarat Chandra Das, a schoolmaster, was also sent on a clandestine mission, and came back with extensive data and a trove of ancient manuscripts and documents. Bells of Shangri-La brings to vivid life the journeys and adventures of Kinthup, Sarat Chandra Das and others, including Eric Bailey, an officer who was part of the British invasion of Tibet in 1903. Weaving biography with history, and the memories of his own treks through the region, Parimal Bhattacharya writes in the great tradition of Peter Hopkirk and Peter Matthiessen to create a sparkling, unprecedented work of non-fiction.

The Caravan

The Caravan PDF Author: Delhi Press Magazines
Publisher: Delhi Press Magazines
ISBN:
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
The Caravan is India’s most respected and admired magazine on politics, art and culture. With a strong literary flair, the magazine presents the best of reportage and commentary on politics, policy, economy, art and culture from within South Asia. It has become an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the political and social environment of the country.

Bells of Shangri-La: Spies, Invaders in Tibet

Bells of Shangri-La: Spies, Invaders in Tibet PDF Author: Parimal Bhattacharya
Publisher: HarperCollins India
ISBN: 9789356290204
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Bells of Shangri-La brings to vivid life the journeys and adventures of Kinthup, Sarat Chandra Das and others, including Eric Bailey, an officer who was part of the British invasion of Tibet in 1903.

Flying Horses, Secret Rivers, Magical Cities

Flying Horses, Secret Rivers, Magical Cities PDF Author: Anu Kumar
Publisher: Hachette India Children's Books
ISBN: 9357318143
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Just a hundred years ago, much of the world was unknown - believe it or not! Secret cities lay hidden in the intimidating Himalayas, the perilous passes to them known to only a few. Fierce monsters were said to lurk in the swamps of north-east India. The mighty River Brahmaputra flowed through Assam and Bengal, but its place of origin was a big mystery. And in the cold, windy deserts of Central Asia, the fastest horse on earth galloped wild. Yet, intrepid explorers - men and women - full of curiosity and thirsty for knowledge, travelled to these distant and forbidding places. They returned with extraordinary tales and important discoveries, forever leaving their mark on history. Read their stories and join them on their exciting explorations in this rare book! Find how a way to Tibet was discovered, who brought the healing cinchona plant to the subcontinent, why the north-west frontier was once a very dangerous place, where exactly the Brahmaputra began its journey, what led to the rhododendron becoming a popular plant in faraway Britain, and much, much more!

Darjeeling: The Unhealed Wound

Darjeeling: The Unhealed Wound PDF Author: C.R. Rai
Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The beautiful hill district of Darjeeling has been in the throes of political uncertainty for several decades now. Mr. CR Rai, a retired administrator with rich experience who also led his political outfit after resigning from service, had access to some of the prime political actors and events at the height of the Gorkhaland agitation and brought his unique perspective on the issue in this unusually interesting book. Darjeeling: The Unhealed Wound discusses the people and circumstances responsible for creating political uncertainty. There are fascinating insights into the roles played by the local leaders and the main players as well as Dr BC Roy and Shri Vallabhai Patel in determining Darjeeling’s post-independence position. What influence did Nepal have? How did Sikkim’s annexation influence regional politics? These and other questions are discussed with great passion. Darjeeling enthusiasts will also be fascinated by the references to the many known and lesser-known figures who played a crucial role in the establishment of the original “Queen of the Hills”

No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight

No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight PDF Author: Parimal Bhattacharya
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9356290148
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
For a few years in the early 1990s - when the embers of a violent agitation for Gorkhaland were slowly dying down - Parimal Bhattacharya taught at the Government College in Darjeeling. No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight is a memoir of his time in the iconic town, and one of the finest works of Indian non-fiction in recent years. As Parimal tramped its roads and winding footpaths, Darjeeling slowly grew on him. He sought out its history: a land of incomparable beauty originally inhabited by the Lepchas and other tribes; the British who took it for themselves in the mid-1800s so they could remember home; the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - once a vital artery, now a quaint toy train; and the vast tea gardens with which the British replaced verdant forests to produce the fabled Orange Pekoe. And in the enmeshed lives of the small town's inhabitants, Parimal discovered a richly cosmopolitan society which endured even under threat from cynical politics and haphazard urbanization. Written with empathy, and in shimmering prose, No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight effortlessly merges travel, history, literature, memory, politics, and the pleasures of ennui into an unforgettable portrait of a place and its people.

Hidden Tibet

Hidden Tibet PDF Author: Sergius L. Kuzmin
Publisher: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
ISBN: 9380359470
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
Tibet is a land of mysteries. It is not only about religion and occultism: its history remains largely hidden. This book disproves some of the erroneous views on the history and religion of the Tibetans. Tibet has never been a part of China. At the time when China was an inalienable part of the Mongolian Yuan Empire and Manchu Qing Empire, Tibet was a separate country dependent on the Mongol and Manchu emperors, but never lost its statehood. A widespread view that Tibet was an integral part of neighboring empires is related to an ancient Chinese concept of the emperor's universal power. Chinese claims to the "legacy" of the Mongol and Manchu empires are unfounded. Incorporating the name of the state into the "dynasty of China" concept ties sovereign states of other nations to Chinese dynastic history. The inclusion of Tibet into the People's Republic of China was not legitimate. Tibet is an occupied country. This book traces the history of Tibetan statehood from ancient times to our days, describes the life of the Tibetans at the times of Feudalism and Socialism, the coercive inclusion of Tibet into People's Republic of China, the suppression of the national liberation movement, the Cultural Revolution, and subsequent reforms. Many pictures and data concerning these events are being published for the first time. The book has garnered much interest in Russia, particularly in academic and political science circles.

Field Notes from a Waterborne Land

Field Notes from a Waterborne Land PDF Author: Parimal Bhattacharya
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9354894410
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
In the late 2000s, when the three-decade-long Left Front rule in West Bengal was crumbling, Parimal Bhattacharya began to travel outside the well-trodden urban centres to different parts of the region - from the Sundarbans to tribal Jangalmahal, from the outskirts of Kolkata to villages on the Bangladesh border, from the floodplains of the Hooghly to the forests of Simlipal in neighbouring Odisha. There, he encountered: a woman who was branded a witch because she was listed in the census as literate; an island that vanished famously, only to resurface; a paralysed communist who dreams about the death of a river; a forest community who believe they are descendants of the Harappans; an old millworker and his wife who fight the ghosts of a dead industrial town with laughter; a fisherman uprooted by a river eleven times in twenty years; and many more. This book documents the missing narratives of these 'other' Bengalis, the largely invisible majority beyond the bhadralok that the rest of India knows. Moving between the personal and the political, and between travelogue, journal and memoir, Field Notes from a Waterborne Land takes the reader on a journey across a fascinating land peopled with unforgettable characters.

Unforgettable Kalimpong

Unforgettable Kalimpong PDF Author: Monila De
Publisher: Notion Press
ISBN: 1643246631
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Kalimpong was flooded with foreigners in the early fifties when China was invading Tibet. This sudden influx of foreign nationals led Pandit Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, to announce that Kalimpong was a ‘Nest of Spies’. The author, a school girl then, got the opportunity to meet and know these colourful foreigners and wrote about her interactions with them. She spent her happy childhood in pristine Kalimpong, a child’s paradise, in the company of several illustrious and famous characters. There were princes, princesses, writers, poets, academics, and scholars as well as simple ordinary people such as ayahs, servants, and locals. The author enjoyed her school days and has written about the teachers, nuns, and all the pranks she played at school in her book, Unforgettable Kalimpong. All her childhood experiences prompted her to write these stories, all through which runs a vein of humour bringing the characters to life.