A life of an ordinary Indian - An exercise in self-importance

A life of an ordinary Indian - An exercise in self-importance
Author: Anil K Rajvanshi
Publisher: Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute
Total Pages: 5
Release:
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 8190578154

This is an autobiography of Anil K Rajvanshi. Dr. Rajvanshi is a graduate of IIT Kanpur and a US trained engineer who left a lucrative career in US in early 1980s to come back and work in rural Maharashtra. He runs a small NGO called Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, which works in the areas of agriculture, renewable energy, animal husbandry, and rural and sustainable development. He believes that technologies for rural areas should be developed by the use of high technology. Besides his technology work, he also writes regularly on issues of spirituality and technology and believes that the mantra of India’s development should be “spirituality with high technology”. He believes in simple living and high thinking and tries to live a sustainable life in rural setting. In essence, he is a spiritual engineer. This book is an attempt to tell his story on what forces shaped him during his journey from childhood to being a spiritual engineer.

1970s America - An Indian Student's Journey

1970s America - An Indian Student's Journey
Author: Anil Kumar Rajvanshi
Publisher: Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 8190578111

This is the story of a young idealistic student of IIT Kanpur who in 1974 at the age of 24 went to USA to pursue higher education. He left a very lucrative career in US to come back and work in rural India in 1981. This is also the story of that idealist who came back against all advice and in the process discovered himself. Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi has written in an engaging and lively style the memoirs of his stay and experiences in America in 1970s. It is an inspiring story and should appeal to all Indians, specially NRIs and students aspiring to go abroad and who want to make a difference in India, especially the rural India. An advance copy of the book was put on the web and it elicited tremendous positive response worldwide.

An Ordinary Life

An Ordinary Life
Author: ASHOK. LAVASA
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre: Civil service
ISBN: 9789354223174

A People's Constitution

A People's Constitution
Author: Rohit De
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2020-08-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691210381

It has long been contended that the Indian Constitution of 1950, a document in English created by elite consensus, has had little influence on India’s greater population. Drawing upon the previously unexplored records of the Supreme Court of India, A People’s Constitution upends this narrative and shows how the Constitution actually transformed the daily lives of citizens in profound and lasting ways. This remarkable legal process was led by individuals on the margins of society, and Rohit De looks at how drinkers, smugglers, petty vendors, butchers, and prostitutes—all despised minorities—shaped the constitutional culture. The Constitution came alive in the popular imagination so much that ordinary people attributed meaning to its existence, took recourse to it, and argued with it. Focusing on the use of constitutional remedies by citizens against new state regulations seeking to reshape the society and economy, De illustrates how laws and policies were frequently undone or renegotiated from below using the state’s own procedures. De examines four important cases that set legal precedents: a Parsi journalist’s contestation of new alcohol prohibition laws, Marwari petty traders’ challenge to the system of commodity control, Muslim butchers’ petition against cow protection laws, and sex workers’ battle to protect their right to practice prostitution. Exploring how the Indian Constitution of 1950 enfranchised the largest population in the world, A People’s Constitution considers the ways that ordinary citizens produced, through litigation, alternative ethical models of citizenship.

Life Behind the Lobby

Life Behind the Lobby
Author: Pawan Dhingra
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2012-04-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0804782024

Indian Americans own about half of all the motels in the United States. Even more remarkable, most of these motel owners come from the same region in India and—although they are not all related—seventy percent of them share the surname of Patel. Most of these motel owners arrived in the United States with few resources and, broadly speaking, they are self-employed, self-sufficient immigrants who have become successful—they live the American dream. However, framing this group as embodying the American dream has profound implications. It perpetuates the idea of American exceptionalism—that this nation creates opportunities for newcomers unattainable elsewhere—and also downplays the inequalities of race, gender, culture, and globalization immigrants continue to face. Despite their dominance in the motel industry, Indian American moteliers are concentrated in lower- and mid-budget markets. Life Behind the Lobby explains Indian Americans' simultaneous accomplishments and marginalization and takes a close look at their own role in sustaining that duality.

A Life of One's Own

A Life of One's Own
Author: Marion Milner
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2024-05-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1040025102

'This is what I really want. I want to discover ways to discriminate the important things in human life. I want to find ways of getting past this blind fumbling with existence.' - Marion Milner, from A Life of One’s Own. How often do we really ask ourselves, 'What will make me happy? What do I really want from life?' In A Life of One’s Own Marion Milner, a renowned British psychoanalyst, artist and autobiographer, takes us on an extraordinary and compelling seven-year inward journey to discover what it is that makes her happy. On its first publication, W. H. Auden found the book 'as exciting as a detective story' and, as Milner searches out clues, the reader quickly becomes involved in the chase. Using her own personal diaries, she analyses moments of everyday life that can bring surprising joy, such as walking, listening to music, and drawing. She also records, in a disarmingly clear and insightful manner, the struggle between the urge to order and control one’s thoughts and standing back to let them wander where they may. A pioneering account of lived experience that also anticipates the contemporary phenomenon of mindfulness, A Life of One’s Own is a great adventure in thinking and living whose insights remain as fresh today as they were on the book’s first publication in the 1930s. This Routledge Classics edition includes a revised Introduction by Rachel Bowlby.

Wings of Fire

Wings of Fire
Author: Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam
Publisher: Universities Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 1999
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9788173711466

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, The Son Of A Little-Educated Boat-Owner In Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Had An Unparalled Career As A Defence Scientist, Culminating In The Highest Civilian Award Of India, The Bharat Ratna. As Chief Of The Country`S Defence Research And Development Programme, Kalam Demonstrated The Great Potential For Dynamism And Innovation That Existed In Seemingly Moribund Research Establishments. This Is The Story Of Kalam`S Rise From Obscurity And His Personal And Professional Struggles, As Well As The Story Of Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul And Nag--Missiles That Have Become Household Names In India And That Have Raised The Nation To The Level Of A Missile Power Of International Reckoning.

Romance of Innovation

Romance of Innovation
Author: Anil K Rajvanshi
Publisher: Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2014-07-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 8190578138

This digital book presents a brief history of renewable energy work carried out since 1981 at Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). Too often the record of research and development (R&D) is written up as articles in journals and books. The human interest story of the way the research was done, interactions with the stakeholders and the pushes and pulls in doing it are left out of the record. This book is an attempt to record these details. It also shows how R&D can be done in a small rural institute and should provide inspiration to other NGOs who want to do a similar type of work. The aim of the book is to inspire youngsters to enter the field of rural innovations and to provide challenging ideas for research and development to those who already are converts. Dr. Rajvanshi has written in an engaging style about the romance of doing research in rural setting and has shown that with meager resources and few members of staff, very meaningful and satisfying R&D work can be done. It is often said that good R&D requires lot of equipment, money and manpower. Work on renewable energy at NARI has shown that it is possible to do good work in little money and resources”, said Dr. Rajvanshi. There are six chapters in the book, out of which five describe the hardware development work carried out in household energy (cooking and lighting); gasification; electric cycle rickshaws and water-related problems among others. The last chapter deals with the philosophical issues and hence gives a roadmap for the future development of rural India. The book is a very interesting read as it emphasizes the human interest aspect of problem solving for rural India. The future research areas described at the end of each chapter will certainly be very useful for persons who are planning to develop a career in research and development for rural areas. The book is available free of cost and is available on NARI website http://www.nariphaltan.org/roi.pdf. This book has been written in the hope that it may inspire bright engineers to be engaged in rural R&D and thus making the book available free may help in this effort.

A Fine Balance

A Fine Balance
Author: Rohinton Mistry
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Total Pages: 834
Release: 2010-10-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1551991381

A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry’s stunning internationally acclaimed bestseller, is set in mid-1970s India. It tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a “State of Internal Emergency.” Through days of bleakness and hope, their circumstances – and their fates – become inextricably linked in ways no one could have foreseen. Mistry’s prose is alive with enduring images and a cast of unforgettable characters. Written with compassion, humour, and insight, A Fine Balance is a vivid, richly textured, and powerful novel written by one of the most gifted writers of our time.