{"title":"Laid-back Literature Fest-Ed.3","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"valmikis-ramayana","title":"Valmiki's Ramayana","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eValmiki's Ramayana, composed as early as 500 BCE, remains a story that speaks to every generation and continues to enthral millions of people in the Subcontinent and beyond.The noble prince Rama is exiled from Ayodhya on his stepmother's whim, and his loyal brother Lakshmana and beautiful wife, Sita, follow him into the forest despite the many dangers it holds. But when Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, king of the rakshasas, Rama must go deep into himself to find the physical and emotional\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183401988174,"sku":null,"price":850.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9789353572570.jpg?v=1786943978"},{"product_id":"tales-from-the-kathasaritsagara","title":"Tales From the Kathasaritsagara","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eKathasaritsagara\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e- the ocean of stories - is among the world's great story collections, truly an ocean that carries the reader on its gentle swell to shores far and near, to places known and imagined, to people familiar and strange.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDrawing from earlier collections of tales, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eKathasaritsagara\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was composed in Sanskrit by Somadeva in eleventh-century Kashmir. In a period and a language still largely dominated by religious texts, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eKathasaritsagara\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a breath of fresh air. No set of beliefs dominates, no sacred texts are glorified - what it revels in most is the pulsating carnival of human life and experience.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePriests and monks, gamblers and courtesans, kings and bandits, merchants and housewives, talking animals, divine and demonic beings - all cavort through its pages, in cities and forests, across seas and on islands. And in Arshia Sattar's masterful translation, the many universes of adventure the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eKathasaritsagara\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e holds within itself come alive for a new generation of readers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183479844942,"sku":null,"price":599.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9789394407947-23.jpg?v=1786944217"},{"product_id":"uttara-the-book-of-answers","title":"Uttara: The Book of Answers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInstead of being a tranquil denouement to a tale studded with dangerous adventure and emotional turbulence, Valmiki's Uttara Kanda is a shattering epilogue to a beloved story. Ravana has been defeated, and Rama and Sita have returned to Ayodhya. Rama is established on the throne that is rightfully his and spends his time listening to the stories that the sages tell him, which answer questions like: Why did Hanuman not know about his special powers? How is it that the mighty rakshasas were defeated by the monkeys? Why did Ravana never touch Sita when she was his prisoner? But these stories are punctuated by events such as the banishment of Sita and the killing of Shambuka. What is said and done in the Uttara Kanda forces us to reconsider the events of the Ramayana, urging us to read the epic through a new and disturbing lens. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183618158670,"sku":null,"price":499.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9789353572594_0_1615010476.jpg?v=1786944846"},{"product_id":"maryada-searching-for-dharma-in-the-ramayana","title":"Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat does it mean to be good? 'Maryada' is a commonly used word for 'boundary' in Sanskrit which also means 'propriety of conduct'. In the context of the Ramayana, the word carries special weight because it comes to be used as the defining virtue of Rama, the 'maryada purushottama'. But despite the fact that Rama is regarded as the epitome of dharma in his thoughts and deeds, the Ramayana does not provide us with one single template for right action. Nor does it tell us that dharma is beyond the reach of human understanding and human action. On the contrary, it holds out the promise that everyone can and should search for a dharma they can believe in, a dharma that is vulnerable but all the more precious because it has been sought and found rather than given and received. In her thought-provoking new book, renowned Ramayana scholar Arshia Sattar writes with compassion, tenderness and insight about dharma as a multiplicity of appropriate choices, showing us that when we choose one way of being and doing over another, we will be as often wrong as we are right.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183660855374,"sku":null,"price":399.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9789353577124.jpg?v=1786944992"},{"product_id":"lost-loves-exploring-ramas-anguish","title":"Lost Loves: Exploring Rama's Anguish","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBelow the surface of the heroic narrative of kings and warriors and the triumph of good over evil, the heart of the Ramayana beats with the tender love story of Rama and Sita.Rama and Sita's love blossoms and grows during their years in the forest, as they learn more about each other and themselves. But the challenges they face in exile, both physical and emotional, take their toll, and by the time they return to Ayodhya, a shadow has been cast upon their love. The consequences are cataclysmic.Through these remarkable essays, we see Rama and Sita at their most human and their most vulnerable -- as they face the pain of separation, the darkness of misunderstanding and suspicion, and tragic loss -- and, therefore, at their most accessible as exemplars of the culture they have come to define.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183690870862,"sku":null,"price":399.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/81Ivd85VkJL._SL1500.jpg?v=1786945232"},{"product_id":"adventures-with-hanuman","title":"Adventures with Hanuman","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRaghu is lying in bed, bored and longing for adventure, when his wish suddenly comes true. Hanuman, till now only a friendly face on a poster, appears by his bed. He invites Raghu to join him as he sets off to help Rama rescue Sita from Lanka. Soon, Raghu finds himself flying, seated on Hanuman’s shoulder and, along with his new friend, he leaps across the sea, reaches Lanka and finds Sita. Battling rakshasas and demons, changing size and finding his way through the maze that is Ravana’s palace, Raghu has the best adventure of his life with the cheerful and brave monkey god!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183700570190,"sku":null,"price":195.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9788129129345-us.jpg?v=1786945368"},{"product_id":"ramayana-for-children","title":"Ramayana For Children","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRead the story of prince Rama, hero of the great Indian epic Ramayana. Born to Dasharatha, king of Ayodhya, Rama is the first of four sons. A brilliant archer, he wins the hand of beautiful princess Sita by breaking the bow of Shiva. When his beloved Sita is kidnapped by the demon king Ravana, Rama sets off to Lanka with his brother Lakshmana and an army of monkeys, including the magnificent warrior Hanuman.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183730454606,"sku":null,"price":549.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9789353450434-us.jpg?v=1786945507"},{"product_id":"mahabharata-for-children","title":"Mahabharata for Children","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eArshia Sattar’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eMahabharata for Children\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is one of the most outstanding retellings of this epic ever written. Sattar, an acclaimed translator of the Ramayana, has gone deep into the original and written an account that is so rich, so observant and so moving that it will enthral both you and your child.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183785504846,"sku":null,"price":799.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/9789353457143-t.webp?v=1786945789"},{"product_id":"vasanta-stories-from-sanskrit-plays","title":"Vasanta: Stories from Sanskrit Plays","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFlirtatious kings, powerful, controlling wives, lovelorn young women who give their hearts away unwisely, disguises and mistaken identities that cause all kinds of trouble – these are the ingredients of the great Sanskrit plays. Urbane, cynical, witty and enjoyable, the plays written by Kalidasa, Vishakhadatta, Mahendravarman, Harsha and Shudraka, among others, give us a vivid glimpse of city life in the classical period. Beautifully adapted into stories by the acclaimed Sanskritist and translator Arshia Sattar, this is a book full of charm and deep delight.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183837605966,"sku":null,"price":599.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/Vasanta_Front_Cover.jpg?v=1786946004"},{"product_id":"mapping-love","title":"Mapping Love","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHere I am,iving myifeooking at the rear-view mirror, driving to the end of the beginning of where I started. My body still hurts. It has been some time since Oorja Chaturvedi has come home; but the wounds she suffered, at the hands of the very people who so aptly named her, cut deep. Her relationship with her father was barely strung together with a few words. But when her mother dies, the woman whose naggingove was both her comfort and her secret hiding place from the world, new grief melds with old bitterness. Reeling from theoss, Oorja decides to come back to India, only to find her estranged father missing. Her searcheads her to her grandfather, a man who hadived all hisife among books and forest, withering away in his house. As she tries to grapple with her grief for a dying grandfather, she unexpectedly findsove and solace in the arms of a man who inherits her grandfather’ s estate. But before she can decide what Anang and her own future together hold, Oorja must first untangle the secrets of their shared past. A quiet gut-punch of a debut, acclaimed filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’ s novel, Mappingove is heartbreakingly brave and equally delicate. It is a story that digs its claws into you and doesn'tet go,ong after you've finished it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183855595598,"sku":null,"price":499.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/s-l500.jpg?v=1786946190"},{"product_id":"chaos-in-a-coupe-travelling-across-india-with-three-dogs","title":"Chaos in a Coupe: Travelling across India with Three Dogs","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOnce upon a time, there was a family: Divya Dugar, her partner Olivier, their tiny hooman Marius, and their three rescue streeties-Tigress, Marcopolo and Pari. They lived in Delhi. And they wanted to go to other places.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo they booked a first-class coupe with the Indian Railways that allowed them to travel with their dogs. The sixsome went on many, many train journeys. It was not just about getting to a place, be it Goa, Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh, but about seeing it with new eyes-and ears and noses, which is inevitable when half your touring party is canine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs they faced uncanny, hilarious situations and tried their best to grapple with systems designed for human convenience, the high point of the trips was often the adventures in the train compartment, which the dogs made their very own.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA witty, whimsical, wry account of those journeys, accompanied by some stunning photographs, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eChaos in a Coupe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a book that travellers, pet parents and anyone who likes a good read will enjoy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dragonfly Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44183861297230,"sku":null,"price":499.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/6711\/3294\/files\/OIP_14.webp?v=1786946364"},{"product_id":"the-many-lives-of-syeda-x-the-story-of-an-unknown-indian","title":"The Many Lives of Syeda X : The Story of an Unknown Indian","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat does the life of an ordinary working-class Indian look and feel like? In this outstanding book, the award-winning journalist Neha Dixit traces the story of one such faceless Indian woman, from the early 1990s to the present day. What emerges is a picture of a life lived under constant corrosive tension. Syeda X left Banaras for Delhi with her young family in the aftermath of riots triggered by the demolition of the Babri Masjid. In Delhi, she settled into the life of a poor migrant, juggling multiple jobs a day – from trimming the loose threads of jeans to cooking namkeen, and from shelling almonds to making tea strainers.Syeda has done over fifty different types of work, earning paltry sums in the process. And if she ever took a day off, her job would be lost to another faceless migrant.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eResearched for close to a decade, in this book, we meet an unforgettable cast of characters: a rickshaw driver in Chandni Chowk who ends up tragically dead in a terrorist blast; a doctor who gets arrested for pre-natal sex determination; a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003egau rakshak\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e whose sister elopes with Syeda’s son; and policemen who delight in beating young Muslim men.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the end, things comes to a grotesque full circle for Syeda. Her life is upturned for the umpteenth time during the Delhi riots of 2020. But displacement, tragedy and hardships are the things she is used to – being poor and Muslim and a woman. Written with empathy and deep insight, this book is a portal to a harsh world hidden away from elite Indians. 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From a tiny island deep in the Arctic to off-grid Indigenous communities in Myanmar and the stark mountain deserts of Uzbekistan, she travels in search of stories, traditions and ways of life that are rarely written about.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlong the way, Shivya finds herself tangled in a morality police raid in Iran, discovering centuries-old traditions in Japan and coming face-to-face with the last living member of an entire species in the Pacific Ocean.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn a world shaped by social media, cultural divides and climate change, Rootless and Restless is a reminder that travel can be more than ticking destinations off a list. 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