About FOOTPRINTS IN THE BAJRA (Cedar Books, New Delhi); By Nabina Das

"Fittingly for a poet, Nabina’s novel also has a strong lyrical core. 'Footprints in the Bajra' takes the homely image of the millet field as its central metaphor. ... But the novel is less a thriller about guerrilla action than a subtly colored character study of a fascinating group of individuals who intersect at various points in their lives ..." -- DEBRA CASTILLO, author, editor and distinguished professor (Cornell University, April 17, 2010).

**
Footprints in the Bajra is a serious book that moves at a smart uncontrived pace. It voices deep concerns about how and why the deprived and the marginalized in certain parts of our country join the Maoist ranks; how they adopt desperate and often terrible measures to wrench justice and to make their voices heard... a confident debut novel, a good read, which will leave you with plenty to mull over. -- PRITI AISOLA, author (See Paris for Me, Penguin-India, 2009) in DANSE MACABRE XXXIV.

**
In her debut novel, Nabina Das writes about an India where social divides stand taller than multistoried shopping malls. Footprints in the Bajra, inspired by what she saw while touring the interiors of Bihar as part of a travelling theatre group, inquires into why the Maoists have an influence over a large section of Indian society. Das talked to Uttara Choudhury in New York about her book, and its protagonist Muskaan -- DAILY NEWS AND ANALYSIS, Mumbai, March 28, 2010.

**


"The interspersion of references from both the West and India do not clash. Shakespeare and Lazarus as reference points are brought in with ease, as also Valmiki and Goddess Chhinnamasta, and nothing jars ... The language is poetic and creates visual images of beauty and ugliness side by side." -- ABHA IYENGAR, poet (Yearnings: Serene Woods, 2010) and fiction writer in MUSE INDIA, May-Jun 2010


**
Shwetank Dubey says Nabina Das ably recreates the milieu of Maoist-infested regions of India -- Nabina Das has chosen the first person account of narrating a story from the main characters of the novel, Nora the sheherwali (urban dweller), Muskaan the rebel, Suryakant Sahay the crafty clandestine planner and Avadhut the frontrunner of all the operations... the book deals with something that no urban resident is bound to know on his own — the life and times of people living in Maoist infested areas and why do they give in to the temptation provided by the Red Brigade. -- PIONEER newspaper, April 25, 2010.
**
'"If you misrepresent them, they'll abduct and kill you," says Muskaan, our hostess'... goes the first line with which Nabina Das settles everything about her novel -- style, subject and pace... Excellent plotline. Wonderful detail. A beautifully crafted book. -- Karunamay Sinha; THE STATESMAN, Sunday supplement "8th Day", May 16, 2010.
**

"This is bitter-sweet, if a rather longish tale of a modern-day Maoist revolution and the seeds of destruction and betrayal that lie embedded in it." -- Business World, May 17, 2010

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Caferati Contests Winners--Book Pitch 2008


http://www.caferati.com/contests/winners?contest=book

535
Aashish Kaul
Title: The Ascension
Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Blurb: The book is an experiment in the baroque style and seeks to exhaust the very possibilities on which it has been plotted, thereby offering the reader multiple pleasures, including both the romantic and the fantastic.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador
Tranquebar Press

540
Suroopa Mukherjee
Title: The Alighting Place of Angels
Genre: History, Literary Fiction, Politics
Blurb: A modern day saga of how nation's are built and what shapes the lives of its people. A tale of love and search for political consciouness in a conflict ridden world.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Random House India

555
Sumana Roy
Title: In The Dark
Genre: Literary Fiction, Thriller
Blurb: Nine writers, left in a dark guesthouse, find themselves forced to narrate stories about writing to help the “ghost” of a writer find his “murderer”. When the light returns, eight writers are gone. One woman writer finds herself all alone. Where are the other writers? And who’s this ghost?
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Jacaranda
Palador
Tranquebar Press

564
aditya kripalani
Title: Back Seat
Genre: Popular Fiction
Blurb: A one month deal in which Nikita (an out of work bar dancer) will be Shashank’s keep (a 22 yr; old boy with too much money for his own good). But she slips into love with his driver Vijay (22 with his own dark past) Will their love survive?
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Undercover Utopia

567
Sumana
Title: Eating
Genre: Food, Poetry
Blurb: Poetry, like eating, is an acquired taste. These poems about food - the familiar and the strange - reaches out to where both, words and tastes, live: the tongue.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

580
Andaleeb Wajid
Title: Kite Strings
Genre: Literary Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Blurb: Growing up in a conservative Muslim family, Mehnaz feels the angst of adolescence, teenage and finally adulthood. Dissent within the family, troubled cousins, and a young kite flier on the terrace force her to examine herself and emerge, renewed.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
HarperCollins Publishers India
Penguin India

609
Nabina Das
Title: FOOTPRINTS IN THE BAJRA
Genre: Literary Fiction
Blurb: Violence. Revolutionary passion. Change. FOOTPRINTS IN THE BAJRA is about a young Maoist recruit, Muskaan from Bihar who meets Nora, a student-activist. Muskaan’s transition in belief, aided by Nora, through a series of staggering bloodletting and self-reflection takes her to America, reshaping her radical zeal through her newfound love.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
HarperCollins Publishers India
Palador

615
Sumana Roy
Title: SML
Genre: Erotica, Literary Fiction, Sexuality
Blurb: SML is a collection of stories about clothes. These are stories about Emperor Alexander’s underwear, Delhi’s petticoats, Indira Gandhi’s sari, Laila’s bra, D.H. Lawrence’s wife’s panty, Tendulkar’s blue pyjamas. This is literary erotica, historical fantasy, in the end, only an entertaining story.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador
Penguin India
Random House India
Siyahi
Tranquebar Press

625
Diana Romany & Aniket Jaaware
Title: Take Back the Skies
Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Blurb: The twelve stories in Take Back the Skies are set in an unspecified but far gone future where the world and its people have all become more or less the same. These stories take planets, planetary moons, and make something new—and therefore strange—out of them.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

656
Sonya Singh
Title: A Grave With Magical Powers
Genre: Humour, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Travel, Women's Writing
Blurb: The very first account of an Indian woman’s adventures while backpacking through India, this collection of tales and trails is guaranteed to carry away the teenager - as surely as a Grandmama - on a magic carpet journey of experiences and emotions they have as yet only dreamt of.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador
Random House India

675
Kavitha Mandana
Title: Cease Fire
Genre: Literary Fiction, Women's Writing
Blurb: Families tentatively stepping out of the cycle of grief; protective networks that move in to a friend’s defence; a woman caught in the crossfire while her children and husband battle it out… These stories attempt to spotlight the drama simmering under the façade of ‘just an ordinary life’.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Osian’s The Literary Agency

676
Shabnam Nadiya
Title: Blood Lines
Genre: Feminism, Literary Fiction, Sexuality, Translation, Women's Writing
Blurb: Shame, grief, anger, control, vulnerability, resistance – sixteen stories from Bangladesh that connect through the emotions aroused by the ultimate violation: rape. Through distinct voices the authors present simple slice-of-life reality bites as well as near-mythic representations of powerlessness, dysfunctionality, and even empowerment as they deal with the crisis of rape.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Jacaranda
Palador

719
Aditya Sudarshan
Title: The Honour Killing
Genre: Mystery
Blurb: When a young law clerk accompanies a brilliant criminal judge to a house-warming party in a little Himalayan town, he expects a pleasant get-away from the heat of Delhi’s summer. He finds mob violence, moral outrage, infatuation- and murder.Even the Judge finds it a little hard.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Tranquebar Press

733
Kavitha Mandana
Title: Inseperable
Genre: Children's Fiction, Feminism
Blurb: In this picture book for 5-8 year olds, nothing turns out as expected. The palace’s famous elephant falls ill before Dasara, leaving everyone worried about his replacement in the annual procession. One young girl has a good idea…but will the maharaja take her advice?
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Scholastic
Zubaan Books

738
Rachit Kinger
Title: I AM FREIER
Genre: Popular Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Blurb: Setup in jungles amidst nature’s weirdest animals, ‘I AM FREIER’ is an allegory about individual freedom in contemporary society in which a happy-go-lucky squirrel travels across the world in search of meaning, freedom, and, ironically, a sane society
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Jacaranda

739
Kusum Choppra
Title: DIY ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Genre: Do It Yourself / How-to, Lifestyle
Blurb: After watching all those loud talking netas gabbing about global warming and doing precious little, do you want to be able to do something about it on your own? Here is how to do it at your own personal level.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

751
vandana kumari jena
Title: One Rotten Apple
Genre: Popular Fiction
Blurb: `One Rotten Apple’ a collection of short stories unveils the true face of men behind their masks. A Kosovo hero, a respected bureaucrat, are they for real or do gods have feet of clay? These stories, with a sting in the tail, portray the seamier side of life.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

752
Sandhya Krishnan
Title: Mind Game
Genre: Popular Fiction
Blurb: It only took a question to bring it on. Now, there was nothing to stop her. From a million miles away she opened up to him, and he to her. Nothing mattered anymore. Excuses and misgivings. Assumptions and explanations. It had all been over 7 years ago. Yet, this was closure.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

772
Soma Sarkar
Title: Off the Mark
Genre: Culture, Literary Fiction
Blurb: Feisty Mrs. DaCuhna, good-for-nothing Mark, garrulous Guru Prasad, mischievous Ivor, saintly Edna and others….Grappling with sorrow, despair, finding love, belonging, even prosperity. All come together in "Off the Mark" to form the fabric of Mettuguda, an Anglo-Indian locality in Secunderabad. Nine racy stories. Realistic and poignant, at times funny.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Random House India

793
Menaka Raman
Title: III Cross Street
Genre: Literary Fiction
Blurb: Ramamurthy goes to hospital for his prostrate and comes home with a corpse. Kamala sells jilebis that secretly spell out rude words. Thangam worries about the itch between her legs. A collection of stories that shows things are not always as they seem on this middle class street in Madras.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Random House India
Tranquebar Press

798
Pravin Ramachandran
Title: Maya Anthurjanam
Genre: Literary Fiction
Blurb: A tale with stark simplicity and through the eyes of a child. The outcome is a fascinatingly fresh tale..
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Tranquebar Press

806
Monideepa Sahu
Title: Rats! a Web of Intrigue
Genre: Children's Fiction
Blurb: Venkat appeared too harried to notice Shyam swinging above his head, or Rishabh digging about. But that didn't dampen Rishabh's spirits. Nothing escaped his alert, beady eyes. The dark teak paneled walls, the dim light bulbs dangling like Shyam from the ceiling, and the door to the world outside.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Zubaan Books

817
Bijaya Ghosh
Title: Tale Of Two Communities
Genre: Memoir
Blurb: Tale of two communities is a story of civil war; the war of Bangladesh, seen through the eye of an eleven-year-old girl. The liberation war had liberated her from a hard-core shell—the cocoon into which her family had withdrawn, out of the frustration of partition.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Yoda Press

819
vandana kumari jena
Title: Chimera
Genre: Mystery, Popular Fiction, Thriller, Women's Writing
Blurb: Manasi, the District Collector’s wife seems to be another Miss Marple, when she unearths the mystery surrounding her bungalow. But when the Vice Chancellor of Vishnupur University is murdered, being one of the last persons who saw him alive, she finds herself heading the lists of suspects.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Tranquebar Press

821
Nandini Patwardhan-Pandya
Title: Indian Roots, American Wings
Genre: Biography, Commentary, Essays, Inspirational, Lifestyle, Literary Non-Fiction, Parenting, Spiritual, Women's Writing
Blurb: This collection charts the evolution of the author as an Indian-American mother of two young adults, from an I.I.T-trained software professional to a proud member of the mommy-track, and from an amorphous seeker to an assertive spiritual progressive. It is a story of migration, but not of loss.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Zubaan Books

825
Shabnam Nadiya
Title: magic man
Genre: Literary Fiction, Women's Writing
Blurb: magic man is a collection of fifteen stories set in Bangladesh. From a city street to a char-island, from a university campus to the stormful landscape of the imagination - the stories traverse the plains of the delta, moving against and beyond boundaries of geography, class, age and gender.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Penguin India
Random House India

829
Prashant D. Rajkhowa
Title: Where The Hell Am I?
Genre: Commentary, Culture, Essays, Humour, LadLit, Non-Fiction, Popular Culture
Blurb: Where The Hell Am I? is a humorous take on 19 topics that don’t figure when you’re talking about living in India. It presents theories behind topics like vegetarianism, match fixing, women bosses, music, birds, emigrant Indians, changing surnames and why Kahlua is expensive considering south India is 80% coffee.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Tranquebar Press

843
Aseem Kaul
Title: Etudes
Genre: Literary Fiction
Blurb: How short can a short story be? Astutely observed, richly imagined and lucidly written, 'Etudes' is a collection of short, sparkling pieces that will surprise and delight you with every turn of the page. This is short fiction as you’ve never known it before!
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Penguin India
Tranquebar Press

856
Unmana Datta
Title: Soulmates
Genre: Campus, ChickLit, LadLit, Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction, Romance, Women's Writing
Blurb: Naïve small-town girl Garima comes to Delhi for her MBA. She meets Karan, a charismatic but deeply flawed character who draws her into an emotional quagmire she finds difficult to escape. As she grows into a mature woman, she gains the courage to seek her independence and her happiness.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Mills & Boon India

879
Kalpana R J
Title: Diamonds In My Blood
Genre: Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction, Women's Writing
Blurb: Urmila Singh Rathod is a guardian of secrets. First, her mother's, then her own, and now the secrets of a Queen, her ancestor. The story travels back and forth – present and past, from the warring Mohguls and British to the 21st century; a tale of innocence, valour, tragedy.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Random House India

900
Mayabhushan
Title: ANJUNA TALES
Genre: Literary Fiction
Blurb: The tide was coming in. Small gusts wind came in with sluggish foam riding the waves. A few naughty gusts tugged at her skirt and swirled it up and around. She was used to it. She was used to it all the time.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Random House India

901
Dheera Kitchlu
Title: MAYA
Genre: Children's Fiction
Blurb: A witch creates a dream that manifests itself to whimsical, wistful, dyslexic ten year old Maya, who dreams of a horse. The horse appears quite inexplicably, disrupting Maya’s hushed world. Her loving relationship with the horse helps Maya to evolve and claim her place in the world.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Scholastic
Zubaan Books

902
Anil Purohit
Title: Windows In The Street
Genre: Travel
Blurb: 'Windows In The Street' is about journeys, incidental events, and plain old meandering in back-alleys, looking for the everyday in street corners while stitching together stories, impressions, images and voices of people and places, revealing continuity of everyday life in the ordinariness of footsteps past windows in seemingly nondescript streets.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Yoda Press

913
jordyn steig
Title: Backside Bollywood
Genre: Alternative History, Anlaysis, Arts, Commentary, Culture, Current Affairs, Economics, Media, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Popular Culture, Research, Travel, Urban Studies
Blurb: Mumbai’s film industry reflects the city’s present transformation and prosperity. Presented through the nitty-gritty of the myriad forces impacting filmmaking, Backside Bollywood offers a simultaneously playful and analytical glimpse at the forces spurring Mumbai forward, revealing the human stories behind the celluloid dreams the city is renowned for.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

921
Sumita Thapar
Title: India, My Home
Genre: Culture, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Spiritual, Travel, Women's Writing
Blurb: A 30-something travel junkie thrives roaming Indian cities, exploring mountains and valleys, beaches and brothels. From Kiphire, Nagaland, on the Myanmar border, to Kanyakumari, India’s southernmost tip, to Mumbai, she captures a slice of life among ordinary Indians: monks, drug users, women in sex work, the rest of us.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador
Random House India

923
Anitha Murthy
Title: LOVE IN BANGALORE (and others)
Genre: Children's Fiction, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Blurb: A delightful collection of wildly imaginative short stories that will make you look at the world around you differently. Call them modern fairy tales, or, as one reader commented, Pixar meets Bollywood, this collection promises to enthrall and enchant both old and young alike.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Scholastic
Zubaan Books

929
Minal Sarosh
Title: A Lizard's Tail
Genre: Poetry
Blurb: 'A Lizard's Tail', which regenertes everytime its 'cut' by the multi-cultural and multi-religious influences - which is 'modern India'. The poet's struggle to find her identity by exploring myraid everyday images, actions and emotions. Its fourth dimension poetry! Surrealism at its best...
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

931
Anjali Purohit
Title: The Deconstructed Retro Raagi Cookbook
Genre: Arts, Cookery, Culture, Food, Humour, Lifestyle, Women's Writing
Blurb: A serious attempt at popularizing an indigenous grain through a lighthearted analysis of its culinary possibilities. Less pompously - a die hard raagi fan, philosophy student, artist cum reluctant cook desperately selling the benefits of this much neglected wonder grain by presenting traditional and innovative illustrated raagi recipes.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Yoda Press

967
Mustansir Dalvi
Title: Iqbal's Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa
Genre: Poetry, Translation
Blurb: Muhammad Iqbal’s most influential poems get a fresh voice in a language both contemporary, and immediate. Muslim angst at their perceived disinheritance by Allah, and possible redemption, so well articulated by the poet of his generation, is brought to the scrutiny of the multicultural millennium in this new reworking.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Tranquebar Press

969
SAJITA NAIR
Title: She’s Jolly Good Fellow
Genre: ChickLit, Women's Writing, Young Adult Fiction
Blurb: When Second Lieutenant Deepa Krishnan, a dynamic lady officer embarks on a career in the Army, she confronts a lurking enemy - the chauvinistic mindset of an all male workforce. Every day is a challenge as she must use her wit and courage to protect her individuality and dignity.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Mills & Boon India

970
Kalpana R J
Title: Flamenco Nights
Genre: Romance
Blurb: On a holiday, an accident tumbles Jacqueline into the arms of gypsies and their leader, Remo. Seduced by him, they share a night of passion till the real world sets them apart. She finds to her dismay and interest that the gypsy Remo is indeed Remo Romanov, her new boss.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Mills & Boon India

973
Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal
Title: My Mumbai Kithen
Genre: Cookery, Culture, Essays, Food
Blurb: ‘My Mumbai Kitchen’, renders a colorful portrait of the food that fuels the food capital of India, Mumbai from the point of view of a home cook. By striking a balance between story telling and cooking the author offer food lovers a glimpse of a facet of Mumbai heretofore unexplored
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Penguin India
Tranquebar Press

988
Abhinav Maurya
Title: A Cure For The Doctor
Genre: Alternative History, Campus, Career, ChickLit, Culture, Current Affairs, Education, Humanities, Humour, Inspirational, LadLit, Literary Fiction, Politics, Popular Culture, Popular Fiction, Romance, Science
Blurb: Set amidst the turmoil of anti-reservation riots that flare up across the country, 'A Cure For The Doctor' tells the story of four doctors grappling with the thrill of their newfound affections, the burden of their noble profession, and the apathy of an indifferent government.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
HarperCollins Publishers India
Penguin India
Tranquebar Press
Undercover Utopia

998
prem nath
Title: Crowded Rooms
Genre: Humour, Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction
Blurb: In this freewheeling story collection, [Author Name], an advertising copywriter now coming out of his literary closet takes us into contemporary, well heeled Mumbai as it truly might be. Straddling several genres with ease, he holds up a fictional mirror to the city no one calls home.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Penguin India
Tranquebar Press

1018
Shalini Sekhar
Title: Flash
Genre: Children's Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Blurb: Kaushik is the only kid in class without a wooden pencil box. When he realizes he must make one himself, Kaushik steps into a new world. The world of wood and saw, of looking and feeling and understanding, and of a clarity and rhythm he has never known.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Palador

1028
Meena Kandasamy
Title: Black Magic
Genre: Arts, Campus, ChickLit, Culture, Erotica, Humour, Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction, Sexuality, Women's Writing
Blurb: A collection of stories that capture the darker, dangerous side of life in India--teen suicides, adulterous affairs, doomed love, suicide-bombers, shameful obsessions. Stories that are sometimes told with a rare tenderness; sometimes with a scathing sarcasm. Twelve stories where black magic works. Dear reader, step into this spell.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Osian’s The Literary Agency

1032
Pervin Chhapkhanawala
Title: Adventures at Miscellaneous Shelf Four
Genre: Children's Fiction
Blurb: It is a rare instance when a child’s amusement is its source of learning, rarer when the learning is subtle. ‘Adventures at Miscellaneous Shelf Four’ is a book about books. Books that speak, plan, feel, tease and come alive, each with a distinct personality, stumbling upon explorations and escapades.
Publishers/agents interested in the above book pitch:
Scholastic

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