Manjula Padmanabhan's Books

Laughter and Blood

Performance Pieces

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Laughter and Blood

Performance Pieces

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Conjoined triplets on a blind date. A lesson in human reproduction by a manic-prudish teacher. A heart-stopping game of cards. An instrument that tunes in to the music of our bodies’ organs. Collected Plays brings together, in a much-anticipated series, the dramatic works of Onassis prize-winning playwright and author Manjula Padmanabhan. Laughter and Blood, the second volume, presents within its covers Padmanabhan’s short performance pieces. From The Sextet and Ladies’ Night to Hidden Fires and Blind Date, these wildly inventive, subversive and often chilling plays introduce readers to the intrigues of inverted power structures, tantalizingly suggestive interactions and powerful voices from the fringe. With new introductions to the works that affirm the relevance of the themes of the plays, this collection showcases the playwright’s mastery of her art and reconfirms her standing among the leading dramatists of our time.

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Page Count

139

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9389253373

ISBN 13

9789389253375

Blood and Laughter

Plays

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Blood and Laughter

Plays

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

A neighbourhood that turns a blind eye to a recurring gruesome crime. A game show that puts the lives of its contestants on the line. An insidious tableau that pits three artists against each other. A world where organs of the poor are commercially harvested for the rich. Collected Plays brings together, in a much-anticipated series, the dramatic works of Onassis Prize-winning playwright and author Manjula Padmanabhan. Blood and Laughter, the first volume, presents within its covers Padmanabhan’s full-length plays – including the three-times cinematized Lights Out, the previously unpublished Mating Game Show and Artist’s Model, and the award-winning Harvest – all known for their masterful portrayal of the dilemmas of morality, relationships and the idea of justice. Horror, anticipation and chilling realism mark each of these works, drawing readers and audiences alike to the edge of their seats. With new introductions to the works that affirm the relevance of the themes of the plays, this collection showcases the playwright’s mastery of her art and reconfirms her standing among the leading dramatists of our time.

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384

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9389253357

ISBN 13

9789389253351

Getting there

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Getting there

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Late 1970s, Bombay. Manjula is in her twenties, struggling to earn a living as an author-illustrator. Then, a deceptively routine visit to a diet clinic and an encounter with two tall Dutch men turn her life inside out. Without much ado she speeds off on a Westward-bound spiritual quest, which involves cheating on her boyfriend, lying to everyone she loves and cutting off all ties with her safe, respectable, bourgeois Indian upbringing. In this picaresque travel memoir, novelist, cartoonist and award-winning playwright Manjula Padmanabhan looks back on her youthful misadventures in Europe. By turns funny and fierce, Getting There will touch anyone who has ever wanted to strip off their skin to waltz, however briefly, on the wild side.

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Page Count

315

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9389253306

ISBN 13

9789389253306

Harvest

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Harvest

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

A futuristic satire on the trade in live organs from the Third World to the West. Om, a young man is driven by unemployment to sell his body parts for cash. Guards arrive to make his home into a germ-free zone. When his brother Jeetu returns unexpectedly, he is taken away as the donor. Om can’t accept this. Java, his wife, is left alone. Will she too be seduced into selling her body for use by the rich westerners? Harvest won first prize in the first Onassis Cultural Competition for Theatre and was premiered in Greek at the Teatro Texnis, Athens. It has also been performed by a youth theatre in the UK, broadcast by the BBC World Service and made into a feature film, directed by Govind Nihalani, titled Body, which was screened at the Regus London Film Festival. The play is also studied by many colleges and universities to explain how globalisation works. Manjula Padmanbhan Born in Delhi to a diplomat family in 1953, she went to boarding school in her teenage years. After college, her determination to make her own way in life led to works in publishing and media-related fields. She won the Greek Onassis Award for her play Harvest. An award-winning film Deham was made by Govind Nihalani based on the play. She has written one more powerful play, Lights Out! (1984), Hidden Fires is a series of monologues. The Artist's Model (1995) and Sextet are her other works.(1996). She has also authored a collection of short stories, called Kleptomania. Her most recent book, published in 2008, is Escape. Apart from writing newspaper columns she created comic strips. She created Suki, an Indian comic character, which was serialized as a strip in the Sunday Observer.Before 1997 (the year her play Harvest was staged) she was better known as a cartoonist and had a daily cartoon strip in The Pioneer newspaper. As playwright 1984 - "Lights Out" 2003. Harvest. London: Aurora Metro Press. As Author and Illustrator 2013. Three Virgins and Other Stories New Delhi, India: Zubaan Books. 2015. Island of Lost Girls. Hachette. 2011. I am different! Can you find me? Watertown, Mass: Charlesbridge Pub. 2008. Escape. Hachette. 2005. Unprincess! New Delhi: Puffin Books. 1986. A Visit to the City Market New Delhi: National Book Trust 2003. Mouse Attack As Illustrator Baig, Tara Ali, and Manjula Padmanabhan. 1979. Indrani and the enchanted jungle. New Delhi: Thomson Press (India) Ltd. Maithily Jagannathan and Manjula Padmanabhan. 1984. Droopy dragon. New Delhi: Thomson Press. Comic Strips 2005. Double talk. New Delhi: Penguin Books.

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Aurora Metro Publications Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1906582378

ISBN 13

9781906582371

Kleptomania

Ten Stories

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Kleptomania

Ten Stories

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

In this brilliantly versatile collection of stories from the award-winning author of Harvest, the reader will encounter a range of themes, from murder mystery to science fiction. The author's vision of a post-apocalypse future is dark, but rendered with a rich vein of irony and humour that allows us to roller-coast with her into a world where air and water and the earth itself take on new shades of meaning. Then there are the here-and-now stories of bodies turning up in backyards, of love betrayed and sexuality discovered, of bitter awakenings and upbeat endings. Intelligent, opinionated, and playful, this is a collection that defies limitations of time, space, and imagination to conjure up new morality tales for our time.Read more

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Page Count

220

Publisher

Penguin Books India

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143031139

ISBN 13

9780143031130

Unprincess!

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Unprincess!

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Three heroines-braver, bolder and more resolute than your usual swooning princesses of traditional fairytales Meet Urmila, who is so ugly that she makes people swoon, Kavita, who can take on giants more competently than any prince, and Sayoni, who has the power to tame even the wildest nightmare. These three whimsical, feisty stories from master storyteller Manjula Padmanabhan, illustrated in her characteristically bold and quirky style, will delight readers of all ages.

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106

Publisher

Penguin UK

Published Date

ISBN 10

9352141814

ISBN 13

9789352141814

The Island Of Lost Girls

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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The Island Of Lost Girls

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

This is the story of Meiji ? the only girl who has remained untouched and unmutilated in a country that has savaged its entire female population. Having saved her from certain death in the new Dark Age that has come upon the world, her gaurdian, Youngest, has transported her to the only place where she can remain safe ? an Island where wounded girls are, sometimes literally, stitched back together and given a new life. But the Island itself is a menacing place, and Meiji may be in more danger than ever before. To see what has become of his beloved girl, Youngest must find a way to infiltrate its odd environs while keeping the constantly assaulting voice in his head at bay. His struggles against the surreal inhabitants of a world gone wrong and with his own transformed identity only serve to steel his efforts to find the girl, and escape once more... The Island of Lost Girls showcases, yet again, Manjula Padmanabhan?s genius at creating searing landscapes and alternate, sometimes brutal, worlds while reaffirming the beauty and the ugliness, the cruelty and the tremendous compassion that essentially make us human.

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360

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9350096498

ISBN 13

9789350096499

Blood and Laughter

Plays

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Blood and Laughter

Plays

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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384

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Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9389253357

ISBN 13

9789389253351

Kleptomania

Ten Stories

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Kleptomania

Ten Stories

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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220

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Penguin Books India

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143031139

ISBN 13

9780143031130

Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Rebellious cellphones. Lustful holograms. A tourist vampire with a taste for spicy Indian blood. A conference of galactic gods. In twenty-five exhilarating stories, Manjula Padmanabhan brings her trademark twist to familiar reality, dreaming up inventive futures and capturing today's world with equal flair. From bejewelled party guests suddenly stripped naked to a teenager who steals time, from mosquitoes that infect people with Gandhian pacifism to a dystopia where everyone breathes canned air, this remarkable collection poses urgent questions: what does it mean to live in a society, and this one in particular? Where are we headed, and do we even want to get there? At once funny, provocative and profound, Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities is science fiction served up with a dab of ghee and a sprinkling of dark matter that will hold you captive till the very last page.

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303

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9357312056

ISBN 13

9789357312059

Escape

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Escape

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

In the country she inhabits, Meiji is unique. The only surviving female in a land where women have been exterminated, she has been brought up in secret, cloistered and protected, by three men she knows as her uncles ? Eldest, Middle and Youngest. Now, as she approaches adolescence, her guardians must ensure that the dictatorial clone Generals who rule their world never get to know of her existence, and it falls to Youngest to escort Meiji on a long and treacherous journey through ravaged landscapes to the very edge of the world known to them. An adventure story like no other, a tale of love and self-discovery in several unexpected layers, Escape is a novel that is as unsettling as it is unputdownable. In its captivating portrayal of tender relationships blooming and thriving in a vicious, forbidding landscape, it bears out Manjula Padmanabhan?s genius as a creator of compelling alternative worlds.

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400

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9351950158

ISBN 13

9789351950158

Laughter and Blood

Performance Pieces

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Laughter and Blood

Performance Pieces

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Page Count

139

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9389253373

ISBN 13

9789389253375

Harvest

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Harvest

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

`A modern morality play. A bitter, savagely funny vision of the cannibalistic future that awaits the human race...? ? OUTLOOK A searing portrayal of a society bereft of moral and spiritual anchors, Manjula Padmanabhan?s fifth play, Harvest, won the Onassis Award for Original Theatrical Drama in 1997, the first year in which the prize was awarded. Following its international premiere in Greece in 1999, the play has been performed over the years by theatre groups, both amateur and professional, around the world. A dark satire, Harvest tells the story of an impoverished family and the Faustian contract they enter into with a shadowy international corporation: fabulous wealth in exchange for the organs of one of its members. As Ginni, the glamorous American woman who hopes to receive the organs, invades their one-room home via an interactive video device the play lays bare the transactional nature of human relationships ? even the most intimate ones. This edition includes, for the first time, a gender-reversed version of the play ? an experiment by the author that provides startling insight into the stereotypes and societal constructs ingrained deep in the human psyche and, indeed, into how we perceive gender.

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Page Count

280

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9350095254

ISBN 13

9789350095256

Taxi

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Taxi

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Madam 'Maddy' Sen returns to India from the US, hoping to jumpstart her life by offering an exclusive women's-only taxi service in grimy, chaotic New Delhi. Then a brutal eviction turns her life inside out. A stranger makes a tantalizing offer. A new home with new friends and an excellent salary can all be hers. The catch? She must pretend, now and then, to be a male chauffeur to a powerful older man. Taxi takes the reader on a twisty romp as Maddy struggles with gender, social class, race and a flash of wild romance.

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353

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9357312439

ISBN 13

9789357312431

Three Virgins and Other Stories

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Three Virgins and Other Stories

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

From the award-winning writer of the acclaimed play "Harvest," this debut collection of stories will electrify readers with its unusual, radical, and troubling themes. Here are ten tales, some new, some old, and all of them edgy. In biting and satirical critiques of contemporary society, Manjula Padmanabhan displays a remarkable range. We read of a white American widow who plans a designer version of "sati" or self-immolation, a pervert and his magic phallus on a double-decker bus, a black American girl with a unique take on Hindu civilization, a juvenile mad scientist who schemes in a proletarian dystopia, electronic simulacra that make high-voltage love, and a mature scientist who confronts infertility in teeming India. For good measure, there's also a coming-of-age story, a marriage proposal, a thwarted murder, and a story about the Government of India's Bureau of Reincarnation.

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250

Publisher

Zubaan Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

9383074299

ISBN 13

9789383074297

An Upbeat Story

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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An Upbeat Story

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Manjula Padmanathan often gets asked to write short pieces for different publications around the country. This means, working with different kinds of people for different kinds of readers, an altogether enriching experience. However, when the brief is to write "something upbeat" in an almost impossible period of time for a publication that doesn't quite lend itself to Padmanabhan's typically macabre themes, her tongue-in-cheek humour takes the form of An Upbeat Story. A dark yet touching story about a man with Down Syndrome and a woman confined to a wheelchair, told within an imagined conversation between a 'writer' and an 'editor', and written in Padmanabhan's impeccable style. Funny, audacious, and tender, An Upbeat Story makes writing under duress seem effortless.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

9387625656

ISBN 13

9789387625655

Body in the Backyard

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Body in the Backyard

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Since the discovery of a decaying corpse in their backyard, the members of the Bajaj family have experienced a host of emotions from shock to disgust to exasperation to fury. But when the young CID officer Vasant arrives at the crime scene, he can immediately tell that the Bajaj family may not be as innocent as they seem. However, seeing as Mr Bajaj is the additional secretary to revenue and has a meeting with the prime minister in a couple of hours, Vasant has no option but to speed up his investigation. But he is not worried. The "still alive" corpse has just started talking and Vasant is all ears. Subversive, exciting, and revealing, with a twist you actually won't be ready for, Manjula Padmanathan's Body in the Backyard is as compelling as it is well-written.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

938762563X

ISBN 13

9789387625631

Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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303

Publisher

Hachette India

Published Date

ISBN 10

9357312056

ISBN 13

9789357312059

Beads

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Beads

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Farida, all of sixteen, has recently taken over her father's tailoring business and has been working for two English memsahibs in their home for intricate embroidery work on a few pieces. She is extremely talented, and Jenny and Mary are quite impressed. In fact, they're considering hiring her for a much larger order for their boutique back home. Really, Farida couldn't have asked for better employers. The only thing that seems to be bothering Farida, however, is Mickey, Jenny's teenage daughter, whose blouse she's currently working on. She dresses funny, looks funny—almost like a boy—and everyone, even the cook, has asked her to stay away from Mickey. But all Mickey wants is to have Farida work in her room—away from the heat in the verandah and maybe even have her food with the rest of them. In Mickey's opinion, that's the least they could do for the prices they are paying Farida! It is strange how issues of race and bias are sometimes so ingrained in us that even as victims we don't realize something that is so obvious to someone else. Originally written for an anthology of short fiction for teenagers, Beads is a powerful story about the voices that often go unheard in the discourse about racism and privilege.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

9387625613

ISBN 13

9789387625617

Double Talk

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Double Talk

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Double Talk Debuted In The Sunday Observer In Bombay, 1982. Suki, Its Central Character, Was A Bushy-Haired, Baggy-Clothed Free Spirit. With Neither Job Nor Family To Tie Her Down, Her Life Was Breezily Uncluttered, Unencumbered And Unconventional. In Four Years She Had Just One Romance And Her Best Friends Were Non-Human. Her Favourite Concerns Were Bewilderingly Abstract And Her Reference Points Were Usually Universal Rather Than Local. In The Nineties, Suki Was Resurrected In A Daily Strip Of That Name, In The Pioneer In New Delhi, Where It Ran For Six Years. Despite All The Changes That Have Occurred In The Real World Since The Birth Of Suki, The Character And The Illustrations Continue To Bristle With Their Own Quirky Brand Of Humour. Or Lack Of It: Bombay S Feisty Readers Had Strong Views About The Cartoon, And Sent In Almost 60 Published Letters Of Complaint To The Editor! This Book Represents A Selection Of The Strips That Appeared In Print From 1982 To 1986.

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116

Publisher

Penguin Books India

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143032666

ISBN 13

9780143032663

Pooni at the Taj Mahal

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Pooni at the Taj Mahal

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Children story based on a little girl and his naughty cat in Taj Mahal.

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ISBN 10

9350468638

ISBN 13

9789350468630

Sharing Air

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Sharing Air

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Picture living in a world that has you constantly tethered to an oxygen tank, covered from head to toe in a body suit and buying dated air that you can sniff without your head gear on for cheap thrills. A world where the elders tell their children stories about the time their ancestors lived and breathed through an air cocktail—like savages! As if it wasn't already hard living in a world like this, imagine having to go through the pressure of attending "sharing air" parties that everyone seems to be going to these days. Apparently, membership at The ToxiClub society is at an all-time high. Whether or not you believe you can handle the ToxiClub, "Sharing Air" is a fascinating glimpse into a world that's scarily plausible. Science fiction offers a writer an opportunity to go directly to the heart of an ironical or thought-provoking situation and by setting up this theoretical world, Manjula Padmanabhan hits the nail right on the head with equal literary aplomb.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

9387625621

ISBN 13

9789387625624

Gandhi-toxin

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Gandhi-toxin

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Sitaram Desai, a researcher and the scion of third cousins from Mahatma Gandhi's bloodline, has just managed to invent a toxin from a vial of ashes belonging to the greatest man the Indian subcontinent has ever seen. The Gandhi-toxin, when diffused through the blood, has the ability to disarm aggression vectors in mammalian brains. Of course, if mass-administered, it can cause catastrophic pacifism and widespread loss of competitive urge—a formidable weapon indeed. Aidid and Isabella, Supreme Commanders at United Gene Heritage, are aware of the threats, which is why they launch a mass release of the toxin through specially engineered mosquitos that can even cross enemy lines. However, no one has ever managed to predict the long-term effects of genetic manipulation and it looks like the Supreme Commanders are in for a supreme surprise. Science fiction often manages to look closely at present-day issues through a fairly made-up world. In Gandhi-toxin, Manjula Padmanabhan cleverly uses her literary prowess to build a dystopian—although not entirely unbelievable—near future to make a point about the world we live in today. Funny and incisive, this short read is for anyone who's ever wondered about the future of our world.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

9387625583

ISBN 13

9789387625587

Morning Glory in East-of-Kailash

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Morning Glory in East-of-Kailash

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

In 1981, Manjula Padmanabhan spent a month in Delhi, living in a barsati in East-of-Kailash in what can only be described as surreal circumstances. As Padmanabhan was about to learn, living with two gay men (one of them, a fellow artist and alcoholic), their (unofficially) adopted Nepali son, a transvestite (bordering on perverse) cook, two spaniels and a Chihuahua (in heat) is far from standard. The house that had so far been an all-male ménage soon shifts in varying degrees in the presence of an unambiguous, 'normal' female. But there is and always has been a deep undercurrent of pathos constantly fed by the recurring characters making an appearance upon the barsati's peculiar stage. It is a month that doesn't go by as quickly as a month normally does but it is one full of revelations—for Padmanabhan and her housemates. Morning Glory in East-of-Kailash is Manjula Padmanabhan's most non-fictional fiction piece. Almost a semi-fictional essay, this short but poignant read is as rewarding as it is beautifully written.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

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ISBN 10

9387625605

ISBN 13

9789387625600

The Girl Who Could Make People Naked

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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The Girl Who Could Make People Naked

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

When she looked into his eyes, she could see every thought of his, strung out like washed shirts flapping on a line." Gautam is already a little high-strung because of his sister's wedding when he meets Bahaar, the groom's cousin, who claims to have "arranged" this meeting of theirs. Gautam, who is struggling with his possessive feelings for his sister and his doubts over the suitor, who in his opinion isn't all that suitable, gets increasingly peeved with every sentence that Bahaar utters. Not only does she seem to possess supernatural powers, the likes of which he has never experienced before, but she also seems to be weirdly obsessed with him. After all, it isn't everyday that a weird girl with superpowers asks you to have sex with her while their families are socializing with each other. Needless to say, Gautam is speechless. But Bahaar still has one more trick up her sleeve. Can Gautam handle it? Originally written to appear in a magazine, The Girl Who Could Make People Naked is in the author's view, a cheeky look at Delhi's strait-laced, uptight social milieu that sometimes takes itself a little too seriously. Weird, wonderful, and almost absurd, this is Manjula Padmanabhan at her finest.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

9387625648

ISBN 13

9789387625648

Betrayal

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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Betrayal

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

Maya and Angie may have been best friends since boarding school but they are far from equals. Maya, a child of divorce, has always been a little too wordly for the innocent Angie, something that is evident to anyone who see them interact. Things, however, take a strange turn when Maya discovers she's pregnant with her ex-boyfriend Nick's baby. Before she knows it, Angie has become a messenger between the two disgruntled 'adults', although in trying to resolve things as best as possible she is simply getting entangled in the mess further. Manjula Padmanabhan is a writer who never shies away from exploring the greyest of grey in her characters, whether it is through Maya's attitude towards her father's questionable actions or Nick's controversial theories about consent. Based on a real incident involving Padmanabhan's friend, Betrayal does an excellent job of holding a mirror to the darkness within us, forcing us to confront it at once.

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Penguin Random House India Private Limited

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ISBN 10

9387625575

ISBN 13

9789387625570

2099

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

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2099

(Penguin Petit)

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

The year is 2099 and Mr M, erstwhile editor of a prestigious newsmagazine, has just come back to life after eighty-two years in the PSP—the Perma Sleep Programme. While revival experts work on him to make his transition into the new era as smooth as possible, Mr M can't wait to find out all there is to know about what the world is like in 2099. His journalistic curiousity can hardly contain itself. The world has indeed changed. It is a whole lot different than what Mr M remembers it from when he was last alive. After the two atomic bombs that had detonated in quick succession in 2015, Mr M had signed up for PSP, having faith in the power of the future. Can 2099 really live up to Mr M's commitment to knowledge or his faith in the future? 2099 is an excellent example of a prolific author like Manjula Padmanabhan using science fiction for social commentary. Her take on what the end of this century could very well look like attempts to answer those questions that we, as humanity, desperately need to address.

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