Kirjahaku

"An extraordinary book that transcends gender and race and culture and sexual identity to speak to our universal humanity and the quest we all share for a self." -- Robert Olen ButlerReminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies and the work of Michael Cunningham, Rahul Mehta's debut short story collection is an emotionally arresting exploration of the lives of Indian-American gay men and their families. With buoyant humor and incisive, cunning prose, Mehta sets off into uncharted literary territory. The characters in Quarantine are Westernized in some ways, with cosmopolitan views on friendship and sex, while struggling to maintain relationships with their families and cultural traditions. Grappling with the issues that concern all gay men--social acceptance, the right to pursue happiness, and the heavy toll of listening to their hearts and bodies--they confront an elder generation's attachment to old-country ways. Estranged from their cultural in-group and still set apart from larger society, the young men in these lyrical, provocative, emotionally wrenching, yet frequently funny stories find themselves quarantined.

From the author of the prize-winning collection Quarantine, an insightful, compelling debut novel set in rural America and India in the 1980s and '90s, part coming-of-age story about a gay Indian American boy, part family saga about an immigrant family's struggles to find a sense of belonging, identity, and hope.In a rural community in Western New York, twelve-year-old Kiran Shah, the American-born son of Indian immigrants, longingly observes his prototypically American neighbors, the Bells. He attends school with Kelly Bell, but he's powerfully drawn--in a way he does not yet understand--to her charismatic father, Chris.Kiran's yearnings echo his parents' bewilderment as they try to adjust to a new world. His father, Nishit Shah, a successful doctor, is haunted by thoughts of the brother he left behind. His mother, Shanti, struggles to accept a life with a man she did not choose--her marriage to Nishit was arranged--and her growing attachment to an American man. Kiran is close to his older sister, Preeti--until an unexpected threat and an unfathomable betrayal drive a wedge between them that will reverberate through their lives.As he leaves childhood behind, Kiran finds himself perpetually on the outside--as an Indian American torn between two cultures and as a gay man in a homophobic society. In the wake of an emotional breakdown, he travels to India, where he forms an intense bond with a teenage hijra, a member of India's ancient transgender community. With her help, Kiran begins to pull together the pieces of his broken past.Sweeping and emotionally complex, No Other World is a haunting meditation on love, belonging, and forgiveness that explores the line between our responsibilities to our families and to ourselves, the difficult choices we make, and the painful cost of claiming our true selves.

Western New York, 1985: Twelve-year-old Kiran Shah stands longingly outside the window of the Bell household, secretly observing the movements of the prototypically American family. He attends school with Kelly Bell, but he’s powerfully drawn, in a way he does not yet quite understand, to her charismatic father, Chris. Kiran is the American-born son of Indian immigrants struggling to adjust to life in a new world. His father, Dr. Nishit Shah, is a successful doctor haunted by the brother he left behind in India. His mother, Shanti, tries to settle into the life that was chosen for her—Nishit and Shanti’s was an arranged marriage—even as she develops romantic feelings for handsome local Chris Bell. And Kiran is close to his beloved older sister, Preeti—until one summer afternoon, when an unexpected threat and an unfathomable betrayal drive a wedge between the two, with repercussions that stretch far into their futures. As Kiran grows and enters young adulthood, he finds himself perpetually on the outside—not just as an Indian-American torn between two cultures, but as a gay man in a time and place where homosexuality is not tolerated. In the wake of an emotional breakdown, Kiran travels to India, where he forms an intense bond with a teenage hijra, a member of India’s ancient transgender community. With her help, Kiran will attempt to pull together the pieces of his broken past. With a large cast of complex characters and a narrative that shifts between rural America and small-town India, NO OTHER WORLD is a haunting meditation on our responsibilities to our families and to ourselves, the difficult choices we make and the people we hurt in our efforts to claim the lives that belong to us.

_Find the beauty._ In 2017, writer and educator Rahul Mehta began a writing practice to find solace and beauty—in the natural world, in their family and friends, and in everyday simplicities—during a time of political tensions, environmental disasters, a global pandemic, and personal disappointment. From the vibrant color of a blade of grass, to their dog sleeping quietly in the corner, to delicate petals fallen from a rose, a mindfulness of the beauty in their surroundings helped offset the feelings of fear, outrage, and helplessness. The result of this exercise is a profoundly moving poetry collection that explores Mehta's South Asian and Appalachian culture, their Queerness, their relationships with self and others, race, privilege, and a deep admiration of nature and the spiritual realm. With the ear of a poet and a novelist's understanding of narrative motion, Mehta draws in the reader through humor, tenderness, and complexity. This debut poetry collection from the Lambda Literary Award–winning writer is a magnificent celebration of our own ordinary yet miraculous daily lives—an acknowledgment of the "messy beauty… ugly beauty" in the world.

Did we skip the weekend? Do you find it difficult to wake up on Monday mornings? Oh, No. Not Monday again Just like you, many of us employed people feel the same. Right from waking up, to travelling to work, to the first half of the day, it seems to be a drag on Mondays. This Monday feeling reaches a new magnitude when it is coupled with the stress from our personal and professional lives. At the age of 40, our lives are the most vulnerable-physically, socially and financially. We do not realize how much our lives are at risk unless and until a life-disrupting event occurs that throws us off our hamster wheels (yes, wheels one in office and one at home ). This disruption makes us realize what we were doing was something that we never wanted to do, we had become what others wanted us to become and we forgot who we really are, what brings us joy and what pains us. We chain ourselves with self-proclaimed constraints that limit our ability to take risks, to think differently and most importantly to change. This can drag us to the abyss when such a life disruption strikes. Arvind, is in his forties. He is a senior level employee with a buzzing corporate house, living a high-flying corporate life, but has been drawing flak recently in the highly competitive environment at work. He is struggling to cope with the stress until a life-changing Monday transforms him forever

A journey of a rider from Pune (India), who's always geared up for the rides and knows routes better than google maps. For him riding motorcycles are not just a passion but a lifestyle. Read everything about Bharat Vatsa and his rides in different routes in India.