Showing results by narrator "Sanjiv Jhaveri" in All Categories

Once, Jayachand toiled in the vertical farms of India. Now, he finds himself searching for a lost data cache in the forbidding Amazon rainforest. Can he stay one step ahead of a shadowy corporation whose interests may not be what they seem? This story was first published in METAtropolis: Green Space, the third entry in Audible's original series.

The eyes of the world are gazing at India - the world's largest democracy. But the books you read about this Asian giant only show part of the picture. Delhi Noir offers bone-chilling, mesmerizing takes on the country's chaotic capital, a city where opulence and poverty are constantly clashing, where old-world values and the information age wage a constant battle. Delhi Noir's 15 original stories are written by the best Indian writers alive today - the ones you haven't yet heard of but should have.

On November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a nineteen-year-old student travels back from a class trip with his mentor and chemistry teacher, Professor Singh. As the group disembarks at Delhi station a mob surrounds the professor, throwing a tire over him, dousing him in gasoline, and setting him alight. Years later the student, Raj, is compelled to find his professor's widow, the beautiful Nelly.

The sleepy Himalayan hill station of Mussoorie, near India's border with Tibet, is home to an eclectic mix of residents including Tibetan refugees and former guerrilla fighters, foreign missionaries, Indian military, tourists, and spies. Here, in a top-secret facility facing the snow-clad Himalayas, India's legendary spymaster, Colonel Imtiaz Afridi, keeps a watchful eye on sensitive high-altitude borders.

When Vikram invites three of his college friends to his son’s graduation from MIT, they accept out of obligation and curiosity, viewing the party as a 25th reunion of sorts. Village genius Vikram, now the founder of a lucrative computer company, is having the party against his son’s wishes. Frances and Jay regret accepting: Frances, a real estate agent, hasn't sold a house in a year; Jay’s middle-management job isn't bragworthy; and their daughter is failing the eleventh grade. Lali plans to hide the fact that her once-happy marriage is crumbling because her American husband is discovering his Jewish roots.

In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients - dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups - from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif - the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state’s electronic security force, putting his clients and his own neck on the line.

This hilarious novel describes one year spent on a small university campus in the United States by an Indian student. His English is comically Indian, and his initial notions of America are absurdly inadequate and stereotyped. The theme of the novel is his comic discovery of America and his own growth and maturing through the diverse adventures he encounters.

India Rising is a collection of anecdotes and observations of the significant events that marked the decade of Congress Party rule under Manmohan Singh, culminating in the rise of Modi. It is built around the access the writer enjoyed with some of the key decision makers of the time.

When Jill McCorkle feels a short story coming on, she goes right ahead and "wastes" wonderful ideas instead of hoarding them for a novel. The result is another extraordinary collection of stories and characters. In "It's a Funeral! RSVP," the storyteller is a woman who takes up self-styled "careers" that suit her circumstances. Now she's stumbled onto one that's so successful that she just can't quit. It's planning funerals, what she calls Going Out Parties, in which the clients are the soon-to-be-deceased themselves.

Ever since local boy Lester Ward got drafted by the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and football fever hit Goodhue, Iowa, scrawny Ned Button can think of nothing but the game. Sure, Lester’s younger bully of a brother is determined to keep Ned and his gang from ever getting near a real pickup game. But Ned has a few tricks up his sleeve: he can catch and sometimes even throw, much to his surprise. And he’s got his eccentric grandpa Ike, who has less get-up-and-go these days, but no shortage of down-home wisdom.

Journeys are always meant for destinations. But what if, when they are not.... The Journey to Nowhere is the story of a young couple, fighting against all odds for their love. Aditya, an aspiring medical student, is on a journey to his hometown to meet his love, Pooja, most probably for the last time. On the journey, the various conditions force Aditya to go into a journey amidst the shallow grooves of memories.

When Madan’s father's misdeeds jeopardize his sister's life, Madan strikes his first bargain with Avtaar Singh to save her. Drawn into Avtaar Singh's violent world, Madan becomes his son in every way but by blood. Suddenly it looks as if everything will change for Madan and his family until a forbidden love affair has brutal consequences and he is forced to leave behind all that is dear to him.

Beautifully and hauntingly written, After Disasters is told through the eyes of four people in the wake of a life-shattering earthquake in India. An intricate story of love and loss weaves together the emotional and intimate narratives of Ted, a pharmaceutical salesman turned member of the Disaster Assistance Response Team; his colleague Piotr, who still carries with him the scars of the Bosnia conflict.

Shruti and Aman were once inseparable. Theirs was a love that would last forever and more. Then, out of the blue, Shruti left Aman. A devastated Aman moved abroad in the hope of forgetting Shruti and to heal. Shruti married Rishabh. Now Aman is back in India and looking for a fresh start. But he is still haunted by memories of his love. Can he ever break free from it? His head tells him to move on, to find love with Anjali, but his heart won't listen. No matter what he does, Shruti's shadow looms large. Can there be a happily ever after for any of them?

Diagnosed as severely autistic at the age of three, Tito, nearly nonverbal, was brought up by his loving mother Soma, who taught him to read English and challenged him to write his own stories. The initial result was The Mind Tree, published in 2003, which Tito wrote between the ages of eight and 11. The Gold of the Sunbeams is an equally impressive, beautiful collection of stories, each prefaced by a charming note from Tito explaining how the story came into being.

Rosalba is a nine-year-old Mayan girl living in rural Mexico. Like her mother and grandmother, she weaves stories of her people onto blouses, ensuring that the age-old traditions continue. But new influences are entering her life. A ladina girl from the city, visiting with her scientist father, passes on the astonishing news that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. Rosalba knows nothing about that, but her village is faced with a bulldozer tearing through the forest, dying wildlife, and cornfields in danger.

Hill Mansion wasn't really a mansion; it was just a ramshackle hut on a small hill. But for Robert Pereira, it was better than any place he had seen in his village, Golvada. His chaddi buddies Anand and Baloo lived there with their elder brother Dattya - his hero and the village cricket team captain. Robert had named their hut Hill Mansion, moved by love for his buddies. It didn't matter to him that they were the sons of a domestic help.

When the superstar diva of the past decade doesn't want to play the hero's mother on screen, she insists that she be reshaped into the most beautiful woman in the world...by any means. This is just one of the many odd situations which plastic surgeon Dr. Dhruv faces in Mumbai. He dealt with tyrannical bosses and finicky patients while undergoing his training, during which he also won over a stunning doctor as his life partner. But satisfying the movie stars is a different ball game.

Most human beings hunger after riches and success. There are any number of management books which provide theories and techniques on how to become rich and successful. All of them advise us to chase Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, in order to make her our own. But the Indian approach to prosperity and fulfilment warns against the relentless pursuit of the goddess, writes noted thinker and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, as it will result in conflict. Rather, we have to give in order to get; we have to satisfy the hunger of others in order to satisfy our own.