The journey of a boy that began from a little-known village of Mathak in Gujarat, India, culminated in the creation of East Africa's biggest business groups to straddle the industrial world of steel, cement, infrastructure and aviation. This is the inspiring story of Narendra Raval, endearingly known as 'Guru', who began from the most humble beginnings to reach the zenith of his career through tireless hard work, an inherent business acumen and sheer tenacity. His autobiography, in collaboration with his dear friend and colleague, Kailash Mota, traces four decades in the life of Guru Bhai Narendra Raval. It is hard to believe that the astute businessman, who successfully built a US$ 650 million industrial empire, began his work life as a young, teenage priest in Nairobi, Kenya. Today, Guru Bhai runs his business empire with more than 4,500 employees spread across East Africa. He was also featured among the top 50 richest men in the Forbes Africa 2015 list. A fascinating, awe-inspiring autobiography, A Long Walk to Success is a legacy of wisdom and guidance for young entrepreneurs inspiring to walk in Guru Bhai's footsteps.

A riveting account of how a popularly elected leader has steered the world's largest democracy toward authoritarianism and intolerance Over the past two decades, thanks to Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalism has been coupled with a form of national-populism that has ensured its success at the polls, first in Gujarat and then in India at large. Modi managed to seduce a substantial number of citizens by promising them development and polarizing the electorate along ethno-religious lines. Both facets of this national-populism found expression in a highly personalized political style as Modi related directly to the voters through all kinds of channels of communication in order to saturate the public space. Drawing on original interviews conducted across India, Christophe Jaffrelot shows how Modi's government has moved India toward a new form of democracy, an ethnic democracy that equates the majoritarian community with the nation and relegates Muslims and Christians to second-class citizens who are harassed by vigilante groups. He discusses how the promotion of Hindu nationalism has resulted in attacks against secularists, intellectuals, universities, and NGOs. Jaffrelot explains how the political system of India has acquired authoritarian features for other reasons, too. Eager to govern not only in New Delhi, but also in the states, the government has centralized power at the expense of federalism and undermined institutions that were part of the checks and balances, including India's Supreme Court. Modi's India is a sobering account of how a once-vibrant democracy can go wrong when a government backed by popular consent suppresses dissent while growing increasingly intolerant of ethnic and religious minorities.

'This is not an attempt at literary writing; the passages featured in this book are reflections of my observations and sometimes unprocessed thoughts, expressed without filters... I am not a writer, most of us are not; but everybody seeks expression, and when the urge to unload becomes overpowering there is no option but to take pen to paper, not necessarily to write but to introspect and unravel what is happening within the heart and the head, and why.' -- Narendra ModiAs a young man, Narendra Modi had got into the habit of writing a letter to the Mother Goddess, whom he addressed as jagat janani, every night before going to bed. The topics were varied: there were seething sorrows, fleeting joys, lingering memories. In Modi's writings there was the enthusiasm of a youngster and the passion to usher in change.But every few months, Modi would tear up the pages and consign them to a bonfire. The pages of one diary, dating back to 1986, survived, however. These are now available in English for the very first time as Letters to Mother, in a powerful translation by Bhawana Somaaya.Modi describes these letters as conversations with the Mother Goddess: 'My feelings of fear ... of anxiety ... of distress... the ordinary feelings of an ordinary man.'

With a new prologue ‘Splendid . . . anyone who wants to understand Indian politics or think they do should read it’ -Indian Express ‘Delightfully written . . . he has a sharp eye for details, especially the actions of political leaders’ - India Today ‘Captures the drama of 2014 and the men who powered it’-Open ‘Holds you to your seat, often on the edge . . . A procession of India’s colourful political characters—Lalu Yadav, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi and many more come intimately close through the author’s accounts’ -The Hindu ‘Candid and forthright . . . and deliciously indiscreet’ -Hindustan Times ‘A racy narrative that goes beyond recording immediate political history’ -Tehelka The 2014 Indian general elections has been regarded as the most important elections in Indian history since 1977. It saw the decimation of the ruling Congress party, a spectacular victory for the BJP and a new style of campaigning that broke every rule in the political game. But how and why? In his riveting book, Rajdeep Sardesai tracks the story of this pivotal election through all the key players and the big news stories. Beginning with 2012, when Narendra Modi won the state elections in Gujarat for a third time but set his sights on a bigger prize, to the scandals that crippled Manmohan Singh and UPA-II, and moving to the back-room strategies of Team Modi, the extraordinary missteps of Rahul Gandhi and the political dramas of election year, he draws a panoramic picture of the year that changed India.

The essays in this volume demonstrate how the performance of sincerity is culturally specific and is enacted in different ways in different media and disciplines, including law and the arts.