Progress...Not So Much In times past, the shoemaker, or cobbler, was as important as a cooper (barrel maker), blacksmith, lumberman, or cattleman. In fact, maybe he was more important since all the other trades needed his services to perform theirs. Everyone needed shoes, but where would the lumberman be without proper boots, belts, and suspenders? How about the chaps the range riders used to protect their legs from briars and thistles? Halters, bridles, reigns, buggy whips, and saddles were just some of the products a cobbler would produce. And in time they would all need repair. Gloves and many types of protective gear were made of leather. Hides were abundantly available from buffalo, bison, deer, elk, and smaller animals, such as rabbit, raccoon, fox, coyote, wolf, and other small species. Many cobblers were artists with the ability to transform raw material into something beautiful and comfortable with the expertise of a tailor or dressmaker. Doctors would write prescriptions for special attention in balancing a patient's stand by modifying their shoes. And someone had to be able to change the color of a leather product to comply with a customer's needs. This book opens the door on the private lives of two cobblers. My father and grandfather enjoyed the work they did, and as world production of inexpensive and inferior shoes took over the market, they found it too costly to compete. Aurel Dikin Sr. was the younger, but taller of the two shoemakers. The stories are my parents' stories, which I promised I would put together and share in my memory and love for them. Both have passed away years ago, and I'm honored to share their memories.

The early 1980s in a village called Dalmapur is seemingly perfect. But decades since the country attained its independence, vestiges of untouchability and caste-based discrimination still remain. Twelve-year-old Aryali, born in a family of cobblers, is not spared from the prejudices. As an illiterate boy belonging to a lower caste, his name is constantly distorted. He is forced to respectfully address boys of the same age as ‘babu’, the name he secretly wishes for himself. Amid poverty and struggle, with his parents and grandparents wishing him to be an expert cobbler soon, he is doing all that he should while keeping aside all that he wants. But a chance discovery of an old, tattered book, which stirs something deep in Aryali’s heart, followed by an unfortunate situation that forces his family to move to a town called Jaihind, might change the direction of his life forever. After all, isn’t that the need of the hour? Change. Jaihind Made the Cobbler a Novelist is a story that gives a voice to the lowest strata of our society and appeals to our conscience, emotions and need for betterment.

A psychoanalyst is ready to marry a nice, simple girl on the morrow and is hearing his last clients today: a man who confesses to an old affair with the doctor's fiancee, a wife who had a big fight with her husband, and the husband who is also an old flame in the life of the doctor's fiancee. The doctor loses his scientific calm but manages to gain a professional moral as he embarks on a honeymoon abroad.

"Teddy and the Mystery Deer" by Howard Roger Garis. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.