God Is a Gamer

On 8 November, when the clock strikes 8, your money will be no good. Somewhere on the India-Nepal border, a car full of passengers swerves off a highway and plunges into a valley, its trunk full of cash. In the UK, a Bollywood starlet wins Big Survivor, the most popular reality TV show in the country. In Panama, Central America, a whistle-blower at a law firm brings down billionaires across the globe. And in India, a new RBI Governor is appointed. Aditya Kesavan is dynamic, charismatic and ambitious. He's about to carry out the most brazen act of his life.

Bankers build their careers on trust, or so everyone thinks, till a series of murders threaten to destroy the reputation that the Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2) has built over the years. Who is behind these killings, and what is their motive? When Karan Panjabi, press reporter and ex-banker, digs deeper, he realizes that he has stumbled upon a global conspiracy with far-reaching ramifications - a secret that could not only destroy the bank but also cast a shadow on the entire nation.

India, 3400 BCE. A land in tumult, poverty and chaos. Most people suffer quietly. A few rebel. Some fight for a better world. Some for themselves. Some don’t give a damn. Raavan. Fathered by one of the most illustrious sages of the time. Blessed by the Gods with talents beyond all. Cursed by fate to be tested to the extremes. A formidable teenage pirate, he is filled with equal parts courage, cruelty and fearsome resolve. A resolve to be a giant among men, to conquer, plunder and seize the greatness that he thinks is his right.

Welcome back to the shadowy and addictive world of Ashwin Sanghi. After The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key and The Sialkot Saga, Ashwin Sanghi returns at last with another quietly fearsome tale - this time of men who guard the ‘Kalachakra’, or The Wheel of Time. Sanghi describes a world of people at war with one another - a boomeranging conflict of faiths that results in acts of such slow and planned human cruelty that they defy human imagination.

It is a popular belief that the Ramayana is idealistic while the Mahabharata is realistic. Yet these two epics have identical building blocks, identical themes, and identical history. In this groundbreaking book, Devdutt Pattanaik, India’s most popular mythologist, explores the similarities and dissimilarities between the two epics in a ‘playful analaysis’. Whether it is the family structure, forest exile, or war, the comparison between the two epics prove a startling point - the Mahabharata is in fact a reaction to the events in the Ramayana.

Pallavi is an aspiring writer living in California. Her mother, Usha, is thousands of miles away in Delhi - and obsessed with finding her daughter a husband. In Madhuri Shekar’s ingenious Evil Eye, hilarious back-and-forth via phone and social media takes a shocking, supernatural twist when Pallavi meets the perfect man - leading to a climactic showdown that will leave listeners on the edges of their seats.

A new expat CEO, a bank riddled with losses in its retail banking business, mind-numbing politicking amongst the honchos, aggressive loan sales guys battling the listless credit folks - Greater Boston Global Bank(GB2) seems to be like any other foreign bank. Till it all changes one day when Ronald McCain, CEO of GB2, is hurriedly pulled out of his morning team huddle and summoned by the RBI Governor. What ensues thereon is something Ronald is least prepared for.

Paperback king Aditya Kapoor's life is straight out of a modern man's fantasy. His literary stardom is perfectly balanced by a loving wife and a spectacular career. With everything he touches turning to gold, Aditya is on a winning streak. Shreya Kaushik is a student with a heart full of ambition. Young, beautiful, and reckless, Shreya speaks her mind and obsessively chases after what she wants. And what she wants is to be a bestselling author.

Asoka the Great discovers an ancient and terrible secret - a secret buried deep in the Mahabharata; a secret that could destroy the world; a secret hidden away for over 2,300 years....

Sometime in 2016, a series of dialogues took place which set out to find a meeting ground, even if only an illusion, between A.S. Dulat and Asad Durrani. One was a former chief of RAW, India's external intelligence agency, the other of ISI, its Pakistani counterpart. As they could not meet in their home countries, the conversations, guided by journalist Aditya Sinha, took place in cities like Istanbul, Bangkok and Kathmandu.  

Five years after 26 / 11, the siege of terror in Mumbai that brought the country to its knees, India still seeks justice. The terrorists who planned it have disappeared into the darkness they emerged from, and Mumbai seethes with fury. All the Indian government has achieved is the establishment of counterterrorism committees. But one man will stop at nothing in his quest to avenge the dastardly act.

When 26-year-old Ayan is sent to live with his grumpy old grandfather Gopal Shanker in a tiny village in Kerala, he is understandably devastated. What can a sleepy, idyllic village without even internet connectivity offer a young man?

At the heart of India’s most powerful empire, a revolution is brewing. Bhishma, the noble patriarch of Hastinapura, is struggling to maintain the unity of his empire. On the throne sits Dhritarashtra, the blind King, and his foreign-born Queen - Gandhari. In the shadow of the throne stands Kunti, the Dowager-Queen, burning with ambition to see her firstborn become the ruler, acknowledged by all. And in the wings: Parashurama, the enigmatic Guru of the powerful Southern Confederate, bides his time to take over and impose his will from mountains to ocean.

The dark age of Kali is rising, and every man and woman must choose between duty and conscience, honour and shame, life and death.... The Pandavas, banished to the forest following the disastrous games of dice, return to Hastinapura. Draupadi has vowed not to bind her hair till she washes it in the blood of the Kauravas. Karna must choose between loyalty and gratitude, friend and Guru. Aswathama undertakes a perilous mission to the mountains of Gandhara, in search of the Evil One. Kunti must decide between her firstborn and her other sons.

In 334 BC Alexander the Great begins his conquest of the Persian Empire. But his plans for everlasting glory do not end there, and the young king marches towards the Ends of the Earth - the lands of the Indus - on a secret quest. It will lead him to an ancient secret concealed in the myths of the Mahabharata - a secret that is powerful enough to transform him into a god. Present day. In Greece the ancient tomb of a queen is discovered, a tomb that has been an enigma for over 2,000 years.