Books

My interest in books started early. I started to buy books I wanted to read; my view is that whatever is good enough to read is good enough to own. I never did like the bland and uninspiring interiors of University and public (Indian) libraries.

Books entered my life seriously the day I stepped through the portals of the University of Delhi for my Bachelor's (Honours) in literature. Since then, I have made sudden transitions between genres – from (mostly British) literature to Russian, Chinese, and Indian; then to poetry of all sorts. I studied Buddhism for a long time. Indic literature followed quickly and has stayed with me since. Meanwhile, I am surprised I added central Asian history!.

I attempted a serious study of the Vedic corpus with the expert (and dear friend), Kiron Krishnan but failed miserably as a few realizations quickly sank in: translations were not enough, and the highly nuanced nature of Vedic made it impossible to study it by myself. I will forever be grateful to Kiron for wasting so much time on me!

The Mahābhārata has been an addiction since I read an abridged version; before I say adios finally, it is my aim to read the complete epic! I am awed by the complexity of the human mind, so psychology – introduced to me by my dear friend and guide, Professor Rooshi Kumar Pandya – has been an abiding curiosity.

English

• Autobiography of a Yogi – Parmahansa Yogananda.
• I Am That – Nisargadatta Maharaj (tr. Maurice Frydman).
• The Inner World – Sudhir Kakar*.
• Shamans, Mystics, and Doctors – Sudhir Kakar.
• Kamasutra – Vātsyāyana (tr. Wendy Doniger* and Sudhir Kakar).
• The Fifty Minute Hour – Robert Lindner.
• Rig Veda – Tr. Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton.
• Japanese Death Poems – Compiled by Yoel Hoffman.
• The Cane Groves of Narmada River – Robert Schelling.
• The Gift – Poems of Hafiz, tr. Daniel Ladinsky.
• The Great Game – Peter Hopkirk*.
• Ashoka – Charles Allen*.
• Genghis Khan – Jack Rutherford.
• Raga'n Josh – Sheila Dhar.
• Deception – Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott Clarke*.
• Return of a King – William Dalrymple.
• The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi (tr. Thomas Cleary).
• When Daylight Comes – Howard Murphet.
• Secret Tibet – Fosco Maraini.
• Crazy Wisdom – Chögyam Trungpa.
• My Journey to Lhasa – Alexandra David-Neel.
• The Zen Life – Koji Sato and Sosei Kuzunishi.
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind – Shunryu Suzuki.
• The Opening of Tibet – Perceval Landon.
• J Krishnamurti – Mary Lutyens.
• Lives in the Shadows – Radha Rajagopal Sloss.
• The Monk as Man – The Unknown Life of Swami Vivekananda, Sankar.
• The Man Who Planted Trees – Jean Giono.
• The Yoga of the Yogi – The Legacy of T Krishnamachari – Kaustubh Desikachar.
• Conversations with Yehudi Menuhin – David Dubal.
• Nada Brahma – The World is Sound, Joachim-Ernst Berendt*.
• A History of the Sikhs – Khushwant Singh.
• Travels on My Elephant – Mark Shand.
• The Big Book of Jewish Humor – Ed. William Novak and Moshe Waldoks.
• Sacred Plants of India – Nanditha Krishnan and M Amirthalingam.
• The Elephant Whisperer – Lawrence Anthony.
• Elephant Bill – Lt. Col. JH Williams.
• Honorary Tiger – The Life of Billy Arjan Singh - Duff Hart-Davis.
• Poems of the Masters - China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse – Red Pine.
• Lasting Songs of Chinese Poets – Kong Shiu Loon.
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Matsuo Bashō.
• Bodywatching – Desmond Morris*.
• How to Feed a Dictator – Witold Szabłowski.
• Creation – Gore Vidal.
• A Dual Autobiography – Will and Ariel Durant.
• The Anabasis of Alexander – Arrian (tr. EJ Chinnock).
• Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation – Ian Stevenson.
• Madame Curie – Eve Curie (tr. Vincent Sheean).
• Gem in the Lotus – Abraham Eraly*.
• My Life as an Explorer – Sven Hedin*.
• Soldiers of God – Robert E Kaplan.
• Lahore – Pran Neville.
• Day by Day with Bhagavan – A Devaraja Mudaliar.
• One Robe One Bowl – The Zen Poetry of Ryōkan – Tr. John Stevens.
• Teachings of Hafiz – Tr. Gertrude Lowthian Bell.
• Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama – Geoff Waters.
• Baudelaire – 18 Poems – AS Kline
• Atilla Josef – Atilla Josef.
• Stéphane Mallarmé – Selected Poems – AS Kline.
• Endre Andy – Adam Makkai.
• Yehuda Amichai – Yehuda Amichai.
• The Lion of the Punjab – Gama – Graham Noble.
• The Art of India Through the Ages – Stella Kramrisch*.
• Zen in the Art of Archery – Eugen Herrigel.
• Samaya Mātrikā - The Courtesan's Keeper - Kshemendra (tr. Aditya Narayan Dhairyasheel Haksar).
• Aryans - Charles Allen.
• Asterix
• Tintin

[* All books by the author]