Bengali Books

Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, also spelled Isvarcandra Bidyasagar, (born Sept. 26, 1820, Birsingha, Midnapore district [India]—died July 29, 1891), Indian educator and social reformer considered the father of Bengali prose.

He was a brilliant student at Sanskrit College, Calcutta (now Kolkata), where he received the title Vidyasagar (“Ocean of Learning”), and in 1850 he was appointed head pandit (scholar-teacher) of Fort William College, Calcutta. A year later he became principal of Sanskrit College, where he promoted the study of English and admitted students of lower castes.

Vidyasagar was well-read in English literature and was influenced by Western ideas. Although an orthodox high-caste Brahman, he took a leading part in social reform movements, notably a successful campaign to legalize remarriage of widows, many of whom had been married for the first time in childhood. He opposed child marriage and polygamy and did much to promote the education of girls, but his reforming zeal met with much opposition from orthodox Hindus.

• From a small boy growing up in Rameswaram, to becoming the country’s eleventh President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s life has been a tale of extraordinary determination, courage, perseverance and the desire to excel.
• In this series of anecdotes and profiles, Dr Kalam looks back on key moments in his past-some small and some momentous-and tells the reader how each of them inspired him profoundly. With warmth and affection, he talks about the people who left a deep impression on him as he was growing up and as an adult, and the lessons he drew from his interactions with them.
• He describes those who have been the closest to him-his father with his deep love of God, his mother and her great kindness, his mentors who helped shape his thoughts and outlook. There are heart-warming accounts here of his childhood years spent in a small town by the Bay of Bengal and the many struggles and sacrifices made on the path to becoming a scientist and then the President of India.
• Dr Kalam also writes about the times when failure and dejection nearly overtook him and how he prevailed over those obstacles by drawing strength from books and spirituality. Nostalgic, honest, and deeply personal, My Journey is the story of a life as rich as it is unusual-and the beautiful lessons to be learnt from it.

• Novel on the Rajput heroes, courage. mixes history, epics, local traditions
• Very attractive and spell-bounding mythology.