HT Picks

REBUILD BY RAMYA RAMAMURTHY

420pp, Rs 599; Hachette

Over the years, prominent brands in India across product categories, both home-grown and multinational, have tackled crises – some unexpected and some self-inflicted, but each a defining factor in shaping the company’s future. In a first of its kind narrative, Rebuild brings together the stories behind some of India’s biggest businesses that dealt with potential disaster and emerged on the other side – either victorious or wiser.

Digging deep into the crisis management strategies adopted by companies such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Kingfisher, Tata Sons, Indian Premier League, Facebook, Uber, Nokia, Nestle Maggi Noodles and several more, this book analyses the steps that different organizations have taken to minimize damage to their brand, and describes how (if at all) they recovered.

Featuring interviews with top management executives as well as expert brand-watchers, Rebuild closely examines the circumstances that cause brands to falter – faulty products, leadership changes, disastrous sales cycles and competition activity, among others – providing invaluable insights that may serve as cautionary tales for organizations, both small and large.*

BEYOND DHARMA BY WENDY DONIGER

Rs 599, 226pp; Speaking Tiger

One of the world’s most acclaimed and engaging scholars of Hinduism presents a groundbreaking interpretation of ancient Indian texts and their historic influence on subversive resistance.

Ancient Hindu texts speak of the three aims of human life: dharma, artha and kama. Translated, these might be called religion, politics and pleasure, and each is held to be an essential requirement of a full and fulfilling life. Balance among the three is a goal not always met, however, and dharma has historically taken precedence over the other two qualities, or goals, in Hindu life. Here, Wendy Doniger offers a spirited and close reading of ancient Indian writings – especially Kautilya’s Arthasahastra and Vatsyayana’s Kamasutre – unpacking a long but unrecognized history of opposition against dharma.

Doniger argues that scientific disciplines (shastras) have offered lively and continuous criticism of dharma over many centuries. She chronicles the transition of veiled subversion, uncovers connections to key moments of resistance and voices of dissent throughout Indian history, and offers insights into the Indian theocracy’s subversion of science and exclusivist version of religion today. *

MY HUSBAND AND OTHER ANIMALS 2 BY JANAKI LENIN

317pp, Rs 499; Westland

My Husband and Other Animals, Janaki Lenin’s first book, was lauded by readers and critics alike. With this compilation, she returns with more stories of the quirky and wonderful life she shares with her husband, Rom Whitaker, and an array of wild creatures from leopards to king cobras.

Janaki’s enthusiasm and passion for the wild finds a voice in the pages of her book, while her curiosity about the world she inhabits infuses these light-hearted, yet thought-provoking stories with unique insight. As much a chronicle of Janaki and Rom’s unusual life as it is a wild and eventful journey, My Husband and Other Animals 2: The Wildlife Adventure Continues is a witty, delightful read.*

*All copy from book flap.