"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh PalEvery minute in life, you are at a crossroad. Do you feel it? The heart pounding, breathtaking, exhilaration of it all? If not, you aren’t alone.
This is a book for those moments when you feel stifled, constricted or just simply not where you want to be. Take a journey into a seemingly haphazard past spent off the beaten track. Starting with a disillusioned college kid and continuing on into the life of a somewhat grown man, these twelve tales offer entertainment but also insights into the true flavors of rural and urban life, rooted in an ancient yet developing country like India. Meet people whose trysts with their daily lives hold insights into friendship, love, justice, pain, inspiration and more. This is a book of both adventure and reflection. It is for the soul.
As the adage goes, ‘Truth and amla (wild gooseberry) are the same – they are bitter at first but sweet and healthy in their aftertaste.’ These stories deal with some questions that may well echo those that you hold. The meanings you derive from each story, or choose not to, should be of great interest to you, for therein lie the seeds of the learning in your own lives!
Rajeev Ahal
Born in 1965 in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh in India, Rajeev’s schooling took place in Jammu, Sanawar in Himachal and Delhi. His four years spent studying electrical engineering, marked a period during which many interesting life-changing experiences unfolded. Forfeiting a conventional career and responding to an inner urge, he lived and worked with tribal communities in Nadurbar in Maharashtra. Two years later, he returned to Himachal where he established and supported a host of initiatives and NGOs in the fields of environmental, social and economic development, while also advising on a number of government and bilateral development programmes.
He moved in 2004 with his family to Lesotho in Africa, where he advised the establishment of its first ever Local Government system. Followed by a short stint in Ghana, he moved to Mumbai in 2011, helping establish developmental projects throughout India for the social inclusion wing of a leading Indian company. In 2016, he went back to working for an international development agency. His thirty years of rural development work has seen Rajeev travel across 21 countries and most corners of India, experiencing the varied contexts of these societies.
He currently lives in Delhi, dividing time between his passion for his work and for bird watching, photography, travelling and reading.
