Geetha’s seemingly perfect world is shattered when she loses her husband of five years, forcing her into a period of introspection.
Her younger brother, Yuva, has to confront his own prejudices as his relationship with his partner gradually crumbles by the day.
Sabitha-their cousin and the youngest of the three-is about to reveal a secret that she had kept from her family for many years, and has to live with the repercussions.
As they deal with their personal troubles, the cousins encounter and bond with other Malaysian Indians who are trying to break the shackles of tradition.
Together, they attempt to reconcile their identities with their culture and heritage, while realising that acceptance is sometimes found in the unlikeliest of places.
Archives: Books
Depth of Field
Depth of Field, deftly combines the self-help book with the activity book. Prefaced by epigraphs from Freud, Jung and Lacan, this book comprises 37 creative exercises, which may also be read as prompts or riddles. Accompanied with illustrations for ekphrastic inspiration, this book premises its ethos on the idea of writing as witness, investigating how people engage with their personal history through writing, and render particular experiences through the fine act of deeply felt writing.
The collaborative engagement approaches writing as a powerful means of healing, in excavating buried emotions and expressing them in such purposeful intimation. Depth of Field excellently spans a wide-ranging demographic of reader, from the adolescent to young adult, mature reader to retired elderly. The exercises work with such thoughtful complexity, so much so that they come across at once accessible and intellectual. These are easy to read, yet compelling in their introspective scope.
Depth of Field, a guided journal is also a reminiscent of activity books during childhood, filled with games and puzzles that encourage meaningful, self-initiated activities. In the same manner in which such books kept us occupied and entertained, Depth of Field is meant to be immersive, allowing readers to interact with the various prompts. Each prompt helps the reader to explore some aspect of the self, mining deep memories, emotions and values. Through the fine process of writing-this can cross genres to include nonfiction, poetry and fiction-readers reacquaint with their inner selves, developing a deeper sense of where they are in their life journey.
Engaging Millennials
By 2025, Millennials will form 75% of the global workforce and more than half of them (58% of global Millennials) are living in Asia! As this huge demographic surges towards becoming a substantial contributor to Asia’s workforce, organisations continue to face engagement and retention challenges while balancing the need to stay relevant in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.
Archaic methods of management do not deliver success with the new breed of employees. Instead, the outdated model leaves Millennials uninspired and unmotivated to produce results. Like any generation of workers, performance lies in management-if you’re not getting what you need from your Millennials, it’s time to learn how to lead them the way they need to be led. To get the best out of Millennials, it is imperative for leaders to modify their current management style.
While the pop culture narrative would have us believe that Millennials are entitled, lazy, spoiled brats- Millennials are the generation of change: highly adaptive, bright, and quick to take on a challenge. If the different generations can learn how to collaborate in a way that capitalises on their strengths and compensates for their weaknesses, it will inspire a knowledge sharing inevitably encourages the crosspollination of ideas which can spark major innovation
Best practices and proven strategies from Google, Netflix, LinkedIn, and other top employers provide real-world models for effective management, and new research on first-wave versus second-wave Millennials helps you parse the difference between your new hires and more experienced workers. You’ll learn why flex time, social media, dress code, and organizational structure are shifting, and answer the all-important question: How do we engage Millennials?
Millennials are the product of a different time, with different values, different motivations, and different wants. This book shows you how to bring out their best and discover just how much they’re really capable of.
16 Swipes
After reading this book, sixteen very red faced men should give up online dating. Your dates have now spoken.
16 Swipes: The Other Perspective takes you on a journey of discovery through a rinse cycle of Tinder dates, personal encounters, and struggles, as women navigate the sea of online profiles in search of a soulmate. Through a fair number of swipes, you’ll smile, split your sides laughing and be thankful to have dodged these yourself. Beyond the humour, you will gain insights into the relationships to avoid, situations to extract and the men you should never get serious with. Mistakes are shared so you gain valuable dating lessons.
The Elephant Trophy and Other Stories
The Elephant Trophy and Other Stories is a collection of 18 slice-of-life short stories featuring nuanced and diverse depictions of the Indian community in Malaysia. The overall theme of this collection echoes the outer and inner demons that possess the Malaysian Indian community. Specifically, the stories dictate the outlook of their lives as both Indians and Malaysians. The collection covers themes such as socio-politics, socio-economic imbalance, gender issues, social class juxtaposed to community values.
Grandma’s Gangsta Chicken Curry and Gangsta Stories from My Hippie Sixties
He is no longer him, today. At ten, he saw a chicken beheaded in his backyard, he too, an accomplice. He roamed his village, sometimes barefoot, wading through streams, backyards of his neighbors’ houses where young men were high, smoking ganja. He once saw a group of men in red headbands with Arabic words on them, ready to march to the capital city to slaughter many.
He fought demons, wept when the family dog died battling a cobra. He saw men in a trance, munching on broken glasses and hibiscus petals, high on Javanese trance-dance music, turning into horses. A spaceship landed on the school field. He thought he died, shot by Martians.
He was saved from being a Taliban. Saved by the music of the American Hippies. He confronted a boy in a green robe and white turban, preaching jihad against Western music. He chased the young mullah out of the school.
His story told in the language of the Sixties. Of Beat poetry. Of rap, joyfully, he now narrates with melancholy.
Racket and Other Stories
‘You will keep hearing the insistent racket of these stories long after you set this fine collection down.’
-Professor Darryl Whetter, author of the cli-fi novel Our Sands
This collection of short stories exposes the minuscule rebels trapped inside many of us – the obedient, law-abiding tenants – living in Singapore who are trying to break out of conforming to the country’s conservative social norms, risking stigma and gossip. On one extreme, a minority of us have the courage to let the recalcitrant rebels take charge from the beginning in order to live as we wish. Others may require some external nudging to act, yet some may ultimately still retreat to the status quo, to a prescribed acceptable social behaviour, instead of risking any fracas.
Around the World in 68 Days
Around The World In 68 Days is a travelogue with a big difference – not about how to get there, what to see or where to dine, but instead, seeking to glean insights into the meaning of life and the true nature of human societies, using the lens of the brand attributes of each territory to look more clearly into the kaleidoscope of humanity. In a time of a global pandemic, this is also a type of memoir, a tribute to travel, of a pre-Covid-19 world. This is like a 68-day extravaganza of ichigo ichie, the Japanese concept of cherishing every worthwhile
moment.
Singaporean writer Koh Buck Song – author and editor of more than 30 books – distils the quintessential brand essence of very different cultures in 13 countries across four continents. He draws from his experience and perspectives as a country brand adviser, advocate of liveable and sustainable cities, and commentator on society and public policy. Koh, also a poet and artist, opens each chapter with his own haiga artwork of a haiku poem with an ink sketch. These artworks complement this book’s effort to capture and interpret shared humanity across the globe – what makes each of us unique, what we share, and how, in the end, perhaps we’re all really chasing ultimately similar dreams.
Speed of Lightness
Kyoto University student Aozora Fujiwara has been playing too much mah-jong and now he’s deep in debt. When Aunt Okane (‘money’) dies and leaves a collection of priceless art to him and his sister, Mai, he thinks his problems are solved. But they’re only just beginning: Mai’s disappeared and he can’t liquidate the estate without her. The quest that ensues takes Aozora to the deep south of Japan and the unlikely setting of a
Dutch theme park called, Amsterland…
The joy in Sherwood’s tale is in Aozora’s madcap journey, during which he meets a slew of silly-and often sinister-souls. Among them: an oyster-loving businessman who sells lifelike inflatable dolls, and a corpulent crime boss who looks like a cross between Liberace and Kim Jong-Il. In his carefully woven descriptions, Sherwood shows unusual insight into a fastchanging society of disaffected youth and sleazy governance. This picaresque on steroids offers a refreshingly irreverent look at contemporary life in a not entirely implausible Japan.
Last Kid Running: Night of the Six Headed Robogator
Welcome to Book 2 of the thrilling LAST KID RUNNING gamebook series, where YOU decide how the story unfolds. You are Runner X, one of six eager contestants on the biggest reality show streaming on the mobile web.
This time, you’re taken to a secret venue in Indonesia. The enigmatic Dr Yamato has created a massive Run Dome filled with crazy technological inventions to challenge you and amuse his viewers.
You’re prepared to face anything, even the intimidating Six Headed Robogator. But the night gets creepy. And you can’t help feeling that the Run Dome hides a nasty surprise in its shadows.
Will you be too overwhelmed to outrun the others? Or do you have what it takes to be the LAST KID RUNNING? Quick, open the book and find out!