Towards the end of August, when the air was still rife with patriotic fervour, the editorial team at Vitasta began work on a series of books coincidentally all written by retired defence personnel — and so we had a pleasant month dealing with some absolute gentlemen authors on books that highlighted the importance of our three esteemed services, the army, navy and air force. The three books will not only attract readers belonging to the services and their enterprising families, but will also find a niche, target audience in scholars interested in matters of national security. The bouquet of books on the defence forces bring out the strength of character that lies behind these men and women in uniform and how their exemplary qualities keep our nation safe.
Retd Commodore P K Banerjee has penned an exciting account in Command of a Warship of the first Indian Naval warship's encounter with Somali pirates in the international waters of the Gulf of Aden in 2008. P K Banerjee talks about the many innovative service experiments he conducted while captaining the Navy's first-class warship, INS Tabar for more than a year. The reader will sail with the captain from port to port, some foreign, others Indian, as the book that is due for release this week in Kolkata's Fort Williams gives an insight into how our Indian Navy personnel safeguard our endless coastline and how they work together with other friendly countries in the neighbourhood while sailing in international waters. And if you have always wanted to know what life in the Navy is all about, this is your chance to do it.
If the account of life aboard INS Tabar fascinates you and you want to be part of the services, then definitely pick up SSB Simplified by our prolific Air Commodore Nitin Sathe, the author of Siachen Soldier and five other books all published by Vitasta. SSB Simplified is your sure-shot guide to clearing the rigorous five-day Services Selection Board interview for entry into the Armed Forces. The author has served both as the president of the SSB and as Director Training at NDA and we guarantee that there is no better book in the publishing circuit that will give you these valuable inside tips on cracking the SSB interview, known to be one of the most difficult and challenging in the world.
G V Subba Rao is another such captivating author. He has churned out page-turner in The Last Witness which has a famous ISRO-scientist getting caught in a ruthless game played out between political opponents. G V Subba Rao's high-profile launches with A-listers such as Shobha De and Moon Moon Sen have captivated readers. The question now on everyone's lips is: when is the captivating novel being made into a film? It has everything in it—a patriotic scientist, political controversies, and a brave young woman who teams up with a half-Indian, half-German autistic child to solve this whodunit. Definitely, worth a read — and worth catching on celluloid when it becomes a film!
The capital's reading fraternity had another treat this week, when Anurag Anand's Operation Bamboo Garden debuted at Kunzum café and reaped a bonanza in the media with coverage from Mid-day, Gurgaon Times and Ahmedabad Mirror. The Times of India's Gurgaon Times described it as a "gripping yet relatable story" and as "a fresh and modern take on spy-craft that is bound to leave its readers craving for more." Pick up your copy today either online or from bookshops. Senior journalist Smita Mishra who was among the panelists at the launch wanted to see it as a film with Aaliya Bhat and Rajkumar Rao playing the leads. She described it as a book with all the makings of a big-screen blockbuster. Let's hope we get to see it too — soon, on screen.
