Patriotic Fervour at Vitasta!

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.

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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.

Buy your copy now!

Also upcoming is Unified Theatre Commands by Brigadier Ashok Pathak, which talks about the three services joining hands in routine exercises to defend the nation seamlessly on all fronts — land, air and sea. Theatre command exercises are the talk of the services ever since an Act passed in Parliament just last year made it a reality. Watch out for this book. It will be out next month and will tell you how the defence services are in the throes of change in their style of functioning.

In absolute contrast, we bring to you two delightfully illustrated children's books, Avi and KIA by Smriti Agarwal which has the robot KIA, the Know-It-All who makes living and learning fun for Avi as the robot takes the eight-year-old through the meaning of Janna-ganna-manna, the planets, and about the ills plaguing our planet in an insightful way. It's education for mothers and caregivers too as they read along with their children (and it was, for us editors, too!

You can learn a thing or two from Jai and the Vegetable Superheroes from acclaimed children's author, Rachna Chhabria, who brings alive the many hidden properties of essential vegetables in the guise of a midnight battle that Jai stages with the monsters of doom, the bacteria and the germs that lurk in dark corners of your kitchen in his midnight visit to fetch a glass of water.

Meanwhile, some of our books released last month are making the team at Vitasta, proud. Renu Kaul Verma, our director, knows books inside-out, having been in the publishing business since 2005. She knows what sells and what people want to read.

For me, who ventured into the book world after decades in the media with publications such as Femina, Delhi Times, Times of India and The Speaking Tree, books were always stress-busters, providing thrilling moments all through my life. Now, I find books are essential as knowledge-boosters, too. I find myself relishing non-fiction at Vitasta and find it fascinating when the author is especially gifted and can take his readers along into his subject, effortlessly.

Oswald Pereira is one such author who has written everything from crime fiction to spiritual books. He was invited by the Bookworms of Delhi for a tete-a-tete on his recently published Beyond Autobiography of a Yogi, a book that delves into the Autobiography of a Yogi in a new light and unearths the true visions behind and beyond the book, while exploring the core teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. The author said later that he was surprised at the level of interest young readers of the Bookworms club in Delhi showed towards all things spiritual, and of the interest in subjects like meditation and yoga.

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.