Muhammad Iqbal 'Allama' (Author)
Muhammad Iqbal 'Allama' (1877-1938) is best remembered in India for 'Saare jahaan se acchha', recited to this day as an alternate anthem. A pre-eminent poet of India in the early twentieth century, he eulogized the land and its peoples with his mellifluous verse. He published several collections, including Baang-e-Daraa (1924), Javed-Naama (1932) and Baal-e-Jibreel (1935). In his later years he became the voice of Islam in India, advocating its causes through his writings, particularly The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1930), his poetry and public speeches. In Pakistan today, he is regarded and cherished as a founding father.
Arunava Sinha (Translator)
Arunava Sinha translates classic, modern and contemporary Bengali fiction and non-fiction into English. Twenty-eight of his translated works have been published so far. Born and brought up in Calcutta, he lives and works in Delhi.
The breathtaking story of a feisty young girl
Fifteen-year-old Rasha is abandoned by her mother in a village with her aged-and probably mad-grandmother. Uprooted from h
er school and her friends back in cosmopolitan Dhaka, a disgruntled Rasha has to start life afresh in a faraway place with no electricity, incessant rains, nosy neighbours and a primitive school.
Refusing to resign to the circumstances, Rasha rises against them and turns indomitable. Exposing a bullying teacher, nipping a child marriage in the bud, learning to take a boat to school and teaching her classmates how to use computers-these are only a few of this young girl's incredible exploits!
But just as Rasha settles into her new life, new friends in tow, she is confronted by a nightmarish past that once ravaged her family.
Will Rasha survive this daunting, and astounding, adventure?
