Books
Father Dearest
"An extraordinary father; an extraordinary daughter."— The Hindu
A gripping biography of R.K. Dalmia, the most flamboyant character India produced in the last century. Like a meteor, he flashed across the firmament in a blaze of glory before being reduced to the ashes of ignominy in a prison, convicted of fraud. An old mixture of puritanism and profligacy and a sadist who tortured his family of six wives and eighteen children, he broke all the laws of God and man. Written by his daughter, Neelima Dalmia Adhar, who loved and loathed him with equal passion, this book makes most compelling reading. — Khushwant Singh
The Secret Diary of Kasturba
He is the Mahatma, a man the world venerates as a prophet of peace. But for Kastur, the child bride who married the boy next door, Mohandas was a sexually-driven, self-righteous, and overbearing husband.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was sworn to poverty, celibacy and the cause for India’s freedom; Kastur spent sixty-two years of her life, juggling the roles of a devoted wife, a satyagrahi and sacrificing mother, who was eclipsed because of a man who almost became God for India’s multitude. Gandhi was an intolerant father to Harilal, his wayward son, driven to debauchery; Kasturba paid the price for her son’s unending misery.
Kastur is long dead, but she lives on in the pages of her diary…. Renowned author Neelima Dalmia Adhar lays it bare to tell the world what it meant to be Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - in a gripping tale of unconditional love, passion, sex, ecstasy and the ultimate liberation that every woman seeks.
Merchants of Death
A sinister curse trails the House of Loya, a powerful Marwari family of arms dealers that head a vast conglomerate of industries. Leading oddly distorted lives where immorality and sexual perversions are infinitely glorified, they cruise along mindlessly even as they become victims of strange mishaps and untold tragedies.Bharat Loya, the firstborn in the third generation, grows up with a deep-rooted mother-fixation. He is afflicted with all the maladies of the upper class, with licentiousness and perversity steeped in his veins.In an unexpected turn of events, tumultuous political changes divest the family of their clout and they find themselves in an ugly wrangle with the government that threatens to bring them to ruination. Bharat Loya takes over as the head of business. With his deep pockets and a legitimate facade of hotelier-cum-airline-owner, he obliterates his rivals to become the uncrowned king of the whole immoral pack. Yet Bharat Loya is a troubled man.Set in India in the second half of the last century, the story gives a scathing insight into the lives of the Marwaris, also known as the Jews of India, highly religious, very private people who, at times, even lead lurid and decadent lives.