New Delhi, Apr 13 (IANS): Learn about 20 years of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC); know how to hustle your way into a great foreign internship and use internships as a springboard to find that dream job; flick through a thriller featuring schoolyard rivalries, the Backstreet Boys and a fat dollop of 90s nostalgia.
Finally, read the mysterious tale of a celebrity gynaecologist who gets embroiled in a controversy for allegedly performing sex selective abortions.
The IANS bookshelf has much to offer for this weekend.
1. Book: Twenty Years of Bimstec; Editor: Prabir De; Publisher: Knowledge World; Price: Rs 980; Pages: 292
The Bay of Bengal is an area growing in economic and strategic importance, derived from its position as the principal maritime connection between the Pacific and Indian Oceans and from the good economic prospects of many Bay of Bengal states. The BIMSTEC regional integration process has made substantial progress in recent years.
The Bay of Bengal could become the key economic connection between East and South Asia and a potential zone for Asian economic growth. An overarching priority for the BIMSTEC member-states would, therefore, be to further strengthen the regional integration process.
Today, BIMSTEC is celebrating 20 years of its establishment. In these two decades, BIMSTEC has progressed on the regional cooperation and integration fronts, whereas, it has, at the same time, faced several new challenges. This book reviews the past and provides new strategies to help BIMSTEC achieve a new paradigm of integration. It primarily deals with the regional cooperation and integration issues, and assesses policy priorities, effectiveness, implementation imperatives and challenges. It will be of special interests to policy planners, development organisations, academicians, researchers as well as potential investors.
2. Book: Intern Abroad This Summer; Author: Aniket Singh; Publisher: Notion Press; Price: Rs 249; Pages: 143
This book will show you how most students today are unaware that they can find a paid internship in a foreign university, and even if they do know, they do not bother applying, believing the field to be too crowded. Your years as a student are the most critical years of your life -- your building blocks to a great future. Simply focusing your student years working on getting good grades is just seeing half the picture. Internships, volunteering and practical experiences are what set you apart from the crowd much more than good grades.
This book will show you how to hustle your way into a great foreign internship and use it as a springboard to find that dream job, make personal connections that last a lifetime and travel the world as a student.
Sounds daunting? Find answers to all your queries on how you can land that dream internship, and many valuable tips in this book, written by Aniket Singh, an alumnus of IIT-Madras who currently works at Apple at their Headquarters in Cupertino, California. This book -- a must-have for all students aspiring to take control of their desired future -- will help you . Get an edge to make you stand out from the crowd of the millions of students looking for internships.
3. Book: Swear You Won't Tell?; Author: Vedashree Khambete Sharma; Publisher: Harper Black; Price: Rs 299; Pages: 234
Dead body, check. Disillusioned reporter, check. Dark and sinister secrets, check. When Mumbai Daily journalist Avantika Pandit is asked to interview her childhood nemesis Aisha Juneja, she knows it will be like an express bikini wax -- painful, but quick. Then Laxmi, her former best friend, shows up dead. And suddenly Avantika finds herself turning into the reporter she used to be -- a nosy little newshound with the self-preservation instincts of a dodo.
Now, she has to meet old acquaintances she'd hoped never to run into again, try to unravel the puzzle of Laxmi's death, and ask the questions nobody seems to be asking -- who is the man Laxmi was in love with? Why hasn't anybody heard of him? What does he have to do with her death? The answers could get her killed. But if the choice is between death and writing listicles, dying might not be that bad after all. Featuring schoolyard rivalries, the Backstreet Boys and a fat dollop of 90s nostalgia, "Swear You Won't Tell?" is part thriller, part whodunit, all fun.
4. Book: Hush A Bye Baby; Author: Deepanjana Pal; Publisher: Juggernaut; Price: Rs 350; Pages: 291
Dr Nandita Rai is the gynaecologist for the stars. She is on TV and radio every other week talking about women's issues. She is a South Mumbai feminist. Every woman wants Rai to be her doctor. Until the Mumbai police raid her clinic when they get a complaint that she does sex selective abortions.
Is the celebrity doctor aborting female foetuses? If she is, then the police need to build a watertight case. Dr Rai has friends in high places, her patients clam up and her paperwork is clean. The case seems to be going nowhere until Sub-inspector Reshma Gabuji begins to dig up Dr Rai's secret online presence and uncovers a ruthless vigilante group.