A Tale of Two Countries- is a contemporary, mainstream novel about the first and second generation of immigrants of Asian Indian origin in pursuit of the American Dream- the rewards and woes it brings. At one level, the story explores alien psyche, emotional angst, dreams and conflicts of several interesting and multicultural characters, revolving around three friends settled in USA for over thirty years, who knew each from back home living in the same neighborhood in Delhi. On a deeper level, it is a moving and intricate love story (and stories) of these three characters, their unrequited loves, temporary affairs and arranged marriages, and redeeming value of their friendships- and ends when the trajectories of their lives make a sudden intersection at the WTC on 9/11. The major character of this story is Robin Arya, an engineer, failed entrepreneur (also called-a man with bullet in the head) shot during a robbery attempt at his Maryland store and taken to India by his parents who were visiting him in USA to attend the funeral of his wife. He miraculously survived with surgery and the only effects appear to be emotional- lucid dreaming and nostalgia for good old days both in India and USA. His childhood love is Vanita Mehra, the two of them were born on the same day in a hospital in Lahore but she ends up marrying Robin's friend (who tries to set her on fire and she kills him in self-defense), when he has to flee India during the Emergency Rule and ends up in USA while she moves to Canada and later starts working at the UN in New York. The book starts with a scene, in which Vanita Mehra has promised their precocious son Baby Michael that she will let him fly a kite from the top of WTC, which happens to be the fateful day of 9/11- they are both trapped on the roof of North Tower from where she makes a long farewell phone call to her newly wedded husband for recording in her lower Manhattan apartment since he is in India, reflecting on the twists and turns in their lives like in a Bollywood movie but eventually love had triumphed, and all the while she is talking, Baby Michael is unfurling his large pink kite so both of them can hang on to it- believing they can escape from the burning tower. And from here, the story moves backward in time in a non-linear narrative style that alternates back and forth in settings from India to Washington DC/Maryland suburbs. Two other major characters are Robin's friends: one of them is Naren "Nick" Grover, the crooked immigration lawyer who was married twice in USA and then went to India for arranged marriage to a woman lot younger than him and later has two daughters with her; and the third of triad of friends is Dr. Adi Shankar, a cardiologist who went to India for a visit and was forced into an arranged marriage to a woman from a business family by his parents and he did not have the courage to refuse- even though he was in love with this white American girl Autumn Rose of the beat generation to whom he was engaged and she was pregnant. Other minor characters in this book are: Robin's wife Ruby Joyce of mixed Indo-American Jewish origin who becomes a Buddhist nun, spending a year seeking nirvana in a solitary cave in the Himalayas, later dies of accidental drug overdose and was put in a cryogenic preservation ("American Ice Mummy") by her father Dr. Jason Joyce, a biotech scientist; Robin and Ruby Joyce's son Baby Michael, a "test-tube" born child prodigy; Robin's father, Rampal Arya- a retired journalist translating Urdu work of great poet Mirza Ghalib into English, and Robin's possessive mother Nandini; a Bollywood star Faroze Khan with whom Naren Grover's wife elopes to Bombay to get married; Dr Adi Shankar's illegitimate daughter Dawn Rose from his previous affair working in a topless bar in Washington DC, who shows up twenty years later at his son's wedding; and many others.

The setting of Stone Gods & Naked Lovers is in the magical landscape of a fictional city called Narkanda near the east coast of India, famous for its erotic temple sculptures as well as growing reputation as a hi-tech center. The main protagonist is Rahul Adam born out of a secret love affair between an American nurse Ruth Adam and a Catholic Missionary priest Father Mark Wayne Thomas of the Mission of Sacred Souls in Narkanda. Rahul Adam who spent first five years of his life as an orphan at the Mission returns quarter of a century later as the general manager of a multinational American Power Corporation (APC) that is establishing a power plant project in India. While searching for his roots and the priest, Rahul falls in love with an Indian woman reporter Rohini Rao who is being hunted herself and is on the run. Later on, he learns that the renegade priest had left the church long time ago and became the founder of a cult called the Lotus Eaters. The climax of this book takes place in a coastal town where body of the dead priest was being preserved by his followers in the belief that as promised, he would come back to life with the first Monsoon rain (and he almost does). The central motif of this book is Rahul Adam's search for his father and a doomed love affair with the Indian magazine reporter Rohini Rao. Story background includes some interesting Moslem characters, violence against Christians in India, and mass suicide of poor farmers in the drought stricken region. The book with strong plotting of a suspense novel is about search for identity, corrupt power politics, love, monsoon, rain and death.

AAA's... Quinolones and Fluoroquinolones: Man-made antibiotics... This book is designed to provide a detailed account on quinolones and fluoroquinolones. It is based on chemical and pharmacological principles which are necessary to understand synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and molecular mechanisms of drug action making it easy to read and understand for use by both undergraduate students of pharmacy and medicine, and postgraduate students of medicinalchemistry and pharmacology. Features at a glance: - Introduction to quinolone antibiotics - Classification - Structural developments, SAR and QSAR - Molecular mechanism of action - Antimicrobial spectrum & bacterial resistance - Synthesis of some important quinolones - Therapeutic uses.

Approaches to Water Sensitive Urban Design: Potential, Design, Ecological Health, Economics, Policies and Community Perceptions covers all aspects on the implementation of sustainable storm water systems for urban and suburban areas whether they are labeled as WSUD, Low Impact Development (LID), Green Infrastructure (GI), Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) or the Sponge City Concept. These systems and approaches are becoming an integral part of developing water sensitive cities as they are considered very capable solutions in addressing issues relating to urbanization, climate change and heat island impacts in dealing with storm water issues. The book is based on research conducted in Australia and around the world, bringing in perspectives in an ecosystems approach, a water quality approach, and a sewer based approach to stormwater, all of which are uniquely covered in this single resource.