Tat Tvam Asi by Pinky Acharya

Blurb (from the jacket):

Life's beautiful moments are all around us, if only one stops enough to notice. 

A random gesture of compassion has the power to reverberate multifold between a pair of strangers, a teacher's passion to fulfill her unsung duties goes a long way to mould a child's personality, a poor carpenter travelling a substantial distance to return a pittance proves his immense wealth of character, and sometimes, your own child surprises you with a maturity way beyond their years. These and many more soul-searching anecdotes are brought to you by Pinky Acharya to stir the spirit into thinking about the finer nuances of life.

Tat Tvam Asi (that art thou) is Pinky Acharya's veridical journey that propagates empathy through inner cleansing. As the title suggests, once realisation dawns that each one of us is a mere drop in the ocean of the Supreme Being - though a tiny extension of the same - it is difficult to have thoughts or perform actions that are unworthy of the Almighty.

Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer by Cyrus Mistry

Blurb (from the jacket):

At the very edge of its many interlocking worlds, the city of Bombay conceals a near invisible community of Parsi corpse bearers, whose job it is to carry bodies of the deceased to the Towers of Silence. Segregated and shunned from society, often wretchedly poor, theirs is a lot that nobody would willingly espouse. Yet thats exactly what Phiroze Elchidana, son of a revered Parsi priest, does when he falls in love with Sepideh, the daughter of an aging corpse bearer...

Derived from a true story, Cyrus Mistrys extraordinary new novel is a moving account of tragic love that, at the same time, brings to vivid and unforgettable life the degradation experienced by those who inhabit the unforgiving margins of history. 

Carrie by Stephen King

Blurb (from elsewhere):

A modern classic, Carrie introduced a distinctive new voice in American fiction -- Stephen King. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.

Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is...Carrie.

Reef by Romesh Gunesekera

Blurb (from the jacket):

At the age of eleven, Triton goes to work as a houseboy to Mister Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed with the island's disappearing reef. It was the biggest house he had ever seen. People from all over the world came here to sell their wares, to talk, to live, for this was where life took place. Even the sun would rise from the garage and sleep behind the del tree at night. But beyond Mister Salgado's house and their Sri Lankan village, there is a world falling apart and it is in this world that Triton must become a man. An absolute classic, Reef is a luminous coming of age novel.

The Guide by R. K. Narayan

Blurb (from the jacket): 

Railway Raju is a disarmingly corrupt tourist guide, who lives by his wits and falls in love with a beautiful dancer. More by chance than skill, he seduces her away from her husband, a lonely writer who is obsesses with local rock-carvings, and transforms her into a celebrity courted by wealthy and influential dignitaries wherever she performs. Raju makes and loses a fortune, finds himself in jail, and - through a series of hilarious, ironic circumstances - become one of India's great holy men.

The history of his success and unexpected fame has all the excitement of a suspense story, told with Narayan's customary tolerance and delightful humour. At the same time it raises many profound and disturbing questions.

THE GUIDE floats as gently as a lily pad on the surface of Indian life and yet suggests the depths beneath. It manages to describe a saint who is neither born nor made but simple happens, almost like a weather.