Akhil Katyal chronicles Delhi’s many moods in his new poetry collection ♦ Originally published in India Today. The last line of Agha Shahid Ali’s poem “Chandni Chowk, Delhi” gives Akhil Katyal’s new book its title, but the entire collection seems impelled by the poem’s opening command—“Swallow this summer street…” In these Delhi poems, Katyal imbibes …
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ Kiran Dua wears sparkly red bangles over her workout gloves, and a bindi and earrings over her polyester sports-shirt. Her arms bulge as she easily chest presses two dumbbells. “Give me heavier weights,” she says, “I’ll lift those too.” The 41-year-old housewife is …
In Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, dangers lurk in the long shadows of Nithari and Nirbhaya ♦ Originally published in India Today. Smog meanders through the pages of Deepa Anappara’s moving debut novel; an oppressive presence, like one of the malevolent djinns that nine-year-old Jai worries might be behind a series of …
Suñatā Samantā: Emptiness Equality invites you to look beyond the obvious in art to see discontent and dissent ♦ Originally published in India Today. Scribbled on the back of a landing, positioned so that you see them as you walk down the stairs when leaving Suñatā Samantā, are two scraps of text in Hindi and …
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ Zarina* saw Abhishek* for the first time in the music room of her school in Kanpur. She remembers the exact date in 2012, because it was Teacher’s Day and she was wearing a yellow suit instead of her uniform. He was thin and …
The Book of Love: Interfaith Relationships in Uttar Pradesh Read More »
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ “This is how it happens during elections,” Priya* tells us during an interview in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. She’s an MSc Physics graduate from Atarra College, Bundelkhand University, but as a Dalit, doesn’t feel she can speak freely without anonymity. “There’s some Panditji, and some …
A Tale of Two Universities: Student Politics, Caste and Compromises Read More »
Part of the Khabar Lahariya premium long-form series on , “Sound Fury & 4G”. Read online at https://khabarlahariya.org/a-dream-of-flight-innovators-in-rural-aviation/
Accidental Magic, Keshava Guha’s debut novel, ponders Harry Potter fandom but is light on geeky delights. ♦ Originally published in India Today. Since Harry Potter debuted in 1997, books, films and fan material related to J.K. Rowling’s novels have proliferated faster than cursed objects in a vault at Gringotts. There are academic treatises, pop literary …
Perumal Murugan remembers Amma in his latest book. ♦ Originally published in India Today. I’d been waiting a couple of days to hear back from the writer Perumal Murugan, via an editor who promised to translate my questions into Tamil and his replies to English. That this kind of exchange is possible at all is …
Irwin Allan Sealy’s Trotter-Nama comes alive for the third time. ♦ Originally published in India Today. It’s hard to imagine that the author of a book as gargantuan, complex and exuberant as The Trotter-Nama ever suffered such a crisis of faith in his creation — which had been out of print for an extended period — that …