Books

Literary reviews , interviews and other features.

Tipu Sultan: Image & Distance

A new book and exhibition on the controversial ruler separate the monarch from the myth ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. A few years ago, Delhi Art Gallery acquired a seminal work, “The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultan”, painted in England after the death in 1799 of the Tiger of …

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One Man, Many Lives: Bhagwan Singh and the Early South Asians in America

Anuradha Kumar’s book about early South Asian immigration to America is as compelling as her subjects ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. Identity and immigration history, race, revolution and Hollywood come together in this fascinating book, which grew out of a series author Anuradha Kumar wrote on early South Asians in America …

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Book Review: Qabar by K.R. Meera

K.R. Meera plays with different kinds of vision in Qabar, recently translated by Nisha Susan ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. A perfect book cover is rare enough that sometimes it’s worth taking into account when judging a book. This is true of the new English translation of KR Meena’s 2020 novella …

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Vikram Seth: A Life in Verse

An interview with Vikram Seth ♦ A version of this interview was originally published in India Today. After the buzz around BBC’s adaptation of A Suitable Boy, a new collector’s series of Vikram Seth’s poetry puts the spotlight on the author’s poetic accomplishments. The seven volumes showcase the breadth of Seth’s genius and the recurrent …

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Book Review: Against White Feminism

In her new book, Rafia Zakaria argues that white feminists must revise their notions of equality ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. Among the statement clothing on display at this year’s Met Gala was a gown worn by US Representative Carolyn Maloney, in suffragette colours, festooned with sashes proclaiming ‘Equal Rights for …

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Writing in Past Continuous

An interview with Sunjeev Sahota ♦ A version of this interview was originally published in India Today. By his own admission, British writer Sunjeev Sahota’s novels “tend to come down to a few brown people living in north England or India”. But within this framework, Sahota wove richly detailed lives and unique voices in his …

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Darkness in Delhi

As Delhi’s lives are looted again, the architecture of the city too shifts beneath our feet ♦ A version of this op-ed was originally published on The Quint, during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India. It is possible to miss a city while still living in it. Delhi in particular is subject …

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Links in the Food Chain

In Indranee Ghosh’s memoir, food becomes a metaphor for inclusion ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. In the introduction to her food memoir “placed in the east of India”, Indranee Ghosh astutely notes that when everything else has changed “what we as a family have not lost is the food we ateperhaps the only …

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Killing Snobbery Softly

Anuja Chauhan takes a stab at the murder mystery genre and skewers elitism in the process ♦ This story was originally published in India Today. It’s hard to say whether the characters in Anuja Chauhan’s five previous novels were as loathsome as the ones in her newest, Club You to Death, or whether elite Indian …

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