Closet Politics of the Not-Gay Man
Imagine the Raymond man of the past teleported to 2022. What does he find? The not-gay man ready to unleash his inner ‘camp’ and step out of rusty, old patriarchal taste
Lost and Found: The Forest Diaries of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
One morning, he is up very early. The dial of the wristwatch next to his bed says 4.30 a.m. Restless, he steps outside the bungalow for some fresh air. All around him, the land is still, covered in moonlight.
Why Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha appeals even 100 years later
In 1922, as Europe and America were picking themselves up from the rubble of the Great War, the literary muses decided to bestow their bounty on a generation of readers living during the high noon of modernism.
Upamanyu Chatterjee's Villainy is the right blend of masala
On the jacket of the hardcover edition of Upamanyu Chatterjee’s new novel, his publisher describes the book as “a meticulously crafted literary thriller”. That sounds right if you go by the plot summary. But once you have read a couple of pages, this phrase begins to feel rather limited, barely conveying a whiff of the uproariously kinky energy with which Villainy bristles.
Why ‘Behind The Beautiful Forevers’ still resonates
On a freezing January morning in 2012, as a handful of publishers, journalists, writers and bibliophiles headed for the annual Jaipur Literature Festival on the early morning Shatabdi Express from Delhi, the buzz around the compartment was about one book alone: the American journalist Katherine Boo’s Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity, which was hot off the press and had created a major stir, especially in India.
Suniti Namjoshi: In the wonderland of history, fiction and myth
Few contemporary writers own the epithet of a “fabulist” with as much sass as 81-year-old Suniti Namjoshi. The word, deriving from the Latin fabula (“story”), refers to a storyteller. But it could equally mean a liar, a compulsive teller of tales. The best fabulists are masters of the art of fibbing. They inhabit a morally dubious, if exciting, universe, where conventional beliefs about life and art, gender and sexuality, right and wrong, turn topsy-turvy.
The natural world of Mary Oliver
In 1972, the year when the UN designated 5 June as World Environment Day at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, a quiet revolution was taking place in another corner of the world. The American poet and essayist Mary Oliver had just published her second book, The River Styx, Ohio And Other Poems. At 37, she was moderately well-known, but only three books away from winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.
The God Of Small Things is still relevant after 25 years
In 1997, when The God Of Small Things was published, I was in high school. I had a passing familiarity with the Booker Prize but the dailies in Kolkata, where I lived then, made sure that all and sundry appreciated the enormity of Arundhati Roy’s win. After all, she was one of “us”, born to a Bengali father and Syrian Christian mother, even though she had grown up mostly in Kerala and lived in Delhi. Roy’s smiling face, framed by her then curly mane of hair, appeared in newspapers and magazines.
Questioning photography with Guftgu
In Urdu, “guftgu” means conversation, usually a dialogue that is charged with free-flowing whimsy. It’s an exchange where words cross paths with abandon, feelings intersect, emotions meander and sometimes converge into common points of truth. A similar energy flows through the nine stand-alone chapters that form the eponymous new project by Offset Projects, an art initiative conceptualised by artist, curator and editor Anshika Varma.
Why Bangladeshi writer Shahidul Zahir's voice is a rare gift
Life And Political Reality, the best-known novella by the Bangladeshi writer Shahidul Zahir (1953-2008), begins with a moment of rupture: “One day in 1985, the sandal on the foot of Abdul Mojid, a young man from Lakshmi Bazar’s Shyama Prosad Chowdhury Lane, lost conformity with circumstances and went phot and snapped.”
On mortality and the art of losing
In Montage On Love, a poem gently undulating with emotions, from her new collection, Run For The Shadows, Sridala Swami chronicles the see-saw of a romantic relationship in which passion and intensity are unequally matched.
Buried secrets, suspense and suffering in KR Meera's novella
K R. Meera’s new novella, Qabar, translated from Malayalam into English by Nisha Susan, packs an arsenal of meanings into the title. The decision to leave the title untranslated is inspired—“grave” barely conveys the aura of doom associated with the original, Qabar. The word is like a bell that tolls the reader into the folds of a sinister tale.
When fiction collides with fake news
Amitava Kumar’s new book, A Time Outside This Time (Aleph Book Company, 699), is a shape-shifting entity. Quick-witted and nimble, this odd literary beast has its ears to the ground. It slips into modes of narration that may appear radically opposed to one another but are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. Interspersed with scraps of news reports, photographs and drawings, it signals its affinity with the uncategorisable genre practised, most notably, by the German writer W.G. Sebald.
'I found a key to open a new door': Jhumpa Lahiri
Your journey as a translator began many years ago, when you rendered some of the stories of (Bengali writer) Ashapurna Devi into English. Could you take us back to the moment it all started?
How pets helped Indians get through the pandemic
The last time Job Koshy had a pet was when he was eight or 10 years old. “We had a Dobermann puppy who lived with my family for five years,” says the Bengaluru-based edutech professional, now 33 and a father of two. “He was my best friend and died while saving my mother from a viper.” Koshy did not get another dog for years. Then the pandemic struck, and the stars aligned to change his resolve.
Will we sleep better in 2021?
Neha Tiwari, a 35-year-old bookstore-café owner in Pune, was already suffering from insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder when the covid-19 pandemic broke out and her sleep routine went out of whack. “The pandemic has been rough for a lot of people, and it has definitely affected me, especially since I run a small business,” she says. “But it wasn’t too much of a difference, since I have always had trouble sleeping.”
From Godhra to Shaheen Bagh, there are many 1984s: Sarbpreet Singh
On 31 October 1984, as the Tinsukhia Mail was about to reach Kanpur station, the news of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards reached the passengers aboard the train. It’s not hard to imagine the consternation the rumours must have caused, but in Sarbpreet Singh’s story “The Survivor”, included in his new collection , we glimpse the human face of the tragedy vividly—first, through a haze of bitter irony, followed by a pall of horrific violence.
Sunday Lounge | Why Rohinton Mistry's fine balance matters, 25 years on
In 1995, when Rohinton Mistry published his second novel (and third book) , he had been away from India for exactly two decades, living in Toronto, Canada, since he moved there at the age of 23. In the interim, he had held a day job at a bank for 10 years, taken evening classes at the university in English and philosophy, and written a collection of short stories and one novel, which had been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
What Shabir Ahmad Mir’s fiction tells us about Kashmir
Shabir Ahmad Mir finished editing his first novel for publication through the hard days of the covid-19 lockdown. For the writer, this period was not entirely unfamiliar. Born in Gudoora village in Kashmir’s Pulwama district, he studied at a local school, and then a college in Srinagar. Frequent curfews and internet blackouts have been par for the course for Kashmiris for decades now, and so it was for Mir.
But, on 5 August last year, as the Union government revoked the special status of the re
World Mental Health Day | Is online therapy a boon for mental health in India?
The covid-19 pandemic has pushed many of our physical life experiences into the virtual realm. Seeing a mental health professional is no exception. In the days of yore, a session with the therapist would involve commuting to their clinic, whiling away some time in the waiting room, then sitting in front of them for roughly an hour and speaking, before making the journey back home.
Is pasta the new pizza for middle-class Indian consumers?
For the 57 seconds that the footage runs, it’s hard to pull away your eyes from the screen. First, dosa batter is thickly spread on a skillet, followed by what appears to be a generous slathering of butter. Then chopped vegetables, dollops of luridly colourful sauces, some creamy stuff and—wait for it—a small mound of macaroni are heaped on to it.
Understanding MK Gandhi’s ‘love’ for his ‘spiritual wife’
If you run a cursory internet search for M.K. Gandhi’s relationship with Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, you are likely to come across articles with headlines referring to a love affair between them, even salaciously pointing to the Mahatma’s lust for her. The reality was far more complicated, as a newly published collection of letters between them shows.
Is Indian publishing becoming more queer-friendly?
As ‘Queeristan’, Parmesh Shahani’s book on LGBTQ+ inclusion in workplaces, launches the business list of a leading Indian publishing house, Lounge examines whether India’s mainstream publishing industry is becoming more queer-friendly
What Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s prison diaries tell us about his politics
What Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s prison diaries tell us about his politics
First published in an English translation in 2010, ‘Captive Imagination’, a collection of the writer’s dispatches from jail, remains a classic of prison literature
Bharat Sikka on ‘The Sapper’ and his search for his father
Bharat Sikka on ‘The Sapper’ and his search for his father
Artist Bharat Sikka’s ongoing photo-based project aims to rediscover his father, who was mostly absent during his growing years
#AnneFrank Parallel Stories review: How not to turn history into hashtags
#AnneFrank Parallel Stories review: How not to turn history into hashtags
This Netflix documentary about Anne Frank and Holocaust survivors misses the chance to make a powerful statement
How covid-19 changed the rules of classroom teaching
How covid-19 changed the rules of classroom teaching
As the pandemic prompts teachers to innovate and adapt to online formats, is this the end of traditional classroom teaching as we knew it?
How Perumal Murugan found literary stardom with his debut novel ‘Rising Heat’
How Perumal Murugan found literary stardom with his debut novel ‘Rising Heat’
The Tamil writer speaks about caste, rural society, and the making of his first novel, out next week in English for the first time
Can India's rationalists stop the total eclipse of reason?
Can India's rationalists stop the total eclipse of reason?
With the triple eclipse and the pandemic creating panic among people, India’s rationalists have their hands full, fighting against myths and superstitions
Exclusive: A suspected terrorist sets off Megha Majumdar's gripping debut novel
An interview with the New York-based Indian-origin author of 'A Burning'—a searing portrait of religion, radical politics and social injustice in contemporary India—touted to be this year's major literary debut
What connects poultry to pandemics and the future of the planet
What connects poultry to pandemics and the future of the planet
In her new book, senior Peta executive Poorva Joshipura warns of a dire future if our meat and dairy consumption continues unchecked
The novel that predicted the coronavirus pandemic
The novel that predicted the coronavirus pandemic
Pulitzer Prize winner journalist Lawrence Wright’s new thriller is a prophetic account of a viral outbreak
Bois Locker Room and the bullying of LGBTQ+ youth
Bois Locker Room and the bullying of LGBTQ+ youth
The locker room culture is an outcome of toxic patriarchy that harbours a deep disdain for difference and diversity
Are birds flying back to our concrete jungles in lockdown?
Are birds flying back to our concrete jungles in lockdown?
From flamingos to Sika deer, a range of wildlife is being spotted in urban centres across a world under lockdown. But does it mean anything?
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