Mintlounge • 5th March 2022

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.”

Mintlounge • 30th January 2022

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.

Mintlounge • 18th January 2022

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.

Mintlounge • 30th October 2021

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.

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

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.

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

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.”

Mintlounge • 19th November 2020

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.

Mintlounge • 19th November 2020

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.

Mintlounge • 21st October 2020

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

Mint Lounge • 19th October 2020

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.

Mint lounge • 19th October 2020

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.

mint • 2nd October 2020

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.

Livemint • 29th August 2020

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

Livemint • 20th July 2020

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

Livemint • 18th July 2020

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

Livemint • 12th July 2020

#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

Livemint • 9th July 2020

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?

Livemint • 3rd July 2020

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

Livemint • 3rd July 2020

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

Livemint • 4th June 2020

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

Livemint • 29th May 2020

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

Livemint • 28th May 2020

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

Livemint • 12th May 2020

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

Livemint • 2nd May 2020

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?