This is a perennial question: how do you explain death to a child? Many families are not privileged enough to wrestle with the question before they are plunged into an experience that the child has to grapple with anyway.
Upamanyu Chatterjee’s prose has a lulling effect like the hypnotic thrashing of waves, high tide, low tide, the relieving numbness of foamy waters beating against rocks. It’s unsurprising that in his collection of four novellas,
The year 2008 might have felt dispiriting or uplifting, based on what you paid attention to. It was the year, after all, of the Great Recession, a slide that started in the US and then spread to other countries,
Transitioning Into Social Impact
Eight years ago, if you had landed at Chuliaposhi, you might have encountered a starkness reminiscent of Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy. A village in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha,
In his book on Creativity, the Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi traces the contrarian traits that make up Big-C creators: folks who reshape their domains, push boundaries and leave lasting dents on culture.
Perks of Not Belonging
Reading Aubrey Menen convinces you of what might feel paradoxical: freedom does not emerge from belonging to a community, clan, race, nation or even a friends’ group. As Menen remarks in his collection of essays – drawn from his travels and his candidly examined past – “For the young to mistrust one’s friends is the beginning of wisdom.” While the young might like to think of themselves as “bold” and “original”,
The recent worldwide hit, Adolescence, highlights how a new edginess has been layered into an already fraught stage of human development. Given that most internet-connected youth are subjected to a globalized monoculture,
As a teenager, Vipul Redey was clear about his future. Watching cadets emerge from the National Defense Academy near Pune – their muscular bodies, their sharp crew cuts, the swagger with which they strode across the Deccan Gymkhana Club – he yearned to belong to their tribe.
The oldest national anthem in use today is “The Wilhelmus” of the Netherlands. Though Jana Gana Mana was adopted more recently (in 1950, to be precise), it’s more widely known. It might even feature as the globally most popular national anthem.
Syed Haider Raza was only eight-years-old when he first encountered Mahatma Gandhi. In Mandla, a small town by the River Narmada, a crowd had gathered to listen to the bespectacled, khadi-draped leader. As a child of devout Muslims,
Aspiring novelists might find it heartening or daunting when one of the nation’s more masterful literary writers observes – in a candid, expansive conversation – that his own writing is girded by failure. As someone who constantly labors to find that exact turn of phrase,
As a child, I remember reading C. Rajagopalachari’s Ramayana, an English retelling of Valmiki’s epic, that was widely circulated with its calendar arty cover. The centrality of the blue-skinned, unassailable Rama – both on the cover and inside its pages – felt like a given.
If you’re a fan of the Japanese thriller writer, Keigo Higashino, I would strongly recommend The Artful Murders. Like some of the standout works of the Japanese master, this depicts a gritty,
Tu Jhoom: A Compassionate Guide Through Cancer Journeys
When Asheema (names changed) was diagnosed with 3rd Stage breast cancer, she felt besieged. She had suffered through a heart-related health issue and a broken relationship.
Namita Gokhale is unafraid to break story rules. In a fleeting meta moment, she acknowledges her distaste for bow-tied endings: “My quarrel with the short story is precisely that it imposes a false order and symmetry on events,
It might be a hard sell these days, to convince the old or the young, that the best guide to living a “good” life is an Athenian philosopher who died in 399 B.C. After all,
Neeraja Ganesh and Sneha Ganesh have carved unique niches for themselves. They are also known popularly as a mother-daughter duo that share a crackling chemistry. Often working together—at events or on projects—they have learned to draw boundaries and diffuse differences.
I stumbled on this book in the manner in which one stumbles on other stuff these days: partly offline, partly online. Perhaps, one could call it “hybrid”, to borrow a word that is typically used in other contexts.
Illusions Fostered by Primates
Vivek Nityananda is an entomologist by profession. He studied katydids and their secretive communication methods, the wing rustling among leaves that eluded human ears. Somewhere along the way, his academic curiosity strayed from the natural world into a distinctly human phenomenon: overconfidence.
Vishal Vasanthakumar didn’t love school. Later as a teacher, he keenly observed parents’ faces. Whether they wheeled pushcarts or drove Mercedes-Benzes, their expressions radiated a similar mix of yearning and optimism. Formal schooling, they believed,
Swimming Against Tradition
Sonam Samat’s father was keen that his daughter pursue an education and acquire new-age like skills like swimming. Rather than hovering over stovetops, stirring dhals and puffing up rotis like most women in his generation.
From MOOCs to Marigolds
In a marketplace ablaze with the sounds and furies of India’s most cacophonous festival – Ganesha Chaturti – a saree-clad, bespectacled woman briskly strides through. She stops at a stall that packs row upon row of Ganeshas,
Bridget Jones broke a certain stereotype. That romcom protagonists must be, by default, somewhat put together. Till then, they were often fiercely intelligent, sparkly with words, discerning, virtuous et al, till Jones swept into our cultural lenses with her endearingly human,
At this point, planetary problems can feel too staggering to confront. The climate clock seems to be ticking towards an apocalyptic future, wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza, social media lures soporific users into seductive reel-tunnels.
Madhu Gupta and Seema Chaudhry have much in common. For one thing, they attend the same college. They live in old Delhi, in shabby apartments, reached by dim stairways. They stem from conservative, working class families.
Yadav’s Father: A Creative Tinkerer
Anusha Yadav was raised in a home that prized culture, creativity and hands-on tinkering. Moving across continents, from the UK – where her father studied for his PhD and taught at King’s College,
There have been many attempts to both analyze and historicize the Indian middle class. Works by Pavan Varma (The Great Indian Middle Class, 1998) and Aseem Prakash (The Indian Middle Class,
Navigating Disparate Worlds
MD Ramaswami, known affectionately as MD among friends and family, learned early that exceptional communication skills could reap extraordinary dividends. Belonging to an era when the nation still suffered from a colonial hangover,
In a House of Few Frills
Giri’s stickiest childhood memories revolve around his grandfather. In an era sans gadgets or even a television, Aaja would teach him this and that. Even discuss passages from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice,
From The King’s Table to Street Food, as Pushpesh Pant acknowledges in his Preface, is not just a history of Delhi embedded with recipes and foodies stories. Nor is it a food book,
In her previous work, Kaikeyi, Vaishnavi Patel had dwelt on the point of view of a much maligned character in the Ramayana. Unsurprisingly, or perhaps not coincidentally, that character was a woman.
With the next US election a few days away, you would be hard put to find an expert who can be persuasively certain about the outcome. Despite all the data crunching and AI smarts, uncertainty shadows our lives,
Chasing Authenticity In Staged Spaces
Along with other vanishings – of biospecies, languages, cultures – modernity ushers an erasure of authenticity. Tourism, originally fashioned for aristocratic young men from Europe, has morphed into a global ritual that has seeped across classes.
Like Happiness begins with a New Yorky scene. One that captures the stickiness and muck and strangely alluring grit of its subway rides. But also the forced physical proximity to performers whose music and moves are edged with aggressive asks.
Widows outnumber widowers. The reasons? Many men remarry, and historically, more men have died in wars. Moreover, as Mineke Schipper notes in Widows, 10% of widows today live in extreme poverty, underscoring the vulnerability braided into widowhood.
Culinary Soul Search
In October 2015, Siddharth Kapila decided to quit his law career. He wanted to travel, find himself, engaging in seemingly care-free acts that only the reasonably well-off can consider. He was aware too of how these choices were girded by privilege.
Loneliness Breeds Polarization
Loneliness might not just be an American scourge anymore, but could be seeping into other societies. Teens and aging parents can feel lonely inside families, just as partners might feel adrift inside marriages.
Saikat Majumdar’s novels have a kaleidoscopic quality – you jiggle them this way and that, and you perceive new symmetries, different colours. I had read some of his later works, The Remains of the Body,
Saunter through the grassy expanses of Cubbon Park on a Saturday morning to encounter the metronomic thump of the BHUKMP runners, their feet synchronized like an acapella group. Zoom in to the blur of faces on those taut bodies to spot the wildly popular Pankaj Rai,
In the throbbing, trafficky heart of our city, history and creativity collide. From ancient sculptures and textiles to modern paintings and pop culture treasures, the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) has it all. The sleek steel facade with its embossed cross pattern spans six floors.
Feral Winds, Creeping Despair
In “Dread” and “Hunger”, two stories in A Bouquet of Dead Flowers, the Hindi writer Swadesh Deepak explores the unsettling intertwining of desire and deprivation. And of predatory instincts that simmer in situations marked by unequal power relations.
Where Play Fuels Genius
Mitchel Resnick’s book is a critical read for many reasons. But especially because Resnick practices the learning approaches he endorses, and not just at any place, but at one of the meccas of education – MIT.
Vedic Monism Meets Sufism
Sufism embodies mystical strands in Islam. When large numbers of Sufis swept into India in the 12th Century, their philosophy echoed the Vedic concept of “monism”. With “service to humanity” as their abiding ideal,
Curiosity Sparks Cake Making
Anu Sinha was only 11-years-old and in Class Five, when she baked her first cake. Growing up in the early ‘80s in the Bokaro Steel City, she hadn’t thought much about cakes or ovens,
Assam has a rich history shaped by its indigenous cultures, the Ahom dynasty’s six-century reign, and British colonial rule. The State played a pivotal role in India’s struggle for independence but has since simmered with ethnic conflicts and movements for autonomy.
In the lush surroundings of Barbari, “a small town with a big population” nestled close to the tea garden of Kalguri, the narrator grows up in a world that feels relatively cushioned.
Barbari,
An Encounter with Her Own Fame
Like her books, Agatha Christie’s life contained layers and mysteries. Once while travelling on a train, incognito, she heard two other middle-aged women discussing her. With her books on their laps signifying how widespread her readership was,
I’m probably not the first writer to consider how anthropologists and novelists are remarkably similar. Both pay attention to seemingly ordinary stuff – rituals, habits, rumors, gossip, everyday frictions, tiny miracles or small setbacks that stitch up our everydays.
Jamia Millia: Sparked by a Crisis
Jamia Millia Islamia was forged by a crisis. A response to Gandhi’s call for non-cooperation required an abandoning of settings funded or supported by the British. Indian Muslims who withdrew from Aligarh Muslim University had to quickly cobble together a place that would fuse modern lessons with Islamic traditions.
We are all housed inside our bodies. Yet, many of us may not feel “at home” – perhaps because our identity or sexuality or racial or ethnic origins may compel us to feel like perpetual outsiders.
I live in what is called the “startup capital” of the nation. While we have witnessed the voracious swallowing of erstwhile villages into a mushrooming city, many of us peer from the rims into a dizzying vortex of startups founded,
Growing Together: Childhood with a Twin
As the daughter of an army officer, Tina Mansukhani Garg was accustomed to moving around the country, switching schools, navigating new localities, learning languages, tasting unfamiliar foods.
For those of you who have read A House For Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul, The Naipauls of Nepaul Street feels like a rich ploughing into the soil that birthed the famed novel.
Kabir is both widely known and cited, but also obscure. Few know about his own life and origins. Some believe he was abandoned by a Brahmin widow and later raised by Muslims. Historians refute this.
Mumbai is a city that oozes mayhem, murder and mischief. The layered island city is an apt setting for young adult detectives whose summer has been hemmed in by a contagious, pockmarking disease: chicken pox.
The first compelling graphic novel I read was Persepolis in which a young Iranian girl grows up through the Islamic revolution. Persian Nights by Alaka Rajan Skinner also brings the revolution into our sights,
Given that hordes are already accessing ChatGPT, or AI in some form or the other, Madhumita Murgia’s book on the human consequences of an “intelligence” that is being rapidly unfurled across domains – from buttressing legal arguments to diagnosing medical conditions,
I hadn’t realized till I encountered this book that at a certain period in the 19th Century, Britain was in fact a Muslim Empire. As John Slight, currently a Senior Lecturer in Imperial and Global History at The Open University puts it in The Hajj and Britain’s Muslim Empire,
Even in 2024, India’s female workforce participation is appallingly lower than it should be for an economy that claims to be zipping ahead of many others. It’s both instructive and salutary to read of forceful women from the nation’s past,
Every once in a while, in our digitally-addled age, it feels both necessary and worthwhile to dip into a Cal Newport book or article. As an MIT-trained scientist who also teaches the subject at Georgetown University,
At business events or even at social to-dos, Shilpa Sharma has often faced a sudden tap on the shoulder, followed by an awestruck: “Omigod, you’re the founder of Jaypore?” Soon enough, women in the room flock to her with fangirl giggles and selfie requests.
A City of Endless Rebirths
All cities and urban spaces are works in the making. Perhaps, some more than others. To read the history of Delhi (or the many histories of many Delhis) is to read the history of a nation,
These are the kinds of questions that Hari TN wrestles with on evening walks, or late at night, when shafts of moonlight seep through curtains: Why does the velocity of light stay constant in different frames of reference?
From 1998 to 2008, Akshaya Bahibala was lighting up joints, swigging beer and rum, then smoking a few more joints, and so on till “[one] day you look at a calendar by mistake. You realize you have lost a lot of years smoking and rolling,
In her Introduction to Heartburn, Nora Ephron, observes how women novelists are often diminished for borrowing stuff from their own lives. Often, with the aspersion that their novels are memoirs, “thinly disguised.” It’s not as if male writers do not rake through the skeletal remains of past marriages or other story-worthy life events.
Sometimes all it takes to retreat into a forgotten childhood is to pick up a children’s book. The Case of the Missing Turtles brings back the thrilling vibes once evoked by the Five Find-Outers (one of Enid Blyton’s mystery series that had many of us conjuring mysteries in our own humdrum backyards).
Overcoming Obstacles, Charting Paths
Sandra Gail Lambert was only 10 years old when she realized that she would have to forge her own pathway through an unfriendly world. The obstacle she confronted then was a physical one,
Marwari Warmth, A Young Apprentice
Nidhi Nahata grew up in a Mumbai Marwari household, infused with the sounds and smells of rich, homemade foods: “Khaana with a lot of ghee, even the paneer,
For those who wish to pick up this book, let me start with the ritual “spoiler alert.” I’d also like to add, that to uncover “who’s done it?” is probably not the only reason to read this.
Heaving Debt and Doubts
Karthika Annamalai was only two years old when her father died. Stories swirl, to date, about the cause of his death. Relatives on Amma’s side insist he was murdered.
All our lives, however ordinary or otherwise, are imbued with a sense of drama. But it takes a certain kind of eye to observe the humdrum and distill it to a riveting, stage-worthy performance. Vijay Padaki,
Neema Avashia grew up in an America that wasn’t typically inhabited by folks like her. West Virginia wasn’t where most Indian Americans headed. Asians constituted a miniscule 0.5 % of the population in a state that birthed televangelists and country singers.
Those of us who see ourselves as being lifelong learners would do well to read Michael Roth’s dive into the history and makeup of students. Roth, who is currently the President of Wesleyan University and a Professor,
A question is often posed of a new friend or potential life partner: are you a beach or mountain person? The answer perhaps is immaterial, but the question might be trying to uncover something else: how do you handle change?
In 1936, Mahatma Gandhi had been besotted by the post-monsoon greens of Sandur in Bellary. And affixed it with a touristy descriptor: “See Sandur in September.” Vasudhendra, the widely feted Kannada author of Mohanaswamy,
Meraki is a Greek word. It means doing something with passion, attentiveness and care. Yosha Gupta certainly pours herself into the startup she’s created, as does her 17-member team, and the artists they support on MeMeraki.
In Notes on a Marriage, Carvalho observes that it’s not just weddings, but even marriages that are performative. Anju and Freddo have been married for (gasp!) twenty years, but she still acts out in his presence.
Uncles, Aunties and Banter on Buses
In If It’s Monday It Must Be Madurai, Srinath Perur subverts the common trope of a travel writer. Instead of traveling alone, or to rarely explored,
Reading this book by Upamanyu Chatterjee at a time when the world is rocked by wars, the ever-throbbing threats of climate change and new pandemics feels like an entry into a mindfulness retreat. A zone where small changes feel as significant,
What Prompted Dear Men
Prachi Gangwani had an unusual insider’s take on Indian relationships. As a “sex and relationships” columnist for an online women’s lifestyle magazine, she probably read a barrage of comments.
Dosa Debates with Paati
Vidya Madhavan’s Paati (grandmom) was a fierce and opinionated woman. Growing up in a joint family in Bombay (now Mumbai), in a typically cramped household, Vidya recognizes that many of her thoughts and values were shaped by her grandparents.
Nena is allergic to water. So she has an annual bath. By first embalming herself in petroleum, then dunking a cold water bucket over her head. To survive this yearly ordeal, she wraps herself in layers of cotton,
One of my favorite poems about aging with a cheerful insouciance starts like this:
“When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.”
Meenakshi Menon,
Plumbing into her own family’s ancestral past, Jael Silliman revives snippets of the rich and little-known history of Baghdadi Jews in Shalome Rides a Royal Elephant. Though targeted at young readers, and narrated by a sprightly,
We are awash with news and commentary about AI. The huge boons and concomitant scares, the soft and perilous blurring between human cleverness and machined ingenuity. We’re inundated to a degree where we might feel surprisingly lured by natural stupidity.
The Yellow Sparrow, translated from the Manipuri by Rubani Yumkhaibam, has a poignant genesis. As a transgender woman or Nupi Maanbi in Manipur, the author, Santa Khurai had always struggled to belong.
Chronicling an Artist’s Quest
I recall learning “The Owl and the Pussycat” for an elocution contest. And encountering the nonsensical, memorable “Piggy-wig”, which had merrily enough for us chuckling readers, “a ring at the end of his nose.” The author of this well-known poem,
Ravi CA had resolved at a fairly early stage that time mattered more than the accumulation of stuff. After working for twenty years in an IT career, he quit the well-paying, beaten path to pursue an interest that many would fence into after hours.
Of late, I have become rather fascinated and even slightly obsessed with endurance athletes. For instance, I recently stumbled on the Netflix movie on Diana Nyad, a woman who swam from Cuba to Florida at the age of 60.
We live in an age in which there seems to be a surfeit of extraordinary people. Superstar founders, sportspersons, writers, singers and stand-up comedians. Even failures in various fields have acquired an aura of extraordinariness.
From Boardrooms to Backstreets
Arun Maira has been in the trenches. Of business and government. Despite occupying some of the highest positions – as Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group, as a Member of the Planning Commission under Manmohan Singh or currently as Chairman of HelpAge International – he has never lost sight of those at the lowest rungs of the ladder.
Rajasthan is often framed in touristy stereotypes: of forts, palaces, erstwhile maharajas, sparkling sands of the Thar Desert, and camels no doubt, offering a discomfiting, double-humped ride through arid lands. Only a few would be acquainted with the complex ecology surrounding traditional camel breeders,
It’s fortunate for us that Indian cities are spawning enthusiastic guides whose knowledge about these spaces can deepen our own engagement as inhabitants or visitors. Swapna Liddle is the kind of expert you would be fortunate to walk around with in Delhi.
I have often wondered about the lives of street vendors. Not just about how much they make or what they sell, but about the makeup of their everyday lives – displaying a kind of toughness or resilience,
Teaching history has perhaps always been fraught. Given the contemporary recognition of subjectivity embedded in any account of the past or present, lingering questions about whose story or version approaches the ‘truth’ makes the content of any prescribed textbook iffy.
On a Saturday in January 2023, Shruti Sah and Harsh Snehanshu had what felt like a whimsical idea. To carry a mat, a few books and cycle over to Cubbon Park to read. Both craved a book club that didn’t center around discussions – after all,
Sebastien Tutenges, currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at Lund University, had been planning to embark on a study at a Buddhist monastery. Instead, by somewhat serendipitous means, he became curious about why so many young people seek intoxicating escapes.
Carolyn Chen was surprised by Silicon Valley. She expected it to be one of the least religious places. Instead, she found that among the tech executives she interviewed, that “it is one of the most religious places in America.” She argues in Work Pray Code that the “Gods” have merely been supplanted.
Tejo Tungabhadra, written originally in Kannada by the versatile Vasudhendra, and translated deftly by Maithreyi Karnoor, brings to life a glittering panoply of 15th and 16th Century characters. Yanking readers into times when Sati was not just thrust upon Indian widows but fiercely celebrated,
Surviving India with Imodium
India hardly feels like a nation that would be easy for anyone, inbred veteran or fleeting visitor, to digest. So it’s apt that a book titled Digesting India starts with the author recounting experiences of the opposite: of loose motions,
Brinda S. Narayan
