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.

… Continue reading “A Memoir of Literary Roots and Family Legacy”

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.

… Continue reading “Embrace Paradoxes: Kabir’s Teachings on Unity and Impermanence”

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.

… Continue reading “Sleuths in Scabs: The Chicken Pox Club’s Deadly Discovery”

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,

… Continue reading “Through the Eyes of a Child: Immigrant Dilemmas Amid Revolution”

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,

… Continue reading “From Silicon Valley to Remote Villages: Human Consequences of AI”

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,

… Continue reading “Empire and Pilgrimage: The Hajj in 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,

… Continue reading “Trailblazer in a Saree: The Defiant Journey of Anandibai Joshee”

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,

… Continue reading “From Busy to Fulfilled: The Slow Productivity Revolution”

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.

… Continue reading “Crafting Her Destiny: The Unconventional Journey of Shilpa Sharma”

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, 

… Continue reading “Delhi Reborn: Unveiling the City Through a Historian’s Lens”

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?

… Continue reading “Journeying With Curiosity: The Life and Lessons of Hari TN”

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,

… Continue reading “Tripping Through Time and Uncommon Spaces”

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.

… Continue reading “Nora Ephron’s Recipe for a Second Marriage (And a Second Breakup)”

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).

… Continue reading “Shelled Secrets: Unraveling Mysteries in Modern India”

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,

… Continue reading “Moxie on Wheels: Voyaging with Sandra Gail Lambert”

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,

… Continue reading “Spreading Vegan Vibes: Nidhi Nahata’s Recipe for Success”

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.

… Continue reading “Shining a Light on Crime and Caste”

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.

… Continue reading “From Adversity to Advocacy: Karthika Annamalai’s Incredible Journey”

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,

… Continue reading “Dramatizing Bangalore’s Social Landscape: Vijay Padaki’s Theatrical Reflections”

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.

… Continue reading “Chemicals and Basketball: Navigating Identity in Appalachia”