Articles by Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar

Hindi On The Hudson

Sometimes my son asks in English: “Baba, what does duniya mean?” It means the world, beta, the world that...

May 22, 2014 Amitava Kumar
Place Of Birth/Place Of Death

To return to Patna is to find the challenging thought of death, like the tip of a knife, pressing against my...

Nov 06, 2013 Amitava Kumar
Salman Rushdie And Me

It wasn't just about standing up for freedom of expression in India: maybe I was doing something more humble...

Feb 22, 2012 Amitava Kumar
A Few Chapters From Follywood

Uninspired, unoriginal, sans cogent argument, this is anything but a comprehensive history of Bollywood.

May 14, 2007 Amitava Kumar
A Civilizing Mission

He was indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger. He never published a classic text nor did...

Nov 21, 2006 Amitava Kumar
The Enigma Of Return

Fidelity to his interlocutors, and to their detail and circumstance, as much as the intelligence and...

Oct 05, 2004 Amitava Kumar
Eye Turned Inward

Aslam has the courage to write against the shortcomings of his own religion. When has anyone of the VHP had...

Sep 20, 2004 Amitava Kumar
What If We Were Together?

The Partition was a tragedy, but the greater tragedy is that today the dream of a united India is the fantasy...

Aug 23, 2004 Amitava Kumar
Gogol Versus Ganguli

Displaced metaphors play out their genteel turmoil yet again, Jhumpa style

Oct 20, 2003 Amitava Kumar
Black Crows In The Open

Jha's second novel shows he's still in tormented territory, and thriving

Sep 08, 2003 Amitava Kumar
Ah, The Gifts Of Abandon

Iyer could not have known this when he finished his book but Mohammed Atta, the leader of the September 11...

Apr 21, 2003 Amitava Kumar
Bowling At The Death

The local TV images of the mass funeral had a ticker tape running below—"PM congratulates victorious Indian...

Jul 29, 2002 Amitava Kumar
Elsewhere Histories

Chaudhuri's writings record subtle variations on a more settled routine. The technique works because it saves...

Jun 03, 2002 Amitava Kumar
Rage, Rage Against The Dying Light

High on success and stardom, Rushdie's novel touches the low of banality

Sep 17, 2001 Amitava Kumar
Flight Into The Wild

A new fashion statement in India writing using adrenaline instead of ink.

May 28, 2001 Amitava Kumar
Servant's Quarters

A novel knowledgeable about wealth, sentimental about poverty.

Apr 23, 2001 Amitava Kumar
'We Are All Converts'

Amitava Kumar on his marriage to a Muslim, his 'conversion' and his first visit to Karachi

Mar 19, 2001 Amitava Kumar
The Longest Journey

Stephen Alter takes a step across what's just a line on the map

Nov 20, 2000 Amitava Kumar
Now, Voyager

An uneven, but often rewarding, saga of forgotten Indian diasporas

Nov 06, 2000 Amitava Kumar