In this shape-shifting novel with a gallery of characters who don’t fit in fully, old certitudes like identity and nationalism are revealed to be in a flux
Ghee Bowman brings to light the forgotten story of an Indian force’s role in the Battle of France and their fighting withdrawal through Dunkirk. In this excerpt, individual units arrive in northern France and take their positions, awaiting the Wehrmacht onslaught.
This book presents a wealth of detail, digging deep into the murky crypts of the RAW and ISI. In the final analysis, it’s inauthentic and unconvincing.
A former foreign service officer recounts the circumstances around Sikkim’s merger with India, as seen by him in close quarters
In a narrative arc sweeping from Tsarist and revolutionary Russia to New York émigrés in 2020 and a boy and his fantastical elephant, Pickering connects the picaresque with post-truth
Boston fratboys, coding, start-up spiritual dreams and social media obsession—Tahmima Anam gets up to speed
This survey of how India and China conduct its diplomatic manouevres charts the early days of Indian naivety to the gradual maturing of a hardened realpolitik
Bajpai takes a wide-angle lens to India-China ties, examining power imbalance, mutual suspicion and the US’ role in it. Kewalramani studies growing Chinese ambition through the prism of its fight against Covid-19.
In this astute analysis, Dara’s popular image is replaced by a man influenced by complex political-religious pulls typical of his age
Unpublished stories, translations, rare sketches and a screenplay—three generations of Rays shine with undimmed radiance
Through a narrator cut adrift in a nameless Italian town, Jhumpa Lahiri approaches her old concerns from a fresh angle
This book, while depicting the pain and suffering of those left out of Assam’s NRC, establishes official arguments and figures as fallacious
This scorchingly honest twin biography of Gandhi and Jinnah focuses on the endgame at the autumn of British rule that led to Partition’s bloodletting. In doing so, it explodes a few myths.
Gulzar’s anthology of poems from across the sub-continent is a masterclass of translation as extension of exquisite sensibility
Vidhu Vincent’s nuanced graphic memoir on the Emergency examines that nadir of political practice through its warm, puzzling embrace in Kerala and the rebels who dared to say nay
A former diplomat sweeps through Bengal’s history to narrate the story of its Partition, which she deems was avoidable
A gut-wrenching memoir of the ’90s recalls Kashmir’s descent into daily tragedies
The past, with its densely scribbled carapace of tragedy and a perfect balance between nature and humanity, flows into the present, then the future, in this holy city. Amritsar: A City in Remembrance combines comprehensive visual narration with essays that raise questions about the relation between heritage conservation and people’s lives.
He would take his colour, brushes and canvas outside to paint and talk with his love. He would stand close to the window and paint, keeping an eye on his muse.
They say the violin mimics the human sound. In his case, it was that of love, of longing. He didn’t know any other way of loving.
Younger people do not have much progressive beliefs; a 2017 survey found that one-third of young people opposed inter-caste marriage.
A more important role the government has in the matter of job creation is that of building an ecosystem conducive to creation of jobs
How practical is it to aspire to be self-employed? Does it pay off for all those who venture? What are the pitfalls?
They don’t have jobs nor do they have direction. There is an increasing discontent among the youth of India
Even compared with the most abject annals of misgovernance in India, it’s hard to get worse than what happened in Panjim in the wake of Parrikar’s absence at the helm, followed by his untimely demise.