How At Home in Two Worlds by Maria Aurora Couto Sheds Light on Goa’s Cosmopolitan Legacy
Zenith Denis reviews At Home in Two Worlds: Essays on Goa by Maria Aurora Couto (published by Speaking Tiger, 2024). Goa has borders, but in what is known as psychogeography, its soil and its language created the Goan mind, which transcend physical boundaries.My understanding of Goa is of a space free of restrictive labels, where […]
नौकर की कमीज (The Servant’s Shirt) by विनोद कुमार शुक्ल: The Art of Observing in a World of Distractions
Amritesh Mukherjee reviews नौकर की कमीज (The Servant’s Shirt) by विनोद कुमार शुक्ल (published by Rajkamal Prakashan, 2006). Before entering this baffling, mesmerising, stagnant, volatile and stream-of-consciousness wonder of a novel, I knew few things about Vinod Kumar Shukla’s writing despite having heard him in numerous interviews and articles outside of vague terms like “masterpiece,” […]
Court Martial and Other Plays by Swadesh Deepak: Caste, Class, and the Struggle for Justice
Anshika Jain reviews Court Martial and Other Plays by Swadesh Deepak, translated from Hindi by Jerry Pinto, Pratik Kanjilal and Nirupama Dutt (published by Speaking Tiger, 2024). “The dungeon of art, a dungeon on fire, pulsating with heat. Abandon the prospect of leaving, all those who enter here. There is no way out.” – Swadesh […]
A Thrilling Mythological Ride in Shadow Rising by Rohan Monteiro: Like Mahabharata on Red Bull
Rahul Vishnoi reviews Shadows Rising by Rohan Monteiro (published by Westland, 2024). Shadows Rising by Rohan Monteiro marries mythology with fantasy and then lets it have a steamy affair with mystery and thrill. It fills a crater-like hole where Hindu mytho-fantasy novels should have been stacked up. Using elements from Hindu epics and folklore, Monteiro […]
7 Revolutionary Student Movements in India That Changed the Course of History
History is complex. Quite complex. And yet, all too often, our perception of our past is shaped more by the contemporary fashions of the day instead of some “objective truth.” Moreover, the world, for better or for worse, exists beyond the silos created by the internet and social media. For instance, there have been many […]
A Whimsical World of Talking Cats and Coffee in The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Neha Kirpal reviews The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood (published by Brazen, 2024). Mai Mochizuki’s The Full Moon Coffee Shop, a newly translated Japanese novel, narrates the heartwarming tale of a mobile Kyoto coffee shop that magically appears only when and where it’s needed. Interestingly, it is […]
19 Must-Read Books on Adivasi Movements in India
The world we see is often not the only world there is. By extension, the India we see is often not the only India there is. The same country known for its Gandhian principles of non-violence has many strata whose populations can’t go on hunger strikes because that would mean they otherwise aren’t hungry. For […]
KR Meera’s Assassin: Equivalent of a Gaping Wound
Rahul Vishnoi reviews Assassin by KR Meera, translated from Malayalam by J. Devika (published by Harper Perennial India, 2024). Originally published in Malayalam under the title Ghathakan, the novel Assassin by KR Meera has been masterfully translated into English by J. Devika. While reading book reviews in magazines, I’ve often seen words like ‘tour de […]
Malavika Rajkotia’s Unpartitioned Time: A Story of Survival and Healing
Elsa Mathews reviews Unpartitioned Time: A Daughter’s Story by Malavika Rajkotia (published by Speaking Tiger, 2024). Dead men tell no tales. It is the living who carry within them the pain, the horrors, the loss, the longings, the stories, and the trauma of a tragedy. The Partition of India led to one of the largest […]
Vigil Aunties by Richa S. Mukherjee: Crime, Humor, and the Power of Ordinary Women
Sneha Pathak reviews Vigil Aunties by Richa S. Mukherjee (published by Black Ink, 2024). Vigil Aunties is Richa S Mukherjee’s latest foray into the world of crime writing after her two detective Prachand novels. This time, her sleuths are a group of women or ‘aunties’ as the teenager Philadelphia ‘Philly’ Waghmare calls them. The group […]
