Most of us know Nilanjana Roy from her compelling essays on writing and gender, and her novels about imaginary cats in an old neighbourhood of Delhi. Her first book, The Wildings (2012), about a fearless band of cats in Nizamuddin, won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and became a
Catriona Mitchell’s compilation of stories about, and more importantly, by Indian women is the book the world needs today, whether to allow those unfamiliar with India to gain some perspective on the lives of women in the country, or for Indians themselves to view their country in a clearer
I spent four days in Jaipur last month. It was my first time in the city---I'd always wanted to visit, but I made this trip with a very specific plan in mind. Instead of touring the forts and palaces, I confined myself to the resplendent Hotel Diggi Palace,
Illustration by Arshi Sayed Last night I saw Rohit again. I saw him walking on the campus lane, carrying a framed oil painting of Ambedkar under his left arm, blasé but careful in his carriage. Though what he really was, was tired. Apart from that he wasn't anything
Akhil Katyal is a bi-lingual poet and translator who grew up in Lucknow and now resides in Delhi. He brings the linguistic complexity of his world into his poems and then sends them back to be read and heard by an audience that is accustomed to speaking in tongues but
Chaitanya Tamhane's acclaimed film Court is a study in how people present themselves to the world, despite their internal rumbles and ruminations, and there can be no better site for this than the courtroom. The film's pivotal character is Narayan Kamble (played by Vira Sathidar), a
Once upon a time there was a prince who, while in exile, drew an indefinite line around his wife and called it the circle of trust and protection. On one side, were she and her loneliness, biding their time until the reason for her very existence returned. On the other,
The fans of webcomic Crocodile in Water, Tiger on Land know to expect their weekly ration of bite-sized, scalpel-sharp scorn on Monday mornings. Monday mornings, we are assured, are the best time of the week for insults. The comic’s authors are an unnamed duo from Kolkata, who started publishing
One of the earliest bits of film shot in India (in 1899) is of the ghats of Banaras. It is a moving shot from the river that captures the tableau of Brahmins bathing and cleansing themselves, clothes being washed, boats ferrying passengers and even a couple of women, but not
In her latest novel, Meera Syal grapples with an eye-wideningly long list of capital-I Issues; surrogacy, feminism, immigrant identity, ageing, cultural friction, and intergenerational tension are thickly woven into the story. Also featured are eating disorders, domestic abuse, rape, addiction, infidelity, globalisation---I could go on. She opts to juggle her
Aditya Vikram Sengupta's debut film Asha Jaoar Majhe (Labour of Love) is a deceptively simple, ingenuous film about a single day and night in the lives of a married couple. In the film, neither of the two characters are able to sleep properly. Early in the morning, the
The biggest joke in Shovon Chowdhury's Murder with Bengali Characteristics is that the only real thing being murdered is the reader's interest. Murder with Bengali Characteristics by Shovon Chowdhury. Click here to purchase. Speculative fiction has its own loyal fan following, but as in most cases