Ankush Saikia and I had shared the stage at Stein Auditorium in December 2007 at the launch of his and my debut novels. Since then he has moved out of Delhi to Shillong and I have followed suit to Bangalore. They say, in this age, to pursue a career in literature it is important to be in Delhi. That is where the networking happens. But we decided otherwise, hoping to continue writing. If Saikia’s book is any evidence, he has done well by moving out of Delhi and depicting a reality which is true to places of the country which are not defined by how the Delhi-centred politics plays out. He uses a crime thriller to portray the social-economic reality of the North East. A worthy form which goes beyond the non-fiction essays.
Please read.
Nandini Krishnan is a writer-journalist friend. Her first interview for the first story in her book on arranged marriages Hitched took place in my barsati in Delhi. I wasn’t the subject. But I had the opportunity to review the book recently for the Indian Express.
Please read here…
My review of poet Aruni Kashyap’s debut fiction ‘The House with a Thousand Stories’ in the The Asian Age.
‘Kashyap breaks a basic rule of plotting a book: giving away what happens next. It is a mark of his confidence as a writer; he knows his storytelling will keep the reader hooked. From time to time he rotates the plot on the pivots of the story: Boben’s death, Aaita the grandmother on deathbed, Oholya’s temper, Pablo’s encounter with Anamika, Mridul’s love for the Nepali wine seller’s daughter Manju, the jurun … for the wedding, the suicide and so on. This is what lays layer upon layer of the thousand stories.’
Please read more here.
I have admired Kishalay Bhattacharjee for long for his reporting on NDTV from the North East states so reviewing his book Che In Paona Bazaar in The Book Review was a pleasure. Kishalay has now also become a friend. Please read review here …
I had the opportunity to host a panel discussion on Conflict Literature: Under the Shadow of the Gun at the recently concluded Bangalore Literature Festival. The panellists were: Babar Ayaz, Jahnvi Baruah, Farooq Shaheen and Arindam Borkataki. Here is a report in The Hindu, see section two. Please read here …
My piece in Tehelka on how the path of ethics in Punjab is not merely some abstract but is directly linked to progress through inflow of capital. A policeman has confessed to having killed 83 people without trial. Will the government(s) have the will to pursue this and other accounts by policeman and victims and seek closure to the violence in Punjab? Please read here …
My interview with the young gifted writer of ‘Fort of Nine Towers’ Qais Akbar Omar for The Hindu Literary Review. Please read here …
Recently, I had the opportunity to review this family memoir by Qais Akbar Omar set in Afghanistan during the times of infighting, militancy, Taliban and the excesses by other fundamentalist forces. It is an excellent book. Please read my review here …
A collection of Joginder Paul’s Urdu short stories is noteworthy for the way the book is curated with translators’ notes, author interview and and self-obituary. Admire the collection by Harper Perennial. Please read my review here …
My piece in Tehelka magazine on how in a free market, powers collude shut down independent views like the TV channel Day & Night News. Read here …