Friends, my piece on Punjab as a border state in Cafe Dissensus. Thank you Karthik Venkatesh, Cafe team and all contributors.
Based on travels on the Punjab border in the aftermath of the ‘surgical strike’ post the September Uri attack, the piece seeks to depict Punjab’s indigenous nationalism. The nationalism of lives, homes, crops, fields and faith which remains at great variance from the jingoistic version peddled by national media, especially TV, and the Sangh.
Tags: border, Café Dissensus, Gurmeher, Panjab University, Punjab, Students for Society, surgical strike, Uri
Friends, I recently reviewed US Indian writer Hirsh Sawhney’s debut novel South Haven for The Hindu.
‘The novel depicts the hypocritical underside of an Indian migrant family in the U.S. who has benefited from its liberal ideas, but cannot abandon its own regressive thoughts.’
Tags: Hirsh Sawhney, South Haven, The Hindu
Friends, recently the White Swan Foundation for Mental Health – which is doing great work in the field of information and communication related to mental health – gave me noted Odia writer Susmita Bagchi’s first novel in English language to review.
Beneath A Rougher Sea fills an important space in discourse around mental health by portraying professionals who remain largely unspoken in the increasing narratives we now encounter.
Tags: Beneath a Rougher Sea, Mental Health, Psychiatrist, Susmita Bagchi, White Swan Foundation
Friends, this year the annual The Hindu Literature for Life festival invited me to speak on my current non-fiction project on Punjab. The talk was titled Punjab – The Unknown Narrative. Big shout out to Ms Prasanna Ramaswamy who invited me and Prema Revathi who hosted the talk.
Thank you!
Tags: Lit for Life, Prema Revathi, Punjab, The Hindu
Friends, this year too the annual The Hindu Literature for Life festival invited me to participate. To my utter surprise I was tasked with hosting Sri Ganesh Devy and Mr. Gulam Muhammad Sheikh on their talk on Gandhi: A Name, A Life, My World.
It was an incredible opportunity for I have been such a fan of both the scholar and the painter. Truly humbled.
Tags: Gandhi, Ganesh Devy, Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, Lit for Life