Rarely does one come across a book that stirs up one’s curiosity and inspires one to explore the author’s entire corpus. An Arc in Time (2022) is Saleem Peeradina’s most recent and compelling gift to the literary world. Blessed with a multi-faceted personality, Peeradina dons many hats: writer, journalist, editor, painter, ethnographer, critic, and professor. Furbished with an intriguing title suggested by Meena Alexander, An Arc in Time has a brilliant tribute to the teacher-taught relationship by Salil Tripathi, Peeradina’s student, in the form of an overwhelming introduction. The carefully curated book is an eclectic collection of essays, articles, reviews, excerpts, and interviews from 1968 to the present. The anthology, divided into twelve sections, is embellished by Peeradina’s enigmatic drawings and paintings. Twelve sections of this book are like the fascinating facets of his personality. His personality and character are defined by his family, unfailing love for poetry, commitment to his teaching profession, lust for travelling, respect for women, movies, and painting, bibliophilia, and love for humanity and society.
August 2023, volume 47, No 8