A diary entry dated 10 September 1968, included in the appendix to K Saradamoni’s memoir published posthumously this year, shows this academic activist reflecting sadly upon the failure of econometrics,
To hop, skip and jump from Brazil to New York, to Rome, with several resting points in between, seems like a merry indulgence in a dream landscape. At first glance, Reba Som’s book may appear as a delightful reticule of travel tales spilling over with wondrous experiences under the benevolent eye of Hermes
Pingala’s happiness is fulfilling. Does it matter that the Sanskrit word used is asha which literally translates as hope, but the mind finds the meaning to lie beyond hope or the more pedantic ‘expectation’? This reiterates another of Debroy’s contention that the Gitas
The word ‘debut’ is likely to hold different meanings for different people. In general, a certain sense of tentativeness characterizes the word, a certain apprehension about how it articulates one’s vision of the world and how this is received. When, however, a debut collection of poems comes from a well-known academic, committed feminist, and seasoned reader of poetry like Malashri Lal, the idea of ‘debut’ is bound to introduce and generate new connotations.
2023
All prophets tell similar stories. This story always rests on the world ending in fire and brimstone, darkness falling like a shroud over unfortunate people, and a seeming end to wickedness.
2023
In the late 80s, everyone was reading Magadh, first published in Hindi in 1984. We little realized it was the last collection of Shrikant Verma, one of the most brilliant Hindi poets. Barely two years later Shrikant passed away at the age of 54.
The ancient Tamil poetry of the Sangam Era is a significant contribution of the Tamils to world literature. More or less two millennia later, the contributions of the Tamil novelists and short story writers to these youngest literary genres are equally remarkable.
Dattapaharam is a coming of age novel, a search for the self of five young college students who confront themselves and their inner demons.
Andaleeb Wajid, a young Bangalore-based, hijab-wearing young woman, who has written over 40 novels in genres ranging from young adult and romance to horror, often raises eyebrows because her overtly Muslim identity is seen to be in contradiction with her choice of the genre derisively termed as ‘chick lit’. Is a hijab-clad Muslim woman reading and writing romances an anomaly? Actually, not!
The initiative of the Hyderabad Book Trust in publishing alternative literature in translation is commendable. By publishing K Purushotham’s translation of Yendluri Sudhakar’s Speaking Sandals: Narratives from the Madigawadas of Ongole, it has ensured the text pan-Indian visibility.
It is only now that the State has earned the description of a land of sand, sea and fun, an outcome of Goa being promoted as a tourist destination.
This is a textbook with a difference. It covers a well-known story of the development of India as a civilization, of its march to modern nationhood and does it with elegance, precision and sensitivity. It is this quality of tying together discrete elements of updated research, well-known debates and understanding with a brilliant array of visual material that makes this textbook genuinely a novel exercise in synthesis and analysis.
Exploring South Asian Urbanity edited by Urvi Mukhopadhyay and Suchandra Ghosh comprising fifteen essays explores the idea of urbanity in history. Divided into five themes, viz., the concept, urban spaces, textual representations, evolution of cities and urban violence
Colleen Taylor Sen, a culinary and food historian of South Asia—as the Foreword informs—picked up this study of Ashoka, the greatest and third ruler (c. 272/268-233 BCE) of the mighty Maurya dynasty
In beginning her book by repeatedly invoking the image of Gandhi’s prayer meetings as a counter to the violence of the Partition, the author is emphasizing a conception of secularism that many others have noted as specific to South Asia. At these prayer meetings,
There are very few political leaders in India whose initiation and evolution in the country’s political life would lead to an understanding not merely of the leader
Productivity. Input costs. Support Price. Policies.Investment.Risk. Capital. Market.Insurance.Credit. These have been and continue to be the key lexicons with which India’s agriculture and its economics are articulated and represented. This volume, a collection of essays from varied authors
Chennai saw the flood of the century in 2015, which claimed more than five hundred lives. Four years later, the city hit ‘day zero’, where all the city’s reservoirs dried, and 11.2 million residents had no water.
The book opens with an introduction that discusses the theoretical underpinnings and contestation about cultural globalization and whether it tends to erode the identities and culture of societies or not. Vivek Mohan Dubey starts the theoretical discussion with the ‘Traditional School of Thought’