What is it about Urdu literature that appeals to you, how did your research begin and why do you think Urdu literature needs to come to the fore? Urdu is my mother tongue; it is the language I used at
As their vehicle—too small to be called a bus, too large to be a gaddi, so they call it a gadda—pulls in to their next destination, Minni Hurria Arora and Neeru Anand look at each other and smile. Another corner
Is there really a theory to acting? You’ve been an alumnus of two of the premier national institutes for the performing arts. Apart from an introduction into the wonderful world of psychedelia and the friends and contacts you made there,
These are dark days in India. I began writing this piece in the context of the brutal lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, on September 28. By the time I finished writing it, two more atrocities had grabbed
As I sit writing this essay, my uncle sits in the adjoining room performing his monthly ritual—Lakshmi Puja. He is clad in a dhoti, with another dhoti covering his torso, his “sacred thread” gleaming in its whiteness. His face, a
Recent British Asian literature in English has, for the first time, started to engage head on with caste. Two recent novels in particular, Sathnam Sanghera’s Marriage Material, and Sunjeev Sahota’s The Year of the Runaways have Dalit protagonists at their
You do not have to take bus rides every day to know that occupying seats reserved for the “handicapped” is a safe bet. Any regular commuter of Kolkata buses and minibuses would vouch that there is a rare chance that
Anniversaries, those damned things. They serve perfectly to throw a harsh spotlight of how much you have aged, how long your past now is. Ten years since this, twelve since that, twenty this, more that. High school seems so very
“A votary of truth is often obliged to grope in the dark.” —Mahatma Gandhi. Before accusing others of harbouring untruths, Gandhi used to critically analyse his own. Before asking others to choose a certain path, he used to experiment
Reporters on the ground believe that the BJP-led NDA alliance has done “much better” in the fourth phase of the elections in Bihar. The first three phases have reportedly gone against it. The last phase, too, might see a shift