Excerpts

The Greatest Indian Fairy Tales

The Greatest Indian Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

Click here to buy The Greatest Indian Fairy Tales The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to get out through the bars and rolled and bit with rage and grief when he failed. By chance a poor man came by. ‘Let me out of this cage!’ cried the tiger. ‘Nay, my friend,’ [...]

Strange Worlds! Strange Times!

Strange Worlds! Strange Times!

By Vinayak Varma

Click here to buy Strange Worlds! Strange Times INTRODUCTION Here’s what you probably know already: You know that sci-fi is a remarkable predictive tool. It takes the idea of the now and evolves it for the much later. It then casts that image in dread darkness or glorious light, into utopia or dystopia, depending on whether the creator of [...]

Jiya Jale

Jiya Jale

By Gulzar in conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir

Click here to buy Jiya Jale NMK: I was talking to director Shaad Ali once about the importance of songs in India’s cultural life. He agreed with me and told me how thrilled he was that a song from one of his films had become part of the repertoire of wedding songs. He was talking about ‘Kajra re’ from his delightful 2005 film, Bunty aur Babli. It is also a [...]

Sky Is My Father

Sky Is My Father

By Easterine Kire

Click here to buy Sky Is My Father After the tiger kill, the men did not pay any more attention to field work. They were too preoccupied with accumulating arms and ammunition. The younger men were taught the rituals of war, for it had been a long time since the village had gone to war against another village. The new age-groups were ignorant of a man’s role [...]

Shillong Times

Shillong Times

By Nilanjan P. Choudhury

Click here to buy Shillong Times It was a serene Shillong evening just like any other, watching with amusement the excitement bubbling inside Debu’s heart as every step brought him closer to the secret pleasures of Kalsang. A short walk later they had arrived at their destination—a large, slightly run-down cottage that had been [...]

The Rise and Fall of the Emerald Tigers

The Rise and Fall of the Emerald Tigers

By Raghu Chundawat

Click here to buy The Rise and Fall of the Emerald Tigers Out of all the tigers that we studied, one really became a part of our lives; she was a tigress whom we named ‘Baavan’ (fifty-two). She was named so because her eyebrow markings resembled the numerals ‘5’ and ‘2’ (page 78). I realized this quite late. In fact, it was [...]

Right Arm Over

Right Arm Over

By Moti Nandy

Click here to buy Right Arm Over Ananto returned to Calcutta on the evening flight. Jibon was waiting at the airport with his car. As soon as they hit Jessore Road, heading towards Nagerbazar, Jibon asked, ‘Why didn’t they have you in the team?’ ‘I can’t say. I didn’t ask anyone about it, what’s the point?’ ‘Still a good idea to know why.’ [...]

Looking for the Nation

Looking for the Nation

By Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee

Click here to buy Looking for the Nation Territory without Justice Before you ask for justice–make sure that you won’t get it, just by accident. —Paavo Haavikko, Fifteen Epigrams in Praise of the Tyrant Nations are born with, and live by, dates. But are dates the most promising reminders of freedom? Dates are promising only [...]

The Impossible Fairy Tale

The Impossible Fairy Tale

By Han Yujoo

Click here to buy The Impossible Fairy Tale The Child’s eyes resemble the eyes of a fish. She doesn’t see Mia, who says she will buy a fountain pen when she grows up. The Child’s eyes reflect nothing, reveal nothing. She doesn’t see Mia saying to Inju, Do you know you can kill someone with a fountain pen? The Child’s eyes capture neither [...]

The Disobedient Indian

The Disobedient Indian

By Ramin Jahanbegloo

Click here to buy The Disobedient Indian Many decades ago, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, described Mahatma Gandhi as a person who ‘seems to be the vehicle and embodiment of some greater force of which even he is perhaps only dimly conscious.’ Nehru’s affirmation was immediately followed by an interrogation: ‘Is that the [...]

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