Sharmistha Gooptu is a historian

Shefalee Vasudev is the editor of The Voice of Fashion, an upcoming fashion media website

Santhosh Babu is an organisation development consultant and coach to CEOs

Shekhar Gupta is editor-in-chief of the Indian Express. This is an edited excerpt from the introduction to Anticipating India: The Best of National Interest, a compilation of his columns (HarperCollins, 480 pages, Rs 799)

Maalan Narayanan is a Chennai-based journalist

Dr Samiran Nundy is Emeritus Consultant, Gastroenterology and Liver Transplantation, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

Karan Mahajan is a novelist and essayist. His novel The Association of Small Bombs was nominated for National Book Award, 2016

Audrey Truschke is assistant professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University, US