Books

“The history of racism varies with the decades… like fashion”

Pavan K Varma

As part of a monthly conversation series organised by Open at Smoke House Deli, William Dalrymple spoke to Pavan K Varma about writing for a foreign audience, romanticising the Raj, and much else . Excerpts:

The Man Who Would Be Mahatma

Devika Bakshi

Would Gandhi still be interesting if he’d never made it to India in 1914? Ramachandra Guha answers: ‘absolutely.’

What Are Men to Rocks and Mountains?

Shubhangi Swarup

Field geologist and Earth Sciences Professor Mike Searle shares his expertise on the shifting plates beneath our feet

Legal Landscape

Madhavankutty Pillai

Zia Mody’s 10 Judgements That Changed India offers a quick and succinct, if somewhat dry, insight into India’s judicial journey

Too Much Life

Devika Bakshi

Jhumpa Lahiri’s new novel The Lowland is oddly compelling; tiring, yet insisting on meaning

No Questions Please

Anuradha Ananth

Unsuccessful attempts at the Berlin International Book Festival to understand how the reclusive JM Coetzee’s mind works

The Miracle Maker

Shaikh Ayaz

A new book revisits the film Amar Akbar Anthony and shines light on director Manmohan Desai’s enduring legacy

Manufacturing Hope

Devika Bakshi

Lavanya Sankaran’s aptly named first novel The Hope Factory is the latest in formulaic fiction from the Subcontinent

The Unending Nostalgia of Punjabiyat

Hartosh Singh Bal

Was there a shared Punjabi identity that united the region’s Muslims and Sikhs before the advent of British rule? Gandhi places too much faith in such a notion