The Lost Generation

The Lost Generation: Chronicling India’s Dying Professions
by Nidhi Dugar Kundalia.

Read my review here on Open Road Review. 

An excerpt:

"Once we move past the novelty of these professions, of the nooks they occupy in battles and epics, of their romance and nostalgia, we have to ask, so what! Are these professions indeed anachronistic, stuck in a timewarp surrounded by Rudaalis waiting to weep? Or, as patriarchy, caste and feudalism change their natures, do they continue to make space for these professions?"

city and the river

by arun joshi

um. i wanted to like it. really.

salman rushdie's new book

is stellar.

this is why i love salman rushdie. exactly this. it's witty, hilarious and perfect. it's full of parables - most directly taking apart the current indian and global political regime, questioning the role of religion in the world today, the notion of free speech... (my favorite line from the book has to be - "anti-national element is an element for which there is no longer any place in our periodic table".) at the same time, it's a triumphant story about jinnis, love, war and crazy things. this is the salman rushdie the world fell in love with - let nobody have it any other way.