Illiberal India: Gauri Lankesh and the Age of Unreason
By Chidanand Rajghatta
Illiberal India set in the backdrop of an intolerance that is closely consuming the country, where killing and lynching are the response to dissent, is one way of expressing love for a woman and the ideals she stood for. It is written by Chidanand Rajghatta, the former husband of the slain Gauri Lankesh. This book reminds us once again of the dangerous times we live in.
Anita Gets Bail: What Are Our Courts Doing? What Should We Do About Them?
By Arun Shourie
Arun Shourie’s latest book demonstrates why, for all its admiration for the judicial institutions, Indian society remains sceptical about the efficacy of the judicial system. Though Shourie begins with his personal experience of the mechanical and inconsiderate ways of the lower courts, he expands his dissection of the ways of the judiciary to cover the major ill afflicting the system. He covers instances of possible judicial corruption, and the failure of the institution to deal impartially with allegations against individuals within it.
The Sensational Life & Death of Qandeel Baloch
By Sanam Maher
Qandeel Baloch is a personality in her own right, albeit one fabricated from the phantasmagoric realm of cyberspace. The book begins with her tragic murder: she was killed on July 16, 2016, by her younger brother Waseem, “in the name of honour,” as her father, Muhammad Azeem, writes in the FIR. Maher’s well-researched, engaging narrative containing numerous voices, including Qandeel’s makes for an excellent read.
Goodbye Freddie Mercury
By Nadia Akbar
The partying, the drugs, the blurred lines of consensus in sex — all of this could be happening in any elite society in the world, but Akbar’s depictions are firmly grounded in Lahore, with sharp observations about the city’s politics, music, and cultural norms.
Jangam: A Forgotten Exodus in which Thousands Died
By Debendranath Acharya, translated by Amit R. Baishya
The novel, based on actual events from World War II, tells the story of the exodus of an estimated 4,50,000-5,00,000 Burmese-Indians who fled the Japanese invasion and ethnic violence in Burma by escaping into Assam in British India across mountains and rivers and a merciless terrain.
Collected Poems
By Gieve Patel
Several poems in Patel's ‘Collected’ bear the bruises which he may have remedied physically but whose after-effects linger on. But most of the poems convey a feeling of fascination-cum-revulsion, bordering even on misanthropy, as the poet grapples with a conscience that will not be satisfied by easy answers.
Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens & Begums of the Mughal Empire
By Ira Mukhoty
Daughters of the Sun is a luminous account of the many women who lived in the shadow of their men yet led remarkable lives forming links in a chain that encircled all of Hindustan. The word harem itself has an interesting etymology, a distortion of the Arabic word ‘ haram ’ meaning sanctuary it is traditionally used for the territory of Mecca where the act of committing a sin is haraam (forbidden).
