Articles by Chintan Girish Modi
Essay: Food writing in India during the pandemic
Cookbooks that feature the cuisines of specific religious and ethnic communities, others that present healthy traditional recipes, and those that look at the science behind cooking have all provided much food for thought in the last two years. A look at some of the interesting ones
Updated on Apr 14, 2022 05:15 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Report: The Kolkata Literary Meet 2022
With interesting sessions featuring a range of authors including Ghazala Wahab, Cyrus Broacha, Sandip Roy, Amish Tripathi and Javed Akhtar, and personalities like Simi Garewal, Jim Sarbh and Mallika Sarabhai, the Kolkata Literary Meet 2022 stood out especially for the rare intimacy it engendered between writers and readers
Updated on Apr 08, 2022 04:34 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Nicolas Wild, author, Kabul Disco - ‘Being French and White gave me many privileges in Afghanistan’
A graphic novelist from France, best known for Kabul Disco Vols 1 and 2, was at the recent Kolkata Literary Meet. Here, he talks about his books, Afghanistan, and about representation
Published on Apr 02, 2022 06:43 AM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
JLF 2022: Like walking through a food court for the mind
At this year’s edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, our intrepid correspondent often found entertainment when he was least expecting it
Updated on Mar 25, 2022 06:17 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Rashmi Dhanwani, coauthor, The India Literature and Publishing Sector Study commissioned by British Council – ‘Resources for translators are scant.’
On the challenges of making literature written in Indian languages more widely available to international English-speaking readership
Published on Mar 12, 2022 01:03 AM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: The Spiritual Path by Gregory David Roberts
Gregory David Roberts’s new book tells you what led him to trust his guru, and why he, a man committed to science, logic and reason, turned to faith, devotion and worship
Published on Mar 04, 2022 11:27 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Pramod Kapoor, author, 1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny; Last War of Independence - ‘Histories are written by those who rule’
The story of an uprising by sailors of the Royal Indian Navy who took on the British but were let down by India’s most prominent nationalist leaders
Published on Feb 25, 2022 08:47 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Ali Khan Mahmudabad, translator, The Break of Dawn – ‘This project was a very personal one for me’
On the work of historical fiction set in 1857, the year Indians first rose up in rebellion against British colonial rule and fought for freedom.
Published on Feb 11, 2022 05:59 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: Encounters with Kiran; Fragments from a Relationship by Nayantara Sahgal
This collection of the email correspondence between Kiran Nagarkar and Nayantara Sahgal touches on their views on issues like demonetization, the rise of religious extremism, violence against minorities, threats to freedom of speech, and protests led by artists and intellectuals, and the Me Too movement
Published on Jan 28, 2022 03:35 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Lavanya Karthik, author, The Boys Who Created Malgudi - ‘Kids need to see that failure is normal’
Author and illustrator Lavanya Karthik’s new book, The Boys Who Created Malgudi revolves around the childhood adventures of author RK Narayan and his cartoonist brother RK Laxman, who created the fictional town of Malgudi based on their formative years in Mysore
Published on Dec 31, 2021 04:21 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
HT reviewer Chintan Girish Modi picks his favourite reads of 2021
Doing their best to survive; Sonal Kohli’s short stories are snapshots of lives that are made and unmade by marriage, war, miscarriage, widowhood, genocide, disability, and economic misfortunes
Updated on Dec 17, 2021 12:49 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Payal Dhar, Author, It Has No Name – “Online spaces have been my lifelines at various points.”
On her book about a gay teenager in the context of survival, representation, legal reform and queer politics in India
Published on Nov 05, 2021 06:05 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: Unsettling Utopia: The Making and Unmaking of French India by Jessica Namakkal
Historian Jessica Namakkal’s book might trouble devotees of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother but it does help readers understand how the past continues into the present
Published on Oct 29, 2021 06:27 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Tishani Doshi, author, a god at the door - “My poems tread between horror and beauty”
Poet, essayist, and fiction writer Tishani Doshi who is also a visiting associate professor at New York University Abu Dhabi talks about her new poems that explore themes of impermanence, disembodiment, isolation, and the need for connection
Published on Oct 22, 2021 04:24 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: My Family by Mahadevi Varma, translated by Ruth Vanita
Ruth Vanita’s translation from Hindi of Mahadevi Varma’s autobiographical work Mera Parivaar will be loved by those for whom the idea of a chosen family embraces not just humans but birds and animals too
Published on Oct 15, 2021 05:14 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Kalki Subramaniam, author, We Are Not The Others: Reflections of a Transgender Artivist
A transgender ‘artivist’, writer and actor who lives in Pollachi in Tamil Nadu, Kalki Subramaniam is also the founder of Sahodari Foundation, which works for the empowerment of transgender persons in India. Here, she talks about her new book, about the ignorance that trans people encounter, and about collaborating with trans artists from across the world.
Published on Oct 01, 2021 06:41 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Jyoti Jafa, author, Meera, Sanga and Mewar
The author reveals that her fascination with Meerabai is connected to their shared bloodline, and her lifelong immersion in Rajput history, traditions and customs.
Updated on Sep 03, 2021 06:34 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Essay: Arriving at the truth about Afghanistan through fiction
While reportage allows you to see disasters as they happen, fiction can reveal the complexity of a situation. Some novels on Afghanistan that help the reader arrive at a deeper understanding of what’s happening there
Updated on Aug 27, 2021 06:52 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: The Longest Kiss; The Life and Times of Devika Rani by Kishwar Desai
Pieced together from sources like romantic missives, film reviews, minutes of board meetings, resignation letters, records of court cases, and interviews with family members and friends of Devika Rani and her husbands Himanshu Rai and Svetoslav Roerich, The Longest Kiss offers a deep dive into Devika Rani’s professional accomplishments and her personal misfortunes
Published on Aug 20, 2021 06:22 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Irwin Allan Sealy, Author, Asoca: A Sutra
The author of The Trotter-Nama, The Everest Hotel and The Brainfever Bird is back with a historical novel woven around the life of Mauryan emperor Ashoka, who is best remembered for his change of heart on the battlefield in Kalinga. Confronting the suffering caused by war made him embrace Buddhism and take a vow of ahimsa in the third century BCE
Published on Aug 13, 2021 08:38 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Sanjena Sathian, Author, Gold Diggers‘The American Dream is a deeply dangerous idea’
A work of social satire and magical realism, Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers, which draws on her experience of being raised in the US by Indian immigrant parents, is built around ambition, alchemy and the American dream.
Published on Aug 06, 2021 07:54 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife by Kareem Khubchandani
The author, a performance studies scholar, a drag queen, and a transnational desi, documents the pleasures and perils of being ‘out’ at night in Bangalore and Chicago
Updated on Jun 24, 2021 06:16 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Srini Ramaswamy and Ramkrishna Sinha, co-editors, equALLY: Stories by Friends of the Queer World
It’s Pride Month and Ramaswamy and Sinha speak about why it is important for straight supporters of the LGBTQ+ community to talk about being allies
Published on Jun 18, 2021 05:11 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Manan Kapoor, author, A Map of Longings;The Life and Works of Agha Shahid Ali
Manan Kapoor’s work looks at the life of the Kashmiri-American poet who pioneered ghazal writing in English, translated the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mahmoud Darwish, and was a prominent voice against injustice and oppression.On the Kashmiri-American poet who was a prominent voice against oppression
Published on Jun 11, 2021 05:46 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Amitav Ghosh, author, Jungle Nama: A Story of the Sundarban
“Climate change is the greatest crisis that humanity, as a species, has ever faced,” says Amitav Ghosh, who has teamed up with artist Salman Toor to retell the legend of Bon Bibi, Shah Jongoli and Dokkhin Rai in his new book
Published on May 28, 2021 08:46 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Review: Mahavir: Conqueror of the Self by Arvind Bhandari
A book that provides insights into the difficult choices Vardhamaan Mahavir had to make as a man, son, husband, father, prince, and as a seeker of liberation from karmic entanglements
Published on Apr 30, 2021 04:32 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview with Christophe Jaffrelot, co-author, India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977
On the political scientist’s new book which tells the story of India’s experience with authoritarian rule under Indira Gandhi
Published on Apr 16, 2021 10:23 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview with Ranjit Hoskote, author, Hunchprose
Ranjit Hoskote’s new poetry collection, Hunchprose, is strewn with references to literature, ornithology, music, archaeology, cinema and history and engages with contemporary political questions as well as matters of the heart
Published on Apr 10, 2021 06:52 AM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Lubaina Bandukwala, Editor, Thank God It’s Caturday
The curator of the Peek-a-Book storytelling festival for children talks about editing a collection of short stories featuring cats, written by some of India’s best loved authors
Updated on Mar 25, 2021 04:17 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: ‘Under Imran Khan’s government, corruption has actually increased in Pakistan’ - Moni Mohsin, Author, The Impeccable Integrity of Ruby R
Pakistani writer Moni Mohsin, who is best known for her long-running satirical column The Diary of a Social Butterfly, is out with a new book to regale audiences with her sparkling wit and razor-sharp social commentary. The Impeccable Integrity of Ruby R is set in a world of ruthless ambition, political propaganda, social media intrigue, and fragile relationships. Excerpts from an interview with the novelist, who divides her time between London and Lahore, and longs to visit India.
Published on Mar 20, 2021 12:40 AM IST
Chintan Girish Modi