Articles by 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
Interview: Ruth Vanita, author, Love’s Rite: Same Sex Marriage in India
Ruth Vanita is an ardent supporter of same-sex marriage in India
Published on Mar 12, 2021 05:42 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Essay: The importance of Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The courtroom drama around Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s publication of Alan Ginsberg’s Howl (1956), that focussed on the defence of free expression, provides a case study for contemporary writers, filmmakers, and stand-up comedians in other parts of the world facing censorship
Published on Mar 02, 2021 05:38 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Sharanya Manivannan, author, Mermaids in the Moonlight
The Chennai-based author makes her debut as an illustrator with Mermaids in the Moonlight, a picture book for children drenched in folklore, magic and the history of the civil war in Sri Lanka
Published on Feb 26, 2021 10:30 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Aparna Karthikeyan, author, No Nonsense Nandhini
Aparna Karthikeyan’s new book revolves around a single mother who grows, plucks and sells sampangi flowers for a living in the Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu. The real-life inspiration behind this work of fiction is Chandra Subramanian, a woman, whom the author has known for six years. In 2017, she wrote an article titled “A thorny life, but Chandra bets on flowers” for PARI. The book is a fictional adaptation of that news report. While it is recommended for ages 10-15, it also appeals to older readers
Updated on Jan 29, 2021 06:24 PM IST
Chintan Girish Modi
Interview: Pallavi Raghavan, Author, Animosity at Bay: An Alternative History of the India-Pakistan Relationship
We will have a calmer relationship with our history if we understand that the past cannot be used to justify and perpetuate the grievances of the present
Updated on Jan 08, 2021 09:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Chintan Girish Modi
Report: Two children’s books from India make it to The White Ravens catalogue
The prestigious catalogue which aims to promote quality in children’s book publishing contains a selection of 200 children’s and young adult books from 56 countries, published in 36 languages
Updated on Dec 10, 2020 04:06 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Chintan Girish Modi
“Reaching out for therapy is a sign of strength” - Sonali Gupta, author Anxiety; Overcome It and Live Without Fear
Clinical psychologist Sonali Gupta says her book shows how anxiety plays out from an Indian perspective
Updated on Nov 27, 2020 09:40 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Chintan Girish Modi
Essay: Queering Karva Chauth
While many feminists view Karva Chauth as a regressive practice rooted in misogyny, a growing number of LGBTQ couples are celebrating the festival
Updated on Nov 11, 2020 05:08 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Chintan Girish Modi