Arundhathi Subramaniam’s new book maps the unique journeys of four lesser-known spiritual travellers

‘Women Who Wear Only Themselves’ provides glimpses of lives beyond those of talkative sadhus who inhabit social media.

Nikhil Govind

· Jul 10, 2021 · 05:30 pm

Chetan Bhagat’s new novel works not as a thriller but as an examination of the contemporary family

‘One Arranged Murder’ is a whodunit only schematically. It is more of an appraisal of a metropolitan social ethos.

Nikhil Govind

· Oct 10, 2020 · 08:30 am

Is ‘Suhledev’ history, fiction, or myth? Amish’s new book deliberately blurs the question

Suheldev is essentially a swashbuckling medieval bad boy who is nevertheless up to much good.

Nikhil Govind

· Sep 26, 2020 · 05:30 pm

Ambedkar wanted unjust, unconscionable suffering to inform the critical idiom of the Constitution

An excerpt from ‘Inlays of Subjectivity: Affect and Action in Modern Indian Literature’, by Nikhil Govind.

Nikhil Govind

· Dec 12, 2019 · 08:30 am

This biography of the Indian Constitution is not about the law today but about the ideal equilibrium

Gautam Bhatia’s book, ‘The Transformative Constitution’ will help many in the path toward legal literacy and thus a fuller and more participative citizenship.’

Nikhil Govind

· May 26, 2019 · 07:30 am

This book on Adi Shankaracharya could have been a vital revaluation of tradition. It isn’t

Pavan K Varma’s Atta Galatta-BLF Prize-winning book has its merits but ultimately suffers from too many drawbacks.

Nikhil Govind

· Jan 27, 2019 · 05:30 pm

A new book shows us ways to read Shahryar’s life in his poetry, and poetry in his life

In ‘Shahryar: A Life in Poetry’, Rakshanda Jalil works as both biographer and translator.

Nikhil Govind

· Oct 28, 2018 · 05:30 pm

Kambar’s ‘Karimayi’ is too simplistic a depiction of the old order versus the new in Karnataka

There are too many stereotypes and not enough depth, despite Chandrasekhar Kambar’s masterly storytelling.

Nikhil Govind

· Feb 24, 2018 · 08:30 am

Why everyone should read more of Malayalam writer Rajelakshmy’s groundbreaking fiction

The Malayalam writer, who killed herself at just 35, is acknowledged as one of the creators of post-colonial prose modernism.

Nikhil Govind

· Jul 30, 2017 · 05:30 pm

The fascinating world of KCS Paniker, the founder of Chennai’s iconic Cholamandal Artists’ Village

Despite the many institutional positions Paniker held, he refused government money work for the village – every home was built by an artist.

Nikhil Govind

· Jul 30, 2017 · 03:30 pm

One hundred years later, ‘Devdas’ is still celebrated as the anti-masculine hero

A self-absorbed, sumptuous notion of love that has broken the mould for 100 years.

Nikhil Govind

· Jun 04, 2017 · 07:30 am