The Federal brings to you a selection of this month’s releases you wouldn’t want to miss
1. Vazhga Vazhga and Other Stories by Imayam, translated by Prabha Sridevan (Penguin Random House): Imayam, one of the best-known Tamil writers — like Perumal Murugan, whose books dominated the buzz around books this year, from London to Delhi — is out with a collection of stories. This is his second book in translation this year; in September, his novel, A Woman Burnt, translated by GJV Prasad, was published by Simon & Schuster. The stories in Vazhga Vazhga reflect Imayam’s preoccupations as a writer: from questioning political morality and exploring whether religion unites or divides to the inequalities that people in the country are condemned to live with and navigate on a daily basis.
2. The Right To Be Counted: The Urban Poor and the Politics of Resettlement in Delhi by Sanjeev Routray (Bloomsbury): This book examines the struggle of Delhi's urban poor to be visible in the eye of the state, to gain a foothold in the city — where over 1.5 million poor people have been displaced in the last 30 years — and have an agency by staking their claims to a house, and life. Drawing upon fieldwork conducted in low-income neighbourhoods of Delhi to describe the process of claims-making as an attempt by the political community of the poor to assert its numerical strength, it highlights the social suffering in the wake of displacement, and the systematic and protracted political process by which the poor claim their entitlements.
3. Remaking History: 1948 Police Action and the Muslims of Hyderabad by Afsar Mohammad (Cambridge University Press): In the wake of Partition on August 15, 1947, as the new nation-states of India and Pakistan negotiated land and power, the princely state of Hyderabad witnessed an intense political conflict between the Union government of India and the Nizam of Hyderabad, the local ruler. Remaking History explores how Hyderabad struggled to produce its own tools of cultural renaissance and modernity even as the Centre deployed its army, the Nizam held on to the idea of a ‘Muslim state,’ and the left parties fuelled the Telangana Armed struggle.
4. Kashmir: Book 3 of The Partition Trilogy by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar (HarperCollins): Kashmir concludes the Partition Trilogy, which started with Lahore and continued with Hyderabad. After the Partition, Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of Kashmir, dreams of a Switzerland-like Himalayan kingdom, but tensions rise in the Muslim-majority state as Sheikh Abdullah pushes for freedom, kabailis cause chaos in Srinagar and Poonchis in western Jammu telegram Muhammad Ali Jinnah to intervene; Kashmir is expected to accede to Pakistan. Durga Mehra, Zooni, Kashmira, and journalist Margot Parr navigate the conflict’s human side. As the Maharaja accedes to India, Nehru and Patel deploy the Indian Army, sparking the first Indo-Pak war, barely two months into Independence.
5. China, Russia, and the USA in the Middle East: The Contest for Supremacy (Changing Dynamics in Asia-Middle East Relations), edited by Benjamin Houghton and Kasia A. Houghton (Routledge): This book delves into the repercussions of the multipolar shift in international relations, focusing on the intense competition between the USA, Russia, and China in the Middle East. Expert contributors employ a country case study approach to address key questions on how global power dynamics play out, impact regional equations, and are influenced by local actors and issues. Covering contemporary events, issues, and trends in Middle Eastern politics, the analysis spans terrorism, energy security, cyber threats, nuclear non-proliferation, and conflict resolution.
6. An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Juggernaut): Told by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, known for bestselling novels like The Palace of Illusions, The Forest of Enchantments, The Last Queen and Independence, this book tells — for the first time — the story of how Sudha Kulkarni and Narayana Murthy met and fell in love, following their courtship to Infosys’s founding years, from their marriage to parenthood. Sudha Kulkarni was forging a career as TELCO’s first woman engineer when she met the serious, idealistic and brilliant Narayana Murthy. The book tells us what drew them together and kept them bound tightly through the challenges and loneliness they faced, what was it like to create a start-up during the license raj, when there were no VCs, and entrepreneurship was regarded as a dirty word, and how Sudha Murty balanced being a career woman, a mother and a start-up wife, and how Narayana Murthy’s obsession affected him and his family.
7. A Fate Written on Matchboxes: State-Building in Kashmir Under India by Hafsa Kanjwal (Navyana): When Sheikh Abdullah, the first prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was jailed for being ‘anti-India’ in 1953, his deputy, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, took the reins. He was tasked with securing Kashmir’s contested accession to India. However, as he prioritised concerns of employment, subsidized rations, free education, and basic services, questions of self-determination were suppressed. He would dole out jobs by writing appointments on matchboxes and slips of paper. A Fate Written on Matchboxes tells the story of Bakshi’s ten-year regime, an important decade in Kashmir’s post-1947 history which entrenched Indian rule, and how his theory of state-building was marked by tension, corruption, and repression.
8. Journey to the End of the Empire in China Along the Edge of Tibet by Scott Ezell (Speaking Tiger): American poet and musician Scott Ezell explores the Tibetan borderlands in the twenty-first-century Chinese empire. He starts in Dali, in the foothills of the Himalaya in southwestern China, and extends north a thousand miles through towns and villages along the edge of Tibet, finally arriving at Kekexili, the highest plateau in the world, and crossing the Kunlun Mountains. Over the course of many years and numerous trips, he witnessed the rise of militarization, surveillance, destructive resource extraction and the killing of entire river ecosystems by massive dams. He highlights the environmental destruction, centralized national narratives, and the marginalisation of the minorities.
9. Shooting the Sun: Why Manipur was Engulfed by Violence and the Government Remained Silent by Nandita Haksar (Speaking Tiger): The ethnic clashes that broke out in Manipur in May 2023 have brought into focus the complexity of identity politics in the state. What began as an opposition by tribals living in the Hills to the demand of the Valley-based Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe status turned out to be linked to the problem of illegal migrants, refugees from Myanmar, and to the proliferation of poppy cultivation and ‘narcoterrorism.’ In this timely and urgent book, human rights lawyer Nandita Haksar explores a complex geopolitical problem, exposing the bankruptcy of identity politics in the state, never losing sight of those that have suffered — and continue to suffer — the most in this conflict.
10. Swadeshi Steam: V.O. Chidambaram Pillai and the Battle against the British Maritime Empire by A.R. Venkatachalapathy (Allen Lane): Swadeshi Steam, a tale of heroism and defiance in the face of colonial oppression, takes us to 1906, when Britain had an unassailable grip on grip on the world, with its navy ruling the seas, and its trade empire spanning the globe. But in Tamil Nadu’s small port town of Tuticorin, a lawyer named V.O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC) had an audacious plan to challenge the might of the empire: to launch the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company to compete with the British India Steam Navigation Company that controlled the region. To make his dream a reality, he rallied native traders and citizens, raising the capital. But the company faced a formidable foe: British mercantile interests and the imperial state both backed its competitor. VOC and his allies would have to defy overwhelming odds to make their venture a success.
11. We, The People, and Our Constitution by Neera Chandhoke (Speaking Tiger Books): Neera Chandhoke, a political science scholar, shows us why our Constitution is as much a political and moral document as it is a legal one, and as Indian as the republic — with fraternity, equality, secularism and justice as its foundational ideas — it created. It shows how from the ‘Constitution of India Bill’ in 1895 to the 1925 Commonwealth of India Bill, the Motilal Nehru Constitutional Draft of 1928 and various Congress resolutions to the Constituent Assembly of 1946, the basic ideas were reiterated again and again. When the Constitution was adopted, ‘we, the people’ merely affirmed our faith in an idea of freedom that thousands of Indians had fought and died for. The book argues that despite its shortcomings, the Constitution has held our democracy together.
12. Where Some Things are Remembered: Profiles and Conversations by Dom Moraes (Speaking Tiger): Dom Moraes, one of the finest poets of the twentieth century, was also an extraordinary journalist and essayist. He could capture effortlessly the essence of the people he met. In this book, a collection of profiles, he shows us how it is done. The Dalai Lama laughs with him and Mother Teresa teaches him a lesson in empathy. Moraes could make himself at home with Laloo Prasad Yadav, and he could exchange writerly notes with the novelist and intellectual Sunil Gangopadhyaya. He was Indira Gandhi’s biographer — painting her in defeat, post Emergency, and in triumph, when she returned to power. He tried to fathom the mind of a mysterious ‘super cop’— K.P.S. Gill — and also of Naxalites, dacoits and ganglords.
13. Becoming Goan: A Contemporary Coming-Home Story by Michelle Mendonça Bambawale (Penguin): Becoming Goan is a heartfelt story of Michelle Mendonca’s love for the land that her grandparents left her. She cares deeply about its biodiversity and is distraught about the environmental impact of tourism, construction and mining. In June 2020, Michelle found herself moving to the 160-year-old house she had inherited in Siolim, a village in North Goa, with her human and canine family. Having never lived in Goa before, she couldn’t help but wonder if her Goan ancestry made her an insider or if she would forever remain an outsider. In her memoir, she confronts her complex relationship with her Goan Catholic heritage and explores themes of identity, culture, migration, stereotypes and labels.
14. Gendered Publics:_C. Chandraprava Saikiani and the Mahila Samiti in Colonial Assam by Hemjyoti Medhi (Oxford University Press): It’s a comprehensive account of the forgotten histories of the highly impactful women’s association, the Assam Mahila Samiti, and the life and times of its founding secretary Chandraprava Saikiani, who was a celebrated writer, mobilizer, and publisher, despite being an unwed mother and belonging to a ‘lower' caste. The book dwells on the individual and collective journeys of Saikiani and the mahila samitis from the 1920s to the 1950s in conversation with parallel tribal-caste and literary associations, anti-colonial movements and international ideological paradigms such as the Bolshevik revolution.
15. Hot Stage by Anita Nair (HarperCollins): The latest instalment of Anita Nair’s urban crime thriller in the Inspector Gowda series, a police procedural, is set in Bangalore. Like the first two novels in the series, it is an intense exploration of a man and a city that exists on multiple levels. When elderly Professor Mudgood, a well-known rationalist and fervent critic of right-wing forces in India, is found dead in his home in Bangalore by his daughter, ACP Borei Gowda is quite certain that it is a homicide although all evidence points to the murder being politically motivated. As he and his team launch a parallel investigation, they stumble upon a secret and murky world where there are no rules or mercy.
16. Sheikh Abdullah: The Caged Lion of Kashmir by Chitralekha Zutshi (HarperCollins): The the second book in the Indian Lives series, edited and curated by Ramachandra Guha, it tells the story of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah (1905-82), one of the best-known and most controversial political figures of twentieth-century South Asia. A fierce Kashmiri nationalist, Abdullah is best remembered for securing J&K’s accession to India in 1947, and later for championing the cause of Kashmiri self-determination. Zutshi places Abdullah’s life in the context of global developments in the twentieth century. She illustrates how his political trajectory — forged in the inequities of the princely state system and burnished in the flames of anti-colonial nationalism, Islamic universalism, socialism, communism, secularism, communalism, federalism and the Cold War — embodies the becoming of India itself.
17. The Yellow Sparrow: Memoir of a Transgender by Santa Khurai (Speaking Tiger): This is the story of a prominent LGBTQ activist of Manipur. Santa Khurai was 17 when she decided to start dressing like a woman. Born male, she had always believed herself to be female. Her bold act of wearing dresses and make-up in public brought down upon her the wrath of her father, insults and ridicule wherever she went, and, frequently, beatings at the hands of the armed forces who are a constant presence in her native Manipur. She paid a high price: No one would employ her because of the way she looked. When she eventually found success as a make-up artist, with her own beauty parlour, the stress of her struggles sent her spiralling into drug abuse and penury. But she fought. And won.
18. Zeba : An Accidental Superhero by Huma S Qureshi (HarperCollins): The Bollywood actor’s first work of fiction — a tale of heroism and transformation — it tells the story of Zeba, a sassy superhero with an unusual choice for a cape, whose cushy life takes an unexpected turn when she travels to the distant land of Khudir and discovers the source of her superpowers — the holy spring Zsa Zsa — and it falls on her (against her best instincts) to save the world she loves from the clutches of The Great Khan, a cruel tyrant with the most evil intentions. Can she vanquish her inner demons while she prepares for the fight of her life — a fight to save not just her family but the whole world?
19. Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future by Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba (Penguin Business): Is India surging forward, having just overtaken the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world? Or is it flailing, unable to provide jobs for the millions joining the labour force? What should India do to secure a better future? India is at a crossroads today. Its growth rate, while respectable relative to other large countries, is too low for the jobs our youth need. In this book, the authors explain how we can accelerate economic development by investing in our people’s human capital, expanding opportunities in high-skilled services and manufacturing centred on innovative new products, and making India a ferment of ideas and creativity. India’s democratic traditions will support this path, helped further by governance reforms, including strengthening our democratic institutions and greater decentralization.
20. City on Fire : A Boyhood in Aligarh by Zeyad Masroor Khan (HarperCollins India): In this visceral portrait of how everyday violence and hate become a part of our lives and consciousness, Zeyad Masroor Khan examines religion and violence, imagined histories and fractured realities, grief and love in today’s India; the book is also a paean to the hope of continued unity, to an idea of India. Khan was four years old when he realized that an innocent act of clicking a switch near a window overlooking the street could trigger a riot. He writes about the undercurrents of religious violence and the ensuing ‘othering’ that followed him everywhere he went: from his school days in Aligarh, through his years as a college student in Delhi, to ultimately becoming a journalist documenting the history of his country as it happened.
21. Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers by Sharmistha Mukherjee (Rupa Publications): Written by the daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, who served as India’s External Affairs, Defence, Finance and Commerce Minister at different times, it celebrates a special father–daughter relationship. She writes about hitherto unknown facets of Pranab’s political life — his unfulfilled ambition of becoming India’s prime minister arising out of his inability to emerge as the ‘number one person’ to earn Sonia’s trust, the personality cult around the Nehru–Gandhi family, Rahul Gandhi’s ‘lack of charisma’ and political understanding, and his advice to PM Modi to acknowledge the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
22. The Collected Stories of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury (Aleph) Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury Translated by Lopamudra Maitra (Aleph): It is a selection of 63 stories by Bengali writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury (1863–1915), featuring a vibrant cast of characters — eccentric woodland animals, a motley crew of unusual villagers and townspeople, bewildering ghosts, competitive demons, and gods from Norway and Japan. ‘Tuntunir Boi’, the first book in the collection, has 27 stories. These include adventure yarns of the author’s most popular characters like the mischievous tailor bird Tuntuni, the crafty fox Sheyal, the arrogant feline Mawjontali Sarkar, and the fearless farmer Buddhu’s Baap. The second book, ‘Golpomala’, includes some beloved gems — stories of Gupi the singer and Bagha the instrumentalist; of Ghyanghashur, a half-bird, half-beast; of the Japanese gods Izanagi and Izanami; and of a sailor’s extraordinary sea voyage.
23. The Grammar of My Body: A Memoir by Abhishek Anicca (Penguin): Subverting an ableist India’s expectations from a disabled person to be ‘inspirational’ and an ‘underdog who made it’ despite their illness, Abhishek Anicca writes about everyday stories of living with disability and chronic illness in this memoir-in-essays. His essays on the self, questions of care and dignity, dating and navigating desire as a queer-disabled man, self-hatred, moving about with a crutch, chronic pain and shame, the chilling lack of representation in the media and reflections on nearing death are sparse but compelling. Conversational and informal, truthful and unflinching, Anicca’s wry and urgent essays compel the reader to become at once distant from and proximate to their inner experiences.
24. ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn by Rajeev Bhattacharyya (HarperCollins): Cross-border connections make the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) unique in the annals of insurgency in India, second only to the LTTE in South Asia in terms of how vast the international network created to sustain its separatist campaign is — from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China. ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn is the never-before-told story of the outlawed separatist outfit from its inception in the early 1980s to the present, when peace is being negotiated between a faction led by Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and the Indian government. It delves into all the major episodes, delineates their causes and effects, and debunks interpretations about the movement that have gained currency over the years.
(Compiled by Nawaid Anjum. Book details have been culled from the notes provided to The Federal by the publishers)
