I was intrigued to pick up this book due to the fact that it is a work of translation by the Nobel Laureate himself Rabindranath Tagore and I have no shame in accepting the fact that I had no clue that Tagore also wrote in English. This is the story of Nandini, a beautiful woman who appears at a time of the oppression of humanity by greed and power. The antagonist in the story is the King, who represents enormous authority but barricades himself behind an iron curtain. He transforms a town in to a fort and the humans into …

I saw a lot of eyes staring at the book cover at the book shop and our society is such that people find such graphics titillating and pass stereotypical judgement. But I cared less and had reposed all my faith on my favourite translator Arunava Sinha. For me picking up this book was opening up the windows of my soul and gearing up my mind for something unexpected. “Panty” by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay is a collection of two novellas – Hypnosis and Panty and each of them is about unrequited love, longing and sexual desire. The two novellas kept me thinking …

‘In my stories I’ve put down everything with objectivity. Now, if some people find them obscene let them go to hell. It’s my belief that experiences can never be obscene if they are based on authentic realities of life’ – Ismat ke Shahkar Afsane This is how Ismat Chughtai, Urdu’s most courageous and controversial writer asserted the validity of her literary engagement in her characteristic, forthright manner.My first encounter with Ismat Chughtai a.k.a Ismat Aaapa was at Jaipur Literary Festival 2013. Don’t take me wrong, I was not fortunate enough to meet her but I was lucky to attend one session moderated by …