The Economist Crossword Prize Shortlist 2012

Someone rang up yesterday as I was cooking dinner to tell me that The Folded Earth is on the Crossword shortlist. I've a powerful sense of deja vu because An Atlas of Impossible Longing was on the same shortlist in 2009, and Amitav Ghosh was on that shortlist too (with Sea of Poppies), as he is here. That year he shared the prize with Neel Mukherjee's Past Continuous, but what I remember most about going to Bombay for the award ceremony is the rain that lashed the beaches, the high winds that turned umbrellas inside out, and the crisp fried Bombay Duck at Mahesh Food Home.

Here's the complete list for fiction in English:

River of Smoke - Amitav Ghosh
Narcopolis - Jeet Thayil
The Storyteller of Marrakesh - Joydeep Roy Bhattacharya
The Folded Earth - Anuradha Roy
The Sly Company of People Who Care - Rahul Bhattacharya

A Tagore in Nainital

Sudakshina, from Chitra Deb's 'Thakurbarir Andarmahal' Earlier this month, I went to Abbotsford , a historic estate in Nainital, for the Himalayan Echoes literary festival, run by Janhavi Prasada. The festival took place on the extensive lawns of the estate, which is now run as an elegant hotel, but originally it was a family home and the place had been acquired from its British owners by Janhavi’s great grandfather Jwala Prasada and his wife, Purnima Devi, in the late 19 th century. Janhavi’s new book, Nainital Through Stories, Memories, History mentions this in its first few pages: From Nainital Through Stories I was intrigued to learn that Purnima Devi was a niece of Rabindranath Tagore. She was born (according to Wikipedia) on 13 May 1884, at No. 6, Dwarkanath Tagore's Lane, Jorasanko, Calcutta, to Hemendranath Tagore (1844–1884) of Jorasanko. Hemendranath was the older brother of Rabindranath Tagore, and son of Debendranath Tagore, founder o...

Begum Anees Khan

Once a week around midday, Maulvi Sah’b would come in through the gates of our school in Hyderabad and class would divide briskly into two and troop off to different parts of the building. Those who were Muslim would be at religious instruction classes with him for the next half hour while the others trudged through moral science lessons. Something similar happened during language classes. We would hear a singsong chorus of “A-salaam-aleikum, Aunty”, from the Urdu classroom as we sat at our Sanskrit or Telugu lessons. Through my nomadic childhood, I’ve been at many schools. None exemplified the idea of secular India as intensely as this Muslim school in Hyderabad. Begum Anees Khan, who made it so, died in Hyderabad on August 16. Her passing feels symbolic, as if it signifies the death of a quixotic idea. Anees Khan was not given to seeking the limelight or making speeches. She never spelled out her secularism. It was instinctive: instead of words, there was act...

Hideaway in the Hills

Share on email Share on print Share on facebook Share on twitter More Sharing Services Ranikhet's own traditions and its unique culturehave trumped the charmsof Durga Puja, says Anuradha Roy ( The Telegraph, Sunday 28 September 2014 ) Anuradha Roy Late one October evening, a man in a gilt crown, lush false moustaches and polyester dhoti dashed out from Munir Bux Steam Press and Drycleaners, loped across the road and leaped over the parapet into the space below. His only witness at that hour ought to have been a leopard wandering in search of rashly adventurous dogs. Today was different. Argumentative Indians abounded: Look, there's Manoj. Not Manoj, can't you see him, he's still at his shop. No, that's Nandu Dhobi. He's Lakshman this year. Nandu? That three-foot midget as Lakshman? It's someone else. Below the parapet was an arrangement of tables held together as a stage with ropes and prayers. It had a glea...

anuradha roy

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