K!

She/Her• Bisexual 🏳️‍🌈• Coffee • Books • Art •

[caffeinatedbookpages]

You are the only person I'd like to say goodbye to when I die, because only then will this thing I call my life make any sense. And if I should hear that you died, my life as I know it.....will cease to exist...... We missed out on so much. It was a coma. Tomorrow I go back to my coma, and you to yours...

- Call Me By Your Name, André Aciman

[asaltyysoul-deactivated20240117]

I came, I saw, I got anxious, I left

[somerabbitholes]

Hey.i love you blog. Vvv interested in the reading list you keep posting. Could you please reccomend some credible store or online store i could get books both new and used?

hi, thanks! these bookstores ship across india —

kitab khana, mumbai

champaca, bangalore

the bookshop, delhi

bahrisons, delhi

midland books, delhi

for used books —

batteredpages

baskingbooks

bookchor

tinypacketsofhappiness

99bookscart

happy book-buying!

[somerabbitholes]

essays, mostly history

just a bunch of interesting writing that came up while studying, researching, working

Labour, Resistance, Protest

Debt, Time, and Extravagance — Prathama Banerjee

A Market for Aboriginality: Primitivism and Race Classification in the Indentured Labour Market of Colonial India — Kaushik Ghosh

Disciplining and Policing the ‘Criminals by Birth’, Part 1: The Making of a Colonial Stereotype — Sanjay Nigam | Part 2

Convicts and Coolies: Rethinking Indentured Labour in the Nineteenth Century — Clare Anderson

The Fictions of Free Labour — Jairus Banaji

From Poverty to Slavery: Abolitionists, Overseers, and the Global Struggle for Labour in India — Christopher M. Florio 

Orientalism, Genealogy and the Writing of History — Bhaskar Mukhopadhyay

Perceptions of Protest — Ann Stoler

Working Class Protest in 19th Century India: Example of Railway Workers — Ian J. Kerr

Military Culture

Gosains, Rajputs and the British in Bundelkhand, c. 1800 — William R. Pinch

Warrior Ascetics in Indian History — David Lorenzen

Peasant Fighting in Early Modern North India — Dirk Kolff

The Company Army and Rural Society — Seema Alavi

Migration, Mobility, Diaspora

Local and International Trade and Traders in the Straits of Melaka Region — Kenneth R. Hall

The Indian Ocean as a Diasporic Space — Iain Walker, Martin Slama

On the Move: Circulating Labor in Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Post-Colonial India — Ian J. Kerr

The Globalised Dawoodi Bohras — Sifra Lentin

Irregular Indians in the UK: A Conflicted Issue, Part 1 — Sifra Lentin | Part 2

[somerabbitholes]

Essays

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of essays I like/find interesting/are food for thought; I’ve tried to sort them as much as possible. The starred (*) ones are those I especially love

also quick note: some of these links, especially the ones that are from books/anthologies redirect you to libgen or scihub, and if that doesn’t work for you, do message me; I’d be happy to send them across!

Literature + Writing

Godot Comes to Sarajevo - Susan Sontag

The Strangeness of Grief - V. S. Naipaul*

Memories of V. S. Naipaul - Paul Theroux*

A Rainy Day with Ruskin Bond - Mayank Austen Soofi

How Albert Camus Faced History - Adam Gopnik

Listen, Bro - Jo Livingstone

Rachel Cusk Gut-Renovates the Novel - Judith Thurman

Lost in Translation: What the First Line of “The Stranger” Should Be - Ryan Bloom

The Duke in His Domain - Truman Capote*

The Cult of Donna Tartt: Themes and Strategies in The Secret History - Ana Rita Catalão Guedes

Never Do That to a Book - Anne Fadiman*

Affecting Anger: Ideologies of Community Mobilisation in Early Hindi Novel - Rohan Chauhan*

Why I Write - George Orwell*

Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance - Carrie Jaurès Noland*

Art + Photography (+ Aesthetics)

Looking at War - Susan Sontag*

Love, sex, art, and death - Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz

Lyons, Szarkowski, and the Perception of Photography - Anne Wilkes Tucker

The Feminist Critique of Art History - Thalia Gouma-Peterson, Patricia Mathews

In Plato’s Cave - Susan Sontag*

On reproduction of art (Chapter 1, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

On nudity and women in art (Chapter 3, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

Kalighat Paintings  - Sharmishtha Chaudhuri

Daydreams and Fragments: On How We Retrieve Images From the Past -  Maël Renouard

Arthur Rimbaud: the Aesthetics of Intoxication - Enid Rhodes Peschel

Cities

Tragic Fable of Mumbai Mills - Gyan Prakash

Whose Bandra is it? - Dustin Silgardo*

Timur’s Registan: noblest public square in the world? - Srinath Perur

The first Starbucks coffee shop, Seattle - Colin Marshall*

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s iconic railway station - Srinath Perur

From London to Mumbai and Back Again: Gentrification and Public Policy in Comparative Perspective -  Andrew Harris

The Limits of “White Town” in Colonial Calcutta - Swati Chattopadhyay

The Metropolis and Mental Life - Georg Simmel

Colonial Policy and the Culture of Immigration: Citing the Social History of Varanasi - Vinod Kumar, Shiv Narayan

A Caribbean Creole Capital: Kingston, Jamaica - Coln G. Clarke (from Colonial Cities by Robert Ross, Gerard J. Telkamp

The Colonial City and the Post-Colonial World - G. A. de Bruijne

The Nowhere City - Amos Elon*

The Vertical Flâneur: Narratorial Tradecraft in the Colonial Metropolis - Paul K. Saint-Amour

Philosophy

The trolley problem problem - James Wilson

A Brief History of Death - Nir Baram

Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical - John Rawls*

Should Marxists be Interested in Exploitation? - John E. Roemer

The Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief - Scott Berinato*

The Pandemic and the Crisis of Faith - Makarand Paranjape

If God Is Dead, Your Time is Everything - James Wood

Giving Up on God - Ronald Inglehart

The Limits of Consensual Decision - Douglas Rae*

The Science of “Muddling Through” - Charles Lindblom*

History

The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine - Maria Dolan

The History of Loneliness - Jill Lepore*

From Tuskegee to Togo: the Problem of Freedom in the Empire of Cotton - Sven Beckert*

Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism - E. P. Thompson*

All By Myself - Martha Bailey*

The Geographical Pivot of History - H. J. Mackinder

The sea/ocean

Rim of Life - Manu Pillai

Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line - Isabel Hofmeyr, Charne Lavery

‘Piracy’, connectivity and seaborne power in the Middle Ages - Nikolas Jaspert (from The Sea in History)*

The Vikings and their age - Nils Blomkvist (from The Sea in History)*

Mercantile Networks, Port Cities, and “Pirate” States - Roxani Eleni Margariti

Phantom Peril in the Arctic - Robert David English, Morgan Grant Gardner*

Assorted ones on India

A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001 - Alexander Evans *

Writing Post-Orientalist Histories of the Third World - Gyan Prakash

Empire: How Colonial India Made Modern Britain - Aditya Mukherjee

Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947 - Aparna Basu

The Epic Riddle of Dating Ramayana, Mahabharata - Sunaina Kumar*

Caste and Politics: Identity Over System - Dipankar Gupta

Our worldview is Delhi based*

Sports (you’ll have to excuse the fact that it’s only cricket but what can i say, i’m indian)

‘Massa Day Done:’ Cricket as a Catalyst for West Indian Independence: 1950-1962 - John Newman*

Playing for power? rugby, Afrikaner nationalism and masculinity in South Africa, c.1900–70 - Albert Grundlingh

When Cricket Was a Symbol, Not Just a Sport - Baz Dreisinger

Cricket, caste, community, colonialism: the politics of a great game - Ramachandra Guha*

Cricket and Politics in Colonial India - Ramchandra Guha

MS Dhoni: A quiet radical who did it his way*

Music

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil - Samuel M. Araújo

Color, Music and Conflict: A Study of Aggression in Trinidad with Reference to the Role of Traditional Music - J. D. Elder

The 1975 - ‘Notes On a Conditional Form’ review - Dan Stubbs*

Life Without Live - Rob Sheffield*

How Britney Spears Changed Pop - Rob Sheffield

Concert for Bangladesh

From “Help!” to “Helping out a Friend”: Imagining South Asia through the Beatles and the Concert for Bangladesh - Samantha Christiansen 

Gender

Clothing Behaviour as Non-verbal Resistance - Diana Crane

The Normalisation of Queer Theory - David M. Halperin

Menstruation and the Holocaust - Jo-Ann Owusu*

Women’s Suffrage the Democratic Peace - Allan Dafoe

Pink and Blue: Coloring Inside the Lines of Gender - Catherine Zuckerman*

Women’s health concerns are dismissed more, studied less - Zoanne Clack

Food

How Food-Obsessed Millennials Shape the Future of Food - Rachel A. Becker (as a non-food obsessed somewhat-millennial, this was interesting)

Colonialism’s effect on how and what we eat - Coral Lee

Tracing Europe’s influence on India’s culinary heritage - Ruth Dsouza Prabhu

Chicken Kiev: the world’s most contested ready-meal*

From Russia with mayo: the story of a Soviet super-salad*

The Politics of Pancakes - Taylor Aucoin*

How Doughnuts Fuelled the American Dream*

Pav from the Nau

A Short History of the Vada Pav - Saira Menezes

Fantasy (mostly just harry potter and lord of the rings)

Purebloods and Mudbloods: Race, Species, and Power (from The Politics of Harry Potter)

Azkaban: Discipline, Punishment, and Human Rights (from The Politics of Harry Potter)*

Good and Evil in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lengendarium - Jyrki Korpua

The Fairy Story: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis - Colin Duriez (from Tree of Tales)*

Tolkien’s Augustinian Understanding of Good and Evil: Why The Lord of the Rings Is Not Manichean - Ralph Wood (from Tree of Tales)*

Travel

The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism

Chronicles of a Writer’s 1950s Road Trip Across France - Kathleen Phelan

On the Early Women Pioneers of Trail Hiking - Gwenyth Loose

On the Mythologies of the Himalaya Mountains - Ed Douglas*

More random assorted ones

The cosmos from the wheelchair (The Economist obituaries)*

In El Salvador - Joan Didion

Scientists are unravelling the mystery of pain - Yudhijit Banerjee

Notes on Nationalism - George Orwell

Politics and the English Language - George Orwell*

What Do the Humanities Do in a Crisis? - Agnes Callard*

The Politics of Joker - Kyle Smith

Sushant Singh Rajput: The outsider - Uday Bhatia*

Credibility and Mystery - John Berger

happy reading :)

[somerabbitholes]

Hii!! I love your book recs and your blog, it has helped me so much. I wanted to ask if you have any w|w book recs? I'm kind of trying to understand more about myself and internet is just too much. Also I really don't have any prior knowledge abt it and don't really know who to ask.. anything is fine,, fiction/non-fic.

hi thank you so much 🤍. but i’m sorry i don’t have anything i’ve read that fits the bill

[papenathys]

it's my time to shine.

historical:

fingersmith by sarah waters:* tbh waters is a great author if you want to get started with historical sapphic literature. I recommend fingersmith, it is the book on which the handmaiden movie is based and it features conning lesbians, crumbling mansions and startling changes of destiny in victorian england.

the color purple by alice walker*: ok heads up this is a super triggering story but it's also one of the best and most feminist books I've ever read and it features one of my favourite sapphic couples of all time: celie, a black lesbian in 1920s georgia and her harlem singer girlfriend, the gorgeous shug avery. this is just a very important text in general Black history.

the price of salt by patricia highsmith: yes yes this 1950s novel is the inspiration behind todd haynes' gorgeous carol. features an age gap relationship done well. has a hopeful ending.

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid: if you are on tumblr you probably already know all about this book, and I must say it's absolutely worth the hype. a hollywood glam girl of the 1950s-1970s, now in the winter of her life, decides to tell the story of her life to a journalist. has one of the best, most well rounded sapphic characters of all time. as a quick warning though, I found the main love interest REALLY biphobic until the very end.

last night at the telegraph club by malinda lo: set in 1950s san francisco and features a sapphic lead of chinese descent exploring her sexuality in the lesbian bars of chinatown. haven't read this one but it sounds lovely!

oranges are not the only fruit by jeanette winterson*: about the life of a lesbian brought up in an Orthodox christian community. heads up: doesn't have much of a happy ending.

memory of light by ruth vanita: follows the relationship between two tawaifs (courtesan/performers) in mughal india. FULL of yearning, zero in-universe homophobia and vivid lovely imagery but doesn't have a happy ending.

fantasy:

girls of paper and fire by natasha ngan*: in an asian inspired world teeming with demons and dark magic, two concubines chosen for the tyrannic demon king find solace and love in each other. just read the first book in the series, the rest are.... meh.

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon: feminist retelling of an arthurian tale featuring queen/bodyguard romance, dragons, fire and water magic, sumptuous worldbuilding, prophecies and a TON of well written queer characters.

girl, serpent, thorn by melissa bashardoust: in this persian inspired fantasy tale, a princess with a lethal touch hopes to get answers for her curse from a demon chained in dungeons. features straightbaiting, which I find delightful.

the jasmine throne by tasha suri: another queen bodyguard romance, this time in an ancient-india inspired fantasy setting. creepy magic and sapphic yearning galore.

she who became the sun by shelley parker chan*: a cutthroat monk carves her slow ascent to power in 14th century china. technically it's nblw since zhu is a genderqueer ace lesbian but I'm including it because zhu and ma are so important to me and their relationship is SPICY.

the kyoshi duology by f. c yee: since the avatar writers suck at depicting romance fc yee took it upon himself to pen a fantastic duology about avatar kyoshi and her hot fire nation girlfriend rangi.

sci fi:

the traitor baru cormorant by seth dickinson*: grimdark political fantasy with morally grey lesbians. I'm not sure if this one has a happy ending, so I'm marking it to be safe.

the locked tomb trilogy by tamsyn muir: I see this one so much on tumblr it's starting to get annoying but I admit lesbian necromancers in space with swords and bones does make for a hot aesthetic. the female characters are really good and stand out in the oversaturated market of skinny picture perfect pretty white femmes.

this is how you lose the time war by amal el mohtar and max gladstone: epistolary novella about two women on opposite sides of an intergalactic time war, who slowly fall in love through their chain of letters. gorgeous writing style.

cosmoknights by hannah templar: a graphic novel about a space tournament where butch lesbians fight for the hand of a princess! colourful art style and is free to read online.

contemporary:

the henna wars by adiba jaigirdar: sweet, slightly sugary school romance between a bangladeshi lesbian and an afro brazilian bisexual when they open competing henna businesses for a project. be warned that the mc has really shitty friends who are never called out for their microaggressions. otherwise, it's a wholesome read and really special for me as a bengali sapphic.

hani and ishu's guide to fake dating by adiba jaigirdar: fake dating bengali bisexuals!! and this time the mc does dump her toxic friends!! (character development) also the cutest first kiss ever!! I just loved this book and the relationships portrayed so much, especially because one of the characters remains closeted throughout and there is literally no plot point forcing her to out herself.

one last stop by casey mcquiston: a disaster bisexual with a penchant for detective work meets a gorgeous time travelling chinese lesbian on the new york subway. this book was like a warm, wholesome queer hug and a love letter to new york. very very endearing wlw relationship with some spice.

everything leads to you by nina lacour: after you have read this sweet novel about wlw on a film set, do yourself a favour and read all of lacour's work, no one writes sapphic longing and melancholia as she does.

loveless by alice oseman: the central character of this book is aroace, but it features a really cute side romance between a lesbian and a pansexual (rooney my beloved) and overall it's a great work for figuring out identities in an understanding way.

kari by amruta patil: graphic novel about a butch lesbian in mumbai who survives a botched suicide attempt and a failed relationship, then musing on love, gender, belonging and death. very dark, dreamlike art style and lots of sardonic humour. it's one of my favourite books of all time.

recs marked as * contain sensitive themes.

[somerabbitholes]

Hello! I hope you’re doing well in these trying times :) For my ask, do you have any non-fiction recommendations about the life of the common people at times of war or strife (as in, pandemics, economic dysfunction, etc.)? it doesn’t have to be from any specific period! those that like focus on the people that wouldn’t get written or be acknowledged by history books or articles? i’m sorry if that it isn’t too clear :’’—l

hi, thank you <3

here a few —

Our Bodies, Their Battlefield by Christina Lamb — it's made up of her journalistic research and focuses on women during wartime; how they experience it and negotiate it; really wide focus from Bosnia to Rwanda to Myanmar to women under the ISIS; also really questions how we understand war

Red Famine by Anne Applebaum — this is about the famine in Ukraine that happened during the 1920s; investigates how it camr about/was orchestrated and the thorough breakdown of everything that happened over the years; also she talks to people who lived through it

Mao’s Great Famine by Frank Dikötter — another famine book for you about the one that accompanied China's collectivisation; looks at how and if communism worked at lower levels, how people received the Great Leap Forward; very in-depth, very thorough. Also check his The Cultural Revolution and The Tragedy of Liberation. He looks at all the people that were caught up in either event and considers what revolution means for those swept up

A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes — about Russian society in the build-up to, during, and a little after the Russian revolution; looks at what happened to the cultural and social markers and why the revolution ended not with democracy but with a dictatorship

Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency by Ranajit Guha — describes the institutionalising of the colonial agrarian order in India and the peasant resistance to it; so it's really sort of a broad view at how peasants received the colonial order and if and how they related to national politics and the national consciousness; it's an old book, also a little dense, but give it a try, and if you want something more accessible, he has these edited volumes on subaltern history so you could also check those out

Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita — it's a memoir, but I think those are quite instructive; about the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits that happened in 1990

This Divided Land by Samanth Subramanian — it's essentially accounts of people living through the Sri Lankan civil war; looks at living with trauma, attempting rebuilding, at what happens after a civil war ends

I hope you find something you like.

[somerabbitholes]

Hiya C,

Could you suggest any books and/or essays on aesthetics, art and architecture? Your recs are always a great help. Thanks!

hi! yes, here you go —

Design as Art by Bruno Marari: makes a case for everyday industrial and visual design to be beautiful and to count as art

Ways of Seeing by John Berger: on how we perceive art and images and the politics of interpretation and criticism

B is for Bahaus by Deyan Sudjic: essays on modern design, aesthetics, architecture and art

The Lonely City by Olivia Laing: about loneliness, isolation, and making art; it's part-memoir, part-art criticism

Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing: collected essays on a variety of things which include art and creativity in the time of crisis

Hang-Ups by Simon Schama: collected essays on art and artists

Art as Experience by John Dewey: about the aesthetic experience

you'll also find a few essays here, and also the paris review's series on colours. happy reading!

[caffeinatedbookpages]

Reading Percy Jackson while having my favourite drink ( a bit obvious now ) and spicy pasta...

[stlowens]

Sylvia Plath, from “Elm.”

[papenathys]

Indian academia

Recently I have seen a lot of excellent posts in the dark academia tags which call out the euro-centrism of this subculture and also give great recommendations for non-white cultural academia. So I decided to put together works of Indian authors that I read growing up in India as a literature student. Please note this list leans heavily towards works centred on Bengal due to my own heritage, and is by no means comprehensive or meant to represent the entire, varied diaspora of India.

Historical/political fiction:

the lives of others by neel mukherjee: chronicling the rise and fall of a bengali family against historical events like the partition, the 1943 famines, the bengal emergency etc. diverse cast of characters retelling history through multiple povs, lyrical prose, incredible research providing an insight into naxalite bengal. talks about how it feels to be a leftist when you are born and brought up in bourgeois privilege.

the lowland by jhumpa lahiri: everything!! written by jhumpa lahiri!! should be savoured!! but this gorgeous book in particular made me UGLY CRY. to summarise without spoilers, it's a story about two brothers, separated by inches and then by miles, a story about student revolutionaries, bengal burning and boston beaches, and it's a story about a beautiful, brilliant, tormented woman who loves and loathes in equal measure.

the shadow lines by amitav ghosh:** intergenerational trauma, dhaka riots and the entwined histories of two families- one in london and the other in calcutta. sharp, bittersweet and sometimes rather scandalous. if you enjoy ggm's works try this.

a flight of pigeons by ruskin bond**: after her father is killed in the 1857 sepoy mutiny, an anglo-indian girl, her mother, and female relatives are given shelter by the muslim family of one of the chief rebels. set in north india near UP, ruskin bond's writing is powerful and explores found families and the price of imperialism and war. chef's kiss.

train to pakistan by khuswant singh: the horrors of post independence sectarian violence as recounted by a fictional village on the indo-pak border with a population largely comprising muslims and sikhs. a harrowing read but evocative and honest.

shalimar the clown by salman rushdie: allegorical story about the kashmir valley unrest, told through the insane, shakespearean revenge tragedy spun out by kashmiri tightrope walker shalimar who falls in love with boonyi, a beautiful pandit girl, a love that dooms him.

a fine balance by rohinton mistry**: four strangers' lives spill into each other as india crumbles under the 1975 emergency. this one has everything political commentary, social satire, depiction of economic hardships and a whole range of characters from diverse backgrounds. side note: it's a pretty heavy and tragic read, please be careful.

Societal stories

the guide by rk narayan: raju, an impoverished, street smart boy in a fictional south indian town takes to conning people as a tour guide but things spiral out of control when he has an affair with a married classical dancer. allegorical writing, funny and eccentric, and there's a LOT of satire about desi stereotypes: fraud religious leaders, scandalous village affairs, neocolonial mindsets and well, dancing. had a great read of this one. don't watch the film, it's inaacurate and the author himself didn't like it :(

malgudi days by rk narayan: set in the same town as the guide, a collection of short stories about the colourful lives of small town dwellers, from astrologers to doctors to postmen. it's funny and poignant in equal measure. there's not a single mediocre story in here, they're all just......charming.

interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri: stories set in boston and bengal about ordinary indian people and ordinary indian lives which are just so, so MASTERFULLY written and in such crystal bright detail it feels all too real. I recommend a temporary matter, when mr pirzada came to dine, sexy, mrs sen and this blessed house.

em and the big hoom by jerry pinto**: a goan family in late 20th century mumbai + their experience when the mother is diagnosed with bpd. I haven't read this book but it was highly recommended by my friends + authors who are greatly esteemed by me

any and every work by ruskin bond because my man literally GREW up around ayahs and tonga drivers and lonely gardeners and sad kite-makers and friends in small places. I recommend road to the bazaar: a collection of short stories about north indian children involving tigers in train tunnels, beetle races, rooftop gardens and the feeling of being home again.

the white tiger by aravind adiga**: epistolary novel that deals mostly with the class struggle in india as told by a village boy, who travels to delhi for work and his slow rise to success through monumental obstacles. a good read to look into the lives and the plight of underprivileged workers and the persisting class disparity in globalised india.

city of djinns by william dalrymple: travelogue/memoir/anecdotes of the author's time in delhi as he researches for the detritus of history in the country capital. non fiction but every bit as riveting as a well spun story.

Retellings/Biographies

rajkahini (transl: stories of kings) by abanindranath tagore: stories about the rajput rulers of western india and their glorious, semi-mythological histories of battles and heartbreaks and visions. the author was often termed a lyrical artist because his descriptive prose is so good it feels like a painting put into words.

empress: the astonishing reign of nur jahan by ruby lal: a feminist biography of my favourite figure from history, nur jahan, and her deliciously satisfying ascent as the sole female sovereign in the line of the great mughals. but wow, what a woman.

the palace of illusions by chitra banerjee divakaruni: retelling of the great epic mahabharata but from draupadi's point of view. poetic and magical, and her descriptions of female rage and the unfairness of society even in mythical canon is SUPERB.

Poetry!

sarojini naidu: patriotism, society, feminism, romance

nissim ezekiel: postcolonial, satire

ak ramanujan: society, classical retellings, folktale inspired poetry

agha shahid ali: socio-political, ghazal inspired poetry

tishani doshi: feminist, contemporary

eunice d'souza: contemporary, gender politics

Pure self indulgent recs

hayavadana by girish karnad: a ridiculous, criminally hilarious play-within-a-play about a love triangle and accidental body/torso swaps and a goddess who couldn't care less and a man with a horse head. yeah.

devdas by sarat chandra chattopadhyay: pls stop shoving the movie down my throat it's the cringiest depiction of bengali culture ever but yeah the novel is 💗💗 and it's about childhood sweethearts dev and paro, the cost of obsessions and lusts and an enigmatic courtesan chandramukhi who keeps loving the wrong things.

any and every work by rabindranath tagore should be considered academia but in particular his short stories, like the kabuliwalah and the postmaster.

the byomkesh bakshi series by sharadindu bandyopadhyay: written in the vein of poirot but in colonial bengal, follows one (1) sleuthy boy and his sidekick as they unravel psychological crimes and murder mysteries. some stories are just genuinely scary and all have eclectic casts. sharadindu said homoerotic/feral women/immoral genius people rights!

Like I said this list is not comprehensive!!! But I tried my best!!! I think we should really try to decolonize our reading tastes. And yes I purposely left out Arundhati Roy (because she is literally the only Indian author ever recommended in lists) Vikram Seth (because I do not like him) and Roshani Chokshi (because any one of the above)

I hope you guys get some good picks from this list :)

[** has heavy trigger warnings]

[enfouled]

if it’s alright, I’d like to add some recommendations of more works by Dalit authors and/or scholarship that address caste & casteism to this list, as I think it’s important to specifically uplift the scholarship of caste-oppressed people.

Theory, history & social crit:

Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development by B.R. Ambedkar

The Annihilation of Caste, B.R. Ambedkar (if you read anything, read this)

A Forgotten Liberator: The Life and Struggle of Savitribai Phule by Braj Ranjan Mani

Debrahmanising History, Braj Ranjan Mani

Literature, memoir:

The Weave of My Life by Urmila Pawar

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (EDIT: I just picked through OP’s list again and realized I missed that this was already there! Keeping it here as a double recommendation because it’s SO good. Mind the warning as it’s a heavy read for sure.)

[papenathys]

Please reblog this version! Thank you @enfouled !

[fleetnaturals-deactivated202110]

*sigh* another day, another post by a (well-meaning?) Indian person completely glossing over the manifold intellectual contributions that the diaspora has made. it’s no disrespect to you personally OP but like this has been happening for far too long and as an Indo-Caribbean person it’s just tired and it makes me tired by proxy. as an Indo-Caribbean archivist I’m gonna fill you in. here we go.

“Very Particularly Situated” - from Fragments of Empire by Madhavi Kale. Good overview of the historical context for the beginning of Indian indentureship in the 1800s that created the diasporas in the Caribbean, Pacific Ocean regions and Africa

A Documentary History of Indian South Africans eds. Bhana and Pachai. Source material related to both indentureship and voluntary migration from the subcontinent to South Africa

Video Interview with Mansee Subiah, an Indo-Trinidadian who was a former indentured laborer (2 parts) 

Excerpts from The Clipper Ship Sheila, a travelogue written by a British captain who sailed a boat with indentured Indians bound for the Caribbean: “At sea with the Coolies” / “The Hindu Baboos of Calcutta” / “Religious beliefs of the Coolies / Life aboard the ship”

“Coolitude manifesto” by Rajiv Mohabir, Indo-Guyanese poet and archivist and all around dope ass person (referencing the works of Indo-Mauritian cultural theorist Khal Torabully who coined the word ‘coolitude’)

“Who will claim you?” by Akwaeke Emezi, cultural writer who is of mixed African and Indian indenture diasporic descent (also non-binary and just a really captivating writer)

“Girmityas and my Discovery of India” by Clem Seecharan, Indo-Fijian historian. The whole story of Indians in Fiji is too much to be encapsulated in one article (they make up over 50% of the population) but please start to read about it.

“Finding family roots in ancestral India” edition of Indian Arrival Day magazine (published in Trinidad and Tobago). While a lot of indenture diaspora descendants have no way of pinpointing where in India they come from, the stories of the ones who can enrich us all.

There’s literally so much more that I could reference and this didn’t even cover the works of amazing fiction and poetic writers. 

I will no longer accept the excuse by Indian and NRI academics and archivists that they are too unknowledgeable on our diaspora to even mention our existence. Indenture scholarship enriches subcontinental scholarship. Indenture diaspora history is Indian history.

Sincerely, a fed-up Trinidadian <3

[caffeinatedbookpages]

Currently enjoying my re-read and iced coffee...

[selenocysteine]

Tips to learn a new language

The 75 most common words make up 40% of occurrences The 200 most common words make up 50% of occurrences The 524 most common words make up 60% of occurrences The 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurrences The 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurrences The 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurrences The 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurrences The 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurrences

(Source: 5 Steps to Speak a New Language by Hung Quang Pham)

This article has an excellent summary on how to rapidly learn a new language within 90 days.

We can begin with studying the first 600 words. Of course chucking is an effective way to memorize words readily. Here’s a list to translate into the language you desire to learn that Derek Roger suggested! :)

EXPRESSIONS OF POLITENESS (about 50 expressions)      

‘Yes’ and ‘no’: yes, no, absolutely, no way, exactly.    

Question words: when? where? how? how much? how many? why? what? who? which? whose?    

Apologizing: excuse me, sorry to interrupt, well now, I’m afraid so, I’m afraid not.    

Meeting and parting: good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello, goodbye, cheers, see you later, pleased to meet you, nice to have met.    

Interjections: please, thank you, don’t mention it, sorry, it’ll be done, I agree, congratulations, thank heavens, nonsense.    

NOUNS (about 120 words)

Time: morning, afternoon, evening, night; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; spring, summer, autumn, winter; time, occasion, minute, half-hour, hour, day, week, month, year.    

People: family, relative, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife; colleague, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend; people, person, human being, man, woman, lady, gentleman, boy, girl, child.    

Objects: address, bag, book, car, clothes, key, letter (=to post), light (=lamp), money, name, newspaper, pen, pencil, picture, suitcase, thing, ticket.    

Places: place, world, country, town, street, road, school, shop, house, apartment, room, ground; Britain, name of the foreign country, British town-names, foreign town-names.    

Abstract: accident, beginning, change, color, damage, fun, half, help, joke, journey, language, English, name of the foreign language, letter (of alphabet), life, love, mistake, news, page, pain, part, question, reason, sort, surprise, way (=method), weather, work.    

Other: hand, foot, head, eye, mouth, voice; the left, the right; the top, the bottom, the side; air, water, sun, bread, food, paper, noise.    

PREPOSITIONS (about 40 words)    

General: of, to, at, for, from, in, on.    

Logical: about, according-to, except, like, against, with, without, by, despite, instead of.    

Space: into, out of, outside, towards, away from, behind, in front of, beside, next to, between, above, on top of, below, under, underneath, near to, a long way from, through.    

Time: after, ago, before, during, since, until.    

DETERMINERS (about 80 words)  

Articles and numbers: a, the; nos. 0–20; nos. 30–100; nos. 200–1000; last, next, 1st–12th.    

Demonstrative: this, that.    

Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.    

Quantifiers: all, some, no, any, many, much, more, less, a few, several, whole, a little, a lot of.    

Comparators: both, neither, each, every, other, another, same, different, such.    

ADJECTIVES (about 80 words)    

Color: black, blue, green, red, white, yellow.    

Evaluative: bad, good, terrible; important, urgent, necessary; possible, impossible; right, wrong, true.    

General: big, little, small, heavy; high, low; hot, cold, warm; easy, difficult; cheap, expensive; clean, dirty; beautiful, funny (=comical), funny (=odd), usual, common (=shared), nice, pretty, wonderful; boring, interesting, dangerous, safe; short, tall, long; new, old; calm, clear, dry; fast, slow; finished, free, full, light (=not dark), open, quiet, ready, strong.    

Personal: afraid, alone, angry, certain, cheerful, dead, famous, glad, happy, ill, kind, married, pleased, sorry, stupid, surprised, tired, well, worried, young.    

VERBS (about 100 words)    

arrive, ask, be, be able to, become, begin, believe, borrow, bring, buy, can, change, check, collect, come, continue, cry, do, drop, eat, fall, feel, find, finish, forget, give, going to, have, have to, hear, help, hold, hope, hurt (oneself), hurt (someone else), keep, know, laugh, learn, leave, lend, let (=allow), lie down, like, listen, live (=be alive), live (=reside), look (at), look for, lose, love, make, may (=permission), may (=possibility), mean, meet, must, need, obtain, open, ought to, pay, play, put, read, remember, say, see, sell, send, should, show, shut, sing, sleep, speak, stand, stay, stop, suggest, take, talk, teach, think, travel, try, understand, use, used to, wait for, walk, want, watch, will, work (=operate), work (=toil), worry, would, write.    

PRONOUNS (about 40 words)

Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, one; myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.    

Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.    

Demonstrative: this, that.    

Universal: everyone, everybody, everything, each, both, all, one, another.

Indefinite: someone, somebody, something, some, a few, a little, more, less; anyone, anybody, anything, any, either, much, many.    

Negative: no-one, nobody, nothing, none, neither.    

ADVERBS (about 60 words)

Place: here, there, above, over, below, in front, behind, nearby, a long way away, inside, outside, to the right, to the left, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, home, upstairs, downstairs.    

Time: now, soon, immediately, quickly, finally, again, once, for a long time, today, generally, sometimes, always, often, before, after, early, late, never, not yet, still, already, then (=at that time), then (=next), yesterday, tomorrow, tonight.    

Quantifiers: a little, about (=approximately), almost, at least, completely, very, enough, exactly, just, not, too much, more, less.    

Manner: also, especially, gradually, of course, only, otherwise, perhaps, probably, quite, so, then (=therefore), too (=also), unfortunately, very much, well.    

CONJUNCTIONS (about 30 words)

Coordinating: and, but, or; as, than, like.    

Time & Place: when, while, before, after, since (=time), until; where.    

Manner & Logic: how, why, because, since (=because), although, if; what, who, whom, whose, which, that.   

[findmedownsouth-deactivated2016]

Proud to announce that I officially have no idea what the fuck I am doing.

[ashstfu]

i love it when you get lost in a book, like you no longer realize you are reading, because everything just seems like a really good movie playing in your head.

[sappylittlebitch]

Cultural Dark Academia

After my last post about the lack of representation in academia, I felt it neccessary to provide some examples of what I’m talking about. Obviously there are more countries in the world than I can list and provide books for, so for a quick list this is what I got. !! Keep researching !! If you have any more books by POC please reply them !! If a country isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean it’s not important, this is just what I could get together real quick. If I made any mistakes, please let me know, we’re all learning. We need to help each other end eurocentrism in academia, so value representation and educate yourselves 💓💓💓

Chinese:

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Water Margin

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Journey to the West

The Scholars

The Peony Pavilion

Border Town by Congwen Shen

Half of Man is Woman by Zhang Xianliang

To Live by Yu Hua

Ten Years of Madness by agent Jicai

The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong

Japanese:

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oë

Pakistani:

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Ghulam Bagh by Mirza Athar Baig

Masterpieces of Urdu Nazm by K. C. Kanda

Irani/Persian:

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Savushun by Simin Daneshvar

Anything by Rumi

The Book of Kings by Ferdowsi

The Rubiyat by Omar Khayyam

Shahnameh (translation by Dick Davis)

Afghan:

Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Indian:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Aithihyamala, Garland of Legends by Kottarathil Sankunni

The Gameworld Trilogy by Samir Basu

Filipino:

Twice Blessed by Ninotchka Rosca

The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlene J. Chai

Brazilian:

Night at the Tavern by Álvares de Azevedo

The Seven by André Vianco

Don Casmurro by Machado de Assis

Portuguese:

The Lusiads by Camões

Columbian:

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Delirio by Laura Restrepo

¡Que viva la música! by Andrés Caicedo

The Sound of Things Falling by Jim Gabriel Vásquez

Mexican:

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolf Anaya

Adonis Garcia/El Vampiro de la Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata

El Complot Mongol by Rafael Bernal

Egyptian:

The Cairo Trilogy by Nahuib Mahfouz

The Book of the Dead

Nigerian:

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Malian:

The Epic of Sundiata

Senegalese:

Poetry of Senghor

Native American:

The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King

Starlight by Richard Wagamese

Almanac of the Dead by L. Silko

Fools Crow by James Welch

Australian Aborigine:

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

First Footprints by Scott Cane

My Place by Sally Morgan

American//Modern:

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Internment by Samir’s Ahmed

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurtson

Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch

[netleys-emporium]

How to feel more DA from the comfort of your own home:

> Touch up any makeup or put on some of your finest red lipstick

> Light a candle & put it on a windowsil (or anywhere it won't catch something on fire)

> Read something challenging during the day (Shakespeare, James Joyce & my boi Edgar for example) & something easygoing in the evening (Agatha Christie, Huxley, Stevenson)

> Make a cup of coffee or tea either in a delicate teacup OR a real heavy duty mug (it's impossible to look even slightly suspicious if you're holding a normal sized mug ¯\_(ツ)_/)

> Listen to antique records on vinyl. If you don't have a player, there are some amazing Spotify playlists to use!

> If you're feeling uninspired, change up your outfit! I always feel my lowest when I'm in my pajamas all day, so I will usually put on a pair of corduroy trousers with braces & match it with a spiffingly hefty blouse

> Look at Instagram or other tumblr posts on DA and see what you find! create a mood board on Pinterest if you so wish!

> Learn to raise one eyebrow- if feeling like a pretentious scholar is your goal, this small action is a must!!

> Reach your daily goal on Duolingo- while you're doing it, it may not seem very DA, HOWEVER, when you're done you feel accomplished & smart, which is perfectly on brand. Plus, you get to learn a little more of your chosen language every day- & one of those days you'll be fluent!

> Style your hair- if you have longer (and straighter) hair, I recommend an updo such as a Gibson Tuck. Styling your hair makes you feel elegant & improves your mood heavily! Nowadays it's rare to see me without my hair up

> Reorganise/ decorate your space- even if it's just a little change, such as moving the plants around your room, it's still a breath of fresh air & allows you room to think about more permenant changes such as new paint or furniture

> Carry a book with you anywhere you go- even if it's just to the kitchen, this action will totally make you feel more book smart! A spiffing one to carry with you is "Schotts Original Miscellany" as you can read about almost anything, from identifying cloud types to commonplace Latin. Its super useful to have in your pocket- almost like a pre-written notebook just for you :)

> Practice a creative skill- like an instrument, writing or drawing. This improves your DA levels for sure

> Improve your humour to be witty & sarcastic! You can pick up tricks from basically any witty (or British) show like Sherlock or Doctor Who, & when you have sarcasm and wit up your sleeve, you aren't just unstoppable, you're also turning into that pretentious scholar you've dreamed of becoming! :,)

I hope this helps some people! Have an amazing weekend everyone & if you have any queries feel free to comment- happy Dark Academia-ing :)