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Book Box | Inside Hammock: Literary magazine in an AI age

India, Sept. 13 -- A literary magazine is like a lucky dip - you never know what will come your way. This is what draws me to these publications. I subscribe to the New Yorker, the Mekong Review and ... Read More


Book Box: The teacher I didn't want to be

India, Sept. 6 -- Dear Reader, I never wanted to be a teacher. I'd read To Sir, With Love and was touched by this story of a teacher in London's impoverished East End changing lives. Later I read Te... Read More


Book Box: The book my brother will actually read

India, Aug. 30 -- Dear Reader, I started telling my brother stories when he was about five. He was a picky eater, and as the eldest girl in the family, I was sometimes assigned the job of feeding him... Read More


Book Box: Honey, Mustard and the Art of getting back to life

India, Aug. 23 -- Dear Reader, Two days after returning from the hospital, I fall violently ill with a cough and fever. "It's your immune system finally collapsing now that the adrenaline and cortis... Read More


Book Box: Sorrow and Bliss, The Go-Between and books for a hospital wait

India, Aug. 9 -- Dear Reader, My bag is full of books. Only I cannot read. In the waiting room of the intensive care unit, people stand in groups, talking quietly amongst themselves. A man across fr... Read More


Book Box : The addictive art of pairing books

India, Aug. 2 -- Dear Reader, Recently, I've taken to pairing my reading, and it feels like a compounding of pleasures. Much like combining a cappuccino with a croissant. Or food with wine. Whether ... Read More


Book Box: A masterclass in cockroaches

India, July 26 -- Dear Reader, I want to write about protest poetry, about protest memes and protest satire. About the power of words, and about naming that-which-should-not-be-named. All week at ho... Read More


Book Box: Anna Karenina to Na Hanyate: Who gets to tell a marriage story?

India, July 19 -- Dear Reader, I am angry. And disturbed. In my head, a million thoughts buzz. Ahead of me is a red traffic light. Buses, cars, autos. A food-delivery man squeezes his scooter through... Read More


Book Box: How not to tell a story

India, July 12 -- Dear Reader, The best part of returning to Mumbai, apart from the monsoon rains, is being reunited with my bookshelves. Plus, there are always new arrivals waiting: bags of titles b... Read More


Book Box: Halfway through 2026, the books worth reading and skipping

India, June 28 -- Dear Reader, So, this week, I've read approximately nothing. Okay, maybe a few pages here and there, but nothing that counts. Instead, I've been building bookshelves, actually sitti... Read More