Pratilipi » कथेतर / Non-Fiction

Minakshi Thakur Talks to Pratilipi

Pratilipi: What lead you to publishing books in Hindi? What broadly is the Harper Collins hypothesis about the ‘Hindi Sanskriti’? What were your observations about the Hindi market? Minakshi Thakur: HarperCollins Publishers is one of the three leading English language publishers in the world. It set up operations in India in 1995 and had till […]

हिंसा के संत्रास को सुनना: सदन झा

कथेतर / Non-Fiction

भारत विभाजन पर एक शोधकर्ता की टिप्पणी वक्ताओं और श्रोताओं उत्तर भारत में एक लोकोक्ति प्रचलित है – रहिमन निज मन की व्यथा, मन ही राखो गोय। सुन इठलाइहें लोग सब, बांट न लीन्हें कोय॥ यह कहावत पीड़ा भोग रहे व्यक्ति के लिए एक तरह की सामाजिक चेतावनी है, या इसे एक मनोवैज्ञानिक सलाह भी […]

An Interview with Ashis Nandy: Giriraj Kiradoo

कथेतर / Non-Fiction

Political psychologist and social theorist Ashis Nandy’s readings are often marked by their ‘vulnerability’; in fact vulnerability has been one of his many strengths. Here, he talks about the link between despair and terrorism, the emergence of a new kind of victim and his renewed optimism. Giriraj: In Narcissism and Despair, you have tried to understand terror in terms of ‘despair’. Baudrillard […]

Ahimsa in the City of the Mind: Alok Bhalla

कथेतर / Non-Fiction

Ahimsa in the City of the Mind: Language, Identity-Politics and Partitions “You have killed a lot of people – that’s about all. Anybody can do that for a while, and then be killed.” – Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory[1] There is, I think, a close relationship between those who arrange languages in a […]

Only Because You Were There: Geetanjali Shree in Conversation

कथेतर / Non-Fiction

Giriraj: Khali Jagah is perhaps the first Hindi novel set in the backdrop of a bomb explosion. What led you to writing this novel? Geetanjali: It had been on my mind for a while. As a general observation about the absurd and sinister times we are living in. But the catalyst came with a personal experience […]

सुनो, मैं बताता हूँ आतंक क्या हैः इन्द्र सिन्हा

कथेतर / Non-Fiction

सुनो, मैं बताता हूँ आतंक क्या हैः इन्द्र सिन्हा अँधेरे में चीखें सुनकर उठ बैठना – मुझसे पूछो तो आतंक यही है. मेरा मुँह और आँखें जल रही हैं. कमरे में सफ़ेद बादल हैं. बच्चे खांस रहे हैं. चिल्लाती आवाजें कह रही हैं – ”भागो, भागो.” बिना समझे कि हुआ क्या है मैं अपनी पत्नी […]

Bombs Wrapped in Newspapers: Ramchandra Gandhi

कथेतर / Non-Fiction

Excerpts from Prologue to Sita’s Kitchen 1 I virtually grew up in a newspaper office where my father worked as editor, and which was as much home to me and my siblings as the flat above the office where we lived. I am a middle aged man now, but a quite recent dream of mine […]