Discover must-read Indian literature with recommendations spanning mythology, history, and politics from young writer Aryan's curated list of transformative books.
I think the non fiction section could use a few more authors. I highly recommend India That Is Bharat by J Sai Deepak.
There are the OGs like Jadunath Sarkar, Sita Ram Goel and RC Majumdar of course, but for something modern JSD would do.
I would also recommend Arun Shourie's book. I recommend this with a heavy heart, seeing the ideological catapulting he's done recently, but that's a topic for another time.
I am deeply sorry if that hurt your feelings but I made a list of recommendations which I have genuinely enjoyed!
I did not realise the fact that there were no female authors in the list until you mentioned it here! I can really give you quiet a few recommendations from Kannada which is my mother tongue and I have read quiet a few female authors in that space!
I also have read Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee's books but what I thought what was that I could put more emphasis on the books I personally enjoyed more and wanted everyone everyone else to read!
If this hurt you in anyway it was definitely unintentional and I promise that I will always remember this feedback :)
I am still a 18 year old and I definitely have a long way to go!
Decolonize your bookshelf is a series rooted in liberation efforts and joyful resistance — if I’ve got this right, you seem someone very passionate about that.
Here’s some exciting things to unpack before passing judgment for such efforts:
1. Hyper-focusing on individualistic mistakes is known to pull liberation systems back as they don’t focus on seeing the systemic long term effect of the efforts and tear any small steps towards decolonisation down by trivialising everything with no productive reason
2. Prioritise the marginalised and the goals of liberation before trivialising the people who step up to contribute to our series. Recommendations need to be pleasurable and informative, and something the contributor is passionate about — which at the end of the day, does decolonise, one step at a time!
3. Which brings us to: One problem at a time! Let’s exercise patience, and explore the entire decolonisation series we are building together! You will find countless amazing Women featured in other posts, and please know this is not the last of our decolonise your bookshelf from India, and we hope to give you some great Indian Women Writers in the future! All efforts cannot encompass all problems, and that is perfectly ok.
Jazakallah for your concern, and a pleasant day to you! (Happy Friday!!)
Thanks for the explanation of Kalki. I like the mythical concept of Kalki triumphing over Kali. I have a feeling that if the world almost ends, someone out of India will save it, just like in the older movies. I am a huge India buff and Hindi cinema buff and wish you Happy India Republic Day this Sunday, January 26th. And you could end up writing a novel out of your research. I read a short story where this lady's son committed suicide and it was very painful for her to try and understand why he took his own life. So she started reading quantum physics theory and she figured out exactly why it happened. Now that is harrowing to read but often science observes patterns in life that if you understand what they communicate, it helps you understand life better. And a good novel does the same thing so those two parallel tracks of scientific research and writing may well meld and converge together with you at some point. I have about 500 dvds of Hindi films and have a list of my favorite Hindi films. So here it is and you may not have time with all your reading and study but you can look at YouTube trailers to see if any would be worth watching and most are on Netflix or Amazon Prime or Zee5 or the Jio only in India platform or for a nominal price to rent or buy. All the Best to you in pursuing your degree and later research and in writing. I look forward to reading your existing posts and future ones.
Like your 10 books to decolonize my bookshelf and was wondering if you intend to write novels after you get your engineering degree like Chetan Bhagat, who has an engineering degree from IIT Delh? His novels are very forward looking especially compared to some of the harrowing poverty porn novels about India that more Americans will read instead of Chetan. Do you have a 10 film recommendation for me to watch to decolonize my Hindi film DVD collection? You mentioned the Kalki books which the recent film was based on? Wasn't it? What are your thoughts on it? Or what are your favorite Hindi films that you would recommend Americans watch? Great that you are on Substack with the Asian Writers Collective.
Firstly Thank you Larry for taking out time to read my recommendations!
I have not considered writing as a Career solely because I am deeply interested in research and Electronics which is the degree I am pursuing currently. That being said, I will always continue to write posts and somewhere down the line I do have plans to wrote books but then lets see how life takes me down that path!
About Kalki you mentioned the Kalki as a book series and the movie which came out are entirely different things. The book series more sort of focuses on the journey of Kalki in a more sort of a fictional ancient world where he is on his journey to defeat Kali(The ultimate reason of his re incarnation).
But the movie more sort of has this post apocalypse world in the end of time, sci-fi kind of thing borrowing characters and story lines from the great epic Mahabharata. But yeah both the characters Kalki are same but the movie is definitely not the adaptation of the books.
As for movie recommendations, I have to admit that I’m more of a book buff and don’t consume much cinema yet! Me Recommending films would be a grave injustice to the fantastic world of Indian cinema—perhaps someone who’s more into films could provide you with a solid list :)
I think the non fiction section could use a few more authors. I highly recommend India That Is Bharat by J Sai Deepak.
There are the OGs like Jadunath Sarkar, Sita Ram Goel and RC Majumdar of course, but for something modern JSD would do.
I would also recommend Arun Shourie's book. I recommend this with a heavy heart, seeing the ideological catapulting he's done recently, but that's a topic for another time.
No sita ram goel?
Went all the way down, not a woman on the list. Mashallah, decolonisation.
Hey,
I am deeply sorry if that hurt your feelings but I made a list of recommendations which I have genuinely enjoyed!
I did not realise the fact that there were no female authors in the list until you mentioned it here! I can really give you quiet a few recommendations from Kannada which is my mother tongue and I have read quiet a few female authors in that space!
I also have read Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee's books but what I thought what was that I could put more emphasis on the books I personally enjoyed more and wanted everyone everyone else to read!
If this hurt you in anyway it was definitely unintentional and I promise that I will always remember this feedback :)
I am still a 18 year old and I definitely have a long way to go!
Jay Siya Ram and have a great day ahead :)✨🙏
Hey Mother Inferior,
Decolonize your bookshelf is a series rooted in liberation efforts and joyful resistance — if I’ve got this right, you seem someone very passionate about that.
Here’s some exciting things to unpack before passing judgment for such efforts:
1. Hyper-focusing on individualistic mistakes is known to pull liberation systems back as they don’t focus on seeing the systemic long term effect of the efforts and tear any small steps towards decolonisation down by trivialising everything with no productive reason
2. Prioritise the marginalised and the goals of liberation before trivialising the people who step up to contribute to our series. Recommendations need to be pleasurable and informative, and something the contributor is passionate about — which at the end of the day, does decolonise, one step at a time!
3. Which brings us to: One problem at a time! Let’s exercise patience, and explore the entire decolonisation series we are building together! You will find countless amazing Women featured in other posts, and please know this is not the last of our decolonise your bookshelf from India, and we hope to give you some great Indian Women Writers in the future! All efforts cannot encompass all problems, and that is perfectly ok.
Jazakallah for your concern, and a pleasant day to you! (Happy Friday!!)
Thanks for the explanation of Kalki. I like the mythical concept of Kalki triumphing over Kali. I have a feeling that if the world almost ends, someone out of India will save it, just like in the older movies. I am a huge India buff and Hindi cinema buff and wish you Happy India Republic Day this Sunday, January 26th. And you could end up writing a novel out of your research. I read a short story where this lady's son committed suicide and it was very painful for her to try and understand why he took his own life. So she started reading quantum physics theory and she figured out exactly why it happened. Now that is harrowing to read but often science observes patterns in life that if you understand what they communicate, it helps you understand life better. And a good novel does the same thing so those two parallel tracks of scientific research and writing may well meld and converge together with you at some point. I have about 500 dvds of Hindi films and have a list of my favorite Hindi films. So here it is and you may not have time with all your reading and study but you can look at YouTube trailers to see if any would be worth watching and most are on Netflix or Amazon Prime or Zee5 or the Jio only in India platform or for a nominal price to rent or buy. All the Best to you in pursuing your degree and later research and in writing. I look forward to reading your existing posts and future ones.
Filmistan
NH10
Lagaan
Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar
3 Idiots
Guide
Like Stars On Earth
Sardar Udham
Dangal
Andhadhun
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Haider
Dil Chahta Hai
Queen
Drishyam
Barfi
Chak De! India
PK
Kahanni
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Rock On!!
The Lunchbox
Veer-Zaara
Mimi
Piku
Thappad
Like your 10 books to decolonize my bookshelf and was wondering if you intend to write novels after you get your engineering degree like Chetan Bhagat, who has an engineering degree from IIT Delh? His novels are very forward looking especially compared to some of the harrowing poverty porn novels about India that more Americans will read instead of Chetan. Do you have a 10 film recommendation for me to watch to decolonize my Hindi film DVD collection? You mentioned the Kalki books which the recent film was based on? Wasn't it? What are your thoughts on it? Or what are your favorite Hindi films that you would recommend Americans watch? Great that you are on Substack with the Asian Writers Collective.
Firstly Thank you Larry for taking out time to read my recommendations!
I have not considered writing as a Career solely because I am deeply interested in research and Electronics which is the degree I am pursuing currently. That being said, I will always continue to write posts and somewhere down the line I do have plans to wrote books but then lets see how life takes me down that path!
About Kalki you mentioned the Kalki as a book series and the movie which came out are entirely different things. The book series more sort of focuses on the journey of Kalki in a more sort of a fictional ancient world where he is on his journey to defeat Kali(The ultimate reason of his re incarnation).
But the movie more sort of has this post apocalypse world in the end of time, sci-fi kind of thing borrowing characters and story lines from the great epic Mahabharata. But yeah both the characters Kalki are same but the movie is definitely not the adaptation of the books.
As for movie recommendations, I have to admit that I’m more of a book buff and don’t consume much cinema yet! Me Recommending films would be a grave injustice to the fantastic world of Indian cinema—perhaps someone who’s more into films could provide you with a solid list :)