Reviews & Musings

  Saikat Majumdar, a professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University, is a writer whose works delve deep into the intricacies of identity, desire, and the tensions between personal yearnings and institutional expectations.  With novels such as The Firebird, The Scent of God, and The Remains of the Body, Majumdar has established himself as a unique voice in contemporary Indian literature. A seasoned writer and academic, Majumdar's literary trajectory is marked by a continuous exploration of human longing, repression, and the complex interplay between the self and societal structures. His previous works, such as The Firebird, also published as Play House in the U.S. and The Remains of the Body, further illuminate his distinctive voice, weaving together intricate psychological landscapes with critical commentaries on class, culture, and the human condition.  His exploration of human experiences in spaces defined by silence, repression, and societal constraints...

ISBN: 978-9386797360   Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: Simon and Schuster India Year of Publishing: 2019 About the Book In an elite all-boys’ boarding school run by a Hindu monastic order in late-twentieth century India, things aren’t what they look like on the surface… Anirvan, a young student, is fascinated by the music and silence of spiritual life. He dreams of becoming a monk. But as he seeks his dream, he finds himself drawn to a fellow student, and they come together to form an intimate and unspeakable relationship. The boys sweat at cricket and football, crack science and mathematics in pursuit of golden careers, and meditate to the aroma of incense and flowers.  It’s a world of ruthless discipline shaped by monks in flowing saffron. A sceptical teacher mentors Anirvan and reveals his suspicion of this vigilant atmosphere. Does the beating of the boys reveal urges that cannot be named? What is the meaning of monastic celibacy? What, indeed, holds the brotherhood ...

  ISBN: 978-9351951766 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Hachette India Year: 2015 About the Book  For ten-year-old Ori, his mother’s life as a theatre actor holds as much fascination as it does fear. Approaching adolescence in an unstable home, he is haunted by her nightly stage appearances and the suspicion and resentment her profession evokes in people around her, at home and among their neighbours. Increasingly consumed by an obsessive hatred of the stage, Ori is irrevocably drawn into a pattern of behaviour that can only have catastrophic consequences. Political bullies, actors, hairdressers, set boys, and backstage crew make up the world of The Firebird, a visceral exploration of a young boy stumbling into adulthood far ahead of his years. About the Author  Saikat Majumdar was born in Calcutta and educated in India and the United States. He is the author of a novel, Silverfish, and a book of criticism, Prose of the World. He currently lives in Delhi and teaches English and...

The Middle Finger by Saikat Majumdar  Publisher: Simon and Schuster (2022)  The first thing one notices about The Middle Finger by Saikat Majumdar is its dark grey cover with the left profile of a young lady on it with a colourful eye. It is only when you remove the jacket from the cover that you see underneath a picture of a woman’s reflection in the glass pane of a window, with a cup and some books lying by it. It is that woman’s eye that is popping through the cover image from a round cutout. In many ways, this speaks a lot about the book itself.  Every single character in the book has layers, multiple of them. On the face of it, they look very different as they struggle to go through their day-to-day pretending to be someone else. To an extent, they are scared to reveal their truest selves to the world. And yet, there are times when they see the world differently because their soul is tired of pretending. Saikat Majumdar is a critically acclaimed writer with many po...