Queer India Now
Dhamini Ratnam & Dhrubo Jyoti
Westland Books
Pp 272, Rs 599
Through essays, testimonies and reflections, this anthology examines what it means to live as a queer person in a society that remains legally restrictive and socially unaccommodating. From queer lawyers defending lesbian and trans couples in courtrooms and trans doctors and police officers navigating bias within their professions to artists negotiating visibility in fields as diverse as acting, modelling, comedy or theatre, Queer India Now documents the questions of identity, caste, dignity, money and visibility.
BREAKPOINT
The Crisis of the Middle Class and the Future of Work Saurabh Mukherjea with Nandita Rajhansa & Sapana Bhavsar
Juggernaut
Pp 280, Rs 799
India’s middle class has reached a critical inflection point. The consumption-driven growth model that powered India’s post-1991 economic rise is collapsing under the weight of three simultaneous shocks: technological disruption eliminating white-collar employment faster than new jobs emerge, wage stagnation eroding purchasing power as inflation for several essential products and services ramps at double digits, and explosive household debt levels now exceeding those of America and China.
The New Divide: Power, Control & The Cost of AI
Jibu Elias
Westland Books
Pp 336, Rs 799
In an age where humans are dazzled by machines that seem to think, Jibu Elias peels back the glossy surface to reveal systems driven by prediction than true intelligence; and a world where algorithms redesign economies, redraw social boundaries and challenge the very idea of human agency. Elias points at the widening gaps between promises & reality: from mass job displacements and deepening biases embedded in AI systems to rapid consolidation of power by tech giants shaping our future and the heavy environmental costs of unregulated innovation.
AAMCHI MUMBAI
Gulzar, translated by Rakhshanda Jalil
HarperCollins India
Pp 512, Rs 3,999
Aamchi Mumbai brings together twenty-five unforgettable short stories, all set in Mumbai, and thirty-six poems, arising from Gulzar’s experience of living in the great city. These poems and stories were handpicked and given their current arrangement for this collection by Gulzar himself; they appear together for the very first time.
Drown All the Refugees
Tabish Khair
HarperCollins
Pp 248, Rs 599
At a literary event, when the narrator screams, ‘Drown all the refugees,’ he means every word. After all, he is all too familiar with displacement—his boyfriend Abdul was Palestinian; and his childhood best friend Pedro crossed India’s borders illegally. Neither Abdul nor Pedro can return—for Abdul is dead and Pedro’s whereabouts are a mystery. That is, until Maria, Pedro’s mother, turns to the occult to bring back her son.