Indian literature has never belonged to a single language. From ancient epics retold across regions to modern novels rewritten for new audiences, storytelling in India has always depended on movement between languages. Yet translation is often treated as secondary—an imitation of an “original” text rather than a creative and cultural act in its own right. In a multilingual country like India, translation is not optional. It is essential for literary survival. India’s Multilingual Reality India is home to hundreds of languages and dialects, each carrying its own literary traditions. However, linguistic boundaries often limit readership. Without translation, stories remain confined…
Author: Pradnya Oak
Literary imagination is shrinking. While the ambition of authors remains constant, the length of lierature has reduced. Flash fiction, short stories, instagram poems, newsletters and list-like reflections dominate reading spaces. This shift is often dismissed as a decline in attention span. But what if it is also a response to the cultural conditions of the present? The return to short forms says as much about how we live as it does about how we read. The Economics of Brevity Short literary forms thrive in an environment that rewards immediacy. And algorithms favour work that can be consumed quickly and shared…
For a long time, literature was imagined as a solitary act, one reader, one book, one quiet corner. But increasingly, literature is being heard rather than read. Literary podcasts, especially in India and South Asia, are creating new spaces where stories, criticism, and conversations travel through voice, memory, and listening. This shift is not accidental. It reflects how reading itself is changing. Why Podcasts Matter to Literature Now In a culture shaped by speed and screens, podcasts offer something deceptively simple: time. They allow literature to unfold slowly, through conversation, debate, and reflection. Listening demands a different kind of attention,…
India has never been louder. Social media platforms, podcasts and comment sections are all overflowing with with constant and immediate public reactions. But, with this surge in communication comes a quieter trend, one that surfaces repeatedly: growing loneliness, emotional fatigue and social disconnection. We have begun talking more than ever before and listening less. Connection without intimacy People approached digital platforms expecting connection but getting performance instead. Conversations are limited to reactions, visibility replaces understanding and presence is mistaken for engagement. In this environment being seen matters more than being heard. Loneliness today does not always look like isolation. It…
India’s heatwaves no longer arrive as anomalies. They settle in, early, intense, and unrelenting. Each summer breaks records, and yet the public conversation around heat often remains technical: temperatures, warnings, advisories. What is less frequently examined is how heat functions not merely as a climate phenomenon, but as a class issue.Extreme heat does not affect everyone equally. The Uneven Geography of Heat For the urban middle and upper classes, heat is inconvenient but manageable. Air conditioners, work-from-home arrangements, insulated housing, and access to healthcare create a buffer between the body and the climate. Heat becomes something to complain about, not…
Indian spices have always travelled. Long before borders were drawn or markets formalised, pepper, cardamom, turmeric, and cinnamon moved across oceans, carrying with them stories of land, labour, and desire. Yet for centuries, these spices were consumed globally while remaining largely detached from their origins. Today, the introduction of Geographical Indication (GI) tags marks a quiet but significant shift—one that reconnects flavour to place. Taste Rooted in Geography A GI tag does more than certify authenticity. It asserts that taste is not accidental. The aroma of Malabar pepper or the intensity of Kashmiri saffron cannot be separated from soil, climate,…
A search history can be unexpectedly intimate. What we look up when we are hungry, curious, bored, nostalgic or aspirational, often reveals more about us than what we choose to say aloud. In recent years, India’s food-related search trends have reflected a striking duality: traditional recipes such as thekua, haldi water, and ukadiche modak trend alongside global dishes like Yorkshire pudding and sourdough bread. At first glance, this coexistence appears contradictory. But it is, perhaps, deeply honest. Food as Memory and Inheritance Searches for traditional recipes often peak around festivals, rituals, or moments of cultural return. These are not merely…
India’s digital boom is often celebrated as a story of access, efficiency, and progress. From online payments and cloud storage to streaming platforms and artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure has reshaped everyday life. Yet beneath this narrative of convenience lies a quieter, less visible reality: the environmental cost of India’s digital expansion. Digital Growth and Invisible Consumption The digital world appears weightless. Data is stored in “clouds,” meetings happen online, and transactions are reduced to a tap on a screen. This illusion of immateriality obscures the physical infrastructure that sustains digital life. Data centres, server farms, undersea cables, and device manufacturing…
Stories rarely disappear. They return—changed, reframed, and retold. Myths, epics, classics, and fairy tales are continually rewritten for new audiences, new politics, and new anxieties. From feminist retellings of ancient myths to contemporary rewrites of canonical novels, modern literature seems unable to let go of old stories. This persistence raises an important question: why do we keep retelling the same narratives, and what do these retellings say about us? Retelling as Reinterpretation, Not Repetition Modern retellings are not acts of nostalgia alone. They are acts of reinterpretation. Each retelling shifts perspective—centering marginal characters, questioning moral binaries, or exposing silences in…
Literature is, in its essence, supposed to be a slow art. It is creation. It demands from all, their time and effort; to read, think revise and to doubt, to question and learn. Today, the literature has become a factory; an industry; designed to produce output in terms of quantity, not quality. Writers are told to be visible, consistent and marketable; and the books are to justify themselves, through sales, algorithms and online relevance. Even literature has not been spared of the pressure to become a producing, profitable machine. When Writing Becomes Output Due to this, Writers are encouraged to…