In this issue

In this issue with class as its theme, Trisha Gupta examines the depiction of servants and their relationships with their employers in Indian cinema. Bulbul Sharma’s sly observations about snobs expose the new games of one-upmanship. Anjali Doshi traces the evolution of the game-changers of cricket in India from the princes and aristocrats to small-town Indians. Michael Snyder advocates the democratisation of table manners and the dismantling of archaic etiquette. In a personal take Shrayana Bhattacharya reflects on the follies of dating a stuck-up princeling.

Our literary section is rich and varied with a new translation of Prashant Bagad’s Marathi short story by Shanta Gokhale, a new story by Jerry Pinto and an extract from Amitava Kumar’s new novel.

An exciting development: from this issue on our poetry section will be curated by poet and writer Sampurna Chattarji. Her eclectic selection includes poems by Anitha Thampi, Doris Kareva, K Srilata, Aditi Angiras and Mona Zote.

Postcard From Beijing

Reflections on home and the world from across the Great Wall

4 mins

The Hour Of Poetry

They say it’s enjoying a revival. Why poetry never really goes away

5 mins

Moving Mountains

There’s a proliferation of biennales and triennales in South Asia. Concluded this summer, the Kathmandu Triennale.

3 mins

Gods Are Human Too

Classical art, with its formality, made the past remote. Folk art gave it back some life.

5 mins

The Comedy Of Manners

Is etiquette more than snobbery? Is the egalitarianism of the present, the informality, any more inclusive, or is it just a pose.

10+ mins

The Aristoprats

A year of dating a feudal throwback forced Shrayana Bhattacharya to confront her fascination with the wealthy

10+ mins

Serving Their Purpose

How Indian filmmakers depict servants is a comment on their masters.

10+ mins

Nowhere Man

In a hierarchical society is there any greater privilege than being able to declare yourself free of class, wonders, Shougat Dasgupta

10 mins

The Man Without A Nation

The Man Without A Nation

10+ mins

Shared History

Conservationist Abha Narain Lambah pays tribute to Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra, lovers all of Bombay’s splendid, layered past

2 mins

Read all stories from The Indian Quarterly

The Indian Quarterly Magazine Description:

The Indian Quarterly (IQ) is a national and international magazine. We hope that just as The New Yorker exhibits a distinctly Manhattan sensibility and always contains articles about New York City, IQ will manifest the fact that it is edited and published in Mumbai through its cosmopolitan and open-minded perspective on the world and on India.

In fact, we hope to provide a unique way of interpreting our ever changing culture, and to define our own experiences through the strength of thought, ideas and imagery, be it in the form of fact, fiction, poetry, illustration or photography. IQ is therefore a paean to the polyphonic nature of reflection and the creativity that is its outcome.