http://www.akashkapur.com Akash Kapur's website Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:23:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/time-magazine-on-india-becoming/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/time-magazine-on-india-becoming/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:23:22 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=788 a great column in a recent issue of Time that highlights India Becoming. "Impressively lucid and searching," he calls the book. "In his clarity, sympathy and impeccably sculpted prose, Kapur often summons the spirit of V.S. Naipaul."]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/time-magazine-on-india-becoming/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/depressing-india-has-worlds-most-toxic-air/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/depressing-india-has-worlds-most-toxic-air/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:43:28 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=784 According to a recent study by Yale and Columbia universities, India has the most toxic air in the world. The study also produced a composite index of environmental indicators, on which India ranked in the last ten. Depressing, frightening, and rings all too true for many of us who live next to steaming garbage dumps or in over-crowded cities.]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/depressing-india-has-worlds-most-toxic-air/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/videos-from-the-jaipur-lit-fest/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/videos-from-the-jaipur-lit-fest/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:38:25 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=782 moderated a discussion with Philip Gourevitch. We talked, among other things, about genocide, political violence, interventionism,  humanitarianism, and narrative non-fiction writing. In the afternoon, I was on a panel of travel writers reading from their works. I read (last) from India Becoming.]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/videos-from-the-jaipur-lit-fest/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/further-demolishing-the-chindia-myth/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/further-demolishing-the-chindia-myth/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:33:04 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=776 the country's urban population for the first time topped 50%. In India, 70% of the population is still rural. Yet another reason why the frequent coupling of these two (future?) world powers is simplistic and mistaken.]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/further-demolishing-the-chindia-myth/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/rushdies-visit-to-jaipur-censorship-and-illiberalism-in-india/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/rushdies-visit-to-jaipur-censorship-and-illiberalism-in-india/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:05:38 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=774 See this artice on the Jaipur controversy; and this earlier piece, by Basharat Peer, on "India's Free-Speech Crisis."]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/rushdies-visit-to-jaipur-censorship-and-illiberalism-in-india/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/jaipur-lit-fest/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/jaipur-lit-fest/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:28:48 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=772 Jaipur Literature Festival looks absolutely wonderful. I'm honored and excited to  be part of it. Check out the list of speakers and the program. What a lineup. My events on are on March 21st.]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2012/01/jaipur-lit-fest/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/why-didnt-raj-rajaratnam-take-a-plea-bargain/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/why-didnt-raj-rajaratnam-take-a-plea-bargain/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:19:25 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=736 A great piece by Suketu Mehta in this week's Newsweek.  A couple of exclusive interviews really offer insight into Raj Rajaratnam the man, and particularly how his South Asian background and milieu have shaped him. I've often wondered, while watching this case, why Rajaratnam didn't take a plea bargain. Now I think I understand better. ]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/why-didnt-raj-rajaratnam-take-a-plea-bargain/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/blistering-barnacles-spielbergs-tintin-on-its-way/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/blistering-barnacles-spielbergs-tintin-on-its-way/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:04:58 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=719 some glowing, others scathing. I plan to take my boys--but I hope that the Hollywoodization of these comics won't spoil the sense of innocence and purity that I (and I think they) still attach to these books. In the meantime, for those less ambivalent about the whole thing, here's a brilliant preview. And, for Indian readers, did you know that Tintin has now been launched in Hindi?]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/blistering-barnacles-spielbergs-tintin-on-its-way/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/falling-man-a-portrait-of-manmohan-singh/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/falling-man-a-portrait-of-manmohan-singh/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:44:11 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=715 Great, in-depth political reporting. An excellent profile of Manmohan Singh and his government, from Vinod Jose in Caravan Magazine. You rarely get to read such behind-the-scenes political reporting in India. His account of the discussions and debates within the government during the summer of 1991 is particularly interesting. It would be great to see a whole book on that fateful summer--a kind of Bob Woodwardian analysis of the key players (and their compunctions and interests) who so radically remade India.]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/falling-man-a-portrait-of-manmohan-singh/feed/ 0 http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/rural-india-disappears/ http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/rural-india-disappears/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:20:36 +0000 akash http://www.akashkapur.com/?p=704 Blog Post, The New Yorker Online Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, famously described the country as an “ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer” of history had been inscribed, without ever fully effacing the previous ones. Sometimes, though, I can’t help feeling that this place is less a palimpsest than a brutal, erasable slate: layer upon layer of newness, the past a commodity, disposable and easily forgotten. ]]> http://www.akashkapur.com/2011/10/rural-india-disappears/feed/ 0