Chakkar kya hai?

The Chakkar is a famous ridge in the Himalayan hamlet of Landour, a circular road surrounded by the sight of lush deodars, the smell of rain, the greetings of hordes of hungry bandars, and, on its best days, the rewarding sounds of silence. For many of us, it is a path that inspires our own art, so much that we take The Chakkar along with us wherever we go: where we write our literature, where we compose our music, where we paint our masterpieces.

This website, is a celebration of India’s artistic creativity. Indie music, film, literature, theatre, art, sports, and more. We review the best of the past and the present; we feature established and upcoming art and the artists behind them; we present opinions of the finest minds in the country on the state of Indian arts.

You can find a variety of stories highlighting Indian arts and culture on TheChakkar.com. In 2025, we also partnered with the Mussoorie Heritage Centre to launch the Landour Literature and Arts Festival, bringing together authors, artists, poets, musicians, filmmakers, and more from the Mussoorie region and beyond for a day of art, conversation, and inspiration on the hillside!

Staff

Karan Madhok - Founder / Editor: Karan is a writer and journalist. His books include the novel MONKEY! (2026), the award-winning nonfiction narrative Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis in India (2024) and the critically-acclaimed debut novel A Beautiful Decay (2022), all with the Aleph Book Company. His creative work has appeared in Epiphany, Sycamore Review, Gargoyle, The Literary Review, The Bombay Review, and the anthology A Case of Indian Marvels. He is the founder of the Indian basketball blog Hoopistani and has contributed to NBA India, SLAM Magazine, Fifty Two, FirstPost, and more. You can find him on X: @karanmadhok1 and Instagram: @karanmadhok.

Kabir Deb - Editorial Assistant: Kabir is a writer based in Karimganj, Assam. He is the recipient of Social Journalism Award, 2017; Reuel International Award for Best Upcoming poet, 2019; Nissim International Award, 2021 for Excellence in Literature for his book Irrfan: His Life, Philosophy And Shades. He reviews books, many of which have been published in national and international magazines. His last book, The Biography of The Bloodless Battles has been shortlisted for Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, 2025 and Muse India Young Writer's Award, 2024. His upcoming book of translation is coming out next year from Yoda Press. You can find him on Instagram: @the_bare_buddha.

Prateek Santram – Associate Editor / Co-founder: Prateek Santram is an educator at Woodstock School, Mussoorie. He has been associated with The Chakkar since its inception. His many interests include music, films and pop culture, all of which he believes he has eclectic tastes in. Speaking of taste, he hails from Lucknow, so food too is a subject of fandom. You can find him on Instagram: @instasantram.

You can find us on:

Twitter: @TheChakkar

Instagram: @TheChakkar

Facebook: @TheChakkar

YouTube: The Chakkar

And our podcast What’s The Chakkar on Apple Podcasts, Podbean, TuneIn, and more.

Special shoutouts to…

- One of our founding fathers and Landour-based singer-songwriter, Ady Manral for his advice and guidance in The Chakkar’s journey.

- Excellent graphic artist slash Swiss-Bhutanese hunk Dhondup Roder, who created The Chakkar’s logo and continues to be a partner in all our visual escapades.

- Design queen supremo Rupali Lamba for the being the true backbone of the website’s design and continuing caution and encouragement. Check out her work at: http://lwd.co.in/

- World traveler, polyglot, and digital nomad Kiran Bhat, who conceived and curated our monthly reading series Golchakkar, an online panel of Indian artists in conversation with the world.

- Web-designer, musician, jokester, and old friend Mr Momo Kumar aka Jonathan Samson who helped build our LLAF website.

About Us