The book Our Freedoms: Essays and Stories from India’s Best Writers confronts the challenges of the present, with remarks on religion, caste, sexuality, politics, and more. Saurabh Sharma argues that the collection has the elixir to inspire the soul of the nation.

What’s The Chakkar? Episode 5: We’re listening to Abdon Mech; watching AK vs AK and Indian meta-cinema, and reading Annie Zaidi and Yaa Gyasi. Featuring Ady Manral, Urmi Bhattacheryya, and Shaista Vaishnav. Hosted by Karan Madhok.

The burden and rot of history lead a small Indian town to the precipice of tragedy. Annie Zaidi’s poetic novel Prelude to a Riot is a red flag of violence to come, a siren sound of the irreversible hate that has been brewed in the town—and the larger nation. By Karan Madhok