Q&A: Ruchir Joshi speaks about Great Eastern Hotel—a novel of changing times and changing minds—about Calcutta, and his inspirations from art and memory. By Amritesh Mukherjee
Short story by Vishnu Bagdawala: ‘Sometimes, I would lie in bed waiting for the tears to come. Sometimes, I would wonder how it was strange that we needed to sleep in order to be awake for the rest of our lives. Until the day when, like my grandfather, we fall into an eternal sleep.’
Fiction by Labiba Alam: ‘Nandita’s arrival in our lives was similar to a new season dawning upon the hills. It was a slow, effortless glide, almost organic. It looks as if it had always been there, only we had begun to feel its newness by degrees.’
Poetry by Kashiana Singh: ‘A canopy of desert flowers for / the darkest of his nights, marvel / of bitterroot bursting forth from / dead earth’
Short story by Jamie Alter: ‘His eyes were ever sadder than the lady on the train. Yet there was some resemblance between the two, a similar pain that both of their eyes had been accustomed to.’
Visit us for the 2nd edition of the Landour Literature and Arts Festival on September 26-27, 2026, a weekend of arts, film, literature, music, and much more, featuring speakers and artists from the hillside and beyond. By The Chakkar and Mussoorie Heritage Centre