Introduction

In India, we inhabit many worlds, and we live in many languages, many literatures. Sara Rai joins Amit Varma in episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her rich life learning to write, learning to read, learning to live. Also check out: 1. Sara Rai on Amazon. 2. “You will be the Katherine Mansfield of Hindi” -- Sara Rai's essay in Caravan. 3. Other Skies -- Sara Rai. 4. Wilderness -- Sara Rai. 5. Premchand's Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales -- Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai). 6. The City -- CP Cavafy. 7. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 8. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories -- Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 9. Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions From South Asia -- Sheldon Pollock. 10. Blue Is Like Blue -- Vinod Kumar Shukla (translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai). 11. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Amazon. 12. Collected Stories -- Naiyer Masud. 13. Naiyer Masud on Amazon. 14. Georges Simenon, Charles Dickens and Guy de Maupassant on Amazon. 15. The Aim of Literature -- Munshi Premchand. (Another version.) 16. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera. 17. Jealousy -- Marcel Proust. 18. The Abyss and Other Stories -- Leonid Andreyev. 19. So Much Water So Close To Home -- Raymond Carver. 20. Short Cuts -- Robert Altman. 21. Limits -- Raymond Carver. (Scroll down on that link to find the poem.) 22. Cathedral -- Raymond Carver. 23. Raymond Carver on Amazon. 24. Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka and WG Sebald on Amazon. 25. Rings of Saturn -- WG Sebald. 26. Umrao Jaan Ada (English, Urdu, Hindi) -- Mirza Hadi Ruswa. 27. Jyotsna Milan on Amazon. 28. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha. 29. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 30. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 31. Meghadutam -- Kalidasa. 32. Humans of New York. 33. Sturgeon's Law on Wikipedia. 34. Random BOOMER Journalist Says WHAT About Paul Simon??? -- Rick Beato's magnificent rant. 35. The Time a Stiff Caught Fire -- Keith Yates. 36. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 37. A House Divided: Origin and Development of Hindi/Urdu -- Amrit Rai. 38. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 39. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 40. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 41. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 42. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 43. East West Street -- Philippe Sands. 44. Group Polarization on Wikipedia. 45. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind -- Gustave le Bon (on crowd psychology). 46. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 47. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w  Jayaprakash Narayan.) 48. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma. 49. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 50. The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy -- Michael McCarthy. 51. H is for Hawk -- Helen Macdonald. 52. The Genius of Birds -- Jennifer Ackerman. 53. Nirmal Verma and Ismat Chugtai on Amazon. 54. The Hidden Life of Trees -- Peter Wohlleben. This episode is sponsored by Intel. This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.