What happens when a system is not broken, but works exactly as it was meant to? That is the question at the heart of A Burning, Megha Majumdar‘s. debut novel. Set in Kolkata, it follows three people whose lives collide after a terrorist attack on a train. And it refuses, until the very last page, to give you any comfort.

The Story

Jivan is a young Muslim woman from the slums. One evening, she witnesses the train attack and does what many of us would do — goes home and posts about it on Facebook. The post says something she probably should not have. She asks why the government did not protect the people on that train.

That one post costs her everything.

The authorities arrest her. They try her. And they eventually hang her, all for a crime she did not commit.

Alongside Jivan, we follow two other characters. Lovely is a hijra who dreams of becoming a Bollywood actress. She is also Jivan’s only alibi, the one person who can prove Jivan is innocent. PT Sir is Jivan’s former gym teacher. He joins a right-wing political party and as the novel progresses, chooses ambition over truth.

These three lives are deeply connected. But only one of them pays the price.

The World Is Not Fair, And the Novel Does Not Pretend Otherwise

Here is what makes A Burning different from most stories about injustice.

Most stories give you hope. A hero rises. The truth comes out. The system, however slowly, corrects itself. Majumdar does none of that.

Jivan does not rise above her circumstances. She does not deliver a speech that changes minds. She understands, very clearly, what is happening to her. At one point she shouts at her lawyer: “The country needs someone to punish. And I am that person?” She is right. And nobody saves her.

This is not a story about a broken system. This is a story about a system that works,  just not for everyone.

What Jivan’s Story Is Really About

Jivan is not perfect. She is angry. Reckless, sometimes. But her flaws are ordinary. What condemns her is not what she did. It is who she is.

Poor. Muslim. A woman with no connections and no one powerful enough to speak for her. In the world of this novel, a world that feels very close to our own, that is enough.

She dreams of small things. A job at Pantaloons. A smartphone. A salary slip. She writes: “I hoped that after a few more salary slips… I would be free in this way too.” Freedom, for Jivan, is not a grand idea. It is something very simple that other people already seem to have.

She never gets it.

Near the end of the novel, she imagines the morning she will be free: “In my mind, every morning I dress smartly, clip on my badge, and take the bus to my job at Pantaloons. That morning will come again.” It is quiet and heartbreaking. Because as a reader, you already know, that morning will not come.

Lovely: Welcome to Bless, Not to Belong

Lovely is one of the most memorable characters in recent Indian fiction. She is funny, bold and full of life. She narrates her chapters in a present-tense English that carries the warmth of her actual speech. “Even a future movie star is having to make money,” she says, and you cannot help but smile.

But a painful contradiction shapes Lovely’s life.

As a hijra, people invite her to bless newborns and newly married couples. The community believes hijras carry a direct line to god. “So if we bless,” Lovely explains, “it is like a blessing straight from god.” They welcome her at the door for the ritual. But they do not welcome her to stay.

Her guru puts it plainly: “To be putting fish on the plate, we are having to sacrifice dignity on the streets. We are having to beg. Why? Because we would be liking to eat.” That is the deal society offers the hijra community. You may exist, but only on our terms.

This is one of the novel’s sharpest observations. Society calls upon the hijra community when it suits, at a wedding, at a birth and pushes them to the margins the rest of the time. Majumdar does not let us miss this irony.

Lovely’s Impossible Choice

When Jivan’s trial begins, Lovely is the only person willing to speak up for her in court. She says: “She was spending her time on teaching the poors. How many of you are doing that in your own life? Who are you all to judge her?” It is one of the bravest moments in the novel.

But then Lovely’s acting career begins to take off. Producers call. Brands come knocking. And they make it very clear, associating herself with a terrorism case is bad for business.

So Lovely makes a choice. She distances herself from Jivan. In public, she says: “She was my neighbour, but I am understanding now that maybe I was never really knowing who she was.”

It is a devastating line. Not because Lovely is cruel but because she is cornered. She has spent her whole life fighting for people to see her as a person, not a spectacle. Now, for the first time, she has a chance at something real. And she takes it, even though it costs Jivan her life.

Both Jivan and Lovely are victims in this novel, not just of their gender, but of their class. Neither of them was ever given a fair chance. The difference is that Lovely finds a door, just barely and steps through it. Jivan finds no door at all.

PT Sir and the People Who Get Away With It

PT Sir is perhaps the most uncomfortable character in the novel because he is so easy to understand.

He is not evil in any obvious way. He is a gym teacher who feels overlooked and unimportant. When a political party offers him a sense of purpose and power, he takes it. Slowly, quietly, he becomes the kind of person who testifies against an innocent student in court.

And he faces no consequences. His career grows. His life improves. The novel watches him rise without blinking.

This is what the novel is saying about class and power. PT Sir can access systems, the party, the media, the courtroom, that Jivan and Lovely cannot. When he speaks, people believe him. When Jivan speaks the same words, they convict her. The law does not work the same way for everyone. It bends toward those who already hold something.

The Hook the Novel Sets and Never Releases

A Burning pulls you in with three very different lives. And just when you think one of them might find a way out, Majumdar tightens the thread.

The novel ends not with justice, but with its absence. Jivan is executed. PT Sir gets his political career. Lovely gets her film career. The journalist who twisted Jivan’s story moves on. The system that killed an innocent woman keeps running, unchanged.

Majumdar has said in interviews that Jivan is someone “let down by the police, let down by the courts, let down by nationalist media.” What is remarkable is that she does not frame this as unusual. This is just how things work. And that is the most unsettling part of the novel, not the cruelty, but the casualness of it.

Why This Novel Matters

A Burning is not a comfortable read. It is not supposed to be.

It holds up a mirror to a society where some people will always become scapegoats. Where class, religion and gender decide, long before any trial, who is guilty and who is not. Where the hijra community is sacred enough to bless a baby but not respectable enough for a courtroom to take seriously.

Majumdar writes with restraint. She does not raise her voice. She does not need to. The story does all the work.

A Burning is a short novel. But it stays with you for a long time, the way injustice does, when you have no power to stop it.

‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’ is a stunning memoir by Arundhati Roy. The book presents the conversation the writer never had with her mother. She celebrates her mother’s strengths and reports honestly on her less admirable traits. The writer does not accuse but seeks to understand her mother’s circumstances and background. Her mother’s name is Mary—a woman who lived an extraordinary life beyond motherhood. Throughout the book, the writer shows her mother’s kindness, militant courage, ruthlessness, generosity, cruelty, bullying, and business sense. Her mother also had a wild and unpredictable temper that completed her unique personality. The writer’s mother was both a hero and a challenging presence. The story is an introspection, which comes from deep memories and emotions provoked by her mother’s death. The writer reveals her pain at leaving home without her mother searching for her. Her mother never asked about how she managed to get her degree, not even until the end of her life. The mother saw no need to find out, believing in a comforting lie. The writer crafted this lie: “The mother loved her enough to let her go.”

Arundhati Roy builds her novel on her own life and her mother’s, especially her childhood. She explores her painful and complex relationship with her mother. Roy describes their bond as the clash of two fierce powers. She realises that having a difficult parent is only one side of their story. Her mother also faced enormous pressure, demands and expectations of motherhood. People held rigid views about how mothers should behave. Her mother’s nature gave Roy the courage to enter the world boldly. Between episodes of violence and rage, her mother encouraged her to become whoever she wanted. Roy grew up ‘on the edge of’ a conservative community, but her strength came from her mother.

The Fearless Spirit of a Mother

She discusses the need for space to grow into something unique—beyond simply “mother or daughter”. The book introduces subtle beliefs through these lived experiences. Roy finds her mother endlessly fascinating. She had to learn how to shield herself from her mother’s harshness. Childhood memories show her mother’s bitterness towards men. Her mother held valid reasons for these feelings. The memoir shows that not every mother must be perfect. Roy values some qualities in her mother even more than traditional “goodness”.

The memoir’s writing style is incredible. The language articulates a compelling, complex story in a relatable way. Roy shows how a writer takes shape and develops artistic sensibilities under great duress. The writing amazes readers on many different levels. The impactful vocabulary reveals new layers of meaning each time someone reads the memoir.

As readers move through this memoir, they feel strong emotions and deep realisations. The writer needed to leave her mother to keep loving her, not because she stopped loving her. Her mother fought battles her daughter did not need to face. The writer did not want to dim or defeat her mother. The memoir powerfully shows the writer’s struggle to accept her mother fully, just as she was. The mother, the book’s protagonist, leaves a lasting impression on readers. The descriptions create sensory overload. Roy describes her mother as the daring figure in a stifling South Indian town.

Beyond Perfection

The writer watched her mother unleash her genius and eccentricity. In the writer’s mind, her mother seemed taller than billboards, wilder than rivers and as relentless as rain. She seemed more present than the sea itself. The memoir reveals her mother’s larger-than-life image. The writer could never form one opinion or package her mother into a simple summary. Her mother existed as an ever-changing spectrum. Their relationship seemed strange and complex. The writer changed shape to accommodate her mother and felt great emptiness after her mother died.

Step into the pages of ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’ and discover a story that will touch your heart. Arundhati Roy paints vivid scenes with language that captivates and inspires. Every chapter reveals emotions and wisdom a reader will not forget. The book invites readers to reflect, feel, and grow alongside the writer. Pick up this memoir and experience courage, love and the resilience of the human spirit. Let this extraordinary journey move you—and remind you of the beauty in every difficult bond.

‘All We Want is to Exist’ by Nirupama Chaudhary is a collection of poems that reflect on different emotions. The book conveys the human desire for meaningful connection, belonging and validation. It emphasises the need to feel seen by others and how it shapes our perception and choices.  The book provides a sense of unity to the readers by addressing a common desire for recognition. It represents the ups and downs of human experiences.

The Journey of Self-Discovery through Emotional Depth

The poems portray the journey of introspection and finding one’s place in the world. The author conveys the desire to leave an impact and influence the world around us. Another recurring theme in the book is failures, emphasising how they guide us through our journey. Failures are an important step in shaping an individual. They are the building blocks of character and personality. The writer encourages readers to embrace their flaws and find meaning in their journey of self-discovery.  The very existence of humankind inevitably encompasses these common emotions that are scattered through the poems in the book.  

The poet also touches on the themes of love and hope, enhancing a positive side to the message. The poems illustrate love and connection as a defining force in our lives. They bring out the depth and significance that relationships and “love” in particular add to our lives. The poet also reflects on the hope that people carry to live on through memories. It is believed that we are a fusion of the people we share a bond with throughout our lives. The book draws on this belief, interweaving relationships and their effect on our individual lives.

Emotions as the Essence of Human Experience

‘All We Want is to Exist’ is a reminder of what it means to be human. It brings out the beauty of experiencing, connecting and growing through adversity. The book serves as a source of inspiration to help one another on this journey of self-discovery. It motivates readers to go in search of meaning. The writer encourages us to embrace the depth of our emotions, as they are what make life meaningful. We all share a common goal: to live and be remembered. Not just to exist but to actually “live”. The only way to do so is to embrace all our complexities to create an emotionally rich heritage.

Ultimately, ‘All We Want is to Exist’ gives a detailed view of the elements that shape our human experiences. The various themes explored delve into how our emotional world is directly tied to our aspirations and wants. It beautifully conveys the contribution of our connections to our self-worth and the legacy we leave behind. It is an inspiration to readers to live intentionally, compassionately and authentically while also encouraging them to see the beauty in their own stories.

Winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and longlisted for the Booker Prize, Anuradha Roy has, over the years, established herself as one of India’s most luminous literary voices. Her prose is known for being deeply evocative, lush yet restrained, vivid yet overwrought. The same poetic subtlety appears to infuse her latest offering, Called By The Hills

Unlike her celebrated novels, this work steps into non-fiction and yet, the promise seems familiar: a seamless weave of place, memory and philosophy. At the heart of the book lies Roy’s discovery of a new home in the Himalayas— not just a house of bricks and mortar, but a retreat carved out of solitude and resilience. Moving there with her husband and a pack of dogs, she exchanges the relentless hum of urbanity for a life shaped by forest trials, high-altitude silences and a small, tightly knit rural community. 

If her previous works, such as The Folded Earth and All the Lives We Never Lived captured the romance and ruthlessness of the mountains through fiction, this book appears poised to render the Himalayas through lived experience, their stark beauty, fragile ecosystems and the rhythms of those who inhabit their slopes. Readers can expect a lush yet intimate chronicle, where the act of making a home becomes inseparable from an act of deep observation.

Early impressions and published notes suggest that Called By The Hills is not just a mere travelogue or memoir, but something more reflective, an exploration of what it means to belong, to adapt and to slow down in a world that rarely allows stillness. With her trademark elegance, Roy is likely to braid ecological concerns, cultural nuance and personal narrative to prose that is at once meditative and alive with detail: the hush of snowfall, the back of distant dogs, the pulse of a forest on a misread morning. 

For those who have admired her earlier fiction, this book offers a chance to experience Roy’s craft unfiltered by the scaffolding of invented characters. For new readers, it promises an entry point into a body of work where language and landscape share an almost spiritual kinship. In a literary culture often dominated by urgency, here is a book that seems designed to be savoured slowly, like watching a mountain dissolve sunrise at the last veil of night. 

Why It Matters

• A return to elemental beauty: This book speaks to a deep yearning for rootedness in a world that feels increasingly transient. 
• Nature and narrative intertwined: Expect Roy’s delicate, precise prose to make the Himalayas as intimate as a memory and as vast as a dream.
• For readers of reflective non-fiction: Fans of Pico Iyer, Ruskin Bond or Arundhathi Subramaniam will find a similar contemplative grace here.

Final Thoughts 

If the title sounds deceptively modest Called By The Hills the experience promises to be anything but. Anuradha Roy has always written like someone listening to the earth breathe and now she gives us a book rooted in that listening. Expect beauty. Expect quiet wonder. Expect, perhaps, to want your own small house in the mountains when you’re done reading. 

We go through our lives being concerned and oriented with our own problems, goals and perceptions. Our “world” is limited to the few people and responsibilities that affect us directly. We are blissfully unaware and potentially unbothered by the greater forces that bind us together. The minute elements that come together to make our life the way it is are often overlooked.

The truth is we are all interlinked. Our realities are interwoven by culture, history, beliefs and shared societal challenges. Every story is a thread in a broader tapestry of history, labor and aspirations. Life does not exist in a vacuum. We inherit environments that have been reshaped by the hardships and dreams of others. We also influence these landscapes, making language, technology, the sea and the soil a place for connection.

Wild Fictions: Essays

Amitav Ghosh’s recent book, Wild Fictions: Essays, discusses these elements that connect humans on a deeper scale. The overlooked challenges and unspoken difficulties that collectively shape us are addressed through his poignant yet pertinent essays. The 27 essays in the book, cover more than 20 years of the central themes: migration, identity, climate change and the environment, imperialism and decolonization, as well as the timeless power of narrative. The work is noteworthy for fusing literary criticism, historical analysis and personal observations. The writer consistently highlights the need for empathy and sensitivity while combining ideas from fields like literature, ecology and history. His work has a reputation for being morally urgent, thorough and able to relate commonplace items and lost histories to universal forces.

The Depths of Wild Fiction

The book has six divisions: Witnesses, Travel and Discovery, Narratives, Conversations, Presentations and Climate Change and Environment. The section, Witnesses, elevates underrepresented voices through pain, memory and the ability of testimonies. Through his entries in Travel and Discovery, the writer highlights intercultural interactions that show common interests and dissolve strict barriers. He also emphasizes the “fictions” that underpin civilizations, language and myths in the section Narratives. Presentations and conversations bring concepts into public discussion and debate while promoting empathy and global responsibility. According to Climate Change and Environment, our narratives need to change to promote protection in light of the harm that capitalism and dominance have caused to ecosystems. Their shared belief is that human worlds are linked by environment, history and narratives.

Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh is a well-known author whose writings seamlessly integrate history, ecology, migration and other impactful topics. His work, which combines lyrical reflection with documentary precision, invites readers to see large-scale dynamics via intimate human experiences. He is renowned for his meticulous research and lively perspective. In addition to using language as a vehicle for cultural interchange, he continuously elevates voices that have been silenced by power, such as indigenous communities, colonized subjects and climate refugees. In order to show how imperial histories blend with contemporary challenges, his literary style strikes a balance between interdisciplinary rigor and imaginative reach.

Amitav Ghosh’s incisive insights and compassionate imagination transform our understanding of history, the present and our shared future, making him more than just a writer.