I'm more interested than Philip Roth in understanding women, even if I do it imperfectly. But that book, Portnoy's Complaint, is literary punk in this way that is rare. Karan Mahajan More Quotes by Karan Mahajan More Quotes From Karan Mahajan Reading galleys on the subway is the closest the publishing industry comes to having a standardized mating call. Karan Mahajan standardized subway industry reading It's getting worse under Prime Minister Modi. The economic miracle has failed, to a degree, and people are reaching back to a kind of imagined Hindu past for a feeling of pride. And that feeling of pride necessarily comes from denying any kind of Muslim heritage. People my age seem to be becoming illiberal in a way that I'm surprised by. Karan Mahajan feeling age people past The deadpan brilliance of John McCrea has been underrepresented in music since 2004, when Cake served up 'Pressure Chief.' Karan Mahajan up cake music pressure After a post-Bill Berry softening with albums like 'Up' and 'Reveal,' R.E.M. seems to be toughening up again; on the strength of the first single, 'Discoverer,' the band's new record looks to continue with the same muscular rock and roll that defined its last album, 'Accelerate.' Karan Mahajan new rock-and-roll strength looks 'This Is Not That Dawn' is remarkable in part for its careful and sensitive attention to women's lives - and also for its harsh critique of men and their failure to stop violence. Karan Mahajan women failure violence men As a Punjabi, you only have to look at your own family's past to find horror stories about arranged marriages and brutality. Karan Mahajan look you family past Yashpal, writing in the nineteen-fifties, sought to indict this culture of men, Hindus and Muslims alike, who value their freedom and power over the rights and lives of women. Karan Mahajan women freedom men culture If Asian America exists, it is because of systemic racism. Karan Mahajan because asian racism america Asian-Americans are still regarded as 'other' by many of their fellow-citizens. Karan Mahajan regarded other still many When more Chinese started coming after the Gold Rush, employed on large projects like the Pacific Railroad, anti-Chinese sentiment became shrill. Karan Mahajan railroad more like gold American policies toward Asians reached a nadir in 1924, with the implementation of a law that sought 'to preserve the idea of American homogeneity' and denied admission to the country to most non-whites. Immigration from Asia was banned completely, with the establishment of an 'Asiatic Barred Zone.' Karan Mahajan american immigration law country I immigrated to the United States in 2001 for college. Karan Mahajan united united-states states college In Delhi, where I grew up, commerce is brusque. You don't ask each other how your day has been. You might not even smile. I'm not saying this is ideal - it's how it is. You're tied together by a transaction. The customer doesn't tremble before complaining about how cold his food is. Karan Mahajan day you smile food I had a thick accent, and people didn't understand me, and I was ashamed, and I fumbled. I radiated an uncertain energy; sometimes baristas sensed this and wouldn't try to talk to me, and then an insecure voice in my head would cry, 'He's racist!' Karan Mahajan me cry sometimes people The Hindu nationalists see a religion near perfection save for the tampering of Muslims and Christians. So they fall upon these groups, rather than try to reform their own practices by drawing on India's sophisticated philosophical traditions. Karan Mahajan drawing perfection fall religion I see flaws as a kind of beauty. Karan Mahajan i-see see flaws beauty I travelled around small-town India a lot for a job from 2010-2012, and I was impressed by the energy I encountered in these places. Karan Mahajan places job india energy I met a number of young, striving, enterprising people in cities like Aligarh and Hubli. But the mental landscape of these towns is out of sync with their reality. Many of these towns are hellholes. Karan Mahajan like landscape reality people I remember returning to Bangalore after a few months of travel and seeing it as a first-world city, like New York or San Francisco. This may be obvious to some people, but I grew up in Delhi, and I had no experience of how someone from a 'Tier 2' city may view a 'Tier 1' city. You really do emigrate between worlds when you come from those towns. Karan Mahajan you experience people travel I tend to see my characters from inside and outside at once; this is a technique I use to retain a slight distance. It means my characters can act in unexpected ways on two axes: physical and mental. It isn't just, 'I thought this and then I did this,' which is the technique of the modern psychological novel. Karan Mahajan thought see unexpected distance
