Abstract: In a year that overwhelmed us with the many lives lost, the promising young actor Sushant Singh Rajput passed away on 14th June, 2020. We delve deep into the Instagram posts of Mr. Rajput in an attempt to understand his cerebral and stirring posts. He contemplated the universe, life and the human condition in several posts, characterized by an economy of words but a striking beauty of expression. We try to unearth his philosophy of life aided by his interviews and other secondary sourc…

Bionote: Nirupama Kotru is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) of the 1992 batch. She carries with her varied experience of over 30 years in different fields of administration as well as taxation. Ms. Kotru has served in the Income Tax Department at Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Pune in various assignments and was involved in setting up of the International Taxation Directorate of the Income Tax Deptt. As Director (E Governance) in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, she administer…

Bionote: Michael Bronski is an author, professor and independent scholar. He has been involved in gay liberation as a political organiser, journalist, writer, editor, publisher and theorist since 1969. His Queer History of the United States won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for Best Nonfiction as well as the 2011 American Library Association Stonewall Israel Fishman Award for Best Non- Fiction. In 2003 his Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps won the Lambda Literary Award …

Bionote: Dr. Nilam Kaushik is an Assistant Professor of Strategy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Nilam was named among the world’s Best 40 under 40 MBA Professors in 2023 by Poets and Quants. She is the first ever Professor from an Indian business school to make it to this list. Nilam earned her PhD degree from the UCL School of Management in the UK and has a Bachelors in Communications Engineering from Carleton University and a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineer…

Bionote: Kalindi Vora is Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, of Ethnicity Race and Migration, and of American Studies at Yale University. Dr. Vora’s current research includes ongoing writing and publishing on artificial intelligence and automation through the lens of STS and critical race and gender theories. She is also working on a book-length project supported by a National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Studies award [working title] Autoimmune: Chronic Conditions…

Bionote: Carrie Tirado Bramen is a Professor of English at the University of Buffalo and she just completed a six-year term as Director of the University’s Gender Institute. She is the author of two books, American Niceness: A Cultural History (Harvard 2017), and The Uses of Variety: Modern Americanism and the Quest for National Distinctiveness (Harvard 2000). The latter was co-winner of the Thomas J. Wilson prize for best first book published by Harvard University Press. She has written for the…

Bionote: Sukhmani Khorana is an Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales (Australia). Sukhmani has published extensively on media diversity, food in multicultural contexts, and the politics of empathy. She is the author of Mediated Emotions of Migration: Reclaiming Affect for Agency (2023) and The Tastes and Politics of Inter-Cultural Food in Australia (2018). *** This interview by Sourabhi Dutta Roy is featured in the book, “ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN”…

Bionote: Jo James has been in the book trade for more than 30 years, firstly as a bookseller and bookshop manager, and then managing events for the bookshop chains, Ottakar’s and Waterstones. Since turning freelance in 2010, Jo has helped to run and programme a number of festivals, including the Times & Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, The Stratford Literary Festival, Chiswick Book Festival, the Stanfords Travel Writers Festival, the Chelt…

Bionote: Yasser Usman is an award-winning Indian journalist, editor, and author of four bestselling film biographies. His recent book is the critically acclaimed bestseller - Guru Dutt An Unfinished Story. His words have appeared in several Indian and international publications. He is a columnist with Khaleej Times (Dubai) and Head-Digital Video Strategy of a sports portal. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for excellence in journalism, Red Ink award, and News Telev…

Bionote: Robin E. Field was raised in Peoria, Illinois and Honolulu, Hawai‘i. She earned a B.A. with honors in English from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia. She has taught at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania since 2006 and is the Manus Cooney Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of English. She has one husband, two sons, and three cats. *** This interview is featured in the book, LETTERS FROM SANTA: an antholo…