Jeet Thayil was born in Kerala, and educated in Hong Kong, Mumbai and New York. He is the author of four books of poetry, including English (Penguin/Rattapallax, 2004) and Verticality (Salt, 2006), and the editor of Give the Sea Change and It Shall Change: Fifty-Six Indian Poets (Fulcrum, 2005). He lives in New Delhi.

Sheela Reddy, books editor and literary gossip columnist for Outlook magazine, has always sought refuge in that bullet-proof maxim: to know a good egg from a bad one, you don’t have to lay it. But having just hatched this one, she is afraid she may grow more foolhardy. Instead of sticking to the safety of the occasional contribution to an anthology as she has wisely done in the past, she is preparing to write a book. She can barely focus on her subject— the Reddys of Telengana—because of the approaching sound of sharpening knives.

Samrat Choudhury is assistant editor at the Hindustan Times, Delhi, where he writes a satire column called ‘Calumnist’. He is currently writing his first book.

Manju Kak’s exploration has taken her from painting and teaching to writing reviews, essays, criticism and development journalism, and to the writing of short stories. Here she turns to creative non-fiction for the first time.

Sanjay Suri contributes from London to Outlook magazine and South Asia World television. He was earlier crime reporter and chief reporter with the Indian Express in Delhi. He has an MA in English literature from Delhi University and an MSc in social and organizational psychology from the London School of Economics.

Arunava Sinha was born, bread and buttered in Kolkata. He currently lives in Delhi with his son, wife and the former’s six imaginary companions, among whom are a mouse and a disgruntled superhero. Pretends to be an Internet Content Professional in order to earn a living. Has written this essay in the vain hope he will continue to be considered an ICP (see above). Is secretly looking for venture capital to finance his son’s world-domination plan.

Pepita Seth is British-born and was brought up in England. She worked as film editor on British and American feature films. Her first visit to India was in 1970 to retrace her soldier great-grandfather’s account of his part in the 1857 march from Calcutta to Lucknow. All subsequent journeys took her to Kerala where she now lives. She is presently working on an in-depth study of the Guruvayur temple.

Salman Haidar is a retired diplomat who was foreign secretary of India. Educated at St Stephen’s College and Cambridge University, he has also served as Ambassador to China and to Bhutan, and as High Commissioner in the UK.

Ranjana Sengupta’s forthcoming book is on Delhi after 1947, a biography of the city from Independence to the present day. ‘Delhi’s Last Conquerors’ is an extract from the chapter on the refugee experience. She has worked for many years as a journalist in the Indian Express, Hindustan Times and the Ananda Bazar Patrika publication, Sunday. She is currently based in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Dilip D’Souza was trained in computer science, and now writes for his meals. He has written two books, and essays in various anthologies. He has also won several awards for his writing, including the Outlook/Picador non-fiction prize. Sharing home with him in Mumbai are his wife Vibha, son Sahir and daughter Surabhi. He misses Shaka, the handsome Rhodesian ridgeback who once shared his home.

Smriti Nevatia has been a film and theatre critic, and worked for television and documentary films. Her piece in this volume refers to the making of City of Photos, directed by Nishtha Jain. Nevatia was writer and associate director on the film.

Satyajit Sarna is a third-year student at the National Law School, Bangalore.

E.V. Ramakrishnan was born in Kerala and educated in Kerala and Hyderabad. He writes poetry and criticism in Malayalam and English. His books include Vakkile Samooham and Aksharavum Adhunikatayum, which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1995, and the poetry collections Being Elsewhere in Myself, A Python in a Snake Park and Terms of Seeing: New and Selected Poems, and Making It New: Modernism in Indian Poetry (criticism). He has edited The Tree of Tongues: An Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry; Indian Short Story 1900-2000; and Narrating India: The Novel in Search of the Nation. He is presently Professor and Chair, Department of English, South Gujarat University, Surat.

Annie Zaidi was born in Allahabad and studied, for the most part, in Rajasthan and Mumbai. She was amongst the winners of the SMS Poetry contest, in 2005, and was placed second at the Flash Fiction contest, in 2006, at the Kalaghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai. She has been working as a journalist for six years, and writing in her spare time. She lives in Delhi.

Sampurna Chattarji is a poet, short-fiction writer and translator. Her work has appeared in several journals and anthologies including The Little Magazine, Chandrabhaga, Fulcrum Number Four 2005: Fifty-six Indian Poets (1951-2005) and Wasafiri. Sampurna was awarded the Charles Wallace Scholarship for Creative Writing in 2005. She also won second prize at the All-India Poetry Competition 2005, organized by the Poetry Society of India and the British Council.

Chandrahas Choudhury lives in Mumbai. He is currently working on a collection of short stories and a novel. He writes the literary weblog The Middle Stage (http://middlestage.blogspot.com)

Anushka Ravishankar writes books for children and plays for children and adults. She lives in Delhi with her husband and daughter.

Altaf Tyrewala is the author of the critically acclaimed novel No God in Sight. He lives in Mumbai.

K. Srilata was born in 1968 in Ranchi. She is a professor of English at IIT Madras. In 1998 she won first prize at the All India Poetry competition organized by the British Council and the Poetry Society India. Her p was born in 1968 in Ranchi. She is a professor of English at IIT Madras. In 1998 she won first prize at the All India Poetry competition organized by the British Council and the Poetry Society India. Her poems, stories and feature articles have appeared in several publications including the Little Magazine, Kavya Bharati, the Indian Express, the Hindu, and a poetry anthology published by the Writers Workshop. Seablue Child, her anthology of poetry, was published by The Brown Critique, Kolkata. In 1999, she was sponsored by the Charles Wallace India Trust and the British Council to participate in a creative writing course in the UK. Srilata is currently working on a novel.

Dhruba Hazarika was born in Shillong in 1956. He graduated from St Edmund’s College, Shillong, and obtained his master’s degree in economics from Guwahati University. He entered the Assam Civil Service in 1983 and is curr was born in Shillong in 1956. He graduated from St Edmund’s College, Shillong, and obtained his master’s degree in economics from Guwahati University. He entered the Assam Civil Service in 1983 and is currently Director of Sports and Youth Welfare, Assam. His short stories have been published in various newspapers including the Sentinel and the Telegraph. Dhruba is founder–secretary of the North East Writers Forum. In 1996, he received the Katha Award for Creative Writing in English. He lives in Guwahati with his wife and son. He is the author of the recently published novel A Bowstring Winter.

Sonia Faleiro is a writer and journalist based in Mumbai. Her first novel, The Girl, was published in January 2006.

Vivek Narayanan was born in Ranchi in 1972, grew up in Lusaka, studied in the US, and is currently based in Delhi, where he works at Sarai, a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Apart from his p was born in Ranchi in 1972, grew up in Lusaka, studied in the US, and is currently based in Delhi, where he works at Sarai, a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Apart from his poetry publications, essays and reviews, he has published short stories in journals and anthologies in the US, India and South Africa, one of which, ‘My Father, The Perfect Man’, received Special Mention in the 2006 Pushcart Prize Anthology and was an Other Notable story in Best American Stories 2005. His book of poems, Universal Beach, will be published later this year by Harbour Line, Mumbai. ‘Roderick Banda and the President’s Tears’ is one of a series of stories about childhood in an invented southern African country.

Rahul Karmakar was born in Haibargaon, Nagaon district of Assam, in 1967. He graduated in statistics from Cotton College, Guwahati, and began his journalistic career with the Sentinel. He has worked for various publicati was born in Haibargaon, Nagaon district of Assam, in 1967. He graduated in statistics from Cotton College, Guwahati, and began his journalistic career with the Sentinel. He has worked for various publications, including Sunday and the Indian Express, across the North-East, Bihar, UP and Gujarat. At present he is the Guwahati correspondent for Hindustan Times. He is married and has a four-year-old son.

C. Sriram was born in 1974 in Visakhapatnam. He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of Hyderabad. His first novel, The Long Reverie of Partha Sarma, was published in April 2006. He is a full-time author and lives in Hyderabad.

Soumitro Das is a freelance journalist, editor and translator. He lives in Kolkata.

Manreet Sodhi Someshwar trained as an engineer and is a management graduate from IIM Calcutta. She has spent over ten years working in marketing, advertising and consulting in India and in the US. She is presently based Someshwar trained as an engineer and is a management graduate from IIM Calcutta. She has spent over ten years working in marketing, advertising and consulting in India and in the US. She is presently based in Hong Kong where she writes for the South China Morning Post. She has won several awards for her stories and articles, and her story, ‘Honour Killing’, was one of the Highly Commended stories at the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Competition 2005. She has recently finished work on her first novel.

Kanishk Tharoor was born in Singapore and raised in Geneva, Calcutta and New York City. He is currently in his final year at Yale University, where he is pursuing a double major in history and literature. He is the recipient of numerous writing awards in the US including the 2004 Atlantic Monthly prize and the 2005 Spires Intercollegiate prize for short fiction.