Fiction Recommendation
The first love of my life is fiction. That is the air that I breathe. I highly recommend Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, and the book that I keep returning to all the time is The Hakawati by the Lebanese-American writer Rabih Alameddine.
Favourite Authors
I have many favourite books but no favourite authors. I get obsessed with writers, read them all, and then move on to the next. I had an Iris Murdoch period, and then an Ian McEwan period. Many, many years ago, I had a Salman Rushdie period.
Favourite Theorists
Some of my earliest memories of loving anthropology have to do with people like Lévi-Strauss, whose work set the path for me in anthropology and became quite fundamental to how I understood the discipline. On questions of gender – Audre Lorde and Marilyn Strathern. Foucault, whom I read alongside Ann Stoler; that gave me a sense of how to think about postcoloniality in relation to Foucault. Leela Gandhi, who I teach year after year, and who really explicates postcolonial theory beautifully. In terms of my own work, I’d say Aihwa Ong, June Nash, and Michael Burawoy.
When not occupied with work, how do you like to spend your free time?
I like to read fiction, go on a walk with my dog, watch movies, and listen to music.
What is your favourite spot on campus?
I like going to the lake, the bridge before we get to the stadium, Banyan Avenue, Madras Avenue, and then the lane behind the D1 Apartments.
Which is your go-to comfort place for outings in Chennai?
I love going to the beach, so Thiruvanmiyur Beach. For food, Sangeetha is always an easy go-to. Soy-Soi is quite nice. Ranjith – the rooftop restaurant, Brod Bakery on ECR, Chamiers, and Amethyst. Another happy but expensive spot (so only once in a while) is the Pandan Club for their Jackfruit Curry.
Your Favorite Food to Cook/Eat?
I am very happy cooking South Indian, Maharashtrian, Malayali, and Bengali Food. I really love Southeast Asian food – Thai and Malaysian. I also like Mediterranean and Italian Food. I love food. I love cooking it, eating it. Everywhere I go, I like eating whatever food is available, so I like a lot of different things.
What is one thing about your years growing up that you are most nostalgic about?
Boredom. I loved being bored. There were so many long afternoons to be bored, staring into nothing. And I grew up in the Konkan, so I loved looking out staring during the monsoon. There were also electricity cuts for hours on end. I miss boredom.
You grew up without the internet, but now it’s very much a part of our lives, so how do you maintain a balance?
Sometimes I do things like a weekend detox – not using the internet at all. But the easiest way for me is to pick up a book. If I pick up a book, the world is not available to me. I have been off social media for the past 4-5 months because I needed time to process and think about things, so I went back to reading the (print) newspaper every morning.
Which languages can you speak, and which of them do you best and most candidly express yourself in?
English. I think in English; I articulate in English. I think of it as my first language.
But I love languages. I grew up speaking Tamil, but I am not ‘literary’ in Tamil. Hindi I learnt in school, and I was a big fan of Hindi films. I cut my teeth on Amitabh Bachchan films. I enjoy literary Hindi and Hindi poetry very much. I grew up in Maharashtra, so I am fluent in Marathi, and because I grew up around Bengali friends, I can understand and speak Bengali, but not in a practised way. I can understand Gujarati because I spent two years at MICA Ahmedabad, and I have a very basic familiarity with French words.
What is something about you that most people here at IIT do not know?
I used to seriously do a lot of ballroom dancing in my twenties – Waltz, Cha Cha, Salsa, and Argentine tango. That is still the one thing I love most in life – dancing.
Music Recommendations
I like playing music before class. I listen to a lot of music. In Hindustani Classical – Kumar Gandharva, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Rashid Khan, Kishori Amonkar, and Ustad Amir Khan. At one time, I used to love listening to Parween Sultana as well. Anything in Hindi Music – a lot of dance music, and I have many Amitabh playlists. I love Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey, Asha, Geeta Dutt, but also all contemporary singers, Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, etc. I love listening to Jazz – Django Reinhardt is a particular favourite. I also love The Beatles, Billie Eilish, Nina Simone, Beyoncé, and sometimes Joan Baez. In Tamil – A.M. Rajah.
What is one thing you love about your job and one thing you don’t?
I love that I get to read and write every day, and that I am able to partake in so many other research concerns without necessarily having all of it be my life’s work. There is very little that I dislike, except bureaucracy, which can be repetitive and dulling, but is also necessary.
If you weren’t a prof, what would you have become?
A Librarian
PhD can be a long and difficult journey. What is one advice you would give to PhD Scholars?
Always find the joy in your work. The rest of it is necessary. It’s a journey; it’s not going to be easy. Learning is a difficult proposition. You will be challenged every day. You will discover that you are endlessly wrong or that you do not know enough. But go back to finding the joy in your work. Find the relationship between your work and yourself. That will be the only thing that will sustain this journey.
Interview by Priyam Moonka | Design by Vasuki
Article 19 