Manu Pillai, author and historian, shares his top 5 reads of 2021

Author and historian Manu Pillai's latest book titled 'False Allies: India’s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma' was released in September 2021 to much critical praise. In the book, Pillai disputes a popular existing stereotype - one that views India as packed with imperial stooges. Tracking the travels of the iconic painter Ravi Varma through five princely states from the 1860s to the early 1900s, he uncovers a picture far removed from the clichés in which the princes are trapped. Meanwhile, in a recent conversation with TOI Books, Pillai revealed his top five reads of the year gone by. Here's a look at them.

In this book, Bhattacharya maps the economic and personal trajectories of a diverse group of women. Furthermore, though they are divided by class, they are united in fandom. By embracing Hindi film idol Shah Rukh Khan, these women seek a small respite from an oppressive culture and a boost to their fantasies of a friendlier masculinity in Indian men.

Pic credit: HarperCollins India

The book tells the story of little Jibon, who arrives at a refugee camp in West Bengal as an infant in the arms of his Dalit parents escaping from the Muslim-majority nation. When he is barely thirteen, Jibon runs away when he’s barely thirteen to Calcutta because he’s heard that money flies in the air in the big city. In the course of the novel, readers are exposed to his fears, his grit, and his spirit for survival.

Pic credit: Eka

This work of non-fiction analyses a overlooked group of histories on Indo-Muslim or Indo-Persian political events, namely a few dozen Sanskrit texts that date from the 1190s until 1721. These works span Delhi Sultanate and Mughal rule, including texts that deal with Deccan sultanates and Muslim-led polities in the subcontinent's deep south.

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This book approaches Kabir, a timeless poet-revolutionary with little preconceptions, and presents him the way the poet wanted to be seen, rather than what his followers and fans want to see in him. It also answers several questions such as: Was he a Hindu or Muslim or was he beyond religion? Did he try to cultivate a new faith or did he eschew organized religion altogether? Was his modernity an exception or a reflection of the times he lived in?

Pic credit: Westland

In this book, Rao unearths the extraordinary stories of six women from the 1860s to the 1930s, who defied the idea that they were unfit for medicine by virtue of their gender.

Pic credit: Westland