It is very hard to endure the bombs, Father. It will be difficult for anyone to survive and come back safe and sound from the war. The son who is very lucky will see his father and mother... (Extract from a letter by an Indian soldier serving in France, written on 14 January 1915 to his father)The Great War, as the First World War was referred to, saw the service of over 1.3 million Indians, of whom 74,000 never made it back home. For their families, the War was something they could not fully fathom. Soldiers from the Indian subcontinent won over 12,908 awards for bravery, including 11 Victoria Crosses. Yet this unprecedented show of valour by Indian soldiers remains largely unsung and unrecognised—particularly in India.Commemorating hundred years of the end of the First World War, this volume brings together diverse voices—Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Sarojini Naidu, Mohamed Ali, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri and many more—that reflect a...

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One of the most important voices in contemporary Indian poetry, Shahryar (1936-2012) casts a mesmeric spell since the publication of his very first collection, Ism-e Azam, in 1965. In a career spanning five decades, it is interesting how Shahryar always managed to remain topical and his poetry could always be called 'the call of the time'. This ability to remain relevant and to always have something to say consistently over a period of time is a singular quality. This book locates Shahryar's considerable body of work in the trajectory of contemporary Indian writings and evaluates his extraordinary contribution to not merely modern Urdu poetry but, more significantly, modern Indian poetry. .