Chaya Bhuvaneswar
Their garage was where Wally first learned about his heritage, the Hashshashins, the Ismailis who, on being expelled from Egypt and later, running from persecution by Mongolian hordes, became highly skillful assassins.
Read MoreI’m simultaneously desi, American, Sri Lankan, queer, realist, post-modern and, yet, the more labels you add, well, they begin to cancel each other out. Those labels are convenient to critics and marketplaces as ways of measuring quality and authenticity but my own personal mission is to be eclectic and expansive.
Read MoreI think my interest in how finely different groups within subcontinental cultures define themselves—both in benign and less benign ways—dates back to before I had language. When I was an observer and sometimes an unwilling participant in various Iyer (Tamil Shaivite Brahmin) rituals that the people around me distinguished so strongly from Iyengar (Tamil Vaishnavite Brahmin) rituals. It really is all about the narcissism of small differences.
Read MoreOver the course of sixteen stories, White Dancing Elephants charms its readers into different worlds—with no small help from unexpected twists and robust endings.
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