Selected Works
Short Fiction
"War and Peace with Nepal" forthcoming in Takahē magazine based in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Blurb: Eight-year-old Raju considers a teenaged Nepali housemaid, Poonam, his enemy. He is trying to get her fired. However, an unexpected revelation makes him re-think Poonam's identity and the challenges of her marginalized life. Set in Jalandhar, Punjab, during 1988-89, this story is infused with a sense of Indo-nostalgia.
"Luck of the Irish" in 2012 issue of The Lifted Brow (print).
Blurb: Ditched by his male lover, Ember is furious and lapses into suicidal depression. Then, he goes on dating websites to find a sexual partner. He meets a 50-something nymphomaniac, Catherine, and things go awry.
Non-Fiction
"Dalits and Caste Prejudice in Ujjal Dosanjh’s The Past Is Never Dead." [2024]. A review of Ujjal Dosanjh's novel published on World Literature Today website.
"Unequal offers enlightening glimpses of inequity in India, but the truth is more complex." [2024]. A review of Swati Narayan's book published on Scroll.
"Two Recent Novels on Punjabi Dalits" [2023]. A book review and a comment on the future of Dalits in Indian-English fiction published on Australia's ABC website.
"Claiming our dignity: What India's Dalits can take from the Maori politics of self-assertion" [2023]. This article appeared on Australia's ABC website. It compares Dalit and Maori resistance, especially their strategies of media representation.
"The Absence of Dalit voices in India's literature and culture". [2021] This article appeared on Australia's ABC website.
"The Crusaders Tropes in White Supremacist Violence..." [2019]. An online essay in Overland about racist politics in New Zealand.
"The Forgotten Working Class".[2018] A personal essay in Overland on the rift between the working class and literary academic studies.
"Dangers of Tribalism and Pulp Christianity". [2009] -- An article in The American Atheist magazine that critiqued the End Times prophecies of a Californian megachurch. It wasn't an attack against Christianity but "pulp Christianity".
Novel manuscripts
Retribution (97,000 words)
Blurb-- In February 2020, there has been a terrorist attack in a Christchurch primary school, seriously wounding a number of children. The masked knife attacker flees the crime scene and leaves a letter behind that refers to the 2019 deadly Christchurch mosque attacks. Could it be a revenge terrorist attack?
Set in Christchurch, the novel probes racism, the mystery of evil, religious belief and existential questions. It imagines New Zealand as a dystopia overrun by underground white supremacists, anti-Asian and Islamophobic politicians and an international pedophilia ring.
The Discovery of India (107,000 words)
From the times of Mahatma Gandhi to the modern period, the novel satirizes India's political-corporate corruption, Hindu majoritarianism and the hypocrisies of the caste system.
The Rogues of Eden (65,500 words)
A short novel about childhood, friendship, nostalgia, loss and coming of age in the 1980-90s suburban Punjab.
The Prophecy (79,000 words)
This is an offbeat work-- set in New Zealand, the US (mostly D.C.) and London, it's a literary fiction with horror, thriller and crime elements. It probes existential despair, religious faith and dangerous secret societies. I'm quite happy with it; it has taken me to very adventurous, dark and hilarious places.
Academic Work
I moved away from academic life around 2019 to focus on creative writing.
Ex-Academic profile: From Academia
PhD Thesis [2018]: "For the Commonweal: Literary exclusions and laughter in Shakespeare's Plays"
I didn't get an academic job, but I'm proud of my PhD thesis. Throughout my research (2014-2018), I worked on the university campus seven days a week. I miss being immersed in the research and writing. The university generously supported me via stipends and research travels to the United States (including the Folger Shakespeare Library) and the UK.
I am grateful to my thesis supervisors (see details on the Pdf copy), and thesis examiners (who are exceptional Shakespeareans): Leah Marcus of Vanderbilt and Arthur Little Jr. of UCLA.
I was among the first researchers to argue around 2015 that Shakespeare's plays have abundant racial laughter against non-Europeans. Now, scholars such as Patricia Akhimie have written about racist humor in Shakespeare's plays.
MA Thesis [2014]: "Christianity and Revenge in William Shakespeare's Hamlet"
This MA thesis argues that Hamlet's delay in taking revenge is due to his theological introspection. He cannot murder Claudius until he finds a Christian justification to do so. On Academia it is my most-read piece, and has been cited by student papers in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere.
Scholarly article (2018) on the presence of anti-Catholic laughter in Hamlet in Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies
Scholarly article (2017) on the presence of exclusionary laughter in Shakespeare's plays: Shakespeare’s Exclusionary “Slime”: A Rationale for the Study of Literary Exclusions
The above article represents my early development of the concept of exclusionary laughter in Shakespeare's plays. It has ended up on the Bibliography of Harvard's writing course.
A short book review (2020): Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare's English History Plays ed. by Laurie Ellinghausen (review)
Short Scholarly article (2021) on the presence of anti-Catholic laughter in Measure for Measure: The Comedy of Counterfeit Confessions in Measure for Measure
Selected letters to editors
(2000-current)
I have published over 100 letters to editors. I look back on them nostalgically to track my thoughts over the years. Some scanned letters (without weblinks) are on the Journal page.
International Herald Tribune (2001): A caution against American invasion of Afghanistan
Time Magazine (January 2004): On the fate of Saddam Hussein.
Time Magazine (May 2004): On American military intervention in Iraq. Looking back, I am embarrassed by my uncritical support. But I was only 24 and influenced by propaganda.
Newsweek(2006): On Japan's superficial engagement with Western culture.
The Economist (2006):Against publishing Prophet Mohammed cartoons.
The New York Times (2008): Against legal bans on Muslim headscarves.
The Dominion Post (2013 : On New Zealand's political Islamophobia
The Economist (2014): Against India's anti-LGBTQ law (revoked in 2018).
The New York Times (2014): In defense of India's nuclear program.
The New York Times (2015): On William Shakespeare's modern adaptations.
The New York Times (2016): Thoughts on the Indian caste system and Dalit rights.
The Washington Post (2016): On Harper Lee's legacy and literary activism.
The New York Times (2018): On Indian stereotyping in The Simpsons animated sitcom.
The New York Times (2019) On the Christchurch massacre and New Zealand's domestic racism.
The Press (October, 2023): A suggestion to include the Māori Party in New Zealand government.