ARSD College, University of Delhi-Official website

Faculty Profile

Multilingualism, interdisciplinarity and translation: these three words suitably summarise my academic objectives. My research is located at the intersection of literature, history and politics, as is amply illustrated by my PhD thesis and the monographs that I am currently working on. I am perfectly bilingual, with a smattering of Bangla, that allows me to undertake challenging translation projects and work as a literary historian. After completing my graduation and masters from Delhi University, during which I engaged mostly with the British literary canon, I felt drawn to two core areas—nineteenth century writings, both British and Indian, and literature-politics interface, particularly in the context of India. Accordingly, during my M.Phil, I opted for courses around these domains. Gradually, I got interested in the long shadow of Gandhi on Indian culture and the ‘change of heart narratives’ that dominated Indian literature since 1915. My MPhil Individually Supervised Essay (ISE) mapped the changes in the discourse of Satyagraha, from the struggle in South Africa to the Quit India movement. My doctoral dissertation, which focuses of Hindi journalism and Gandhi, furthered my twin engagement with Gandhi and the literary public sphere.

Educational Qualification

2012-17 PhD, Department of English, University of Delhi Hindi Prose and Gandhian

First Principles: Issues of Community, Agency and Justice (1915-48)

2010-12 M.Phil, Department of English, University of Delhi

2008-10 MA English, Hindu College, University of Delhi

2005-08 BA (Hons) English, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi

Areas of Specialization / Interest

Public Sphere Studies

Print Culture

Indian Philosophy and Gandhi

Nationalism in Indian

19th Century Literature in India and England

Hindi Literature

Subjects Taught

Indian Classical Literature

Indian Literature in Translation

Neoclassical Literature

Literary Theory

Research Projects (Major Grants/Research Collaboration)

Archiving Gandhi's Buniyadi School (Star Innovation Project)

Translation of Selected Writings of Shrilal Shukla ( CATA Department of English, DU)

Publications Profile

A. Translation

Phoolsunghi. Penguin Random House, 2020. ISBN: 978-06700095193. The first ever

translation of a Bhojpuri novel into English.

Loktantra aur Uski Sansthayein. Oxford University Press, 2021. ISBN:978-0-19-0131470,

Twelfth Fail. Harper Collins, 2021. ISBN: 978-9354894428

B. Book Chapters

Delhiwallah Jagannath and the Odia Diaspora: Notes Towards a Social History in

Bonding with the Lord (ed. Jyotirmaya Tripathi and Uwe Skoda), Bloomsbury

(November 2019)

Bhojpuri Leisure: Popularity, Profanity and Piracy in Indian Popular Fiction (eds. Prem

Kumari Srivastava and Mona Sinha) Routledge, 2021.

Hindu Sugga in The Book of Bihari Literature (Harper Collins, 2022)

Yashpal Ka Viplav ४. (Introduction) Lokbharti, Rajkamal (978-93-93603-07-04)

Viplavi Bharat: A Journalist and His Discontent, in Yashapal: Gender, Nation and

Revolutionary Thoughts (ed. Kama Maclean and Simona Sawhney) Orient Blackswan,

(forthcoming)

Books, Business and Decorum: Hindi Public Sphere in the 1930s, in the fourth volume of the

Book history series edited by Abhijeet Gupta and Swapan Chakravorty (Orient Blackswan)

‘An Interview’ a translation of Shrilal Shukla’s satire in Collected Works of Shrilal Shukla

C. Journal Publication

‘Affective Intimacies: Understanding Gandhi the Bapu.’ Anasakti Darshan. Vol 8, No.1

ISSN: 2250-3412

‘Gandhi’s Harijan: A Tale of Two Marginalities.’ Sangharsh. Vol 5, No. 1, ISSN:2278-3067

‘Reading America, Reading Israel.’ Defence and Diplomacy. Vol.10, No.4, ISSN:2347-3703

‘Narrative Strategies and Working Class Consciousness.’ The Discussant. Vol. 1, No. 1,

ISSN:2250-3412

‘Translating the Translator.’ Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol.22, ISSN: 0972-

1401

‘Vibhajankaleen Hindi Patrakarita.’ Alochana. Vol.60, No.1, ISSN: 2231-1171

‘Gandhi aur Rashtrawaad.’ Sahitya Amrit. Vol.25, No. 6, ISSN:2455-1171

D. Forthcoming Translation/Book Projects

Portrait of Lady Love: selected prose of Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala,’ (Penguin, March 2023)

A Revolutionary History of Interwar Years by Kama Maclean (Hindi Translation, Rajkamal,

2023)

Administrative Assignments

1. Head Examiner for several papers at Delhi University Undergraduate Examinations (July

2015-present)

2. Member Core Committee, UG Examination, Dept. of English, University of Delhi

3. Member, Syllabus Revision Committee , Dept of English, University of Delhi

4. Convener, Dept of English at ARSD College (2018-19)

5. Core Member, NAAC Coordination and Steering Committee, ARSD College

(2015-16)

6. Conveners Film Appreciation Society (2017-18)

7. Convener, Gandhi Study Circle (2018-19)

8. Convener, Seminar Dept of English (2019-21)

9. Member, IQAC, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi1.

10. Member, College Magazine Committee (2021-2023)

11. Convener, Nimbus (English Debating Society)

Research Guidance

1. Religion, Gender and Disregard: Realising the Childhood Trauma of Indian Partition ( Kanika Attri, Dept. of English, Delhi University)

2. 1947, 1971 and Beyond: Examining Narratives of Violence and Trauma (Aribam Sharma, Dept. of English, Delhi University)

3. Place making in the works of select Hindi poets (Deeksha Yadav, Dept. of English, Delhi University)