Reading New India is an insightful exploration of contemporary Indian writing in English. Exploring the work of such writers as Aravind Adiga (author of the Man-Booker Prize winning White Tiger), Usha K.R. and Taseer, the book looks at how the 'new' India has been recreated and defined in an English Language literature that is now reaching a global audience. The book describes how Indian fiction has moved beyond notions of 'postcolonial' writing to reflect an increasingly confident and diverse cultures.
Reading New India covers such topics as:
- Representation of the city: Mumbai and Bangalore
- Chick Lit to Crick Lit - Call centre dramas and corporate lives
- Crime novels and Bharati narratives
- Graphic novels
Including a chronological time-line of major social, cultural and political reforms, biographies of the major authors covered, further reading and a glossary of Hindi terms, this book is an essential guide for students of contemporary world literature and postcolonial writing.

Introduction: From Postcolonial India to New India
1.1 'Indianness' since Independence
1.2 Literary 'Indianness'
1.3 New India, a New Canon
2. Urban Scapes
2.1 Mumbai
2.2 Bangalore
3. Chick Lit - Crick Lit
3.1 Chick Lit
3.2 Crick Lit
4. Young India
4.1 Call Centres and Corporate Lives
4.2 MSMs
5. Crime Writing
5.1 Female Detectives
5.2 Difference and Death
6. Fantasy and Epic Myth
6.1 New [Fantastical] India
6.2 Bharat Fantasy
7. Graphic Novels
7.1 The Harappa Files (2011)
7.2 Kashmir Pending (2007)
Conclusion: New/Old Stories in Old/New Ways
Further Reading
Index

E. Dawson Varughese Is Associate Professor at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India. She is author of Beyond The Postcolonial (2012) and is an experienced field researcher of world literature in English. She is the editor of numerous anthologies of short stories from such countries as Cameroon, Uganda and Malaysia. See her work at: www.beyondthepostcolonial.com.