In the year 2000, Jhumpa Lahiri was “hit by lightning”. At least, that is how she describes winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, aged 33, for her debut collection of short stories, Interpreter Of Maladies (recently reprinted for its 20th anniversary, it has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide). Overnight, Lahiri became a rare kind of literary celebrity—when she married Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, then deputy editor of Time Latin America, in Kolkata the following year, “photographers climbed on to scaffolding” to take pictures of the glamorous Indian-American author.
Now 53, in person—or rather, on-screen—Lahiri is as considered and unhurried as the books that followed, each one critically acclaimed. From her volume lined office at Princeton University, where a blizzard rages outside, she presents herself as the quintessential professor of creative writing, as direct and warm as the pared-back stories of domestic life she has made her name with.
Her debut novel, The Namesake, came three years after that “bewildering” Pulitzer win, and was adapted into a Hollywood film; her follow-up short-story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, won the Frank O’Connor award (there was no shortlist— no other book was deemed worth considering), while her 2013 novel The Lowland was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and National Book Award. Not long after, President Obama presented Lahiri with the 2014 National Humanities Medal. “Oh yeah,” she smiles modestly, “that was nice.”
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri (Penguin Random House India) is out now
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Breathe In, Breathe Out
A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork
Red Pill, Blue Pill
India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum
Sign of the times
No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily
Return to form
Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports
Dimple, All Day
YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone
Let it grow
When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.
Beauty and the feast
The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.
Sweet serendipity
From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.