Dr. Mukesh Srivastava
Dr. Mukesh Srivastava, fondly called "Descartes", is the faculty-in-charge and a major driving force behind LitSoc. Apart from language, his interests include Cultural Criticism, Feminism and Critical Legal Studies. Widely experienced, Dr. Srivastava has worked as an Editor in the Educational Resource Divisions of Orient Longmans Publishing Company Hyderabad. He has taught at the Osmania University, Hyderabad, and has been a visiting Asstt. Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and at the Department of South Asian Languages & Civilisations, University of Chicago, Chicago.
He has published widely in different journals and was one of the founding editors of an educational journal, Kayakalp. He was also one of the associate editors of Women Writing in India, 2 vols. (New York and London: Feminist University Press, 1991 - 93). Notable among his publications are: The Ghost in the Machine: Reflections on the questions of Agency and Narrative Formation in The Discovery of India, CIEFL BULLETIN; Mosaic of Narrative Manipulations: Power and Production of Subjectivity in Post-Colonial India" in Economic and Political Weekly; "Whose Nation? A Note on Ayodhya and its Aftermath" in SEMINAR and "A Critique of Historiography of Higher Education in India" in The Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.
He has recently completed a book titled: The Narrative Construction of India: Forster, Nehru and Rushdie (New Delhi, Bangalore and Jaipur: Rawat Publications, Forthcoming). He is currently working on a collaborative documentary film on Kabir, and is engaged in a book length study that explores the relationship between deconstructive method of scrutiny and the traditional path of self-inquiry.
Dr. Mukesh Srivastava, fondly called "Descartes", is the faculty-in-charge and a major driving force behind LitSoc. Apart from language, his interests include Cultural Criticism, Feminism and Critical Legal Studies. Widely experienced, Dr. Srivastava has worked as an Editor in the Educational Resource Divisions of Orient Longmans Publishing Company Hyderabad. He has taught at the Osmania University, Hyderabad, and has been a visiting Asstt. Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and at the Department of South Asian Languages & Civilisations, University of Chicago, Chicago.
He has published widely in different journals and was one of the founding editors of an educational journal, Kayakalp. He was also one of the associate editors of Women Writing in India, 2 vols. (New York and London: Feminist University Press, 1991 - 93). Notable among his publications are: The Ghost in the Machine: Reflections on the questions of Agency and Narrative Formation in The Discovery of India, CIEFL BULLETIN; Mosaic of Narrative Manipulations: Power and Production of Subjectivity in Post-Colonial India" in Economic and Political Weekly; "Whose Nation? A Note on Ayodhya and its Aftermath" in SEMINAR and "A Critique of Historiography of Higher Education in India" in The Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.
He has recently completed a book titled: The Narrative Construction of India: Forster, Nehru and Rushdie (New Delhi, Bangalore and Jaipur: Rawat Publications, Forthcoming). He is currently working on a collaborative documentary film on Kabir, and is engaged in a book length study that explores the relationship between deconstructive method of scrutiny and the traditional path of self-inquiry.
Urmi, the LitSec is a reader by passion. With an eclectic taste in literature, she enjoys reading books by women and about women. Her favourite authors include Amy Tan, Daphne du Maurier, Roald Dahl and V.S.Naipaul. She enjoys blogging, piano music, penning down her thoughts and is majorly into Calvin and Hobbes. She can make any conversation fun and loves to keep herself updated about everything from fashion to food and everything in between. When not being the class nerd, she can be found either living it up at Pizza Hut or with her nose buried in a tome; no wonder she earned those thick glasses!
Aditi Verghese
Aditi was the Jus Cultura Convenor last year, and loves LitSoc so much that she decided to ditch her convernorship to join us! :D She is undoubtedly one of the most creative and hard working people we know. More about her soon...
Smarika Kumar
You know that girl with the never-messy hair and the always-fashionable clothes, who only laughs when appropriate, and who definitely does not refer to herself as the 'loony bird' ? Yeah, that's NOT Smarika! Smarika being a combination of extremes that she is, loves trying out new things - right from literature to cycling and extreme sports to fine arts. She is also the designer and administrator for this website and is the Co-ordinator for the LitSoc Journal, Sauce - thus, literally keeping everyone at LitSoc on their toes! Reading is Smarika's oxygen and some of her favourite authors include Roald Dahl, George Orwell, Jennifer Donnelly, Amitav Ghosh and P.G. Wodehouse. She also occasionally writes poetry.
You know that girl with the never-messy hair and the always-fashionable clothes, who only laughs when appropriate, and who definitely does not refer to herself as the 'loony bird' ? Yeah, that's NOT Smarika! Smarika being a combination of extremes that she is, loves trying out new things - right from literature to cycling and extreme sports to fine arts. She is also the designer and administrator for this website and is the Co-ordinator for the LitSoc Journal, Sauce - thus, literally keeping everyone at LitSoc on their toes! Reading is Smarika's oxygen and some of her favourite authors include Roald Dahl, George Orwell, Jennifer Donnelly, Amitav Ghosh and P.G. Wodehouse. She also occasionally writes poetry.
Swati Singh Baghel
Swati is a fun-loving, adventurous girl with an amazingly academic bend of mind. Having grown up around books since an early age, reading and writing have always been her passions. Majorly into Classics, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy and George Orwell are some of her favourite authors. She also enjoys the work of Jeffrey Archer and John Grisham. Swati is an indispensable force behind the Book Club, constantly in gear, tirelessly moving the pistons, to make it go vroooom! ... She also loves driving her car, by the way. In her free time, Swati likes swimming, visiting new places, and sketching. She also happens to be a trained Kathak dancer.
Arpita Seth
Arpita is a new member this year, is awesome and a real book worm. We'll put up more about her soon!
Aveek Chakravarty
Everyone says Aveek's an introvert, and he's cool with it. At his comfort zone with a good book or while listening to music of his choice, he's the proud owner of a collection of over 300 artists. This is one fellow who loves to write, be it poetry or something less lyrical. Kafka is his literary hero and Jim Morrison the musical one. He's a black and white landscape photography aficionado and also the resident pizza fanatic.
Chetna Shrivastava
Chetna loves reading to the extent that even the labels, ingredients and preservatives on wafer packets and fizz bottles aren't safe from her. Ingenious and highly imaginative, she comes up with the wildest explanations for the simplest phenomena. She loves to write, beginning when she was about ten, by penning her first fiction piece. She still remembers the first novel she ever read (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and hasn't looked back since, conquering Christopher Paolini, Jane Austen, Jules Verne, Dan Brown and Robin Cook on the way. When not on creative quests, Chetna's a big nature girl and loves to travel.
Chetna loves reading to the extent that even the labels, ingredients and preservatives on wafer packets and fizz bottles aren't safe from her. Ingenious and highly imaginative, she comes up with the wildest explanations for the simplest phenomena. She loves to write, beginning when she was about ten, by penning her first fiction piece. She still remembers the first novel she ever read (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and hasn't looked back since, conquering Christopher Paolini, Jane Austen, Jules Verne, Dan Brown and Robin Cook on the way. When not on creative quests, Chetna's a big nature girl and loves to travel.
