Top 5 takeaways from the Read India Challenge

This is a contribution post by Asfiya Rahman. 

I heard about the #ReadIndiaChallenge a few years back and found the idea intriguing; to read a
book set in every state or union territory of India…it shouldn’t be that difficult, right? (What a
simple fool I was!)

Last year I completed the challenge or came as close to it as I possibly could and here is what I learned.

India is diverse beyond belief… sadly it isn’t reflected that well in our literature. Unless you
consciously look for different stories you will find variations of the same few plots. (This lack of
diversity is a worldwide publishing problem I think)

How on earth is it that despite having such a rich history we have such few well written
historical fiction novels? We should be leaders in this genre instead you will find 20 books on
the Mughals but hardly any on the Mauryas or the Indus valley civilisation.

We often forget how much geographical diversity there is in our nation. As part of this
challenge I read about the snow leopard and about the threats to coral islands.

Indian translators deserve a special award. There are so many fabulous books written in
different regional languages and without good translations we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the
beauty of the region.

There are too many books set in unnamed cities and there are way too many set in the popular
big cities! But on a more serious note there aren’t enough stories coming from smaller states and
UTs, I’m happy to see this is changing but looking for books set in certain places has given me
such grief!

Some books in this list have a tenuous connection with the place but if the place is mentioned in
the book; as far as I’m concerned it counts!
This was a wonderful and challenging experience and really made me understand our beautiful
country a little better; in terms of our history, our geography, our culture and even how we
evolved as a society.
India is more than just a nation, it is a civilisation and as such it is more then we can imagine or
understand but something we can truly appreciate.

If you would like to try this for yourself you can check out my list of books that is given below.

Feel free to do your own version too. If you have any suggestions which could help me fill the gaps then please do let me know.

LIST

1. Delhi: City of Djinns
2. Uttarakhand: Room on the roof
3. Telangana : The last Nizam
4. UP: Umrao jan Ada
5. West Bengal ; The hungry tide
6. Tamil Nadu : The conqueror
7. Sikkim: Trouble in Gangtok (The adventures of Feluda)
8. Rajasthan: A princess remembers
9. Punjab; Passion India
10. Odisha: Seepiyan (A collection of urdu short stories)
11. Maharashtra: Em & the big Hoom
12. MP: Mandu
13. Kerala: Tongue in cheek
14. Karnataka: Ghachar Ghochar
15. Bihar: A mauryan Adventure
16. Jharkhand: The adivasi will not dance
17. Himachal Pradesh: Our Nana was a nutcase
18. Haryana: Dragon aunty returns
19. Gujrat: The story of my experiments with truth
20. Goa: More things in heaven and Earth
21. Chattisgarh: Ash in the belly
22. Andhra Pradesh: Rebel Sultans
23. Assam: For love and Honor
24. Arunachal Pradesh: Chinatown days
25. Meghalaya: Boats on land
26. Mizoram: Fate of Eight
27. Nagaland: The last light of glory days
28. Manipur: One man rides north-east (Three men on motorcycles book 7)
29. Tripura: —
30. Andaman Islands: Islands in Flux: the Andaman & Nicobar story
31. Lakshadweep Islands: Lakshadweep adventure
32. Jammu & Kashmir: Snakes in the meadows
33. Chandigarh: In the land of the lovers
34. Pudducherry: The emperor who vanished
35. Ladakh: Ladakh adventure
36. Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu: —-

Asfiya Rahman is the author of the Wild Card sports drama trilogy. Her articles and short stories have been published by Juggernaut Publishing and Women’s Web among other publications. 

She is an avid reader and coaches students in French and English. Currently she lives in Delhi with her husband, daughter, two guinea pigs and a temperamental floorbot.  You can connect with her on her blog here.