Blog

The Ministry of Song and Dance: Bollywood, the Indian Intelligence Community, and the Cinema of the Security State

Aug 26, 2026

:

Writing Practices

There is a moment in Meghna Gulzar's Raazi (2018) when Sehmat Khan, the Kashmiri girl married into a Pakistani military...

Read Now

Latest Posts

India's Women of Intelligence

May 14, 2026

:

Writing Practices

When we tell the story of espionage in India, the narrative often leans toward shadowy male operatives, imperial intrigue, and modern intelligence agencies…

Read Now

1971

May 15, 2026

:

Writing Practices

The year 1971 did not simply redraw maps; it cleaved lives. For my family, the Bangladesh Liberation War was not an abstraction of geopolitics or a chapter…

Read Now

India's Secret World

May 16, 2026

:

Writing Practices

In 1993, as a law student at King's College London, my intellectual world was dominated by statutes, case law, and jurisprudential theory. Yet amid this formalism

Read Now

Brighton After Dark

May 18,2026

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Writing Practices

Brighton sells itself as a place of contradictions. Sunlight on the water, Regency façades, a carnival of nightlife…

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Frontline 1971: A Family's War

May 13, 2026

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Writing Practices

I was born in 1974, but my earliest memories are not of toys or schoolbooks—they are of conversations. Low, urgent conversations among elders…

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Mrs Menon

June 07, 2026

:

Short Story

Mrs Menon first entered my life on a rain-soaked Thursday evening in Bloomsbury, introduced with casual brevity….

Read Now

The History Boys: How the Past Became My Architecture

June 18, 2026

:

History

History has always been more than a hobby to me. It is the lens through which I understand the modern world. Ancient empires, colonial intrigues

Read Now

The Story as the Last Weapon

July 07, 2026

:

Short Story

There is a particular kind of silence that power manufactures. Not the silence of absence but the silence of erasure.

Read Now

The Great Game Has Moved East

July 31, 2026

:

Short Story

For seventy years, the spy novel has belonged to the Atlantic — Le Carré's Circus, Langley's endless

Read Now

The House Behind Harrods

Aug 05, 2026

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Short Story

There is no brass plaque at 8 Herbert Crescent. No name on the door. No sign that tells you what you are looking at. Behind Harrods…

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The Listening Bride: What Raazi Taught Me About Writing Indian Espionage Fiction

Aug 11, 2026

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Writing Practices

Of all the modern Indian films about the Research & Analysis Wing, the one that stayed with me while writing the Hari Vandra series…

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Spies, Steam and Flat Whites

Aug 19, 2026

:

Writing Practices

People imagine spy novelists at mahogany desks, surrounded by maps and burner phones. The truth, in my case...

Read Now

Sanjay Kumar · © 2026

Blog

The Ministry of Song and Dance: Bollywood, the Indian Intelligence Community, and the Cinema of the Security State

Aug 26, 2026

:

Writing Practices

There is a moment in Meghna Gulzar's Raazi (2018) when Sehmat Khan, the Kashmiri girl married into a Pakistani military...

Read Now

Latest Posts

India's Women of Intelligence

May 14, 2026

:

Writing Practices

When we tell the story of espionage in India, the narrative often leans toward shadowy male operatives, imperial intrigue, and modern intelligence agencies…

Read Now

1971

May 15, 2026

:

Writing Practices

The year 1971 did not simply redraw maps; it cleaved lives. For my family, the Bangladesh Liberation War was not an abstraction of geopolitics or a chapter…

Read Now

India's Secret World

May 16, 2026

:

Writing Practices

In 1993, as a law student at King's College London, my intellectual world was dominated by statutes, case law, and jurisprudential theory. Yet amid this formalism

Read Now

Brighton After Dark

May 18, 2026

:

Writing Practices

Brighton sells itself as a place of contradictions. Sunlight on the water, Regency façades, a carnival of nightlife…

Read Now

The History Boys: How the Past Became My Architecture

June 18, 2026

:

History

History has always been more than a hobby to me. It is the lens through which I understand the modern world. Ancient empires, colonial intrigues

Read Now

Mrs Menon

June 07, 2026

:

Short Story

Mrs Menon first entered my life on a rain-soaked Thursday evening in Bloomsbury, introduced with casual brevity….

Read Now

The Story as the Last Weapon

July 07, 2026

:

Short Story

There is a particular kind of silence that power manufactures. Not the silence of absence but the silence of erasure.

Read Now

The Great Game Has Moved East

July 31, 2026

:

Short Story

For seventy years, the spy novel has belonged to the Atlantic — Le Carré's Circus, Langley's endless

Read Now

Spies, Steam and Flat Whites

Aug 19, 2026

:

Writing Practices

People imagine spy novelists at mahogany desks, surrounded by maps and burner phones. The truth, in my case...

Read Now

Sanjay Kumar · © 2026

Blog

The Ministry of Song and Dance: Bollywood, the Indian Intelligence Community, and the Cinema of the Security State

Aug 26, 2026

:

Writing Practices

There is a moment in Meghna Gulzar's Raazi (2018) when Sehmat Khan, the Kashmiri girl married into a Pakistani military...

Read Now

Latest Posts

India's Women of Intelligence

May 14, 2026

:

Writing Practices

When we tell the story of espionage in India, the narrative often leans toward shadowy male operatives, imperial intrigue, and modern intelligence agencies…

Read Now

1971

May 15, 2026

:

Writing Practices

The year 1971 did not simply redraw maps; it cleaved lives. For my family, the Bangladesh Liberation War was not an abstraction of geopolitics or a chapter…

Read Now

India's Secret World

May 16, 2026

:

Writing Practices

In 1993, as a law student at King's College London, my intellectual world was dominated by statutes, case law, and jurisprudential theory. Yet amid this formalism

Read Now

Brighton After Dark

May 18, 2026

:

Writing Practices

Brighton sells itself as a place of contradictions. Sunlight on the water, Regency façades, a carnival of nightlife…

Read Now

Mrs Menon

June 07, 2026

:

Short Story

Mrs Menon first entered my life on a rain-soaked Thursday evening in Bloomsbury, introduced with casual brevity….

Read Now

The History Boys: How the Past Became My Architecture

June 18, 2026

:

History

History has always been more than a hobby to me. It is the lens through which I understand the modern world. Ancient empires, colonial intrigues

Read Now

The Story as the Last Weapon

July 07, 2026

:

Short Story

There is a particular kind of silence that power manufactures. Not the silence of absence but the silence of erasure.

Read Now

The Great Game Has Moved East

July 31, 2026

:

Short Story

For seventy years, the spy novel has belonged to the Atlantic — Le Carré's Circus, Langley's endless

Read Now

Spies, Steam and Flat Whites

Aug 19, 2026

:

Writing Practices

People imagine spy novelists at mahogany desks, surrounded by maps and burner phones. The truth, in my case...

Read Now

Sanjay Kumar · © 2026