Rahul Bhatia

A Masterpiece That Inspired Gabriel García Márquez to Write His Own (Published 2023)

Reading a magnificent book that's difficult to grasp, I thought of re-reading it until I understood. I was curious about what other readers had to say. Valeria Luiselli: "Rulfo suggested that 'Pedro Páramo' is meant to be read three times before it is understood." www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/b...

Cover reveal of my Kannada novel 'Hettavara Neralu'! Grateful to Kiran Madalu who visualised my 420-page work of magic realist fiction with quirky subplots, strange dreamscapes, an undercurrent of humour where language is as much the message as the medium into this stunning image!
#ಹೆತ್ತವರನೆರಳು

In 40 minutes.

Book Talk with Rahul Bhatia | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University The first installment in our series features Rahul Bhatia RI ’23, a journalist and author of The New India: The Unmaking of the World’s Largest Democracy (PublicAffairs, 2024). An independent writer, ...

In about three hours, I'll be chatting with Chris Muller in the first of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute's book talks this year. We'll discuss the themes of my book (tech and nationalism) and about the years long reporting process. Log in over here: www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-b...

The thing about Anna Funder; JFC.

IYKYK. “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now.”

Can’t go wrong with this one. Sounds like a plane taking off, though.

Do you remember when China's Great Firewall was the main topic? When we took pride in our open internet? Now I can't say anything online without posts disappearing and angry mobs descending to label it fake news. I don't know, there must be a term to describe this phenomenon.

“I wish they had computed a bit less and thought a bit more” is a quotation for our age.

2/2: Politics, local economy, duties, pressures, talent, business risk, fungible roles, off-book payments—all play a big role in how, when, and where tech is adopted. In my conversations, Indian factory managers and biz heads were enthu about AI, but didn’t know where it fit in their processes.

This thread is a necessary reminder of why claims about AI need to be meet with questions and greater scepticism. The futurists have wild visions about our world, but it’s the small town Indian factory manager producing a vital supply chain part who will laugh and explain why it ain’t happening. 1/2

It’s almost as if use cases aren’t popping up organically and the AI co’s are having to find creative ways to insert their products into people’s workflows

I should add: we’re probably going to talk authoritarianism, indoctrination, and how welfare tech was a foil for surveillance tech in India.

So come on over, and bring a friend. (Online.)

Book Talk with Rahul Bhatia | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University The first installment in our series features Rahul Bhatia RI ’23, a journalist and author of The New India: The Unmaking of the World’s Largest Democracy (PublicAffairs, 2024). An independent writer, ...

I'm delighted to be chatting with Christopher Muller about The New India for the Radcliffe Institute's Virtual Book Talks series next week, on the 15th. Come, listen in! (And register!)

www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2025-b...

So, on the one hand, great to see tools that might make people's jobs less stressful, but these need to be introduced rigorously and treated as medical devices before they can be rolled out at scale with confidence.

Dhume’s blunt-edged attempt to link Mamdani’s “depressingly stale” ideas to “Third World” failures only shows how out of step—and how outdated—the WSJ’s opinions really are.

Scenes from a walk.

Four years after South Korea gave us Squid Game, I’m sending some of my own dystopian survival thriller horror their way.

THE NEW INDIA is out this week in South Korea, published by Geulhangari.

Thrilled. So, so thrilled.

Four years after South Korea gave us Squid Game, I’m sending some of my own dystopian survival thriller horror their way.

THE NEW INDIA is out this week in South Korea, published by Geulhangari.

Thrilled. So, so thrilled.

Simply one of the greatest to ever do it. Read them all, but start with "American Ground." It's hard to appreciate what a bombshell that was when it was published, challenging post-9/11 assumptions about the FDNY.

Christian Lorentzen with a drive by shooting on the stakes of New York City's mayoral race.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

It is astonishing how much the information ecosystem as accessed via Google search has deteriorated over the past 2 years.

Goodness.

David Runciman · Hokey Cowboy: Is Hayek to blame? Hayek suspected that nothing about the vindication of neoliberalism was likely to be straightforward. Some magical...

"Have the new tech giants ever truly weaned themselves off government support or are they really just bloated receptacles for taxpayers’ handouts?" One delicate cut among many in a very good review of Quinn Slobodian's exciting 'Hayek's Bastards'. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

In Mumbai. Power imbalance, a lack of choice, and general reluctance to rock boats. I wrote a whole book about how and why Indians let powerful surveillance tech into their lives without protest.

Oh yes.

How the World’s Largest Democracy Slid Toward Authoritarianism

Also, why now? Well, I woke up and thought, “I spent seven damn years on this book and didn’t make enough of a racket about it.”

Here’s Jennifer Szalai on the book. She really got what I was going for: www.nytimes.com/2024/11/27/b...

The New India: The Unmaking of the World’s Largest Democracy Amazon.com: The New India: The Unmaking of the World’s Largest Democracy: 9781541704008: Bhatia, Rahul: Books

If you'd like, here's the book. Religious nationalism, the takeover of government, bonkers technocrats, propaganda, armed groups of young men, and the remaking of society. It's all in here: www.amazon.com/New-India-Un...

When the book was done, I was at peace for the first time in a decade. Because I finally understood that a single lifetime isn't enough. Things don't get worse or improve in the course of an administration. Research funding won't return to the way it was. But you can't stop.

That's why this thread.