"Fire on the Ganges: Life among the Dead in Banaras" a book written by Radhika Iyengar

Tags: Books and Authors

Radhika Iyengar wrote the book "Fire on the Ganges: Life among the Dead in Banaras", published by HarperCollins.

An Overview of the News

• The book highlights the city of Banaras, also known as Varanasi, in India, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between death and the afterlife.

• "Fire on the Ganges" represents the first attempt to document the daily experiences of Doms in Banaras.

• It provides an insight into the historical background of Banaras by taking a look at some of the resilient individuals of the Dom community.

• Through their stories of hardship, survival, tragedy, and aspirations, the book narrates an often poignant and sometimes uplifting narrative of a community attempting to carve out a place for itself beyond the boundaries of ancient traditions.

Author's Background:

• Radhika Iyengar is an accomplished journalist who holds a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York.

• She has received several awards, including the Red Ink Award for Excellence in Indian Journalism (2018), the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship at the University of Kent, UK (2020), the Bianca Pancott Patton Fellowship (2019), and Sanskriti-Prabha Dutt Fellowship (2016-17).