Of Matters Modern - The Experience of Modernity in Colonial and Post-colonial South Asia

"Of Matters Modern" analyses the experience of modernity in South Asia. Arguing that South Asia's experience of modernity has to be understood in a global context, the book explores a wide range of topics: the emergence of 'Assam Fever' in colonial discourse; an experiment with fusion music in early colonial India; The emergence of detective fiction in colonial Punjab; the search for authenticity among nationalist and post-colonial thinkers; the critique of the "Bhadralok" by a "Bhadralok" writer; the experience of modernity in Kolkata during early twentieth century; the emergence of a cosmopolitan 'underworld' in Kolkata during the nineteenth century; the Italian connections of a Bengali poet, Michael Madhusudan Dutta; the ambivalence of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; and, the construction of Gandhari in "Amar Chitra Katha", a comic strip series for children.