Build Your Vocab with Must Read Indian Authors

With the management entrances such as CAT, XAT, IIFT, SNAP, all lined up for you aspiring managers out there, there are various tricks you’ll need to tackle the hurdles ahead of you. The Verbal or the English section of these exams is definitely going to be one tough nut to crack.
 

With Reading Comprehension and Vocab being the biggest challenges in the verbal section, you need to work on your reading skills as well as your vocabulary. The long passages and the intricate new words, otherwise, might eat away your precious question solving time. You would not want to be stuck bewildered in understanding the question rather than get cracking it.

Since we have spoken of the importance of reading, we bring to you a list of some popular and some not so popular Indian authors who have contributed greatly to the Indian literature. So while we eminently respect and adore Shakespeare, Austen and Sheldon, we mostly overlook the great work done by our Indian writers and talk of or discuss only Chetan Bhagat’s books.

It’s about time that we grow our horizon and know more about these authors. So, here’s our pick of a range of old and contemporary authors, mostly from all genres:

Mulk Raj Anand

He is one of the pioneers of modern Indian English Literature. He is known best for depicting the lower and oppressed classes of the society with a great sensibility. Some of his famous books are; The village, Untouchable, two Leaves and a bud, Across the black waters, The sword and the sickle.
 

Ruskin Bond

He is one of the most popular and loved Indian author who has been living in India and has contributed much to the children’s literature here, though, he is not of the Indian origin. He has won awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan for his great and prolific work in Indian Literature. In the list of some of his popular work there is, Garland of Memories, Ghost Stories from the Raj, Funny Side Up, Rain in the Mountains-Notes from the Himalayas, Our trees still grow in Dehra. Other loved novels by him are: The room on the roof, The Blue Umbrella, A flight of Pigeons.
 

Ismat Chugtai

She was an eminent Indian-Urdu author who has been known for her fierce expression of her feminist side in her writing. The twentieth century Urdu Literature was decorated with some of her best short stories such as, The Quilt (Lihaaf), Angaarey, The Crooked Line. She also moved on to become a script writer and film maker.
 

Rabindra Nath tagore

Even though no introductions are needed for this renowned and celebrated writer of India, there is a re glance needed for his wonderful work in Indian Literature in English and Bengali languages. His most famous work is Gitanjali (song offerings) and beyond it there is The Auspicious Vision, The Babus of Nayanjore, The Castaway, Clouds and Sunshine, The Conclusion, The Devotee and many more.

Guru Charandas

He is an Indian author and commentator who has written books such as ‘Difficulty of Being Good’ and International bestsellers such as India Unbound.He has also got published his collection of three plays as an anthology, called the ‘Three English Plays’ and a novel named, ‘Fine Family’.

Munshi Premchand

He is one of the most celebrated writers of our rich Indian Literature. His short stories are still part of some of the Hindi course books. Many of his books and stories such as, Godan, Kafan, Pariksha, Gaban and more have been translated in English and you can read them for some great fun moments and moral.

Amitav Ghosh

He is the Bengali Indian Author, known for his fictional work in the English Language. He has been a professor at Queens College at the Univesity of New York and a visiting faculty at the Harvard. His popular books include The Shadow Lines, The Circle of Reason, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace.

Anita Desai

Anita Mazumdar Desai is an Indian authoress who now resides in Massachusetts. She has been short listed for the Booker Prize three times. Her novel, Fire on the Mountain has won the Sahitya Akademi Award. Her other popular works are The village by the sea, The Artist of Disappearance, The Zigzag way, Fasting Feasting and many more!

Jeet Thayil

He is an India born novelist, poet and musician. He has penned the following collections: These Errors are correct, Gemini, English and Apocalypso. His book, Narcopolis was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni

She is an Indian-American author and poet who resides in the US currently and teaches creative writing at the University of Houston. She has a short story collection named The Arranged Marriage. Her other popular novels are The Mistress of Spices, The Palace of Illusions, Sister of My Heart, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives and more. More than a couple of her novels have also been adapted into movies.

Khushwant Singh

He was one of the famous personalities on the Indian writing forum. He had been a writer, lawyer, politician and also a journalist. His work has been mostly around the History of India. His popular works include Train to Pakistan, History of Sikhs, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, The Voice of God and Other Stories, Tragedy of Punjab and many more such tales.

So, read on & build your vocab to ride on the Verbal Ability Section this management entrance exam season!