Most of these essays were written in my early twenties, at a time when I was just learning to write. They were published in various journals and later as a book form.
Some, like the two essays on Tagore, and one on Amitav Ghosh and one on Narayan, were written later, the last two being curious stray thoughts briefly jotted down through Sri Aurobindo's theories of consciousness and following his vision of future art. Except for the essays on Manmohan Ghose, Harindranath Chattopadhyay and Vivekananda from the old book, there are not much clues to offer to the serious researchers. Chetan Bhagat, for instance, is no more a major voice as he was at the beginning of the millennium. The only point in retaining him is the theme of The 3 Mistakes of My Life, which continues to be relevant.
However, the later essays might be having certain new issues, which have not been thought of till date, like the future of the fable form, used in The Living Mountain, Kingship in Tagore's plays seen from Aurobindonian standpoint and the deceptively brief ending of The Guide. In any case, I was hesitant about bringing about a revised version of the old book, simply because I didn't have time to revise it. But then, in the context of a new enthusiasm about Sri Aurobindo in academics, I thought the critical theories of Sri Aurobindo might be placed before the eager audiences, so that they get a guideline of how to apply his theories in literary texts.
The anthology gives a special stress on Tagore and Sri Aurobindo, who are forever our contemporary.
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