Civil Lines 6

Edited by Mukul Kesavan, Kai Friese and Achal Prabhala

HarperCollins India,

264 pages, R350

The distinguished Indian literary journal Civil Lines went to bed in 2001 and awoke a decade later to an unrecognisable world. The best explanation for the elephantine gestation of Civil Lines 6 is the truth, in the words of the editors themselves: unsure of their editorial judgement, they waited for the submissions to pass the test of time. And this is a collection of the pieces that survived.