Trevor Fishlock   India File (John Murray). The latest edition of this now classic analysis of contemporary Indian society includes essays on the Golden Temple siege and the rise of Rajiv Gandhi. Recommended as an all-round introduction.

 

Zia Jaffrey   The Invisibles (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). An investigation into the hidden world of Delhi's hijras , or eunuchs. Using anthropological and journalistic research techniques, Jaffrey unravels the layers of myth and mystique surrounding this secretive subculture.

" Pramila Jayapal   Pilgrimage (Penguin). Sensitive account of diverse social situations and problems in far-flung parts of India by Jayapal, an academic and development expert. Also provides insight into the experience of a Westernized Indian returning after most of her life abroad.

" Gita Mehta   Karma Cola (Minerva). Satirical look at the psychedelic 1970s freak scene in India, with some hilarious anecdotes, and many a wry observation on the wackier excesses of spiritual tourism. Mehta's latest book, Snakes and Ladders (Vintage), is a brilliant overview of contemporary urban India in the form of a pot-pourri of essays, travelogues and interviews.

Prafulla Mohanti   Changing Village, Changing Life (Penguin). Entertaining portrait of life in an east Indian village through the eyes of an anglicized expat. Essential reading if you plan to visit Orissa.

Geoffrey Moorhouse   Calcutta, the City Revealed (Phoenix). Fascinating, if politically out of date, anatomy of the great city in the early 1970s.

" V.S. Naipaul   A Million Mutinies Now (Penguin). A superbly crafted mosaic of individual lives from around the subcontinent, producing a sympathetic and rounded portrait of the country in one of the best books on India ever written. In sharp contrast, his earlier work, A Wounded Civilisation , is a bleak political travelogue, researched and written during and shortly after the Emergency.

" Mark Tully   No Full Stops in India (Penguin). Earnest but highly readable dissection of contemporary India by the former BBC correspondent, incorporating anecdotes and first-hand accounts of political events over the past twenty years.

Various   India (Granta). To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Indian Independence, Granta published this mixed bag of new fiction, comment, poetry, reportage and memoirs from an impressive cast of Indian and foreign contributors. Among its many highlights are notes from the diary of V.S. Naipaul and Sebastião Salgado's photographic essay on Mumbai.