About

I am Shashikiran Mullur — a reader, a traveller, and someone who finds it difficult to stand in a place without wondering what happened there before.

Pastward is where I write about history as I encounter it — in the field, on the road, in books. The essays here come from travel in India and abroad, from afternoons in archives, and from the kind of reading that keeps pulling a thread until something unexpected comes loose.

The subjects are mostly Indian history, with occasional forays further afield. The approach is unhurried. I am not a historian by training — I am a traveller with a long memory and a habit of asking questions.

I live in Bengaluru. I also tend a coffee-pepper-areca plantation in Karnataka, which has its own relationship with the long view of things.

You can reach me at shashikiran@pastward.com.