Jaswinder Bolina Livres

In his debut essay collection, award-winning poet Jaswinder Bolina meditates on "how race," as he puts it, "becomes metaphysical" the cumulative toll of the microaggressions and macro-pressures lurking in the academic market, on the literary circuit, in the dating pool, and on the sidewalks of any given U.S. city. Training a keenly thoughtful lens on questions that are never fully abstract--about immigration and assimilation and class, about the political utility of art, about what it means to belong to a language and a nation that brand you as other--OF COLOR is a bold, expansive, and finally optimistic diagnosis of present-day America.

The poetry collection offers a blend of warmth and sharp critique, exploring the complexities of America. Through intelligent and humble verse, Bolina addresses various themes, combining celebration with lamentation, all while maintaining a disarming sense of humor. This multifaceted approach invites readers to reflect on the nation's intricacies in a thought-provoking manner.

"In The 44th of July, Jaswinder Bolina offers bracing and often humorous reflections on American culture through the lens of an alienated outsider at a deliberately uncomfortable distance that puts the oddities of the culture on full display. Exploring the nuances of life in an America that doesn't treat you as one of its own, yet whose benefits still touch your life, these exquisitely crafted poems sing in a kaleidoscopic collaging of language the mundane, yet surreal experience of being in between a cultural heritage of migration and poverty and daily life in a discriminatory yet prosperous nation. Both complicit in global capitalism and victims of the inequality that makes it possible, these are the Americans who are caught in a system with no clear place for them. Bolina opens the space to include the excluded, bringing voice and embodied consciousness to experiences that are essential to Americanness, but get removed from view in the chasms between self and other, immigrant and citizen"--Amazon

As Purshottam diligently works to improve performance and raise morale at the Bank of the Nation’s Amlawar branch, his attempts are hindered by a conspiracy of trade union officials, politicians, and even some of the bank’s senior officers whose ambitions are threatened.Among those who align against the reformer is Neki Lal, whose rise from a life of poverty to become a union leader and vicious attack on Purshottam vividly illustrates how success all-too-often comes to be valued above ethics and morality in Indian society.Another engaging character is Ramesh Trivedi. An ambitious bank officer who owes his allegiance to Lal, Trivedi is tempted into collaboration with powerful Public Party leader Gulshan Kumar. But when his conscience brings a change of heart, the results are shocking.A riveting tale of power, corruption, and the need for social change, The Quest for Integrity is about the confrontation between confusion and clarity, shining a light on the culture of corruption and illuminating a path toward healing this terrible scourge on the human soul.