Send us a textThis episode brings a story written by Mulk Raj Anand, a path-breaking writer. Born in Punjab in 1905, he broke many barriers, earning a doctorate in philosophy from Cambridge University in 1929. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, which included many bright minds of the 20th century like E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes, and Virginia Woolf. He was also a close friend of T.S. Eliot, Bertrand Russell, George Orwell, and Picasso, and a founder member of the Progressive Writers Association. Anand published thirteen novels and nine collections of short stories. He sharply focused on the lives of the working poor, helpless victims of the caste system, and impoverished and exploited folks, which made him a writer with a mission. After spending many years in England, Anand returned to India in 1947. Anand won many honors, including International Peace Prize, Padma Bhushan, and Sahitya Akademi Award. He died in 2004. The chosen story, The Liar, is about a hunter who his employer and other folks despise as a liar. But the lies he tells are a way of finding his own identity and discovering meaning in his life and are not meant to harm anyone.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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