There were many books that informed me on the making of this one, but those that were particularly helpful include:
Bringing Up Children in Islam, Maulana Habiibullaah Mukhtaar
The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young, Somini Sengupta
The Essential Rumi, Jalal al-Din Rumi
Etiquettes of Life in Islam, Muḥammad Yusuf Iṣlahi
The Hindus: An Alternative History, Wendy Doniger
The Idea of India, Sunil Khilnani
Images of Asia: American Views of China and India, Harold Isaacs
India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy, Ramachandra Guha
India: A History, John Keay
India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking, Anand Giridharadas
India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century, Ira Trivedi
Indian Love Poems, Meena Alexander
Love Will Follow: Why the Indian Marriage Is Burning, Shaifali Sandhya
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta
May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India, Elisabeth Bumiller
Mughal-e-Azam: An Epic of Eternal Love, Shakil Warsi
The Origin of Bombay, Jose Gerson Da Cunha
Tamil Brahmans: The Making of a Middle-Class Caste, C. J. Fuller and Haripriya Narasimhan
I also relied on archival material from many local outlets, including the Times of India, the Indian Express, Tehelka, Caravan, the Hindu, Outlook, and FirstPost.
I referenced a number of government and non-governmental documents, including from the Indian Council of Social Science Research, the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, the Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Mumbai Port Trust, and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. I also relied on reports from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the US National Center for Biotechnology Information, and the US Department of State.
I am grateful to have been able to use the poetry of Kamala Das, with the permission of her book’s editor, Dr. Devinder Kohli, and Penguin Books India.