We Are Not These Bodies: On Fathers, Sons, and Indian American Belonging (Great Circle Books) by Kirtan Nautiyal (Paperback) (PREORDER)

Nonfiction - Literary Collections - Essays - Social Science - Cultural and Ethnic Studies - Asian Studies - Religion - Hinduism - Biographies - Memoirs 

RELEASE DATE: 2/23/2027 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE)

Growing up in small-town Oklahoma, Kirtan Nautiyal resented how his Indian heritage set him apart. It was only years later, searching for a sense of home, that he would start to question all he had assumed about what his immigrant parents had taught him.

Inspired by the circular Hindu ritual of the aarti, this profound memoir in essays chronicles Nautiyal’s attempt to return to his cultural inheritance on his own terms. Along the way, he rediscovers family history in the Garhwal Himalaya, reconnects with his childhood fascination with the American Civil War, and delves into the lives of forgotten Indian American writers and scientists—including his own deeply private father. As he treats cancer patients in his career as an oncologist, endures painful years of infertility with his wife, and, ultimately, loses his father after a years-long decline, he begins to see how the Hindu practices of his youth may hold the peace he’s been searching for. Written with remarkable vulnerability and surprising humor, We Are Not These Bodies reveals one Indian American’s effort to reclaim his tradition in a time of rising anti-Indian and anti-Hindu sentiment.

AUTHOR BIO: 

Born in small-town Oklahoma, Indian American writer Kirtan Nautiyal is a practicing hematologist and oncologist near Houston, TX. We Are Not These Bodies is his debut book.

Review Quotes:
"Bursting with the kind of planetary adventure that will make you put your hand over your heart and surrender to the mystery. A book to fold in your back pocket or slip into your backpack. This one just might contain the meaning of life."--Greg Marshall, author of Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It

"Nautiyal writes with confidence and joy in this luminous braid of Hinduism, sciSocence, history, and his immigrant family. A fierce, monumentally wise, and deeply moving collection."--Madhushree Ghosh, author of Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family

"An earnest exploration of familial, cultural, spiritual, and literary inheritance. In each essay Kirtan Nautiyal endeavors to better understand himself and the myriad forces that shape his identity."--Neema Avashia, author of Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place