4 Timeless Eyeglasses of Indian Authors- Spectacular by Lenskart

In a country like India with its rich culture and even richer narratives, it is important for us, the younger generations, to know our history. Different writers have different techniques when it comes to penning down stories. While some may choose to keep the narrative simple, some put years of their research to paper. As readers, we have often imagined these writers of the latter kind to be exceptionally smart. Thanks to their glasses, a mega-powerful accessory (next to their pen, of course) that made them look the part.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane as we showcase a list of our favorite authors, recommend a few books to celebrate the 75th Independence Day, and also appreciate their signature glasses style.

Amitav Ghosh

Born in Calcutta in 1956, Amitav Ghosh has written innumerable award-winning Indian historical fiction books. Ghosh’s writing deals in the epic themes of travel and diaspora, history and memory, political struggle and communal violence, love,, and loss, while all the time crossing the generic boundaries between anthropology and art. One of his books that stood out for us was The Glass Palace, which makes you feel as if you’ve traveled across India and Burma over a hundred years on foot. We recall the book fondly as the one you would read tucked cozily into an armchair on a rainy day with a cup of hot chai.

Amitav Ghosh is also someone who has experimented with his eyewear style frequently. Be it thick-rimmed, rimless or thin-rimmed frames — we can assume that while Ghosh has played safe with one frame shape, he still keeps it looking fresh every time.

Get a similar style for yourself:

Vincent Chase Black Full Rim Rectangle Eyeglasses

Amrita Pritam

With over 100 works to her name, Amrita Pritam is a household name in Punjab and other parts of India. Her essays, poetry and novels are truly commendable. Her works express her sorrow and horror over the violence accompanying the partition of India — it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Pritam found catharsis through words. We recommend you get ready with your reading glasses and a copy of Raseedi Ticket, her autobiography to get to know more about this gem of a lady who paved the way for women writers in Indian literature.

Always ahead of her time, she was a woman who not only experimented with her words and stories but also her looks. Oversized square frames seemed to be her go-to choice and it definitely gave her an edge over her peers.

Get a similar style for yourself:

John Jacobs Matte Brown Full Rim Square Eyeglasses

Ismat Chughtai

Talking of women writers and Indian literature in the same sentence and not mentioning the powerhouse of words, Ismat Chughtai, would be a mistake we dare not commit. Chughtai wrote unabashedly on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle-class gentility, and class conflict, often from a Marxist perspective (case in point: Lihaaf). While she hasn’t dabbled much on themes like the India-Pakistan partition or Independence, she was definitely one of the forerunners who wrote on feminism in India. Her works often portrayed women protagonists who weren’t afraid to take the lead, paving way for more women writers and lead characters.

Her choice of glasses was bold, just like her choice of themes — a pair of cat eye frames with a thick-rimmed arch on top. Here’s good news: we have something similar to her glasses that you can get for yourself.

Get a similar style for yourself:

John Jacobs Gold Full Rim Cat Eye Eyeglasses

Qurratulain Hyder

Qurratulain Hyder was one of the many extraordinary women who dared to bring equality and other issues to the forefront — a trailblazer in all true sense. Hyder witnessed the trauma of Partition riots first-hand when their house in Dehradun was burnt down. She escaped with her mother to Karachi in December 1947. A few years later, she moved to England to work for the BBC and returned to India in the late ‘60s. Her masterwork, Aag Ka Darya (1959) is a must-read. Known for her effortless style, she was always seen flaunting thick-rimmed rectangular frames that made her stand out.

Get a similar style for yourself:

John Jacobs Brown Tortoise Full Rim Rectangle Eyeglasses

Honorable Mention: Sadat Hassan Manto

Manto was undoubtedly the greatest flag-bearer of freedom of expression of his time. He set himself apart from other authors with his relentless observations of the wretchedness of life around him, all with a humorous candor attached to it. We can’t choose just one of his works, because all his stories are worth a read — especially Bombay Stories and Toba Tek Singh. His sense of style was very Gandhian and chose to wear basic kurtas on most occasions. However, his eyewear is what set him apart — like his writings which were always either simplistic or extreme, his eyewear too alternated between rimless and thick-rimmed frames.