The City as Erised’s Mirror: A Vision of Kolkata
Photo Essay by Abin Chakraborty: ‘Kolkata is a kaleidoscope: turn your gaze and a new pattern will emerge. What you wish to see is therefore a combination of what you want to see and what your gaze is capable of perceiving.’
The Man Who Remembers
Jaideep Ahlawat again portrays Hathi Ram Chaudhary in the second season of Paatal Lok, the haggard cop whose memory serves both as a crime-solving device and as moral code to leave no life unforgotten. By Karan Madhok
Darna Zaroori Hai: The Evolution of Horror in Bollywood
From the fantastical to socio-psychological, comedic to gory, Nivedita Dey traces the diverse trends and the masters who shaped the genre since its appearance in the late-1940s.
In Search of Shitala
Deities like Shitala represent a specific premodern response to disease. Paromita Patranobish explores what Bengal’s pox goddess could teach us about social ethics in Anthropocene times.
The House on the Yellow Fields
Fiction by Ayaan Halder: ‘We tell each other that she must’ve found her peace. But her memory trickles down to my fist, and it feels heavier. As if it were carrying the slow-congealed weight of all the blood that you and I have drawn from each other.’
Contours of a City: Poems and Photos by Sufia Khatoon
‘I board a bus to Biswabangla, wearing a grey shade, mask, olive hibiscus t-shirt, lemon green hair band, loose crimson brown hair, mild sweat, and the will of forgetting.’ By Sufia Khatoon
The Divine Lens: A Biography of Raghu Rai
Through intimate details and dialogues, Rachna Singh’s Raghu Rai: Waiting for the Divine invites readers into the expansive vision of the man often hailed as the father of Indian photography. By Neera Kashyap
Love Without Freedom: The Shackles upon Indian Women in the Workforce
With the participation of women in the workforce telling a sobering story, the journey toward true equality in India remains unfinished. Palak Singh and Paritosh Sinha discuss the magnitude of this ongoing plight.
Where do we find a story? An interview with Snehaprava Das
Poet, author, and translator Snehaprava Das speaks to Mitra Samal about her storytelling process, how translation can enhance creativity, the authors that have inspired her, and more.
‘A silhouette of things’: Two poems by K.S. Subramanian
Poetry by K.S. Subramanian: ‘In a year its ambience malodorous / Inch of space making way to concrete. / Green unseated by thick red brick’
Basant Panchami, Sufi Tunes, and Devotion: A tale of harmony at Nizamuddin Dargah
Photo Story by Zerneela Mohammed Wakil: Every year, the spring festival of Basant Panchami is celebrated with fervour at the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi, with deep-rooted Sufi connections stretching back to the 13th-century.
Talking the Talk: MEIYAZHAGAN and the Therapeutic Effect of Conversation
C. Prem Kumar’s Meiyazhagan reminds viewers of the beauty of pausing for a while, reflecting, and reconnecting. It shows that deep down, we are all broken souls, yearning for a companion to listen, to open our hearts without the fear of judgements. By Deepthi Mary Alex