Where are the photographs Ma? A ghazal by Pragya Mittal
Poetry by Pragya Mittal: ‘Whatever the heart carries is buried in the jargon of technology. / A button of delete, with a noise of take-off, finishes a gallery.’
In THE NUTMEG’S CURSE Amitav Ghosh gives voice to our ailing planet
In The Nutmeg’s Curse, Amitav Ghosh explores the epistemic gap between Enlightenment modernity’s designation of all nonhuman beings as objects meant to cater to human needs, and the indigenous worldview that identifies these ‘objects’ as active, vibrant, sentient individuals. By Paromita Patranobish
Gardens of the Past: Two poems by Bharti Bansal
Two poems by Bharti Bansal: ‘I believe grandmothers can see through us / As haunting as it sounds, I find relief in the knowledge / That someone will always know this little part of me’
The City Is A Festering Wound: Three poems by Samiksha Ransom
Poetry by Samiksha Ransom: ‘the city is a lacerated arm / hanging loose from a plaster / a red flag made of dupatta’
A city translated through the languages of love
Modern Love (Mumbai)’s greatest realization lies in the offering of the city’s palette: an architectural marvel in the Sea Link, an underlying bedrock in Thane, a warm enclosure in cutting chai. The city is steeped in the love its characters exude towards themselves and others. By Raunaq Saraswat
A colourful passage through time: Photos from Fort Kochi
No place in the world is quite like Fort Kochi—A collage of Indian, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and Chinese cultural and architectural influences, a humming postcard from the past. Photo Gallery by Karan Madhok
Commodity Fetishism—and the crafts to counter it
Personal Essay: Shambhavi Gupta explores why consistent engagement with craft—like crochet—holds the potential to liberate us from the cloud of fetishism, which obscures our vision of the products and services we purchase.
The ‘Unconventional’ Choice is not a choice
Personal essay by Sourima Chakraborty: ‘I opted out of my profession soon after, much to the chagrin of my well-wishers. The day I told my mother how I wish to live—or rather, how I need to live—she suspected that I might be reading the wrong kind of philosophy books.’
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Geetanjali Shree, and Shikhar - What’s The Chakkar?
What’s The Chakkar? Episode 20: We’re watching Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar; reading books by Geetanjali Shree and Dave Eggers; and listening to Shikhar. Featuring Jamie Alter, Saurabh Sharma, and Ady Manral. Hosted by Karan Madhok.
‘Memory is not always an active remembrance’: Two poems by Mehaq Khurshied
Poetry by Mehaq Khurshied: ‘Her nostalgia was only bitter. There was no sweetness to balance it. / Of course, she loved him like our women are taught to love / Love, entrapped in obligation and duty.’
Knitted Warmth
A poem by Sayani Mukherjee: ‘The sound feels warm / A finicky sensation / Buzzing each nerve / In unison’
An Age of Unreason: The Kashmir Files and The War on Information
Vivek Agnihotri’s controversial film The Kashmir Files is more drama than documentary, an awkward retelling of recent history that propagates more than it educates. By Dhani Muniz