The Best of 2022 - What’s The Chakkar?
What’s The Chakkar? Episode 25: This special end-of-year episode features our favourites of 2022, including books by Josy Joseph and Maggie O’Farrell; music by The Anirudh Varma Collective; and the second season of Panchayat. Featuring Shaista Vaishnav, Anurag Tagat, and Prateek Santram. Hosted by Karan Madhok
Look at the bare back
A poem by Sonali Chanda: ‘The mystery still remains / in the petals of marigolds, / in the peels of oranges that I kept / the mysteries living in me.’
A Poetic Clarion Call to the Feminine Presence—Nabina Das’ ‘Anima’
In a series of poignant poems from Anima: & the Narrative Limits, Nabina Das personifies the feminine energy of ‘Anima’—as she tells stories, observes the social fabric of humanity, poses questions to history, and explains the world through her perspective. By Karan Madhok
Solemn Thoughts
A poem by Sayani Mukherjee: ‘Bring back solemn thoughts / Night’s carpe diem of mahogany sighs’
Like Sullied Water
Short story by Mehreen Ahmed: ‘As soon as she stepped out of the cubicle, the ‘ghost’ disappeared. Perhaps, it was an optical illusion. Like a rainbow where people saw only the colours, not the water particles behind the veil.’
On the Crossroads of Art and Spirituality
Inspired by her visit to monasteries in Ladakh, to the ghats of Ganga at Varanasi, Kedarnath, temples of south India, Kanheri caves at Mumbai and more, artist Shruti Goenka created a series of artworks peppered with elements of spirituality in the series “Antarman—A Journey Within”. By Bindu Gopal Rao
Winter Solstice 2022: An anthology of Indian poetry on The Chakkar
In a special anthology curated by Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario, nineteen luminary Indian poets respond to the winter through verse. ‘In this odour of detachment, December somehow develops a quiet stir of emptiness inside. It gently teaches the importance of slowness, just like dropping a semicolon between sentences.’
Gopi Gajwani, a Modernist product of Partition
In the work of Indian modernist master Gopi Gajwani, the art features a strong sense of swirling and distancing, one that emerges as a glimpse of an image that is at once illusive and difficult to escape. By Satarupa Bhattacharya
The Ethereal Skyline: Three poems by Debarati Sen
Poetry by Debarati Sen: ‘The world is but a granule of sand / seeping fast through my fingers.’
The Rockstar Catalysts
From Wake Up Sid and Rockstar to Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Tamasha, Ranbir Kapoor became the poster boy of young men coming-of-age into his identity. Ananya argues, however, that the the true catalysts of these metamorphoses were always his female leads.
Absolution
Poetry by Kavita Parwani Talib: ‘Is this a sign that I’m not completely biodegradable? / Because I leave a hesitant carbon footprint / In my distributed plasticity?’
On The Gateways of Faith: Divinity and the Damned in Haridwar
Photo Gallery: A year after another Kumbh Mela, Karan Madhok visits Haridwar to explore a city deeply immersed in the juxtaposition of religion and commerce.