Resident Alien
Poem by Ankit Raj Ojha: ‘North Indian colleagues treat me as equal, / yet the demeaning bhaiye surfaces often / when they speak of Biharis not me.’
Revolution on the Airwaves: An Account of India’s Tumultuous Radio History
In Radio for the Millions: Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting Across Borders, Isabel Huacuja Alonso demonstrates how radio created transnational communities of listeners and broadcasters, who defied colonial and postcolonial governments’ stranglehold over the medium and maneuvered it for their own purposes. By Sohel Sarkar
A Pair of Jhumkas
Fiction by Aarushi Agrawal: ‘She couldn’t believe this was happening to her—these conspiracies, these trending hashtags, all playing out in real life. There was no need to engage. By now, Vaani and Aaqib were walking as briskly as the woods would allow.’
The Security Guard
Fiction by Divy Tripathi: ‘Suddenly, a new hunger arose inside. A desire for instant retribution enveloped him, a sudden need to right this particular slight. “I am not your servant,” he said. “Talk with respect.”’
Black Plums and a Purple Heart
Personal Essay by Babli Yadav: ‘Ten minutes into our ride, we land upon this road patch with grave signs of purple. Hundreds of fallen fruits of an old jamun tree, squished, squashed, and beaten by the dance of the July winds.’
The Queen And I—An Excerpt from YAARI
Essay by Raina Bhattacharya: ‘Rani started asking me very difficult questions—to which I had no answers. She wondered what her future would be like—she said that maybe in the future there would be projections of Replikas developed rather than them simply being an app on the phone.’
“Loom” and other poems by Jahnavi Gogoi
Poetry by Jahnavi Gogoi: ‘Once more I shudder / at the call of a Bay Owl’
Leaving Bannu
Personal Essay by Karan Madhok: ‘A man dressed in black robes stood by the bed, his stern face staring down at her. Death was a millimetre away, as effortless as peeling away an onion.’
Garmi: A scorching drama on Indian Campus Politics
Set in a fictional college-town in North India, the SonyLIV thriller Garmi (2023) takes viewers on a nuanced exploration of the nexus of caste, politics, power, and violence. By Chittajit Mitra
Bites from the Market
Photo Essay by Pranava: ‘These modern fossils speak a different language from the Market, and are an out-of-place eye sore. They only remind us that the municipal corporation has failed to consider who is really served by this supposed beautification.’
A Spectacular Map
Fiction: “‘Please check my future,” you say, as if I were a doctor, and your future a disease.’ By Suvrat Arora
Pioneers of Bangla World Rock: An Interview with members of Krosswindz
In a wide-ranging conversation, bandmates Vikramjit ‘Tuki’ Banerjee and Chandrani Banerjee of Krosswindz spoke about the legendary band’s inception, the legacy of Bangla rock, secrets of their musical craft, and much more. By Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario