Poem: The girl who bled
By Shruti Chandra
She bled for the first time when she was ten;
That day she knew the bitter truth:
She had lost control over her body and her destiny, too.
The Kashmir you will never understand
By Faakirah Irfan
While I write this, the Internet connections of various service providers have been shut down. The social media services have been banned, and the only thing working in the state of Kashmir is the ongoing conflict.
Remembering Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017): A voice for the outcasts, marginalized, and dispossessed
By Mir Suheel Rasool
Bauman was a strong moral voice for the outcasts, marginalized, and dispossessed in a world upended by globalisation. He wrote for people, whose chances of a dignified life are destroyed by the new borderless world. Whether he was writing about the Holocaust or globalisation, his focus remained on how humans can create a dignified life through ethical decisions.
Trolls – Devil in ambiguity
By J Aslam Basha
It is only natural that minorities of all hues become anxious, especially when their voices are stifled by calls for adhering to a homogenous view propounded by the ruling BJP, which has long advocated the cause of Hindi, Hindu, Hindustani.
The anonymity of #NotInMyName is laudable
By Ananya S Guha
The ‘Not In My Name’ protest must be seen as an attempt to transcend barriers of caste, religion or race. If the teeming millions of India can come together without a name, then there is a possibility that the monolithic India will give way to that of quintessence.
Shamsher Bahadur Singh: A Poet Stirs
By Akash Bharadwaj
In Shamsher’s poetry, words travel a long distance and take over boundaries, disciplines, and schools. He advocates for a language that has blood of both Hindi and Urdu. He asks the god if he can pray in Arabic and will that make him angry?
‘Anti-National’ – The Hindu Right’s Corrosive Weaponized Word
By Ayesha Ray
The JNU episode ushered in a toxic phase where the word ‘anti-national’ gained alarming popularity and recognition even among India’s supposedly educated classes. Corrosive effects of this word took different forms: from statements made in “jest,” to vicious online abuse to disingenuous whataboutery to mob lynching.
Two Poems
By Sunil Sharma
These modern pieces of architecture and design sold in glossy ads to the aspiring middle class
The looming towers, defiant and rude, piercing a jagged skyline, already crowded,
Grim symbols of their estranged labour.
Kashmir: Tales from a country without an internet connection
By Faakirah Irfan
As a Kashmiri woman, I feel we do not still own up to the horrible things that are happening in our society. The fact that rape victims live a life of stigmatized identity is what stops the victims to even come out.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 