Book Preview: Kiriti Sengupta’s ‘Rituals’
By Mosarrap H Khan
In Rituals, Kiriti Sengupta does an intriguing job of distilling wisdom from the dross of our daily life, a necessary condition for the possibility of poetry and living.
Book Review: M. Aslam’s ‘Panchayati Raj in India’
By Zeeshan Husain
Aslam is very serious about the history (read spirit) behind the PR. The book clearly brings forth the idea that Gram Swaraj, a brainchild of Gandhi, should be the ideal to be achieved by any PRIs.
Travelogue: Unplanned
By Goirick Brahmachari
Norah Jones, after an early breakfast is recommended on a shiny day here. October is a good old friend. The breeze smells familiar, of fresh weed and life. Even the wildest grass smells good. Little, wild, hippie flowers, trees and stones, rocks. The flowing water.
Two Poems
By Tikuli
I dip my brush again as the pigeons rise
followed by the squirrel
and the upstairs neighbour
pounding fresh ginger for morning chai
A conversation on craft with author Sucharita Dutta-Asane
By Varsha Tiwary
The stories in Sucharita’s collection, Cast Out and Other Stories, pull you into their world with a shiver of recognition. They explore the world that lies beneath the fact ridden headlines that shock and then numb every Indian. The characters belong to the world of the forgotten, the overlooked, the ones buried in history, mythology, memory. They ask difficult questions, without falling in the trap of giving easy answers.
From Greece to India: Can multiple Languages foster clarity of thoughts?
By Karine Leno Ancellin
I preferred Mumbai over Delhi, or Kolkata where most writers lived because of its vibrancy and its artistry with language and its highly multicultural melting pot, as the ‘Gateway to India’ Mumbai welcomed foreigners from far and large in the state of Maharashtra, on the Western coast of the continent. Mumbai was like Manhattan in many ways, a threshold city that never sleeps, home of the Bollywood Industry.
Two Poems
By Ananya Guha
but when you do ( arrive)
my tonsured head will
be a prayer in hope, living,
giving, while the sea waves
continue to roar, in a brief
schism of my heart.
Oxfam inequality report: A wake-up call for leaders
By Umar Aman
A one percent wealth tax will be enough to educate 262 million out of school children and to save 3.3 million lives. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, is the wealthiest man on earth with a $112 billion fortune. Oxfam estimates that only one percent of his total wealth is roughly equivalent to the health budget of Ethiopia, a country with a population of 105 million people.
Blasphemy: Pakistan’s struggle for Decoloniality
By Adil Bhat
While the acquittal of Asia Bibi is a reason to rejoice, the bigger victory lies in the reconstitution of oppressive colonial structures and the eventual repealing of the blasphemy law. Clearly, a colonial inheritance, blasphemy in Pakistan is equally Islamised. Asia Bibi’s case is a window to the clash within – between the liberals and the zealots.
Brexit uncovers the central tension in representative democracy
By Raghu Vinayak Sinha
The inability of the British Parliament to agree on a set of terms to break away from the European Union reveals a deep tension that a direct democratic action brought to a stable representative government. The issue is that the referendum only asks a narrow question to the public with no space for any nuanced understanding of the reasons behind the position that the voter takes.
Sunday Morning Shows
By Nishi Pulugurtha
In the 60s, Hari Pulugurtha had made several trips to Calcutta from Bhubhaneswar where he worked as secretary to the geneticist J.B.S. Haldane. After Haldane’s death, when my father had to relocate he chose Calcutta. The city he always said appealed to him and one which for him and for us has always been home.
Pierre Gill: The Canadian Cinematographer
By Murtaza Ali Khan
At the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the most informative and comprehensive masterclass was delivered by noted Canadian cinematographer Pierre Gill who is known for his work on films like Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Polytechnique, Outlander, and Casanova. The masterclass was aptly titled “Poetry in Motion”. Pierre Gill, who has twice won the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Award, is equally active in film as well as television.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 