Two Poems
By Lopa Banerjee
A house, a bed that remains
smelling of flesh, burnt out songs, wrinkles of coital nights.
Yes, the splinters and cracks of love,
Pushing a tear-stained face, birth marks into the pillow.
Nuclear Programme as Second Rate Science: The Case of India-Pakistan
By Rameez Raja
The animosity and bigotry against each other has prompted these countries to channelize their resources into wrong directions, particularly manufacturing of nukes in the name of ‘National Security’. Nuclear science was perceived by both states as the only way to convince their large populations about their achievements in the scientific world. But the majority of people in these countries happen to live below the poverty line.
‘The Mahabharata’ in Indian Folk Culture
By Tanya Jha
Karnakuttu, as the play is called in Tamil, is annually performed at temples in Tamil Nadu and in small metropolitan theatres around the country. The stories are usually picked from the Mahabharata and meddled with the elements of Tamil folk culture to bring it to the local audience.
What Explains the Police Crackdown on AMU?
By Abhay Kumar
the government is increasingly scuttling the democratic spaces within the universities and imposing its agendas of saffronisation and privatisation of education. Yet, I am inclined to argue that when it comes to an educational institute with a large population of Muslims, the approach of the State often becomes more prejudiced.
Four Poems
By Yash Pandit
Had we only enough
Turns on the clock,
I would resuscitate
The farthest of summers
Just to warm your wrists
On these winter evenings.
‘Café Dissensus’ completes four years
By Cafe Dissensus
We read and shared more poetry – protest poetry from young campus-going voices and from poets using satire as their best weapon to resist the authoritarian crushing of dissent. We also read poetry that took us on other voyages – quests with one’s body, sexuality, loneliness, and depression. In all of this, we continued to controvert, question, debate.
Globalization as Neo-colonialism
By Aboobacker Siddique
While in theory, globalization stands for global economic equality and fair trade systems in theory, it has been facing several critical challenges. One of them is financial insecurity and instability due to differential competitive ability between various countries.
Five Love Poems
By Mubashir Karim
In love,
I want to collect
All your clipped nails
As a souvenir of my excess longing.
The new trend of literature festivals in India
By Kouser Fathima
Literature festivals are the new fad in urban India. However, it seems that these lit fests have very little to do with actual literature. This is what I realised after attending the latest edition of Bangalore Literature Festival.
Demonetisation and Technology
By Ananya S Guha
To educate the rural poor in technology, it is important to impart education, and make them literate in terms of numeracy. The ability to simply sign names is not literacy and certainly not education. Educational imperatives are first and foremost in a country which is not totally and comprehensibly literate.
Book Review: Chandramohan S’ ‘Letters to Namdeo Dhasal’
By Rochelle Potkar
I have read an average amount of poetry, much less Dalit literature, but the other poet who comes to mind when reading Chandramohan is Meena Kandasamy. I won’t compare their poetry, because we need voices as strong as these and more to make for a compelling discourse that can affect the shifting of mindsets, and thence physical milieus and manifestations.
Resist Fascism. Boycott Jaipur Literature Festival.
By Mosarrap H. Khan
The Jaipur Literary Festival may have the numbers on its side. But as a reader and researcher of literature, I understand that literature is not about the numbers. The JLF might be able to sidestep our criticism as a minor inconvenience, but we stand our ground. The JLF is devoid of any moral compass, supposedly one of the tasks of literature.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 