In defense of losers
By Goirick Brahmachari
The heat rises like a desert storm
for the lack of water in my rhyme
dehydrates a traffic jam through my
morning high, expanding time, looping lives.
12 Angry Men and an Angry World
By Riti Das Dhankar
12 Angry Men deals with a dozen people’s anger and, in the process, tosses a question at an equally angry world. A simple question which can never be answered without being ambiguous: what is real?
Decolonizing the Language
By Maulshree Gangwar
Macaulay’s effort to replace instruction in Sanskrit and Arabic/Persian to English still dominates the educational system. Sanskrit is taught in some curricula but other than that it has become a defunct language because nobody talks in Sanskrit in India. English continues to dominate as the instructional and conversational language.
The Business of Tragedies
By Raj Shekhar Sen
But justice and dignity are still exclusive. Only a certain genetic predisposition has acquired the rights to them. But do not fear, for everything else there’s Mastercard.
THE DANCING PAINTER: An Interview with Suresh K. Nair
By Joyce Yarrow
Part of my art practice was sketching, and I became interested in making sketches of moving figures; finally, I began to draw the traditional kathakali dances in my village and started going to other districts of Kerala too.
Can Moderate Muslims Defeat the Extremist Monsters?
By Kouser Fathima
Let’s make it clear that the Moderate Muslims can’t foresee the future and predict the next attack nor can they fly across the continents to save the world. Stop confusing them with the fictional superheroes. This is what happens if you are hooked to too much Hollywood.
Four Poems
By Deeptesh Sen
All through the winter,
I fucked strange women
to convince myself
that trauma is a carnival of truth.
Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘The Broken Home’ (Nastanirh): Chapters 17 & 18
By Lopa Banerjee
When Amal had embarked on his journey to England, Charu thought he did not get enough chance to write to her while en route. She was sure he would write long letters to her once he would reach there. But such long letters never arrived.
Patriarchy and the Role of Women
By Kouser Fathima
One of our neighbours had predicted a bleak future for me because my rotis were never round. I heard one more lady advising other ladies how girls and cattle should be tied before they start nodding their heads.
The Jews: From Aleppo to Calcutta
By Mohsin Maqbool Elahi
The first generation of Jewish settlers in Kolkata spoke Judeo-Arabic at home and adhered to their Arabic style of costumes. The next generation of Jews adopted European dress and lifestyle and English as their language of communication. The Jewish population had grown to 5,000 in Kolkata by the 1940s. Now only 27 remain; most of whom are in their 60s or above. With the creation of Israel in 1948, Jews started moving out.
The Curious Case of Sunanda Pushkar
By Soumya Sundar Chowdhury
The initial viscera report suggested, it was a drug overdose followed by high alcohol consumption, and also might have been a case of suicide. However, the final autopsy report suggested that she had multiple injuries including in her private parts, neck, and intestine. There were some reports of her psychological problem, which has been subsequently refuted by her doctor. Most of the mainstream media disregarded the report.
Solidarity Statement Condemning the Arrest of Salman and Demanding his Immediate Release
By Concerned Citizens for Salman
We strongly condemn the arrest and inhumane treatment of Salman Zalman at the hands of the Kerala police and call for his immediate release. We consider the charging of IPC 124 A (sedition) on him as a gross over stretching of the sedition act to encroach into the rights of a citizen to criticize the nation.We also condemn the abusive campaign that is being conducted on Facebook against him and the discriminatory nature of the media reporting, which is aiding such human right abuses.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 