Chanchal Kumar I had the opportunity to attend a talk by a Brahmin professor on the topic “The place of law in human life”. It, as it may be guessed, drew on Hindu dharma shastras and such books as the Manusmriti, and the best audience to his oration could be assumed to be those living …
On Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’
Chanchal Kumar Origin the film released in India some time back. After watching the much anticipated movie (twice) here are some of my haphazard jottings and observations. Introduction To begin with, I’m sure Origin will renew discussions amongst movie-goers and audiences around the theme of caste and how it connects the dots of oppression around …
The Overrated ‘The God of Small Things’
Chanchal Kumar I was hooked to The God of Small Things from the first sentence. As I continued to read the novel, I was drawn deeper into the lives of the protagonists, with their spatial, ancestral house in Ayemenem, the characters Ammu, Chako, Baby Kochamma, Estha and Rahel. In fact, I didn’t even own the …
Dr Ambedkar’s contribution to the history of thought
Chanchal Kumar Since I don’t have anything to pass off as an introduction, I would prefer to plunge straightaway to the topic at hand. The fact that Dr Ambedkar studied and mastered so many different fields of knowledge, from something as diverse as Economics and Law, not only proves his extraordinary commitment and love to …
The ones who walk away from India
Chanchal Kumar Those who have read Ursula Le Guin’s short story Those Who Walk Away from Omelas, might be in a fix as to the ways in which the story can be interpreted. How to apply it to the world in which we live in? In this essay I will try to look at the …
Welcome to ‘Ouroboros’
Chanchal Kumar & Abhijit Khandkar Manifesto Ouroboros wants beauty. We want a place which smells like earth after the first damp rain ~ petrichor ~ We stand for liberty, equality, fraternity. We believe, echoing our Babasaheb Ambedkar, that cultivation of the mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence. If we can do it …
Two Khortha songs (lok geet) of Satish Das
Amyri* (First song) As I lie comfortable in my well-cushioned bed, a song plays through the expensive audio speakers I own. The song is Amyri. Satish Das is the singer. The first verse begins by the song-persona saying he had sown moong along the shores of the river (moong is one of the lentils found …
Neo-Ambedkarism
Chanchal Kumar In this technological age, we have to ask the question, Is it worth moving towards an Ambedkarism that is more rooted in our time, and embodies all the changes that the year 2023 has brought? There has been multiple covid waves, apart from a bunch of other international maladies, that have broken the …
Paean for Dr. G. N. Saibaba
Chanchal Kumar In the recent news about dear departed Father Stan Swamy, it has been concluded that there indeed was a conspiracy to frame him. There has been conclusive evidence that incriminating content was planted in his device in order to criminalise him. Father Stan Swamy was even refused a sipper in his final days …