Nourin N K Hands off my rights! Like the damaged headlight Of my neighbour’s rickshaw, At first, My country flickered In deadly saffron, Was it a warning? Are we all dead? No! No! No! I see a living ghost, Hovering over Hopeless future. Gates closed, crowds gathered, But you are still too weak to …
Thoughts on Tanya Singh’s poetry collection from Panther’s Paw: ‘Blue is the Colour I Choose’
Chanchal Kumar The Hindi writer Ajay Navaria said in an interview, “We are not Dalits 24 hours a day”. This statement may seem puzzling. Some may think, How can one escape one’s identity at will? The signifier ‘Dalit’ isn’t a uniform that a person can put on for some time and then change into …
Meeting You
Chanchal Kumar “Tumko maine bataya AK called me? He is releasing his second book at India Habitat Centre and he wants me to read at the event. Unkey doosre poet friends will read their poems too.”“So talented boy! Kab hai ye?”“Next week. Sunday, 7th.”“Arrey yaar!”“Kya?”“Uss din hamara welcome party hai, Arunachal Bhawan mei. I …
Mahmoud Darwish and the idea of Home as the distant lover
Chanchal Kumar Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian national poet was among the first artists to popularize the idea of the homeland as the distant, absent lover. Writing from exile for most of his life and spanning a career that covered more than four decades, he achieved widespread acclaim with poems that both celebrated and mourned …
Sunflower giving Mother
“If there was no night, women would not even have a chance to rest” – Smt. Kusum Nigam Dhamma Darshan Nigam Our mother once said that “अगर रात नहीं होती तो महिलाओं को आराम करने का मौक़ा भी नहीं मिलता” (If there was no night, women would not even have a chance to rest). One …
Rant against the ranters (aka Why I no longer talk to ‘upper castes’ about caste?)
Vivek Singh It boils my blood when you sneerMake faces and whisper ‘reservation’. What exactly is your frustration, your critique, what is the devastationThat it brings in your life that you hate it so? Or is it the idea of me sitting next to youThat makes you say no? What is it that your frail …
Textures of being – The Mappila verses by Ajmal Khan
Umar Nizar “Where do coconut trees go When their roots are declared illegal”. -Ajmal Khan, `Mappila Verses’ Poetry as a tool of resistance has been wielded by personas ranging from the Hebraic to the Hellenic, from Moses to Kabir. Poet, sociologist and educator, Ajmal Khan in his debut collection of verse, creates a poetic/proto history …
Nostalgias
Dr. R. Praveen Add a ‘g’ to old, it becomes gold, So they conveniently say “ old is gold” Old products rust and rot, But old memories, never far in time or space, For they can be summoned at will Or by solicitation of circumstances, On one such instance, …
White Strings
Dr. R. Praveen Who are you? Where are you from? Which is your native place? What’s your religion? What’s your caste? While these questions loom around… Evoking prejudices that are kindled, depending on the answers.. Biological blobs held in framework of bones… Unicellular, aeons ago. Stand aside and look at anyone, They are no special… …