Five poems by Gopal Lahiri: ‘somewhere the curling script of history hangs over / the old crossword book of migration’.

Girar is a streaming novel by Kiran Bhat which will take place in 365 different corners of the planet. “A New Year” is an excerpt from the first instalment of Girar, setting up the premise on the first day of the Kannada New Year.

In the late 2000s, Karan Madhok left home to travel alone around India, living off a backpack, sleeping in trains, searching for more of his country, and finding more parts of himself. In a photo-essay, he recalls why this ‘bharat darshan’ was the best experience of his life.

A poem by Sonya Nair: “My grandfather lay / leaving daughter and a son / and their assorted children / in his wake”

Paromita Patranobish was a 13-year-old on the rooftop in Durgapur when a meteor shower changed her life, birthing a love of stargazing: ‘That night, 22 years ago, I understood the universe as a living, pulsating ecosystem… the Leonid shower had me as a witness to the power of worlds infinitely beyond my finite one.’

Short story by Adrija Chatterjee: ‘The first time Aashi came home, he could feel her existence lurking precariously in a space that separated the two continents.’

The story of life through images: vivid, harsh, and warm, happy and sorrowful, colourful and violent. Here are some recent pieces of original art by Sanjay Basak.

A poem by Karan Madhok: “you survived: / a stranger among ancestors, / born on the wrong side of a new / imaginary line”

‘The avalanche went to ground; in its path all snow had slipped off the mountain, leaving only rocks and ice. For a moment the world was suspended in fear and dread. Chaos followed.’ Zachary Conrad recalls a fateful snowboarding adventure in Gulmarg and the lessons learned at the mercy of snowy, Kashmiri peaks.

‘All things on earth must return to earth—humans, too.’ From schoolboy cardigans to his muted Christmas merriment, Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario’s personal essay explores frozen memories of the past and lamentations of the present.

Good journeys tend to become a bridge… The bridge is always an internal choice. In a poetic photo-essay of brief, unforgettable encounters, Barnali Ray Shukla finds bridges that bring together divergent souls.

A poem by Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario: “Its beetroot tongue, interchange / Houses. Maps. Routes. Hormones. / There's a climate building in the chest”