The City Is A Festering Wound: Three poems by Samiksha Ransom
Poetry by Samiksha Ransom: ‘the city is a lacerated arm / hanging loose from a plaster / a red flag made of dupatta’
A colourful passage through time: Photos from Fort Kochi
No place in the world is quite like Fort Kochi—A collage of Indian, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and Chinese cultural and architectural influences, a humming postcard from the past. Photo Gallery by Karan Madhok
Commodity Fetishism—and the crafts to counter it
Personal Essay: Shambhavi Gupta explores why consistent engagement with craft—like crochet—holds the potential to liberate us from the cloud of fetishism, which obscures our vision of the products and services we purchase.
The ‘Unconventional’ Choice is not a choice
Personal essay by Sourima Chakraborty: ‘I opted out of my profession soon after, much to the chagrin of my well-wishers. The day I told my mother how I wish to live—or rather, how I need to live—she suspected that I might be reading the wrong kind of philosophy books.’
‘Memory is not always an active remembrance’: Two poems by Mehaq Khurshied
Poetry by Mehaq Khurshied: ‘Her nostalgia was only bitter. There was no sweetness to balance it. / Of course, she loved him like our women are taught to love / Love, entrapped in obligation and duty.’
Knitted Warmth
A poem by Sayani Mukherjee: ‘The sound feels warm / A finicky sensation / Buzzing each nerve / In unison’
Auto vs. Autonomous
Art and poetry by Nirali Lal: ‘A rickety ride / That’s a guarantee / it will think and recite. / It’s automatic / If you comply’
The Postcard
Personal Essay by Karan Madhok: ‘My mother handed me the postcard… I couldn’t believe my eyes…Tendulkar had written to me, addressed me by my first name, acknowledged my whole existence with a single thick piece of rectangular paper.’
In Kullu, on the footsteps of the journey to ‘End of the Habitable World’
Personal Essay: In the exploration of a wondrous art museum and travelogue of the Western Himalayan region, Sudheshna Rana comes across time capsules that enrich the understanding of the region’s history, architecture, and mythology.
Speaking Tongues: Six poems by Aranya
Poems by Aranya: ‘Delhi smoulders along the length / of my finger, a cigarette that refuses / to go out.’
‘Sickness is just an emotion’ – Two poems by Jyothsnaphanija
Poetry by Jyothsnaphanija: ‘Vermicelli sweetness / Tercet of longing / A film screen / Colour with no plurality’
Cross section of a strawberry rimmed mind: Original Art and poetry by Nirali Lal
Art and poetry by Nirali Lal: ‘A vortex of sorts / Into fragrant playful striped balls / Bouncing upbeat, / Just for the self, a favour’,