Poetry by Priyanka Aravind P.: ‘I too had a mother, / Who fed me with knowledge so ancient, / And called me her brightest star, // until I misspelt a note from the sacred chants.’
Interview: On “Float with Boatcast”, Zahir Mirza takes his guests on a cruise through lakes, rivers, and seas to discuss topics of interest on Kerala and beyond. By Nileena Sunil
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.
Overrated, wonderful little cups of chai. Shadows of sunlit coaches in the day-time. The human restlessness at the platform. Colourful bookstalls and neon nights. The country transforming outside the barred windows. Here’s a photo gallery of life seen through the Indian Railways by Karan Madhok
Short story by Debi Mukherjee: “Unlike the little girls I see outside temples, draped in their pano bhaju’s stringing garlands of Marigolds, I dare not play with the flowers in our garden. Papa cautions me against the rows of Mogras, Shoe-flowers, Frangipanis and a multitude of others. He says that I must not be lured by a flower’s fragrance.”