1. The student uprising The sky is dark. An eerie silence prevails I am out, looking: may be, the stars or some peace? The day was hectic but memorable. Out there, on streets I found them all. Sigh of relief. Amid slogans and calls for freedom, I found peace. Now … Read more →
Two Poems by Arnab Chakraborty
1 Today, like most days There were a lot of people in the market Of poetry. The highest were of course Like finest chinaware Created with love devotion and sacrifice, And like all great things in the market Received little attention And littler reward. The 200 rupee poems were being … Read more →
Incipience and other poems
Taseer Gujral ~ incipience ~ the place i come from does not exist anymore it was a soluble continent a filigree of gold and green fed by a maze of five rivers it survived the wounds of a land divided and a savage holocaust only to hear the sufi … Read more →
Through the burning years and another poem
Junaid Ashraf When I was little I had smelled the years ahead of me burning! I had to walk on the embers through merciless flames I would look up In the sky waiting That a voice will call the fire ‘’Be cool’’ But it never did! Fire is perhaps Meant … Read more →
A Former Police Officer Remembers Jagmohan Days
Masood Hussain writes about a “witness to the goriest 1990s, former police officer Israr Khan was part of the set-up that escorted Kashmiri Pandits, out of Kashmir, on Jagmohan’s directions. His clan served the Dogra army for decades but was hit by the division of India to the extent that … Read more →
As If and Other Poems
Insha Muzafar Poem I As If As if all that existed could ever be more than my remembrance and your penchant for lost things contrary to your scepticism I believe in these dreams of bread; the hunger of words (swirling inside the voids of mirrors) for the stones of … Read more →
Hijras of Kashmir: a marginalized form of personhood
An excerpt from Aijaz Ahmed Bund’s book based on the transgender people in Kashmir and their experiences of life. The twenty-four interviews and ethnographic accounts carried in this book open a new window into this mythical and marginalized community in the region. The reality of being a transgender is … Read more →
Acceptance Speech of Parvez Imroz
The text of the lecture that Advocate Parvez Imroz of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) delivered at The 2017 Rafto Conference at Bergen, Norway. Parvez Imroz speaking at Bergen, Norway [Picture: Rafto Foundation] After decolonization of the Indian subcontinent and its subsequent partition into two new nation states nation-statesPakistan, … Read more →
India Weaponizing Spiritual Tourism
Pilgrims headed to the divided region of Kashmir get armed guards and national encouragement — if they’re Hindu. By Raksha Kumar This article was first published in Foreign Policy SRINAGAR, INDIA: An Indian Hindu pilgrim begins his trek to one of the holiest Hindu shrines at the Amarath cave … Read more →
Pop Quiz: Showkat Katju’s Glass Bead Game
Amjad Majid Q1: The above images depict which of the following? You may choose more than one answer: A. A sculpture. B. A game to pile up rocks without them falling all over the place. C. Photographs documenting an art performance. D. Contemporary photography. E. A man erecting a stone … Read more →
Apologies for Our Times and other poems
Nabina Das Apologies for Our Times Is there really time to say, sorry, we won’t long any more or is there more time for side-winking the Modis and Yogis as well as sleep? We stalk love to get pained in return each time the heart throbs — is there … Read more →
Afzal Guru’s Last Days
Indian journalist Sunetra Choudhury’s book on prison tales of India’s 13 famous persons offers the first credible account of Afzal Guru’s last three years in Tihar and his walk to the gallows. This excerpt is from Kobad Ghandy’s account, who Afzal became friends with in jail. When the Jawaharlal Nehru University … Read more →
Tattoos and Commitments
Abishake Koul I met her when she was young, She had a tattoo of a Chinar leaf, And the leaf had a bullet hole in it, Even the tattooed leaf had withered. Her voice quivered when she spoke, Of guns brushing against her body, And then she showed … Read more →
Wait, where are all the men?
Padmashri Maddala Wait: Where are all the men? Women, young and old Family, friends and relatives, All around her women bustle as, moist memories flood their blank eyes thin strands of old bonds cling on mutely. The jaded mirror on the wall stares back in turmoil, Can she wear … Read more →
Memoir and other poems
Minerva MEMOIR Loving you I’ve outloved myself. How does a desperate person love? till the point of desperation and a little more. A yawn stretched to a sigh in the corner of my eye swims a black dot. A black fairy flies to the sky and smothers it black … Read more →
For a Child of Kashmir and other poem
Saima Afreen Poem No. 1 | For a Child of Kashmir Child, Look A little paper-boat sways On violet waters Of butchered lullabies On which your mother once put A tiny tear of your dreams And a firefly from her face. Bullets pierce mouth of the molten … Read more →
How and Why to Save Articles 370 & 35 A
Two Essays A G Noorani The Rape of Article 370 THE Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016, received the President’s assent on September 8, 2016. Its 20 sections made elaborate provisions on the Goods and Services Tax (GST), amended a host of provisions of the Constitution and established a Goods and … Read more →
In a Future April, A Novel
Author Paramita Ghosh’s debut novel “In a Future April” is a political allegory on a rather south Asian obsession — a national liberation struggle and its contradictions. The overarching ‘date’ or ‘time’ in the novel is The Plebiscite which everyone is moving towards or rebelling against. The novel tries to … Read more →
This Is How Kashmiri Women Are Risking Their Lives
April 6, 2017, 4:30 PM ET Republished transcript of an Interview with Arooja (name changed) a Kashmiri woman on NPR’s All Things Considered JULIE MCCARTHY Some residents of the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley are using more aggressive tactics to thwart Indian security forces: Women are placing themselves, literally, between militants and soldiers. KELLY … Read more →
Nights and other poems
Sahana Mukherjee Nights packed in a suitcase, your heart turns liminal like each landing of a staircase in a book each border you cross to dig out the inheritance of graves. Bring me a stone I slipped into my pocket a maple leaf for you. It dried up … Read more →
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