April 2018

I Am An Old Soul.

Breeze of autumn swooshes the leaves, The world gushes forth fast and furious. As I sit in a solemn wooden chair, Resting my neck in a wine red cushion By my window, lacy white curtains pushed aside Sun sets behind the cedars

by Shameela Yoosuf Ali

Editor's Note·Empowerment

Editor’s Note – Freedom Of Choice

In early March this year, I was invited to present a research paper at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey. “I’ve never left Istanbul, never left the houses, streets, and neighbourhoods of my childhood,” says Orhan Pamuk in his Memories and the City.

by Shameela Yoosuf Ali

Fictional Arts

Unnoticed Pulse Of Sri Lanka

The narration includes pictures of day to day struggles of strangers that I captured in Sri Lanka. Each of these moments lives within me and revisit and influence my political and academic life. The recurrent impact of these captured moments forces me

by Kalpa Rajapaksha

Empowerment·Social Justice

Who Is (Not) The Faceless Veiled Woman?

In my first article in FemAsia, on 15th January 2018, I wrote about the challenge of creating educational material for women refugees, in an attempt to share some concerns that have come up, as the need for building new educational materials that

by Roula

Empowerment

Love Is Always Here, And It Is Always Here Right Now.

In my opinion, one impediment to our connecting fully with others is our tendency to identify with our own beliefs and opinions. I think that, for many, the meanings in the sentences, “I believe in X,” “I am the kind of person who

by Barbara J.L. O'Riordan

Fictional Arts·Literature

In The Name Of The Almighty

Clouds swarmed in great dark clumps a malformed day transformed to murk as she was dumped – a squall settling beyond wailing walls, wind bawling Following through the icy halls head bowed, bag in hand flat soles slapping cold stone flags and

by Anne Casey

Fictional Arts·Literature

Death Before Dishonour

In this case There’s no honour in being violent No honour in unleashing feelings that refuse to stay silent There’s nothing worse than Leaving your daughter more than frightened But still Some would go beyond those limits To protect the family name

by Mizan The Poet

Empowerment

Ayaz Bhuta – A Story Of Courage And Resilience

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller. Engaging in sport is more the exception than the rule in today’s busy lifestyle. Being born with Roberts Syndrome and going

by Mohammed Lafir

Politics & Culture

The Illusion Of Corporatised Knowledge

In a corporate-dominated world, every belief has been substituted and replaced by cynical notions. Human morality is no longer in existence: human imperfections are considered to be weaknesses. We go to school just to become part of the workforce of a corporation. We

by Farhan Wahab

Food & Travel

7 Sumptuous Rice Dishes Around The World

Rice plays a significant cultural role throughout many countries around the globe. It’s also the most popular grain consumed by people across Asia. There are more than 40,000 varieties of rice, and they vary in length shape, colour, and size. FemAsia

by Shameela Yoosuf Ali

Fictional Arts·Literature

Little Golden Books

I used to feel it a lot when I was younger. The sense of bitumen laid smoothly over something so much wilder, and more complex. The awareness of what exists, past the boundaries of the nature strip. It is a great country,

by Devika Brendon

Fictional Arts·Literature

You Can’t Write A Poem Without Me In It

No one is speaking, but everything is. The wordless hanging hurricane lanterns on breath, firefly words electric over forever’s backyard shiver me sideways inside the blizzard of myself. I’ve kissed you with that breath, the shawl of snow. Now, wherever you go

by Anne Walsh

Fictional Arts·Literature

My Salad

is made with a poetic love, like breaking lines in my poem I chop into pieces the Roma tomatoes and the English cucumber with the yellow onions, all raw adding also some boiled dried Indian chickpeas with un-fried sunflower seed, sprinkling generously

by Henry Victor

Fictional Arts·Literature

The Baton

Verbal, verb-less, jabs of manifold colour crimson, gleaming gold and darkling from sisters of the cross of the familial kingdom arches of the eyebrows, with pits and crests on the turbulent waters of marital seas bobbing sisters, aunts, nephews, and nieces, and,

by Divya Athmanathan

Politics & Culture

What Have They Done To You-Activism For The Refugees In Australia

Why I am an activist for the refugees: Something shifted inexorably for me when Reza Barati was murdered, on 17 February 2014. My life changed, and it has remained altered. Before that date, I was someone who disapproved and despaired of the

by Marilyn Beech

Fictional Arts·Literature

Bus Trip

A Monologue About A Ghost & Groundhog Day I never got around to getting a driving license, having my own car. (Pauses, as if sorry). My parents were a little too high strung to teach me. My boyfriend at the time, who always

by Kathryn Yuen

Fictional Arts·Literature

Confluence

Waters when they evaporate, meet… at a global conference, to speak of fish dropouts, obscura of clouds, near-deaths, hydrological dynamics, monocultures, and metals: nickel, lead, chromium, at their beds. The bend is notional: water for coffee, cane, banana, paddy, mills, distilleries, fertilizer

by Rochelle Potkar

Fictional Arts·Literature

Sound Of The Soul

I hear the sound coming from the weeping soul You reflect it-the pain and broken heart With the spreading wing of mercy and love Solacing the weeping heart…..! Yes, the wing of the heart is broken The dancing leg is in the

by Munas Kalden

Food & Travel·Travel

A Peep Into A Primitive Wilderness – Wisconsin Vacation

I have always been fascinated by ancient history that brings to the fore the lives of people who walked the land, were flesh and blood like us, who lived in the very lap of mother nature, yet were different and mysterious in

by Sharada Natarajan

Cinema & Theater·Fictional Arts

Black Panther Takes Cues From African Tradition And Storytelling

Kevin Andrews says: Fable. Bedside tale. The Lion King. The opening scene of Black Panther is pregnant with these impressions. A mark of Marvel Studios’ strength is that their best movies almost always focus on superior storytelling. This is showcased

by FemAsia Team

Fictional Arts·Literature

The Unspeakable Act

A Short Story Something is finally happening in my life. And I don’t mean like baba noticing the drawings and sketches I’ve been leaving around the house for him to see. No, baba is much too busy to pay attention to something

by Khulud Khamis

Holistic Health

Balancing The Unbalanced -Juggling Work And Home Life

“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ― Alain de Botton The perils of maintaining a work-life balance as a professional can be a challenge, whatever gender you are. Maintaining a healthy work-life

by Kanchana De Abrew

Holistic Health

My Wife Hung On To Her Dear Life- Childbirth In The USA

Out in Nepal awaiting successful immigration to the U.S. – a wait that seemed endless – I was quite anxious but hopeful. I am referring to an incident from the pages of my life when I was on a wait which seemed

by Ujjwal Bikram Khadka

Empowerment·Social Justice

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

The night I think, to most people, is the scariest part of the day. Not just because it’s dark and you can’t really see much of anything, but because whatever you saw in the daytime now looks very unfamiliar. Unfamiliarity scares us

by Nadeesha Paulis

Mind Wellness

Let Food Be Thy Medicine And Medicine Be Thy Food -Eating Right

The focus on exercise is the most obvious aspect of fitness. But the energy to exercise comes from proper nutrition and a balanced attitude to food intake. “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of

by Devika Brendon

Empowerment

Is History Manufactured By The State- Story of Lankan History Channel

InstaHistory is a new platform of human knowledge. In a preface to a monograph on the Kandyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka, the Cambridge historian, Sujit Sivasundaram, acknowledges, (one imagines, with a smile), that “Everyone in Sri Lanka is a historian of sorts:

by Tamara Fernando

Fictional Arts·Literature

#DONTPRAY

“I miss those simple times” but maybe We lived through a mere interim False hope Prayed for healing rains on our dreamy heads not ashfalls among the dead. Oh “I miss those simple times” but don’t you remember? Our foundations, our hopes

by Vasika Udurawane

Fictional Arts·Literature

A Distant Rumble

Last night it rained. I lived that storm in my senses. Felt in my bones that inevitable hush… The calm before the storm. Listened to the distant rumbling of thunder and watched distant flashes of lightning illuminate the night sky. I stepped

by Sundari De Alwis

Fictional Arts·Literature

The Journey

In the time between Blooming and withering of a flower…. In the time between One gunshot and another…. In the time between Two explosions you hear… Children set off on perilous journeys, From darkness to darkness… The sun and the moon Armed

by Santhush Kumar

Politics & Culture

Not On My Account – Patrolling Your Digital Platform

I have only been on the Facebook digital platform for about two and a half years. Observing, commenting, joining online groups, subscribing to digital publications, and signing up for various events in the City to which I have recently moved, which are

by Devika Brendon

Politics & Culture

A Note on Laïcité ( French secularism ) -My Thoughts

Classical anti-Semitism rooted in nationalist notions viewed Jews as a distinct cultural entity functioning outside the national collective, particularly within the Germanic majoritarian context. This perspective considered Jews not as a demand for a separate polity but as a religious-cultural group that

by Farhan Wahab

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