Suggestions

January 2022

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Glass 2

I’ve only ever been at home in blizzard, the electric pink dollar store glitter eyeshadow slant of it. Make no mistake God is black and trans. I’ve seen her pink slippers slide in drifts, her matching boa off the
January 25, 2022

Congratulations- It Is A Girl

The elderly midwife smiled as she told me. That was the fifth time I heard this sentence, and I was afraid of it. My baby was a cute little thing. But as I held her in my arms, I could not help but
January 25, 2022
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Impasse

sound of rain fills the gaps between one blink and the next waiting for the storm to pass among shadows in their heads thunder a crescendo of drumfire lightning jags rupture the bloated sky viewed through muddled branches in the
January 25, 2022

Why Tamil Translation Matters

    Why Tamil? For an author, having your work translated into another culture is the ultimate compliment. Your story has travelled into other imaginations. Fake I.D. was a family history mystery of a teenager finding on the day of
January 25, 2022

Women (Not) Making News

“What inequality? There are more women than men in the newsroom these days!” This incredulity characterised many conversations with women journalists I met in 2011-12 as part of my research on gender in the newsroom. In India, the two
January 25, 2022

Diversity Is A Fact

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are currently occupying everyone’s attention since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and the concept of anti-racism and decolonization became more prominent. However, to start with that, it is important to note that the
January 25, 2022

Wearing Saris in Academia: An Indian Perspective

Modern fashion systems have given women in independent India a `plethora of alternatives. Some argue that wearing Western clothing necessarily implies living in a colonial hangover. Others contend that Western fashion offers cheaper alternatives that are comfortable for the female body. The
January 25, 2022

Time to Say Good-bye to 2021

The year was 1978: My father’s funeral took place on the outskirts of a mango orchard belonging to our uncle Ramachandran. Once the last of the smoke from the funeral pyre faded into the tropical evening, it was time for the ritual
January 25, 2022

My Tryst with Trigeminal Neuralgia

I had no idea what trigeminal neuralgia was, until it hit me two and a half years ago. It started with sensitivity on my left cheek, which I thought was a tooth problem, and gradually progressed to affect the entire
January 25, 2022
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Birthday Pudding

Birthday cakes were not part of my childhood celebrations. But don’t feel too sorry for me. For birthdays and on other special occasions, my mother prepared a creamy cardamom-spiked pudding. This addictive dessert was the perfect ending to a spicy meal. There
January 25, 2022
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The Golden Age of the 90s Kids

Everybody has their childhood memories, which cannot be erased by any means or will never disappear but will be stored forever somewhere around in their hard disk. The 90s kids have been blessed in many ways. They are the generation
January 25, 2022
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Tears Can Come Anytime

Graphite pencil art by Anthony Gartmond, New Jersey, USA Child: I see you. I see you, a soft bundle of heaven. A melodious dreamland in a tender wrap. One I imagined you’d be handed to me in for the first time.
January 25, 2022
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Black Wave- A Thoughtful Narrative

A thoughtful narrative of the events in 1979 that influenced the Middle East and Southeast Asia Black Wave, a book authored by Kim Ghattas, a Dutch – Lebanese journalist for the BBC for the past 20 years, hit the shelves on 17th
January 25, 2022
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A Conversation With Mother

My mother and I don’t ask each other Deep Questions. How are you? Did you have lunch? Did your client pay you? How’s the weather? Did you exercise today? Dad asked about you. Stay Safe. This is the gamut of
January 25, 2022
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My Tranquil City Tonight

Is it fine with you, love, to live and negotiate through the language of oblivion? It’s a separate matter that this is yet another love story for you. And you can tell us, re-tell, re-tell more tales. Some know parts
January 25, 2022
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Homesick For Noise

I hated sleeping in India while travelling for a friend’s wedding. a foreign bedroom of sweltering heat enveloped my sticky body as I restlessly slapped pesty mosquitoes rambling in my ear. to my left, a competition took place between the
January 25, 2022
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Dust

Everything is dirty, No matter you keep, Wiping with mop, Or wash it away with water. It keeps coming back, Mumbling grudging, Haunting the house, With its all-swarming presence. The books on the shelf, Are all dusty again, Like
January 25, 2022
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Chede (Wild Figs)

Some fruits were not meant for cutting Formed when stones were soft and Birth was still a kind of bursting See how wild fig flesh bruises when cut By these alien knives, Unschooled in surgical assault No, that firm tart flesh next
January 25, 2022
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Window Screens

Coming home from school. To an empty house. Sometimes we’d forget the key. We were still kids. Five and six. Our neighbouring friends would help us break through the window screens. The ones to keep all the bugs in Australia
January 25, 2022
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Lament Of A Wounded Dove

Lament of a Wounded Dove See onto my wings These feathers are broken and Claws tied with iron strings I’m showered in the blood Of blameless Orphan children, and of widows of wars Far-sighted from heights Beneath the smoke of
January 25, 2022
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Silence Of Shame

You wake up early on school days. You have chores to do, before you prepare for school. You see your dad walk around, reading the newspaper and drinking black coffee as you wake up. You go and sit by him as
January 25, 2022
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The Soaked Rotty Pieces

These Lengthy nights of winter Like a bird which sings in the drizzle Won’t sleep without the warmth of your memories. The heart where I hold Your pose which was Twenty years old Still moist… Evening sunlit wafting from the kitchen window.
January 25, 2022
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The Things Of The Night

Once when I was young and afoot in an unknown city and was refused lodgings in an abandoned factory and had nowhere to turn I thought I understood the things of the night. But, no, I did not. And, then
January 25, 2022
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Diary Of An Insomniac

They are his sounds – the rhythmic stutter of a snore the start of a child squeak of wheels on asphalt as the water drum is dragged down the street. The flapping of tarp as the homeless pile under its
January 25, 2022
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Lahore

How my heart beats With the throbs of Lahore! How the beloved streets Embrace! when the whole world Sleeps in deep slumber How the ebb and flow Of day-night movements Make the city gleam … While the people dream Of
January 25, 2022
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How long?

How long will I hear waves of violence, blown and tossed by the wind? How long will I look at the face of injustices mirrored in the hill? How long must I smell burns of oppression clung against my will?
January 25, 2022

Who Was bell hooks?

Just in case, you woke up early on Thursday the 16th December 2021, read the news of the passing away of bell hooks, and had never heard of her, wondered who this woman of colour was, please do not feel
January 25, 2022