October 2025

Longing is a Paper Boat in the Sea of Dreams

The beach was filling up gradually after the Friday prayers. People arrived with large bags, mats, andwater bottles. Some women were spreading the mats in the shade of coconut palms and arrangedthe lunch they had brought, calling out to their children who

by Zeeniya Jawahir

Food & Travel

Bandra Afternoon Egg Curry

London. Paris. New York. Mumbai. Big cities. If you have grown up in small towns, they are like dreams you can never quite catch – shimmering, beautiful things always just out of your reach. Once when I was in college, I passed

by Alaknanda Sengupta

Cuisines·Food & Travel

Food and Friendship

The warm evening in my Goa home is fanned ever so gently by the ceiling fan’s blades, whirring languidly above us. It lifts with it, the sweet aroma of homemade ghee, more chocolatey than toasty, boiled potatoes and just made gobindo bhog

by Gargi Guha

Politics & Culture

Two Points in Time

Notes on time and telling Remember that IG/FB trend from a few years ago? Then and Now. Some version of this is always doing the rounds. At the time people were putting up their pictures from 10 years ago alongside their recent ones. How

by Roshni S

Politics & Culture

A Review of a Warm Place with No Memory

Gayatri Majumdar a Warm Place with No Memory(2024) Published by Red River Gayatri Majumdar is a poet editor, publisher, and founder of the critically acclaimed Indian literary journal, The Brown Critique. A Warm Place With No Memory is her latest collection of

by Sutanuka Roy

Politics & Culture

Three Women in Search of Tamil Cinema: An Archive of Female Spectatorship

I recently read this evocative piece by Swarnavel Eswaran titled “Tirunelveli, touring talkies and tent cinemas: multiple stories of single-screens” (2025) in the edited journal volume of South Asian History and Culture on the historical investigation of cinema halls, exhibition cultures, and

by B Geetha

Empowerment·Memoirs

Cheers! Nani

I was the first of her nine grandchildren, and her only granddaughter. She was The Incredible Hulk to me. And it turns out I am like her: Hulk, hypochondriac, straight talker, and someone who enjoys their drink. 2024, Noida | I woke

by Savvy Soumya

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Back to Childhood

balerina after dancing…slowly on the shiny floorthe moon in her slippers still in love…a ruby chestnut leaf hangsby the waning moon another Endless Column…the sky turns gold betweenthe chestnuts on the avenue first day of school…on the freshly poured asphaltautumn paints getting

by Steliana Voicu

Fictional Arts·Literature

Crowded Buses, Empty Voices

“Office rush meant body crush.” – The dreaded thought clung to Nelum as she lifted the hem of her saree to climb the steep steps of a packed Leyland bus. Inside, the air was heavy with the smell of day ‘s-end sweat

by Veronca Holsinger

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Full Circle

I used to roll my eyes at my Ma’s mood swingsWhen she would yell at me for the littlest things. You must be crazy Ma! I would laugh and jeer,Putting the fan at full speed in the dead of winter, Mamma dear!You

by Bashari Chakraborti

Fictional Arts·Literature·Storytelling

The Lunchbox

Unpacking the untold story The story of my lunchbox Carried on for the entire week Mondays were aloo paranthasEnergised mother, excited childI was happy. She was happy. Friends were impressed. Tuesdays were bread pokorasDilli wali mother, Dilli wali daughterI was content. She

by Sanskriti Bhatia

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Here, Kitty Kitty

Oh, belle coquette with your noirishallure—Catwoman slinking backinto your boudoir whiskers whet,aftertaste of cream still velveton your tongue. Oh, Pussy-cat, Pussycat, where have you been?To whom did your heart belongthis April night under a swollenmoon sous le pont? Did you lovehim enough

by Paris Rosemont

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Having Received Door-to-Door Blackout Orders

Written during the May 2025 India–Pakistan conflict “Draw the curtainsKill the lightsA curfew’s onBlackout all sights.” As if darkness wasn’t alreadythe landscape of our childhoods?Endless hours of load shedding,homework by candlelight,sleep sliced thinas fans stood stillin the Monsoon heat. And every Ramzan,air

by Mariam Tahir

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

A Triptych of Epiphanies

(I)So, today I learnedthat the word ‘tense’ has many rootsand as David Armstrong on Quora puts itthe word travelled to English‘by doing a little violence to the Latin’and that somehow seemed appropriatein both surreal and specific ways. (II)And, here I am,imagining all

by Ronita Chattopadhyay

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

The Cat Beneath My Skin

Some nights,I hear him walking inside my ribcage,tail brushing the wet bone.He curls beside my heart,kneading ituntil it leaks to the dreams I have been hiding from.When I wakeMy pulse smells faintly of ashand jasmine.I never owned a cat.

by Shameela Yoosuf Ali

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Dear Knight in Shining Armour

Once a girl told me to shut up,Once a girl told me that burqa-clad women are only capable of speaking through Hindu women,So here I’m being grateful!Grateful to savarnas, men, cisgenders, straight people, abled-bodied and abled-minded, neurotypical and any left out nice

by Nashrah Tanvir

Book Reviews·Fictional Arts·Literature

The Intersecting Axes of Power: A Review of Perundevi’s Feminist Critique

Perundevi. (2019). Udal-paal-porul: Pāliyal vaṉmuṟai eṉum camūkac ceyalpāṭu. Kalachuvadu Publications. Perundevi. (2021). Desam-saathi-samayam: Adhikarathai purindhukollal. Kalachuvadu Publications. It is a rare gift for a preeminent poet also to be one of a generation’s most formidable public intellectuals. In the contemporary landscape of

by Swarnavel Eswaran

Book Reviews·Fictional Arts·Literature

The Poet as Traveller: Charting the Pilgrim’s Progress in Sabarinathan’s Dua

Sabarinathan. (2024). Dua. Thannaram. Review by: Swarnavel Eswaran From the rich soil of contemporary Tamil letters, a voice of profound resonance emerges. It is Sabarinathan, a poet who weds a worldly literary soul to a spirit deeply rooted in native ground, yet

by Swarnavel Eswaran

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

To Women who Seek

If love must be begged forOr asked forit morphs…And doesn’t remain love.Take the shedding scalesfrom your skinthe wounds in your heartAnd, build around thema garden of rosesan altar of gemsfor, they’re precious.The knowing,like lighting on an ink blue skyis a gift.Or, didn’t

by Gargi Guha

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

On the Banks of the Nile

And where the matter beganI settled on the banks of the NileI beg your pardonAnd the magic carpet overlooked meIt exhausted meIt planted me like green satinWith shining flashesAnd I do not careIf this ageIs about to leave my courtyardOr exaggeratein its

by Nadra Almahdi

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Love is Irrational

Love is IrrationalHumans say that love is complex;It leaves your mind perplexed.Nowadays, augmented arguments and egos are its prime features.Humans are indeed strange creatures,Having no capacity to understand its true essence. Open your vision, look around;You will realise that love is beautiful

by Richa Walia

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Baghera

Baghera is the word for Panther in the Garhwali language. Garhwali is a Central Pahari language belonging to the Northern Zone of Indo-Aryan languages. It is primarily spoken by over 2.5 million Garhwali people who are from the Garhwal Division of the

by Kavita Ezekiel

Empowerment·Memoirs

Tend

The bugs have begun to infest. Ants are crawling all over my basil, karipatta and lemon tree. Aphids, which are these disgusting white sticky bugs, are all over my areca palm. This palm, I’m a little obsessed with. The way it sways

by Smriti Iyer

Fictional Arts·Literature·Poetry

Breastmilk

Her finger touching the nether lipSometimes, in pensive thought.At night bent wound like a nippleSucking slow to soothing, sleepHand flung caressing the pillowDreaming the soft breast of her malike it was in her infant state. What pains this proud poised,Independent young woman,A

by Sonali Wijeratne

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