Aysha Baqir, an expat in Singapore, grew up in Pakistan. Her time in college sparked a passion for economic development. In 1998 she founded a pioneering not for profit economic development organization, Kaarvan Crafts Foundation, with a mission to alleviate poverty by providing business and marketing training to girls and women in low-income communities. Her novel Beyond the Fields was published in[Read More…]
“It has often been said that the only thing that could unite mankind was a threat from space.” I read this in Arthur C Clarke’s novel, 2061, Odyssey Three. The threat in Clarke’s science fiction was a second star — which mankind renamed Lucifer but was actually Jupiter set ablaze by superior space engineering by an intelligent species far more[Read More…]
Teresa Rehman is a journalist with a difference. She is woman who feels and conquers with her pen. She does not hanker for anything more than being the spokesperson for voices in the remote areas of North-eastern India. In that spirit, she started her own magazine: The Thumb Print, and also wrote a couple of books which have found their way[Read More…]
The mass migrants to Mars stood poised to take their first step. The Red Planet crimsoned further by the blood of scientists who realised the vision of a musky monied man odoured with fame, made into godhead. Out of deep freeze, led by the god who saved them, stood more monied men. They had left a planet in turmoil.[Read More…]
I watch with my lips sealed Watch each girl burn burn the stains of Predators’ Hands till their life is done I watch with my ears closed Watch rancid hands leap and lustfully Immolate last night’s Fun Clear the mess. The job is done. Unemployed, porn-ridden mobiles watch, watch with closed eyes the horror, horror of a life[Read More…]
Rome burnt as Nero* played the fiddle. Fiery flames walk highways, creep into homes, stalking, burning, killing not only coronal heat but hearths. Inflamed by the surreptitious smoke seeping under the smouldering trees, breeze rips incensing fierce fires that unquenched swallow clean air and belch apocalyptic hellish skies. Did Nero build palaces by burning Rome? I[Read More…]
Forgotten souls that weep for an Unfinished dream, for a life Half-lived that ended in an agony of twin blasted Implosions. Forgetting the past — Al Qaeda Osama the terror the horror of tumbling towers the cries that pierced the silences of death and yet triumphing Arabian perfumes silver bricks Clear the stench of corpses, Wars for Holy[Read More…]
Why does Hate extend her reign? Why do divides raise ugly sides? When will mankind unite? Casteist fervour, abhorrence and race Manmade borders that breaches create, tolerance break, love annihilate, rancours breed Marginalised, classified — we still remain broken, fragmented with spite When can love colour all our kind? There is no North, no[Read More…]
Cats came into Preeti’s life long before camels, around the time cows found a way out of her heart but into her life. She had seen cows ever since she could remember…while riding horse driven tongas in Haridwar in 1970s, creating traffic jams in Delhi, Haridwar, Kolkata, Dehradun, Lucknow and wherever she happened to visit in India. From long before[Read More…]
The best introduction to Kathleen Burkinshaw is that she a humanitarian. She wrote a novel that has been taken up by The United Nations as a part of its peacekeeping effort. She has been actively participating in efforts to ban nuclear weapons, including presenting with Nobel Laureates. Kathleen Burkinshaw, the author of The Last Cherry Blossom, a book that is in[Read More…]
A 40 kg silver brick overrides the threat of the grim Saffron coronal rim that explodes in the stomach of a fever-ravaged populace Hunger floods the Green challenging it to celebrate internecine borders crimsoned by the wheel, the sickle, the crescent Hatred bubbles under hooded jobless seekers of truth. Jails clang with differences between Left and Right. [Read More…]
Did the caveman laugh? Did he have a toothache? The cheering thing for him would have been, he would not have to visit a dentist. Or, is that a cheering thought for me? And he would continue in pain while his tooth rotted and fell! And mine gets pulled out or repaired by a dentist peering into my numb anaesthetised[Read More…]
Was Ram a Nepali, Indian or Thai Or was he from Indonesia? Celebrated worldwide human rights The story trumpeted with fanfare as Ravana inflamed burns evils to ashes and dust Exquisite dances with long- nailed grace Or wayang kulit puppets elaborate stories of a hero blue coloured ruler of democrats that to appease his protectorate questioned[Read More…]
Can you interview an online site? You can’t. So, I did the next best thing. I interviewed Binu Mathew, the man behind the award-winning million readers a month or three million-page views a month online journal, Countercurrents. Mathew claims this is not a big thing except that his journal is based on ideology and openness. He calls it a “people’s journal”[Read More…]
Am I white, black, purple or pink? Names given by mankind to diverse reflections of light Names given to create borders between colours Colours earlier that rainbow spelt Now lead only to bloodshed, violence, gore, hatred. Where is the love that Lalon sang? Where is the note that played on the flute harmonising black with[Read More…]
Where were we one hundred years ago? Mankind was out of caves long ago and Asia was learning lessons from colonials about drawing boundaries. Colonialism was still an accepted way of life — it was twenty-five years before a nuclear bomb condemned fascist aspirations in history. Historically, India was in the middle of the Non-cooperation and Khilafat movements. USA was[Read More…]
On the edge of annihilation, a tiny virus rimmed by an aging sun draws on the sap of bread earned by man The conquistador of Nature, the hunter, the seeker — all have stopped The seller sadly winds his words in a lonely home Television sets blare old shows Man depressed into unrest slowly crawls towards the rim[Read More…]
Dustin Pickering in conversation with Mitali Chakravarty He talks of love and religion and writes poetry that is often critiqued by some as similar to verses from the past. And his role model is from the Renaissance — Michelangelo. To some, he is a loyal friend in need, a person who whips up essays and articles on demand. He is[Read More…]
Sometimes, One needs to get away from the torrid darkness of words. A darkness that annihilates. Swirling, twirling a blackness laced with blood, anger, hate Marginalised — Sometimes from a brutal knee Sometimes a mob or a bloody bullet kiss — Violent Death Drops in the ocean connect all lands called continents Mourning Mothers’[Read More…]
How many people cried? How many people died? Sunderbans submerged Nearly five thousand starved Will they die of Corona Hunger or Amphan? And the animals? Biodiversity Day — what happened to them? Lakeside Gardens No water No electricity No internet Poles broken Cars shattered Distress, distress, distress. The cities are all in a mess! In Sunderban, Do they have access[Read More…]
Mutiu Olawuyi in conversation with Mitali Chakravarty He is a maker of dreams for writers – a man who believes in dreams that are woven in words and multimedia across the world. He connects writing with multimedia, not just by writing and YouTube screenings but also by putting upcoming writers on his television show to battle out challenging questions about how[Read More…]
Was Man made for Money? Was Money made for Man? On which side lies the land What is the truth? Did Man for Money walk straight — From Ape to Homo Habilis 2.8 million years ago? Where was the Money, the Economy? And then came Homo Sapiens — smart, intellectual, established Money, Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, all the isms that divide[Read More…]
To dream of uniting mankind, pieced and classified into multiple nations, religions, sects and sub sects is a mammoth, impractical and ideologically impossible task — but this time a little virus has taken it on and united us with its virulence. It was interesting to come across an imagined interview with the virus, in which the interviewer questioned the virus[Read More…]
I have to admit I suffer from acute katsaridaphobia — My Kastaridaphobia is stronger than my fear of COVID19 or cows. While COVID is being kept at bay with isolation, masks, lockdowns and quarantines and cows can be kept at bay by gates in India and can only be seen in restricted areas in Singapore, creatures that cause Katsaridaphobia cannot[Read More…]
Stay Safe. Stay Home. The birds flew home. They had nests. Stay Safe. Stay Home. But, men? Did all men have a place to stay? A place they could rest? A place that housed their beds? “1.6 billion worldwide lack adequate housing”. Stay Safe. Stay Home. A place that shelters them from Death by[Read More…]
In the 1990s, the three Cs — credit card, condo, car — defined “status” among the bourgeoisie. Now, another C has overtaken all the three Cs, the Big C — Corona. A tiny virus has brought mankind to its knees with all kinds of stories, rumours and the threat of depleted numbers and economies. As with anything big, many narratives[Read More…]
Dear Dad, I am glad you did not live to see these. You died. Died before you saw them collapse by the roadside. Gandhi called them his friend. And so did you. Why did God not have mercy on them? Why is it they have no food? No water, no shoes? Why is it they[Read More…]
From the womb of the Earth, She rose — Fiery, like the volcanic core, unfolding each limb. soaring, phoenix like, from the ash left behind out of the gore the rotting Core of the Death Sun. Cremation smoke. From the womb of the Earth She rose — Death crept. Silenced factory smoke. She strode[Read More…]
Marginalised? Who said we are marginalised? We are humans walking side by side. Women, Men and Children Dalits, Tribals and the Abused — Who said we are different? Who said that Woman is born of Man’s rib? Who said caste is by God writ? Who said women cannot enter temples or mosques? Who said Menstruation[Read More…]
I have seen the world recede behind the trees; the world that was for you and me — a vibrant blue world, dotted with green, swirls of ocean and breeze painted by Van Gogh — A Starry Night, and then came a tsunami that wiped it all from site. A fakir overnight, as Lalan, I sing afloat in space[Read More…]
We see And yet we will see — The war clouds turn the sky aflame The razing ground do much the same Neanderthals died of unknown cause Homosapiens crossed a borderless world. Civilisation spread Nuclear Armament Bloodied wars Unhouse the ones who read Shroud them Beat them till they bleed Only one can lead[Read More…]
Rapes — How many a day? How many a week? How many a year? The victim stays till Doused with kerosene and burnt The victim stays till Pelted with stones and killed The victim stays till Lynched by mobs to death Twelve or twenty-three, What was their fault? Being a woman? Beasts drawn by untasted flesh Tempted by images drawn[Read More…]
Do these women have rights? These women who break rocks These women who carry bricks These women who in Temples please Gods What Gods? Devdasis? Can they Me Too? Farmers’ wives, sweepers, Women who clean dirt From homes and yet Live in dirt themselves. Women who could not go to school Can they Me Too? Women who remain Unlettered, Unfed,[Read More…]
Oh house of Gods! Oh house of Gods! Temples or Mosques Churches or Synagogues Displaced they stand— A black stone Rectangle or phallic Does it matter? In streams refugees pour out Bloodshed, Gore Hatred and More More and More Ring- a- round the roses Pocketful of doses You think when they Burnt, Singed, they would have learnt Flames should be[Read More…]
Children in unison rise Crying for the ultimate reprise. Bus fares hike Water jets strike Murderers walk free The land is no longer safe Asperger bound The world round Children protest In anger and unrest Where do they stand? Why have they become the voice of The angry clans? Why is it they scream In angst against the regime? Why[Read More…]
Oh, how weeps Mother Earth! Near her toes, the forests burn. Animals in death throes churn. Sumatran anacondas die. Smoke blinds the eye. Hazy skies, poison air People choke. Life comes to a halt. Brazil, her lungs they say, Now fiery flames breathe. With so much smoke, Will Mother Earth choke? Oh, how weeps Mother Earth! Young blood is spilt[Read More…]
Amazon burns Each flame licks a life Each ember leads to strife How will man survive? From the meat roasted by the flames That rise as if from Earth’s insides? The birds that no longer fly Lie roasted, toasted, drained of colour. The brilliant macaw with its plumes of blue and yellow, The golden monkey that leaps from tree to[Read More…]
Celebrate, Celebrate the Independence Day While Munch-like screams explode Like fireworks lighting the night sky Silent, vociferous, full of angst Unable to speak Bleak, bleak, bleak. Oh, the cruelty of life! The anger and strife Guernica revisited each time. This is not just about soldiers who die. But about all those who silently cry For a dozen different whys? A[Read More…]
Can We Win? 
Establishment journalists are piling on to smear Robert Fisk now he cannot answer back 
The Twin Essence of Our Times 
A Day in 2071 – Chapter 3- Revolt 
Khalid Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns”: Giving Voice to the Voiceless 
French government’s u-turn: Controversial bill curbing filming of police dropped, new version to be written 
Mainstream The Madrasas, Don’t Shut Them 
Moving Past Apartheid: One-State is not Ideal Justice, but It is Just and Possible 
Time for an Economic Transfusion!! 
A Plate of White Marble: A Woman’s Journey 
Maharashtra and Hindu nationalists 
Yes, The Three Controversial Farm Laws Should be Scrapped, But We Also Need to Look Beyond This 
The corporatisation of agriculture a death knell for farmers 
Number Has Decreased But the Overall Threat From Nuclear Weapons Is Increasing 
Democratic values, like Humpty Dumpty, could have a great fall: Former SC judge 
Lubna Sarwath – A Compassionate Fighter All The Way 
The Muslim world’s changing dynamics: Pakistan struggles to retain its footing 
Big Capital & Political Class – A Hoary Collaboration 
A Day in 2071 – Chapter 2- Conflict 
Protecting Indigenous Languages is Protecting Biodiversity 
The planet cannot heal until we rip the mask off the West’s war machine 
Shrinking the Pentagon 
The Slow-motion Assassination of Julian Assange – People of Conscience Must Stop It 
Government and the Old Woman in Forest 
Apu, Ekshan, Ikebana and being Bengali- Renaissance, uninterrupted – Remembering Soumitra Chatterjee 
India’s Long Standing Jihad Against Love 
UNHRC Sessions In March 2021 – Duty to Ensure Accountability and Justice 
Hey Modi, if you really care for what Nanak preached give some respect to the farmers 
Hindi Press demonizes farmers’ protest, brands them Khalistani terrorists 
November 30 is Guru Nanak Birthday – Essential Message of Guru Nanak 
The Man in the Bathtub, December 1, 1940: History of a Young Italian Who Emigrated to America in the Early 1900s 
Condemn police repression on protesting farmers 
Labour Division Between Hindutva Fascism and Capitalism 
Why do Hindutva forces feel chilly due to conversion? 
2 Types of Hinduism highlights why political ideology of Hindutva must not be confused with Hinduism 
Paris protest against police violence: Thousands clash with police 
Is de–nuclearization possible after all? 
A Day in 2071 – Chapter 1 
Farmers Protests- A test of People’s Power vs State Power 
Human Society And The Biosphere 
This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
