Articles by: Moumita Alam

 And We Are Much More Than Our Uterus. (In Solidarity With the protesting wrestlers)

 And We Are Much More Than Our Uterus. (In Solidarity With the protesting wrestlers)

Don’t cry. Pity this nation which knows about your medals not your pains and wounds. They clip your wings and celebrate your blood spilled journey with sugar-coated smiles. Words are always the creations of power – We must remember that.   Be enraged. Here, silence is celebrated and the voice is always despised.   We are merely unlucky in our[Read More…]

by 03/06/2023 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
February: The Month of Deaths

February: The Month of Deaths

1 18th February 1983 Thanks to God(?) History doesn’t stink. Or else it could have still stinking the flesh, dust and blood of that six hours – the insane hours of carnage in the village of Nellie. I wasn’t born then Or maybe I was born that day. Does it really matter? I am the name February had called in[Read More…]

by 24/02/2023 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Varavara Rao: The Conscience of Our Time

Varavara Rao: The Conscience of Our Time

Two districts of Gujarat have begun to grant citizenship to minorities(Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians) from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. More than hundreds drowned in Morbi, Gujarat in the moribund madness we call celebration. We are at the pedestal in the Global Hunger Index. Everyday capitalism is devouring our air, water, and land. And the big giant 56[Read More…]

by 03/11/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Review of Bhaswati Ghosh’s novel, Victory Colony, 1950

Review of Bhaswati Ghosh’s novel, Victory Colony, 1950

Victory Colony, 1950 by Bhaswati Ghosh is a harrowing tale of partition that brought death and displacement for millions of people. The novel is set in Kolkata. Though the novel is about partition, it’s more about the human lives that bear the brunt of the whimsy of the rulers. The novelist portrayed the wounds that her forefathers or my forefathers[Read More…]

by 17/10/2022 Comments are Disabled Book Review
Is Mamata Banerjee a Poster Girl of RSS?

Is Mamata Banerjee a Poster Girl of RSS?

There is/was a hullabaloo among them who believe or rather portray her as more left than CPIM(Communist Party Of India – Marxist ) itself about Mamta Banerjee’s comment that all in RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha) are “not bad.” Is there anything to be shocked about? Mamata Banerjee became CM after the massive mandate of the 2011 assembly election. Thus ending[Read More…]

by 22/09/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Cartoon by Li Feng

#Let’sRaiseHell

On the day India was born eleven demons were let loose. A great celebration ensued Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! India won the match again! The match is always fixed. A man versus woman Bilkis versus eleven Satans played in broad daylight. A great uproar, carnal pleasure, proud chest, thumping victory: Bilkis: Zero, India: Eleven. It’s always the same match . India[Read More…]

by 25/08/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Leena Manimekalai

To Leena Manimekalai

In a very holy land In a very pious place One hundred thirty crore people live Sensitive, religious, courageous and non-sensuous. We get hurt And rightly so When a polymorph smokes And a strange man named Zubair Says the truth We are very decent people We kiss in private We kill in public. We worship our goddesses. We are fine[Read More…]

by 11/07/2022 1 comment Arts/Literature
In The Name Of Hate

In The Name Of Hate

Enough Enough is enough Now mourn that we have killed our Prophet’s Words. Isn’t the Prophet an epitome of love? Hang your neck in shame You have lost both worlds. Sorry, my brother Kanhaiya. We all are victims of hate. The looters have given fire in the haystack We, the poor fellows, are now being charred in the flame. Sorry,[Read More…]

by 29/06/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
For Teesta Setalvad

For Teesta Setalvad

You are Teesta What does it matter You have been born in Sikkim Or in Gujarat! From the rush of your flow hope takes birth from your magnanimity a thousand houses become bright Taking a thousand storms in your bosom thousand dams on your way you change course sometimes ripping out the rocks and sands When Narmada was red in[Read More…]

by 27/06/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
For Afreen Fatima

For Afreen Fatima

I can see your ribs cracking and the bones bleeding within. Your eyes are numb tears frozen. I can see your hands shaking your legs heavy. Your heart is pounding breath rushing. I can see you standing alone watching a bulldozer ravaging memories, warmth and prayers, the favorite tea pot ammus’s prayer room. I can see the tumbling of your[Read More…]

by 14/06/2022 1 comment Arts/Literature
A Phallic Country

A Phallic Country

(A Dystopian Nation) Under the rubble of a whole nation we have only phalluses billions of phalluses nothing else where history is edited and the future is smoky phallus rules everything. Everything for phallus phallus for everything. Every hour four women are raped Innumerable vaginas tattered Millions murdered Some burnt alive Deep inside me a phallus rules my anatomy threatens[Read More…]

by 25/05/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
How Not To Write A Poem

How Not To Write A Poem

No No Muslim was killed in Gujarat No Muslim is being killed now The vendor* was not selling fruit No one vandalized his cart in Karnataka   No No bird is dying from drying rivers The rivers are not being throttled to die The Yamuna is not full of toxic foam   No No politician is spewing hate Yati Narasinghanand[Read More…]

by 27/04/2022 1 comment Arts/Literature
Rampurhat

Rampurhat

The entire city is smelling of burnt human flesh all are smelling same – the flesh of the children, pregnant women and newly wed couple. We learnt today fire does not know how to differ bones It burns all – old bones and young bones in the same vigor. In an auditorium in Kolkata the city of the Babus all[Read More…]

by 27/03/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Shopping Mall or Shocking Mall

Shopping Mall or Shocking Mall

Eight farmers have taken their own lives. The death certificate is crystal clear. It’s suicide not murder. The potatoes they have to sell in zero profit are in shopping trolley with a tip – top price tag. The wife of paanwala Ramu stands by roadside every night She tucks in some ragged clothes inside her bra to makes her breasts[Read More…]

by 06/02/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
I Am A Muslim Woman

I Am A Muslim Woman

I am a Muslim Woman And I am not for sale I sacrifice my life for freedom struggle I stand against the British rule I am Shaheen bagh I am the voice you are afraid of In kashmir, In Manipur I stand against the oppression I call out your name In Jamia, In Aligarh I am the history You want[Read More…]

by 07/01/2022 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature