Wargame
Speak. Seek. Advance. Retreat. Say a word. A thought or two. Sing for me. You know you want to.
Canoe down the river. Climb up the waterfall. I’ll be here when you get back. Waiting to give it all.
Or maybe I’m not here. I’m deep-sea diving somewhere. I’m searching for...
THE DECLINING ART OF HEART MENDING
Cannot deny that I have a brittle heart,
weak and fragile like thin ice!
As it happens with hearts
that are volleyed back and forth,
mine too drop and crack with a crunchy sound,
like a bag of wafers.
Now, you know that girls make the best cardiologists.
The Heart is...
Tambien la Lluvia (2010)
Initial release: 14 October 2010 (Los Angeles, USA)
Director: Icíar Bollaín
Screenplay: Paul Laverty
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Luis Tosar, Karra Elejalde
Reviewed by: Titas Biswas
Bolivia’s water-regulation authority has stated that the current water crisis would likely extend into 2018, leaving its people struggling to find water from other, limited...
Suvankar Ghosh Roy Chowdhury
Salman Rushdie, the British-Indian novelist, gained prominence with his second novel Midnight’s Children way back in 1981. An exponent of history and merging it with fantastic elements, Rushdie emerged as an author who spoke on socio-political disparities of modern times, particularly in India, with utmost clarity...
Raja Chakraborty
It was a hot day. Stiflingly so. An unforgiving midsummer sun blazed from the cloudless sky, burning everything in its wake. Few blades of grass, brave enough to struggle still, was slowly turning to brown from a dull yellow.
Cracks opened up in the parched earth, like dried wounds...
What if poetry fails to connect with readers?—asks Vinita Agarwal in an interesting conversation on her works and different perspectives, with Poornima Laxmeshwar.
Poornima Laxmeshwar: When I read your poem “Gift,” it reads like describing the absence of someone’s departure and that the only way out was to put it...
BLOOD
1
I see the blood
in hands of others
faces of others
smeared like fog
or smog,
I lift myself from clouds
a thin line wavers
as I walk into the existence
of blood
2
I ask questions
the voice is silent
asks questions
can you rape an eight
year old, six months
the voice is silent
of course, only at
the cost of blood
3
I saw a...
Studying 19th Century Bengal’s Civilizational Conflicts in Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Ekei Ki Bole Sobhyota?
Manisha Bhattacharya
“Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process” (The Institute of Civility in Government).
The idea of civility is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground...
The Final Draft
I've started living after my death!
I was killed
Some four years back—
Stabbed and drowned!
’Twas a shallow stream;
I quivered out,
(Ah! Blessed ghoul!)
Was yet again
Earth-bound
With the hope
Of new love
And assassins
For my carcass soul!
I've lived and died
Many times
In my secular half
And your non-religious (w)hole!
Faced umpteen deaths,
Say, in Mohenjodaro,
And in the Mayan...
Sea-Smart
Lion has your tongue
A fool sold you pride
Buyer’s remorse
when eagles scratched three eyes
If you only have one bullet
better make sure that it’s pure silver
If you’re bound to draw your sword
just promise me that you won’t drop it
Tiger has your tell-tale
A spell cast your path
Sweetest reward
when whales do higher math
If...
Anindita Bose
Love is neither blind nor selfish. It is a drug that pulls one out of a comfort zone and puts in a new state. The heart pumps faster the moment the syringe injects this drug into the cells of a body that is unaware of the emotion, and then...
PLAYMATE
As kids, you and I
Loved red paper lanterns
And exquisite Japanese dolls.
In winters, we decorated
Our flower vases
With chrysanthemums the color
Of tiny pink cakes.
In summers our fathers
Took us to drink
Green mango sorbet
At the same quaint little joint.
Springs and autumns were
The times for new clothes
During festivals as even trees
Turned fashion-conscious
And flaunted their...