Welcome to Ethos Literary Journal (ELJ). Here is the inaugural issue and for this volume we have an eclectic mix of short story, review, nonfiction, memoir, interview and poetry. I’m blessed with extremely efficient genre-editors (Amit, Utsab, Koushik & Pramila), who have picked the right pieces for the best...
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...
Jalebi of Mani’s Shop
These semi-precious ornaments
Of liquid golden hue, they filled it with the sweet sap
Of sugar—the very outlook causes watering in mouth
That melts and crackles under the tongue and dissolves
A forgetful evening. Home-bound passengers from local trains,
As they return, all in a hurry like with a puff of...
Translated from the original Rajbangshi language by Jyotirmoy Prodhani
A Poet You Are
Poet,
come down to the dust
and watch the shades of the setting sun.
Poet,
walk down that path
and watch the lives lived by men.
I Want To Become A Sky
I want to become a sky
a sky I do want to become—
broad and...
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...
Mallika Bhaumik
Arindam's Diary
7th July, 2012
I watched the rain from behind the glass window, as it fell softly, silently on a warm July night. The wet brooding darkness gazed at me from the other side of the glass. There was a sense of loneliness akin to us, me and...
Cool Masculine
Hair careless tangled; dirt bristling on dried skin.
I'll be clean, I'll be beautiful again,
a cool, cruel image for someone.
I press the glass against my cheek,
feel the condensation disappear into natural fires.
I'm James Dean in the photos, the film,
despite all my disabilities...
Let me be him for you:
I've got that...
Pinakbet
A dish I watched my grandma cook with
zest. I was six or seven.
Bitter gourd because I’m diabetic, my
yearns for sweets squash-yellow.
Canola oil sizzles, the air adorned with garlic
expressions, wafts of red onion.
Drizzles of black pepper, and I
wonder if this spice will let me live longer.
Eggplant will tell me if...
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...
Title: England, England
Originally published: 27 August 1998
Author: Julian Barnes
Page count: 272
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Genres: Satire, Farce
Nominations: Booker Prize
Reviewed by Abhijit Acharjee
The eighth novel of the Booker winner (2011) author Julian Barns is woven around the lives of a cluster of characters in a corporation that is lead by an entrepreneur and ‘ideas man’, Sir Jack Pitman....
The Touch
Last night I woke up
to a dream. Foam in the sea
trying to catch time
in myriad forms;
my limbs drenched in waves
my hands outstretched.
A dream touching
the timeless
Alone
The street lights greet me in benevolence
when I look at the night
with a watchman’s eye.
Traffic pauses to think
how busy the road is,
and I become...
Conation
Between perceived hurts and intended harm
I cottoned myself to a kingdom of one. Here
even the wind fails to tease me. Air-condition-
ing has its advantages in intramural settings.
Earthshine is nature’s compensatory face. How
does the human construct simulate this model to
hum its way to happiness? Game plan is within
us. Unwrap yourself:...