So, What did the Muslims do for the Jews? The Jewish Chronicle essay*
That’s Life!!!
: Israel and the cheerleaders of its bombing in Gaza ought to realize the unpopular discomforting truth that Islam not only saved western Jewry from extinction but provided it with a new context to flourish in and Jews to enjoy all-round prosperity. Based on David Wasserstein lecture on the subject. …[Read More]…
‘What Matters is Non-violent action and Solidarity with living people’. David Shulman
Between The Lines
Dear Reader! Please allow David Shulman to introduce you to two outstanding examples of love and compassion from a region being sundered by vicious nationalism and state sponsored terror: Daniel Barenboim and Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian: both peace activists…[Read More]…
Jesus of Palestine. Jesus of the Gaza Strip by Richard Eskow / Common Dreams
Personal Notes
Rihard Eskow visits Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank, now a ghost town after Israeli bombing and discovers a tragically moving nativity space amidst the rubble. …[Read More]…
Isle of the Sun’s Bosom & other Poems in Assamese by Anubhav Tulasi. Various translators
Literary Trails
Anubhav Tulasi’s poetry is suffused with the colour and odour of the Assamese soil and the sensibilities of the Assamese mind. He considers himself an Indian poet with his Assamese identity, intact A selection rendered from Assamese by various translators. …[Read More]…
Eyes Reaching Out into Darkness. U. K. Kumaran. Tr.from Malayalam by K. M. Ajir Kutty
Literary Trails
A neo-gothic tale of a down and out thief and his moment of epiphany when he ‘witnesses’ in the dead of night an old couple being threatened by goons. Are they ‘pleading for his help? Imagination or destiny? U. K. Kumaran. Tr. from Malayalam by K. M. Ajir Kutty …[Read More]…
“Once Upon a Time a Courtesan…” (a fable of love by Radha Gomaty)
Literary Trails
Poet-artist Radha Gomaty pens a moving fable of a woman seeking love, her disappointments and the pursuit of a resurrection that is just a finger away yet ungraspable, …[Read More]…
AN UNFINISHED SEARCH by Rashmi Narzary. An Excerpt
Bookshelf
Rashmi Narzary’s heartfelt yet detached narrative of three generations of a family search for roots, as its village changes its identity from being Indian, to Pakistani, then becoming Bangladeshi. An excerpt.…[Read More]…
Swami Vivekananda and Western women—The Living Vedanta. Chaturvedi Badrinath
Personal Notes
In this riveting talk, Chaturvedi Badrinath casts light on the symbiotically spiritual relationship Swami Vivekananda had with some of his American women-followers and femininity in general. They were not ‘instruments for use:’ he never used any human being for his own ends or for his work’. …[Read More]…
Chapati & The Shape of post-BigBang Space-time by H Masud Taj
That’s Life!!!
Architect-Poet-Calligrapher H. Masud Taj contemplates space-time via a chapati travelogue and memoir that enfolds his poetry and calligraphy. …[Read More]…
The Empire of Shadows: Or, Legacies of Manufactured Realities
That’s Life!!!
Self-proclaimed professor in English language skills at a couching college in Kota and editor of its political journal. U.R Sane writes to his fellow-traveller in Atlanta laying out likely outcomes of manufactured realities and recent events. A fiction that tells a looking-glass truth…[Read More]…
The Throb of Silence by Thamizhachi Thangapandian. Tr. from Tamil by K.S.Subramanian. A Review
Bookshelf
Thamizhachi Thangapandian’s view of the harmony in nature as part of her own internal ecosystem as well as the society’s collective heritage ensures that she does not alienate herself to gain perspective but unapologetically remains one with it. A. J. Thomas reviews her latest, translated by K.S. Subramanian…[Read More]…
The Sea of the Dead by Asokan Charuvil. Tr. from Malayalam by K. M. Ajir Kutty
Literary Trails
Asokan Charuvil’s stories are sharp commentaries on societies torn apart by competing ideologies. The Sea of the Dead is an allegory on times changing, from a more simple nature-friendly life to a modern consumerist one.. Translated from Malayalam by K. M. Ajir Kutty …[Read More]…
Texts and Interpretation: Understanding a Text as Discourse. Bharani Kollipara
Between The Lines
Are texts, metaphysical, literary, scientific, technical, spiritual, incantatory, political, cutting across all genres cast in stone, open to only a literal articulation? Or are they interpretive, open to multiple ways of reading asks Bharani Kollipara and centralizes discourse and its legacies in every act of ‘reading-as-interpretation’.…[Read More]…
Lost in a Forest of Symbols: Can Some Animal, Bird, Tree or Djinn Help us Understand Myth and Folklore? Alok Bhalla
Between The Lines
Folklore is the artifice of enchantment; liminal, it includes the sites of both sorrow and joy; death and life but boundaries are fluid, forest-covered, unmapped. Alok Bhalla on folklore as gateway to life’s renewal.…[Read More]…
Ghosts and Humans & Other Poems by Tarapada Roy. Tr from Bengali by Sayandeb Chowdhury
Literary Trails
Tarapada Roy (936-2007) was a prolific writer and his stories and sketches, mostly humorous, are still relished. His poetry almost never translated before, resonates with the song of the banal, finds flourish in the minor notes of irony that surround us, says Sayandeb Chowdhury.…[Read More]…
Silence & Other Poems: Bhawani Prasad Mishra: Tr. from Hindi by Yashoda Nandan Singh
Literary Trails
Yashoda Nandan Singh translates from Hindi some more of Bhawani Prasad Mishra’s poems including “Mein Sannata Hoon. Also included is the translator’s own short poem.…[Read More]…
Mothers’ tongues . Sabika Abbas. Tr. from Urdu by Pratishtha Pandya.
Literary Trails
In times of divisiveness and hatred, a poet finds the language of love and liberty in the filaments of mothers’ tongues, whispered, carved out of the earth and sweat, rising from silenced histories. Sabika Abbas tr. from Urdu by Pratishtha Pandya…[Read More]…
A Boy’s Clairvoyant Dream & Other Poems. Jayshree Misra Tripathi
Literary Trails
Jayshree Misra Tripathi calls herself an ‘arranger of words’ pens verses that celebrate homecomings and homelands as more than just physical spaces; as journeys into memory and discoveries of rootedness. …[Read More]…
Graveyard for Children by H Masud Taj
by H Masud Taj
That’s Life!!!
On World Children’s Day (November 20th) Calligrapher-Poet H Masud Taj dedicates three calligraphic quotes to the children dying in Gaza…[Read More]…
‘On Pain, Poetry & Kaleidoscopes’ (The Poet’s DIY on How to Become a Kaleidoscope). Radha Gomaty
Literary Trails
Poet-artist Radha Gomaty artist of pain and ways of becoming offers up ‘A Beautiful Lie’ and two other poetic meditations with her line sketches, on journeys from some primal location that could end in pain, passion or million shards.…[Read More]…
The Enigma of a Nil: Review Essay by Saitya Brata Das
Bookshelf
The Absent Color is an impossible invitation – difficult to accept and difficult to refuse; to ask questions and to be asked by questions in turn. a/nil is the poet of questions, whose songs are essentially cries in the wilderness, so that even stones lament, finds Saitya Brata Das.…[Read More]…
At the Limits. Raimundo Panikkar’s Long Theological Journey. James L. Fredericks
Between The Lines
Raimundo Panikkar (November 02 1918-August 26 2010) of Indo-Spanish descent was a theologian whose views on religion, the relationship between the divine and the human, on pluralism particularly, need to be studied for us to cope with the current narrow mindedness and toxicity. James L. Fredericks*
…[Read More]…
Blind-sided by Short term Gains: Govt’s Palm Oil Cultivation Push Spells Ecological Disaster: Bharat Dogra
Between The Lines
To correct a flawed policy of reliance on imports of palm oil the current policymakers opt for expansion of its domestic cultivation in the Northeast and Andaman Islands. That can only spell all-round disaster, warns Bharat Dogra…[Read More]…
Whose Land Is It Anyway? Corporate Capture of India’s Rural Sector Gathers Pace. Colin Todhunter
Between The Lines
Contrary to its loud rhetoric of ‘national interest’, the current administration is all gung-ho on opening the doors to global corporates into the farm sector with an alacrity never witnessed before. The Bayer-ICAR pact is one such instance says Colin Todhunter.
…[Read More]…
The Trillion Dollar Silencer : Can It Silence Permanently? Manali Chakrabarti Reviews Joan Roelofs
Bookshelf
The most militaristic power on the planet goes unchecked by a population indifferent to the destruction it causes around the globe and within. Joan Roelofs attempts an answer to this manufactured consent/indifference. Reviewed by Manali Chakrabarti…[Read More]…
Lament of a Dead Palestinian Child. An Elegy by Riyaz Latif
An Elegy by Riyaz Latif
Literary Trails
In his elegy, Riyaz Latif undersores the immense suffering of children in the beleaguered Gaza region A bilingual version.…[Read More]…
Palestinian Redress: Rashid Khalidi’s THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR ON PALESTINE. A Review by H. Masud Taj
Bookshelf
Rashid Khalidi’s seminal work on a century of war on Palestine by Zionists provides a much needed context to the armed resistance of the besieged and the Israeli’s establishment’s backlash. H. Masud Taj reviews with words and calligraphy. …[Read More]…
Allah Baksh’s rendition of Mahabharata Reflects Dialogue Between Painter’s Imagination and Poet’s Song
Bookshelf
Allah Baksh’s critically distinctive and inspired engagement as a later-day reader and painter of Vyasa’s text is that he creates scenes framed like sacerdotal space or a mandala. Alok Bhalla and Chandra Prakash Deval curate a painter’s imagination alongside the poet’s song. …[Read More]…
Allah Baksh’s Mahabharata Artworks as Dialogue Between Painter’s Imagination and Poet’s Song: ADI PARVA (THE BEGINNING)
Bookshelf
In the Adi Parva, Vyasa comments on the nature of the epic he has composed, its structure and its intention. Addressing Brahma, Vyasa says that he has ‘imagined’ a ‘poem’; a visionary ‘history…’ Allah Baksh’s Mahabharata neither begins by illustrating the long prelude about the visionary form and ahimsic intent of Vyasa nor by first visualising some act of heroism and sacred revelation.…[Read More]…
Malashri Lal, Mandalas of Time: Mahua Sen Reviews
Literary Trails
Malashri Lal’s poetry fuses the transcendent and the ordinary, the spiritual and the mundane, mythology and modernity; we see the world through multifocal lens, making us aware of the chiaroscuro of life, the light and the aphotic shades. These poems remind us of the beauty in the harvest of autumn, the bloom of spring, finds Mahua Sen. …[Read More]…
People, Autonomy, Culture and Religion in Darjeeling: George Thadathil’s Democracy in Darjeeling. Review by Sreetanwi Chakraborty
Bookshelf
George Thadathil’s Democracy in Darjeeling is both an inquiry and a repository of research-based outcomes that highlight fresh insights about Darjeeling’s society, history, culture, democratic ideals, and religious pluralism, highlights Sreetanwi Chakraborty. . …[Read More]…
Corporate Control over Indian Farm Policy: Bayer-ICAR Collaboration Raises Serious Concerns-Bharat Dogra
Between The Lines
Despite all the claims of protecting an Indian way of life, the government is all too ready to embrace global capitalism and multinational seed firms in its push for GM crops and commercial farming. The Bayer-ICAR collaboration project is another sign of the way the government intends to go says Bharat Dogra.…[Read More]…
INSCAPING ORISSA: The Classroom Reception of Jayantada—Anamika
Literary Trails
All his life Jayant Mahapatra (1928-August 2023) tried hard to maintain a proper ecology in his linguistic environment, to keep alive what is essentially humane and aesthetic from erosion and obliteration. Poet and teacher Anamika pays tribute to this ‘Good Samaritan’ and his Inscape or moral geography.…[Read More]…
In central India Why Govind Guru is still the Most Iconic Figure for Bhil Tribals–Bharat Dogra.
That’s Life!!!
Bharat Dogra offers up little known historical record of tribal resistance to colonial exploitation under the leadership of Govind Guru—still revered through oral traditions in the Bhil areas. Photographs from the Mangarh Memorial by P.L. Patel* P.L. Patel* …[Read More]…
At Vidya Vanam, children learn to respect and empathise with other cultures
That’s Life!!!
Vidya Vanam is a school in a village called Anaikatti, at the foothills of the Nilgiris, about 30 kilometres from Coimbatore on the border of Kerala. Part of the village is on the Tamil Nadu side and the other on the Kerala side. …[Read More]…
The Story of the Dalit Marathi Autobiographical Story-Ashok Gopal
Literary Trails
Ashok Gopal introduces us to Dalit autobiographical production and consumption, the predominant genre in Dalit Marathi literature by a close reading of prolific Dalit writer Sharankumar Limbale’s own works and review of the subject.…[Read More]…
Sukrita’s Salt and Pepper: A Paean to the Power of Language and Silence-Review by Girija Sharma
Bookshelf
Simple, yet deeply philosophical, the poems in this volume have the power to resonate with readers everywhere, an inherent universality that gives Sukrita’s poetry a timeless appeal.says Girija Sharma, yet inviting us to put on trial many a myth we have partly perpetuated in her review of Salt and Pepper. …[Read More]…
Flop Show or The Art of Succeeding by Trying to Fail-H. Masud Taj
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj has encircled the globe, giving talks. He recalls one in which he tried his best to fail. …[Read More]…
‘Oppenheimer,’ J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the University of California
Bookshelf
The film Oppenheimer and subsequent publicity focuses primarily on the individual actions and angst of a “Great But Troubled Man” but scant attention has been paid to how a leading public university participated in creating a weapon of mass destruction that changed the means of warfare forever. Public Intellectual and historian Tony Platt on the hidden facets of the troubled history of University of California, Berkeley – known locally as “Cal” and worldwide as “Berkeley”…[Read More]…
Crowd as an Institution, Nation as a Crowd. Riyaz Latif
Between The Lines
As the nation transforms into an eyeless, brainless crowd, so the crowd turns into an institution that sustains the ruling dispensation’s hegemony and falsification says Riyaz Latif with “seething sadness” at this usurpation of agency for thought and compassion”…[Read More]…
THE HUNT. Short Fiction by Balwant Bhaneja.
Literary Trails
In this richly evocative tale, Bashir, now a porter the last of a shikar family, meets with his moment of truth about the sacredness of life when he confronts the ‘king’ of the forest, rifle at the ready, to shoot. By Balwant Bhaneja …[Read More]…
Seeing a Spiritual Life in the Here-and-Now: Beyond Religion by Valson Thampu. Reviewed by Ann Harikeerthan.
Bookshelf
Valson Thampu’s Beyond Religion demystifies spirituality, distinguishing it from any one religion and locates it in the individual’s search for God in this life, without middlemen, with the recognition of the diversity of paths to divinity. Ann Harikeerthan reviews. Followed by an excerpt from the book. …[Read More]…
Supreme Court Raises Right Questions, Govt. Turns a Deaf Ear On the Ground, Lessons in Sustainable Farming. Bharat Dogra
That’s Life!!!
Despite doubts raised by the Apex Court, the Centre wants to push ahead with GM Mustard farming. On the ground, some villages in Madhya Pradesh show how natural farming is the answer for sustainable farming points out Bharat Dogra…[Read More]…
Vada Pav & The Vitruvian Architecture of Leonardo da Vinci by H Masud Taj
Visual Spaces
Architect-Poet-Calligrapher H Masud Taj celebrates World Wada Paav Day, which falls on August 23rd, with his poetry and calligraphy by ruminating on the architecture of the vada pav and most famous diagram in the world drawn by the vegetarian Leonardo da Vinci.…[Read More]…
Jiban Narah’s Poetry, A True Voice of Assam: A J Thomas
Literary Trails
A.J. Thomas poet and former editor of Indian Literature of Sahitya Akademi introduces the reader to Assam’s well known poet Jiban Narah. Steeped in the culture of the Brahmaputra Valley Narah’s poetry is influenced by his Missing tribe identity but expands his poetic presence at the national level. …[Read More]…
FEEL A LITTLE SHAME FOR THE LOST SOUL OF A NATION: Avay Shukla
Bookshelf
Caustic wit and passionate humanity mark Avay Shukla’s writing, a no-holds-barred scrutiny of India’s political culture and current affairs, the environment and conservation, governance, societal peccadilloes, and much more. An extract. …[Read More]…
Weaponising the Past for Unlivable Futures: Meditation on Communalism by Romila Thapar
Bookshelf
Romila Thapar meditates on the uses and misuses of history to weaponise a past that never was to for a future that should never be. An extract from her latest collection of essays …[Read More]…
Our History, Their History, Whose History? (Or, History as Hallucination)
Between The Lines
Current day Nationalism/ majoritariaanism provides grounds for imagined /fantastical history that cannot explain the complexities in which those facts intersect to create multi-faceted histories. A lecture by Romila Thapar …[Read More]…
Whose offence is it anyway? (Or Where the head is not held high)
Between The Lines
No phrase has acquired as much currenccy in contemporary India as “Offending Sentiments” that allows citizens take offence at the most benign things, punish those “offenders” by dragging them to courts, beating them up or trolling them on social media. Saumya Baijal and Indranil Bhattacharya examine this “republic of the offended”…[Read More]…