Literary Trails
From K. Satchidanandan, songs of hope, verses of despair, and the faith of love like the light that gets in through the cracks of the gloating darkness.. Self-translated by the poet from Malayalam. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Indira Goswami author, peace activist and passionate critic of women- disenfranchisement is much read in her native Assam but needs to be read and re-read widely in this world of toxic divisiveness says Jahnavi Gogoi reviewing the edited volume on the author-activist by Namrata Pathak and Dibyajyoti Sarma. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
In this age of falsifications of India’s cultural multiverse to the point of a violent toxicity and homogenizing banality, India’s Greatest Minds by Mukunda Rao offers a glorious restorative narrative of the South Asian ‘dialogic’ tradition.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj ponders the verse “Kya pata hum mein hai kahani/Ya hain kahani mein hum?” The word “kahani” appears twice: which of the versions is true? Language is linear, one meaning follows another. Calligraphy like architecture, he holds, turns word-meanings spatial and simultaneous. …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
The Edict Project, by TM Krishna, in collaboration with Ashoka University aims at creating vibrant academic, socio-political and aesthetic conversations around the edicts of Ashoka. The first edition came out in 2020. In this Edition the theme of Ashoka and Memory is explored through T.M. krishna’s musical enditions, conversation with historian, Professor Nayanjot Lahiri and a play by MK Raina in Kashmiri shot in Kashmir that reimagines Ashoka’s words. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
In C: A Novel by Anupama Raju ‘place’ is a category “foregrounded not as a formative influence on character nor as the venue for the unfolding of a plot intrinsically tied to maps, but as an exploration of a life’s possibilities, or as a journey, internal as much as it is external.” Annie Zaidi does a deep reading of a work “heavily invested in itself.”…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
A mini-fiction pared down to a quiet gothic-horror by Jyothi A, a senior psychiatrist practising in London and translated from Malayalam by poet and translator, A.J. Thomas …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
Jawaharlal Nehru’s telegrams from the soul: “The roots of that present lay in the past and so I made voyages of discovery into the past, ever seeking a clue in it, if any such existed, to the understanding of the present” …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
“Sanctions” as an economic blockade were first applied by the United States to the small island of Cuba in February 1962 constituting the most comprehensive and brutal blockade of trade/economic relations in human history. Yet Cuba did not buckle. In fact it has become a shining example of regenerative/radical humanism. John Kirk’s book on its medical internationalism explains how and why. A review by Don Fitz.…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
In this collection of poems, self-translated from Malayalam, K. Satchidanandan offers up a vision, dark yet one that lifts the fogs of illusion to show us the way we live…and die …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
Three men from Pune, India, pad yatrees crossed the border into Pakistan carrying the message of love, love for life, for the universe, meeting people from various sections of society. Beena Sarwar and Priyanka Singh report. …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
Paul Schwartzentruber, a Canadian pays tribute to “one of the great blessings of my life that I encountered and then came to know—even though in my later years—Dr. S. Jeyapragasam”. JP, for the author, a seeker, “was not just a ‘Gandhian’ in the loose way that iconic metaphor is still tossed around in India. He embodied, like a true disciple, the values, sympathies and beliefs in human self-transformation that Gandhi himself had embodied.” …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
Bilingual poet Asif Raza ponders Melissa Chimera, artist and eco-activist query in her talk with poet Pat Matsueda: “Is our prevailing human-centered perspective the only reality?” His reply opens the door to Arne Naess’ “Deep Ecology’ and Gandhi. …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
The new environmentalism in the form of ‘Deep Ecology’, very closely mirrors Gandhi’s philosophy. Thomas Weber analyzes the Mahatma’s contribution to the intellectual development of Arne Naess, arguing that an informed study of ‘deep ecology’ and particularly the philosophy of Naess, should go back to Gandhi for a fuller picture.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj, Toronto-based architect, poet –calligrapher, who grew up in Mumbai, India like Mayank Bhatt pays tribute through his art.…[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Our reckless pursuit and addictive use of fossil fuels is a ‘dangerous’ one. How we will be perceived by our future generations; will we write ourselves off as a failed society who let climate change lead us to a well-merited oblivion? Suniti Namjoshi muses. Suhasini Vincent reviews. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Anjali Singh casts a critical eye on the key writings on indenture labour in Fiji and the Caribbean. This is a valuable contribution to the study of Indenture, avers Pradeep Trikha. …[Read More]…
Literary Trails
In the scorching heat of the city, Malashri Lal finds solace in the Amaltaas tree. In the next poem Anju Makhija rues the abandoned farmhouse as a trope for displacement…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
On August 1, Mayank Bhatt, Toronto-based writer of fiction and essays died after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer and other ailments. He was a little over 60 years old. A tribute to an indomitable spirit by Ashoak Upadhyay/The Beacon…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
M. Nandakumar’s story harkens back to the gothic tales about the alter ego coming alive as we follow our protagonist’s encounters with a life changing ‘other’. Translated from Malayalam by Aadya Sain…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
In the sweltering heat of Agra, Jane and Rosie, English tourists and two pedal rickshaw pullers encounter two cultures with their role reversals and self-esteem recoveries in this short story by Balwant Bhaneja…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Asif Raza’s vision of the Creator as a “a self-conflicted Deity and of his Creation as his cathartic relief from his own internal chaos and contradictions” informs his poem Genesis. Two other poems from his unpublished collection, “Whispers from the Shadow Side”.…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
Malavika Kapur ponders the pandemic’s effects not just on human but all life and she finds not just suffering but the gifts of generosity and the will to live.…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
The Beacon decided to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the City Lights Publishers and Bookstore in 1953 in San Francisco by Lawrence Ferlinghetti by putting together four introductory essays on four Beat writers by some of the best critics of their work. Alok Bhalla introduces the issue curated by Jennie Skerl…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
The Beat Generation, a multi-generational movement has continued to have an impact, on American culture, its influence still felt in contemporary slam poetry, performance poetry.. As a younger member, Sanders was a prominent artist in the early sixties avant-garde that generated a postmodern art style and a social rebellion that has had a profound influence down to the present day, notes Jennie Skerl…[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road, a tale of cross-country treks, jazz joints, and midnight meditations, has been continuously in print since 1957. Kerouac, has however been criticized, among other things, as being incapable of producing a well-crafted sentence, let alone quality literature. Matt Theado contests this view. Curated by Jennie Skerl…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
The 25-year period in which Beat developed and flourished in the United States and then spread around the globe—roughly the end of World War II to the beginning of the seventies—is complex, but for women, in particular, this quarter century marks major struggles for equality. Nancy M. Grace traces the contours of women Beat poets’ and artists’ journeys. Curated by Jennie Skerl…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Allen Ginsberg was a fine performer, showed genuine respect and even love for his audience; a deeply inclusive writer says John Whalen-Bridge. His performances made available a poetry that could soar, joke, and grieve, and they always imply a human touch that reaches towards the audience to demonstrate that no fourth wall, or any other wall, necessarily has to obstruct communication. Curated by Jennie Skerl…[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Sayandeb Chowdhury describes Satyajit Ray’s discovery and casting of Uttam Kumar in Nayak (1966): on paper a rags-to-riches story, film that, rather than boasting the idea of a hero, probes against the phenomenon itself– Uttam’s formidable and forbidding stardom. …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
Facts are fragile; they tell no story in themselves. So wrote Hannah Arendt decades ago. This leaves them vulnerable to the manipulations of storytellers…and falsifiers. Patrick Lawrence finds such falsehoods in the mainstream media’s takes on the Ukraine crisis. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Sami Ahmad Khan and Upamanyo Pablo Mukherjee offer indispensable discussions of science fiction and its relationships with utopia, dystopia, fantasy, mythology, and ideology. Barnita Bagchi reviews both…[Read More]…
Between The Lines
Throwing the word “fascist” to denounce Russia and even China to justify wars in distant lands is unlikely to restore a sense of the common good at home; more likely it serves as a diversion, an excuse to avoid matters of more immediate relevance to the waning health of our democracy, Andrew Bacevich warns.…[Read More]…
That’s Life!!!
Set aside the maps of misreadings into India’s grand role on the world stage and look inwards at its abyssal lines with Subodh Varma who offers two contrasting scenarios: booming corporate profits and zooming economic distress…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Melissa Chimera, conservationist/visual artist talks with Pat Matsueda, poet and founder of ezine Vice-Versa about her work and her concern over disconnect between human beings and the natural world that endangers both. A sample of images of art from her palette follows. …[Read More]…
Literary Trails
A story of foredoomed love, Nirmal Verma’s short story was originally titled Terminal in the collection Sookha Tatha Anya Kahanniyan 1997. Translated from Hindi by Alok Bhalla…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
When Edward Said visited India in 1997 to deliver the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Lecture and receive honorary doctorates from JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia, H. Masud Taj, oral poet and calligrapher sought to meet the author of the foundational ‘Orientalism’ to recite his poem ‘Dragonfly.’ And did. …[Read More]…
That’s Life!!!
In one of the world’s wealthiest nations, below the headlines of rising inflation and the impact this may have on electoral politics, is the problem of rising poverty among Americans that needs urgent attention. Sonali Kolhatkar reveals the depths of that poverty and sluggish policy responses.…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
In yet another selection from his unpublished volume of poems penned in Urdu and self-translated, poet and literary essayist Asif Raza offers his bleak vision of man’s futile search for redemption in a world from which the divine has fled.…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Darius Cooper unpacks some of those poems of Arun Kolatkar in which he frequently combines the blues and Rock n Roll from American folk and pop culture with the medieval Indian bhakti tradition of Bhajan culture…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
Mayank Bhatt explores coping with emotional desolation and economic destitution, the causes of pain, and sadness in this last essay in the series of his journey as a cancer patient that began mid-2020…[Read More]…
Between The Lines
The shooting in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a small town, largely Hispanic, where one-third of the people live below the Federal poverty line, exposes yet again, the decisive inaction and callousness of the administration even as trauma among children spreads, finds Padmaja Challakere…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Alphonsa aka Annakutty (b. 1910) led the quiet, anonymous life of a nun in her room in the Fransiscan Clarist convent in Kerala, till her death in 1946 at the age of 36. Six decades later she was transformed into Saint Alphonsa, beatified by Pope Benedict VI in Rome in 2008 – the first Indian woman to be canonized a saint of the Catholic Church Paul Zacharia happened to read a collection of her letters and Fr. Romulus’ moving eulogy at her funeral and wrote this story. Translated from Malaayalam by Anupama Raju. With a special preface by the author. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Writer, film maker, poet musician, Ronojoy Sircar’s genre-fluid artistry comes to light in these stunning images that capture the enchanting lightness of being in tones of grey. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Don’t look back at the twentieth century alone to ask: what brought on so much tyranny, violence bigotry because such heinous inhumanity continues and we are still, if not more, indifferent. But the voices of the victims, of the courageous reach out to us in the poems of Frank Stewart, as cracks in this gloating darkness …[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Alok Bhalla pays tribute to Edward Lear (born May 12 1812), fittingly by composing nonsense verses inspired by Lear’s nonsense images. The comedy of nonsense verse, Bhalla notes demystifies those who claim glory and glamour; it also makes the earth we live on livelier and less burdensome by inviting the entire creation to be part of its joyous carnival. …[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Mayank Bhatt finds that in The Great Hindu Civilization – Achievement Neglect Bias and the Way Forward, Pavan V. Varma speaks softly about Hindu Satya (acceptance and tolerance) but carries a big ideological stick of Hindutva (bigotry and intolerance)…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Padmaja Challakere reviews Telugu cinema, “movies from the south” with the recent release of Sukumar’s Pushpa (2021), and S.S Rajamouli’s RRR (2022)- and one Kannada movie, KGF2. A new genre is birthing here, she avers, offering a hero with a real woundedness but also with a self-overcoming asceticism, discipline, and a sense of responsibility. Not a messianic hero, but one ordained to dignity.…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Some of the poems of Pat Matsueda are about lives of unbearable violence; about our willingness as human beings to inflict pain on others. But then there are poems that are sad, yet touched by the grace of acceptance and gentleness. A selection from Bitter Angels. With an introductory note by Alok Bhalla. …[Read More]…
Between The Lines
In this speculative fiction set in India in 2047, Tarun K. Saint has his protagonists participate in a virtual exhibition of the Partition of August 1947. And the immersive experience is traumatic as memories bubble up from the lowest depths of time.…[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Anitra Nelson’s Beyond Money focuses with unusual care and intensity on the destructive power of money and the ways that monetary values pervade and distort all aspects of society and render us incapable of seeing their baneful effects on communities and, on the Earth. John Clark reviews…[Read More]…