I was walking towards the ticket window to buy my Metro pass when a man stopped me. Where are you going? he said. Can’t you see where I am going? I said. There is a line here, he said. I am in the ladies’ line, I said. I can’t see any ladies’ line, he said. […]

Brajeshwar was tall and he was thin, a bit like chewing gum, and when he sat in cramped spaces like overfull autos and the backs of buses, his knees would reach his chin, itself over-long, much like his face. His eyes, even, appeared stretched – or drooping perhaps is the right word – extrapolating forever […]

Within a certain narrative history, freedom meant domestic stability. It meant the freedom to feel and achieve a security stable enough to forge one’s destiny. In the optimistic nineteenth century, the high noon of European power, the novel of achieved stability was represented by works like Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. The novel is about the belief […]

Bangalore Four years ago Sabbah had written eleven short stories about different generations of a family in Madurai. At the time of submission to publishers, she had loved most of the stories. When ten of the stories were picked and arranged into a book called How To Eat in Madurai, Maami, she had still loved […]

Two Poems in Modern Styles 1 Neck deep in beach sand A morning prank gone evening sour Who are these strangers walking towards me from the horizon? Crustaceans, perhaps Vanguard for the rising tide.   2 Those who know to read the language of the almanacs know to expect eclipses, know to expect eclipses to pass. To those who know to […]

अनुवाद: मृत्युंजय मुम्बई और एच.एम.वी. के मेरे संगीत-कार्यक्रमों ने मेरा तआर्रुफ़ आकाशवाणी (१३) से करवाया, जिसका दफ्तर तब बल्लार्ड पिएर में था. आकाशवाणी, मुम्बई के एक अफसर श्री ढोलेकर ने मुझे ‘स्वर-परीक्षा’ (१४) देने का सुझाव दिया. एच.एम.वी. के रूपजी ‘स्वर-परीक्षा’ में मुझे बैठाने के खिलाफ़ थे. एक बार रूपजी ने मुम्बई के बाहरी इलाके […]

1966  Shopping : A Letter Instead of those slippers, scattered like dry leaves in your courtyard after a windy day   I had expected to see Bhutiyas with colourful sweaters. Though it was late January, it was still the season when you wanted to stay longer in bed, under the warmth of a quilt. The […]

In the top quintile, the leisure class, Females were expensive and useless And consequently valuable. So a certain kind of tits and arse And waist served as chattel to the hubris Of their men. It wasn’t sufficient to merely possess Wealth but required that its evidence should fluoresce   From the brightest bits of the […]

जब सार्वभौमिक तौर पर यह बात मान ली गयी हो कि हिंदी विचार की नहीं विज्ञापन और मनोरंजन की भाषा है, तब उस भाषा में लिखी जा रही कविता में प्रतिरोध और उसके प्रभावों की बात करना और भी गंभीरता और दृष्टि  से भरी परख की मांग करता है. वस्तुत: हर समय की रचनात्मकता उस […]

Translated from Hindi by Sneha Desai Nail Clippers Nail clippers are vexed by people. They are hungry creatures, but you wouldn’t classify them as any particular species of bug or lizard. They grind their teeth from a malady of the stomach, and even when resolutely annoyed, cast hungry looks at the languor of your hands. […]