The art form popularly associated with Durga Puja is the making of pandals that are to be the guest house of Goddess Durga for the four days of her stay here. Since the days of the landed aristocracy, there used to be “sarvajanin puja” or community puja financed by the local committee. The mandaps were […]
On the first night, I had to sleep half-sitting, my head resting on my knees and my arms wrapped around my legs to avoid rolling onto something that stank terribly and felt disgustingly warm and wet. As my head cleared, I realized it was my own vomit. On the second day, two shallow tubs were […]
The Adventures of Topandas Khilluram Narkiyani in Manohar Shyam Joshi’s Hamzad Ladies and Gentlemen! We have talked a lot about demons. It’s time we met one. What do you call a person who sleeps with you, your mother, your hunchbacked elder sister, your beautiful younger sister, your first enigmatic lover, your second intellectual lover, your […]
हिंदी में, मुझे लगता है पिछले सौ सालों में अनेक उपन्यास ऐसे लिखे गए हैं जो किसी भी पैमाने पर श्रेष्ठ कहे जा सकते हैं. उनमें से अपने १० प्रिय उपन्यासों का चयन करना मुझे बहुत बड़ी चुनौती लगती है. लेकिन कुछ तो अपने अध्ययन की सीमा होती है, कुछ समझ की. अपनी पसंद के […]
68 A house by the sea forever feels it is a ship just put ashore. Every night it traipses across endless oceans, ages and spaces. All around is a drift of stars deep within weeps a hearth that no one will light. As a dog misses its master, so the house by the sea pines […]
प्राथमिक शिक्षक 1 पासबुस पढ़कर बीये किया है मैंने बनबीक सीरिंज पडकर अैमे डोनेसन से किया है बीएड राजकीय प्राथमिक साला चूनावाला में पडाता हूं नहीं मूड होता तो साथी गंगाराम कोली को फोन पर बता देता हूं बिना बात सीएल खराब नहीं करता अगले रोज साइन लगा देता हूं लेकिन फिर भी चूंकि आन-गारमेन्ट […]
Amidst Vanished Words Amidst vanished words the world leaves in a chaos of meaning The door is empty and the petals grey Feet of fine marble house the only path As the moon visits the night its vastness infinite the eyes alone sustain the link I dwell between two shadows whose name I seek I […]
On the Day of Your Escape On the day of your escape, lotuses bloom in the sky. And I can walk, finally, on the thin film of the mercury of my sorrow. On the day of your escape, the sunflowers in my garden laugh uproariously like a bouquet of shameless whores; their voices like the […]
The Girls Who Read Poems (For Shalini) They are everywhere though very few making a place for themselves among millions of girls of this vast country they are everywhere despite abiding by the strict familial instructions that expect them to reach college and then come straight back home In spite of the extremely charismatic Indian […]
Curfew (After William Carlos Williams) For J They unblooded your palms I heard. Left you on hardwood floor and sunk your bed where you once rested on your man’s torso, in his sweat. They unknotted your dreads uncurled your lips plucked the silver from your arms unfleshed your thighs struck the thick glasses from your […]