My brother sold my daughter into prostitution for thirty-five thousand rupees. My father let another man rape me in front of him for money. My husband threatened to kill me if I didn’t let his friends have their way with me. A civil servant is protecting the man who raped me.The police are threatening to …
PROLOGUE “Tamper with the deepest mysteries — the source of life, the essence of self — only if prepared for consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.” Tony sat alone in his study, his late uncle’s favourite saying reverberating through his ears. He had failed. He had tried to venture into an area he …
Co-authored with DVL Vidya All through this summer I was obsessively following some anime series and, after a semester of Code Geass, Fullmetal Alchemist (and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood), Akatsuki no Yona, Death Note and Cowboy Bebop, it was Naruto that caught my eye. Naruto is perhaps the most well-known, mainstream anime to exist so I …
“I was terrified, I understood that this time they would kill every last one of us.” A deep political conflict has been brewing in the tiny, ethnically divided African nation of Burundi which has reached such critical levels as to foster alarm within U.N. official circles, some of which harbour fears that it will turn …
Drip. Drip. Plunk. THONK. The sound of water thumping a tin roof is one of the most exquisite sounds in the world. In this world of granite and cement, I very rarely come across the music that played incessantly in my ears fifty years ago. But fifty years ago, I was in a world that …
I saw her walking down the street, her head bent Her countenance downcast, tears rolled down her cheeks Pity welled up in my eyes, yet I could do nothing. She was an outcast, exiled from society She carried a virus in her blood, a virus Consuming the fire that she possessed, that made her who …
“Even as Gandhi was talking to Mountbatten, the news that he had decided to go on a fast was being broadcast over the news media in all of India’s fourteen languages. In Poona, two men sitting in a shoddy newspaper office read it over their teleprinter. Read it and suddenly made their great decision: Gandhi …
Do you see what I see? A face Shining white, pressed against the pane Staring wistfully into the distance As drops of rain whisper along its surface Gently caressing the hair caked with mud Hair that has been unwashed since life began Knotted and caked with dirt, the ratty clothes Torn at the shoulders, shoulders …
I am writing this article not to influence your vote but to influence you to vote. It is that time of the year when all hell will break loose. The bugle sounds, the warriors march and carnage ensues. Now that we’ve got the first episode of season four of Game of Thrones out of the … Continue reading
I have always felt that India, notwithstanding its many defects, is an eccentric combination of a myriad of cultural entities that just somehow harmonise and coalesce into a single union. The distance between our northern and southern frontiers and the western and eastern borders is so vast, that I had half-expected this integration to undo … Continue reading
For people who regularly watch news on various Indian television channels, they will see an overarching theme emerge on the various live debates that are presided over by various news anchors. This trend of live debating first came into prominence with the rise of India’s most popular face: Arnab Goswami. After he popularised this form … Continue reading
“We may all be cousins; but they are of the House of York and we are of the House of Lancaster. Never forget it.” I have repeatedly been informed by members of my family to write reviews on all the books I read so as to form a concrete impression of what I have read … Continue reading
The Joker. Continue reading
Anticipation. Hype. This was what had been building up all these years in countless Indians (who are no doubt more political than I am) who wished to hear Rahul Gandhi’s auspicious words on the situation our country is facing and what he planned to do about it. So there was a lot of excitement when … Continue reading
This past week has exhibited as intellectually stimulating television debates as a Yo Yo Honey Singh interview. The first thing you see when you unfurl your morning newspaper is something stupid the Muffler CM of Delhi did the night before. It may or may not involve dharnas in front of the Rail Bhavan, conveniently located … Continue reading
In Indian society communal feelings and tensions have always been a part of the societal make-up. But what is communalism? Communalism is the politicisation of religious identities and by extrapolation, a form of religious nationalism which holds the ideology of promoting conflict between various religious communities. In India though, this turns violent as religion becomes … Continue reading
I’m usually not the kind of person who awaits surprises, even pleasant ones, with suppressed excitement, or even pleasure. That’s why I’ve hated surprise birthday parties and am conniving enough to make my friends reveal what they’re planning. But imagine my surprise (yes, the word does get thrown around a lot on these kind of … Continue reading
Weekly Writing Challenge by the Daily Post INGREDIENTS REQUIRED FOR THE MAIN DISH: 5 feet 9 inches of soft flesh-like material (not necessarily off a human corpse; Pandora-like material will do) 2 oz. of thick, cord-like hair, finely frizzed 2 eyeballs of crazy 150 grams of sarcasm blended with snazzy jazz pants 500 metres per … Continue reading
The Whimsical Circumlocutor 