September is the cruelest month, babu We are daily labourers We are kiln workers We are domestic maids We are casual agricultural hands It is a lean season, babu And we are pushed to the walls Of seasonal hunger and recurring wounds We sell pots and pans And keep our empty stomachs at bay It is the month of diarrhea[Read More...]
When the Toronto International Film Festival 2022 stands just around the corner, the preparations for the fun and excitement are well underway. King Street West, which is known as the Festival Street for Torontonians, is fully embarked on the surprises it has to offer. The street will stop its traffic for the first three days (Sep 08 – 11) of the[Read More...]
On the day India was born eleven demons were let loose. A great celebration ensued Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! India won the match again! The match is always fixed. A man versus woman Bilkis versus eleven Satans played in broad daylight. A great uproar, carnal pleasure, proud chest, thumping victory: Bilkis: Zero, India: Eleven. It’s always the same match . India[Read More...]
The 14th Anniversary of Kandhamal Day is due on August 25, 2022. Though the violence continued for months, the main violence on the Christians took place during the last week of August, 2008. Justice for the genocide of the Dalit Christians and Adivasi Christians is still not provided. Several organizations in Odisha and outside the state worked hard for this cause. [Read More...]
The movie ‘Darlings’ has recently received a lot of backlash and its storyline has been critiqued as a “pseudo-feminist” revenge of domestic violence. It has also been called vengeful and guilty of portraying men in the wrong light. The task that the movie leaves us with, however, is much more nuanced than the concerns of male representation. Underneath this basic[Read More...]
Joshy Joseph’s “Laparoscopic Cinemascapes” featuring the veteran Aribam Syam Sharma – now in his 80’s – is actually a kind of a full encounter with the rich and complex dimensions of an oral culture, Manipuri to be specific, and a wise, enlightened soul nourished and nurtured by it emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. The mellow wisdom of an entire culture spreads[Read More...]
Saibal Mitra’s film A Holy Conspiracy is a definitive document of some of the important ideas competing for India’s soul today. In a little town called Hillolganj, the science teacher in a church-run school is suspended from his job. The school/church management believes he had disobeyed a vital injunction: not to teach the biology class Darwin’s theory of Evolution[Read More...]
My head, the Kanchanjodga, aches. My eyes shed tears as Yamuna Washing the feet of the Taj. Satpura, my chest, chokes. The saline breeze of Point Calimere Brings murmurs of pain. Satkoshaia’s solemn silence Froze into greater depths. The elephants of Silent Valley Suspended entwining their trunks. The extinguished Sabarmati Languishes in her grave. The Great Indian Hornbill chick Fears[Read More...]
How easy it is to be a patriot All I need is a pic of a flag and a frame given free on FB and when I go out to wear white or ethnic and pin on a flag put it in front of my house for all to see and on my car or scooter/bike Say Bharat Mata ki[Read More...]
The latest Bollywood film brings a breeze of fresh air at a time when India faces a growing threat of Hindu extremism, under which space for pluralism and diversity is constantly shrinking. Laal Singh Chaddha is the story of an autistic Sikh man who is in love with a Christian woman. The two become friends at a school where Laal[Read More...]
