Good Ideas

Out of the dark, seemingly never-ending night, a streak of light! Two women of menstruating ages, Bindu and Kanakdurga, finally entered Sabarimala, breaking the concerted walls built against them by brahmanical-Hindutva male authorities on the right and left. The past months have been times of terrible despair for all , with women who attempted the … Continue reading The Triumph of Streevaashi! Women break the wall of caste at Sabarimala →

For all women in India, what is happening in Kerala should be an eye-opener.  This is how Indian society rewards you for reaching the top, aspiring seriously to be on top, and actually asking questions to authorities about why they keep drawing on women’s energies and resources while simultaneously undermining the very ground on which … Continue reading Keep Calm and Carry On: Dealing with Patriarchal Carpet Bombing in Kerala →

This is a guest post by ROBY RAJAN Epic. Biblical. Apocalyptic. These are some of the words that have been used to describe the floods and landslides that have wreaked havoc in Kerala over the last few weeks. Entire towns and cities were submerged, and entire rivers altered their courses overnight. Over the years Malayalis … Continue reading Brackish Reflections on the Great Deluge of 2018: Roby Rajan

The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, not our own powerlessness, stupefy us. Adorno. As frightening spectres of untouchability and unseeability hover around the festering sore of the ‘caste-wall’ at Vadayambady in Kerala, as the so-called mainstream left-led government here continues to pour its energy and resources into aiding and … Continue reading Malayali Feminism 2018: In the Light of Vadayambady and Hadiya’s Struggle

Ghalib has fascinated generations of people and they have tried to understand/ interpret his poetry in their own way. For any such individual it is really difficult to recollect when and how Ghalib entered her/ his life and ensconced himself comfortably in one’s heart. This wanderer still faintly remembers how many of Ghalib’s shers were … Continue reading ‘Why Ghalib appears so contemporary even today ?’ : Interview with Hasan Abdullah

Tomorrow, the capital will see the culmination of the year-long birth centenary celebrations of Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Pandit Deendayal Upadhayay ‘Nirastapadapeshe Erandopi Drumayate !’ – Sanskrit Proverb (In a treeless country even castor counts for a big tree) ( Quoted in EPW ”An Occasion for the RSS”, GPD) Come September 25 and the capital would see … Continue reading BJP, In Search Of An Icon: Is Deendayal Upadhyay Party’s Mahatma Gandhi?

Guest Post by Sanjay Kak, for  #Notinmyname / Statement from Not In My Name, Delhi Last evening’s (June 28th) spirited protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, under the banner of Not In My Name, was an autonomous citizens protest against the recent spate of targeted lynchings of Muslims in India – the most recent of 16 … Continue reading After #NotinMyName at Jantar Mantar on June 28: Sanjay Kak for NotinMyName, Delhi

This is a Guest Post by ANITHA S I As a nature lover and then an ecologist, my tryst with the living world has been fascinating, exciting, scary and at time dangerous. The most recent of this interaction was with a jackfruit tree in my backyard that has the uncanny capacity to produce fruits all … Continue reading From Cucumber Juice to Mutton Soup, A Culinary Healing Journey: Anitha S

Kozhikode, Hotel Alakapuri, 4-5 March, 2017. Kozhikode has always upturned my feelings about the male gaze. It is of course a cheerful, bustling, place, full of fabulously good-looking people of all genders. The cheeriness has a certain effortlessly defiant quality – already evident when you look out of the window as the train from the … Continue reading Longing for the Future – Two Days with Penkoottu and AMTU at Kozhikode, Kerala

[Disclaimer: I am not an art critic, artist, or travelled in the world of art. This is just a memoir] (I) Fort Kochi, 9 Feb. 2017 Though I had already been to the biennale in January and had a roaring time, something kept urging me to go there again. That something, I believe, is my … Continue reading Longing for the World: A Memoir of Two Days at the Kochi Biennale