This is where I will modify it. They didn’t walk into a bar. They walked into a workshop in a university classroom in Krakow, Poland. The room was quiet and full with students. The lull is broken by the woman giving a presentation about the possibility of careers in the […]
The Punjab of Popular Imagination
There is a stereotype for the people of Punjab that is known across the country; perhaps no other stereotype is as stereotypical as this one. And so that stereotype has played a major role in depicting the entire state of Punjab in the popular imagination, as we know today. Most […]
Why Anushka Sharma’s Revenge in NH10 is Totally Believable
NH10, Anushka Sharma’s production debut, has a lot up its sleeve, if only you’d care to look- perhaps I can go so far as to say that it is one of the best Hindi thrillers in recent years. An urban Gurgaon couple, headed for a romantic getaway further up in […]
Happy New Year, Said the Doorman
Suited up He holds one hand in the other Standing in attention Instructions memorized Professional attire Surveying, judging Who is for real And who isn’t Who has the money to enter And who doesn’t Cover charge, he says crisply Six thousand. He mocks those who exhibit outrage And welcomes those […]
What does it mean to be traveling in India?
A single or a couple of women taking a trip in India comes with its own volley of problems, as every step of the way throws up a new challenge. First of all, you cannot do the most travel-esque thing: hitchhike. A method tried and tested for travel experiences that […]
Money Can’t Make You Work
Marlo Stanfield, an unbelievably young drug kingpin in the city of Baltimore, is caught in a multi-million dollar drug bust. Behind the drugs lies a trail of murders and black money, pinning him responsible for all these crimes, something that can ensure that he stays in jail till the day […]
Today I Cannot Write: The Legacy of our Colonizers
Writing about not being able to write is a common theme in literatures across the world. In modern terms, it is the writer’s block, ‘the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing’. I attempt to relate the Indian experience of writing […]
The Way of the World
Yesterday, I saw a car run over a homeless man’s foot. I don’t know for sure if he was homeless; he sat next to a food stall, on the road, his hands and legs twisted in manner that would be deemed strange. I could not understand what he was wearing- […]
A Patch of Green
On a hot morning in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, I met a Chinese acquaintance who could surprisingly speak very good English, facilitating our conversation, as we headed towards a cultural park which I wanted to visit. A long metro ride ahead of us, we went on talking about one […]
And ultimately, the subaltern could not speak
[Image courtesy: Tarique Anwar] When they spoke about Gajendra Singh’s suicide, the ‘farmer’ from Rajasthan who hanged himself at Aam Aadmi’s anti-land bill rally, and the subsequent spectacle that followed, from the rally being carried on to one authority blaming the other for his death, something struck a chord somewhere; […]