How many summers have comesince Harappa and Mohenjo-daro faded or fell? We’ve all heard the story:a rivers runs dry or changes course, a new pestilence rides into town,crops wither in baking fields.Each time it happens must seem like the first time—hungry families camp outside city…
Comments closedWhen Trump met Modi in February,we bought three billion bucks of his militarytechnology and flying machines—now he wants our hydroxychloroquine.If Modi had been a better tactician,he’d have said, Yes, under one condition:keep your deadly helicopters,send food and masks and ventilators!
Comments closed‘Man posts ‘‘no ventilators in Ludhiana” on Facebook, booked for sedition’-Indian ExpressSure, we could put a ventilatorat every intersection—but who needs ventilatorswhen we have so few infections?Either way, we can’t haveany disaffection(if you don’t agree, we might charge you with sedition).
Comments closedIn life, there are times like this when suddenly we can no longer domany of the things we once could—maybe you’re missing a strong drink and friends, and you’re sick of Netflixand your bad internet connection,or maybe your father keeps falling because he…
Comments closedOur worries are nothing comparedto those stranded miles from home,to those who are already hungry,to those who are sick and alone.Last night, you dreamt we both left you,I dreamt my father was gone—in the flat across the back alley,a girl…
Comments closedFriends, more than one plague is loose in the land—yes, there’s the new virus, but please understandthere are older plagues, too— and all plagues are connected—ignorance, caste, exploitation and hatred.When we all grasp together the great power we hold,we’ll make tyrants tremble, we’ll heal this world.
Comments closedThis city wakes daily to birdsong and worry—we all miss our family or friends, or the sky;we wonder how long our paychecks will last,we fret about those who are sick, old or frail. Some ask how long the atta will last,will police harass us if we go…
Comments closedThe night before the lockdown, my sister called to say our cousin had told her: Go see your father soon, he is not keeping well at all.We both knew I could not go, and that night I dreamed I was…
Comments closedWhy destroy art at Shaheen Bagh while locking the country down? Rulers who stand for oppression, fear pandemics— but also expression.
Comments closedLast night we argued on the phone— like most of our quarrels, it was about something small, and I think we both knew it was really just a way to avoid saying what is too difficult to say right now:…
Comments closedRemember, when we posted selfies and self-care memes? It was difficult to be alone. When we had to go out, we tipped autowalas and didn’t bargain over the price of potatoes or fruit. We were tempted to share stories about…
Comments closedIt’s like that moment in the film when the main characters are looking out the window— they can hear the thunder and the rain, but the wind is still just rustling the branches and bushes in their small, close-knit community,…
Comments closedOur schools are closed, our markets are slow— none of us knows what is coming, but a few things, at least, are clear: we can’t beat a virus with lathis; tear gas and bullets won’t work. Our doctors and nurses…
Comments closedScientists say that every so often something tips, and savannah turns to desert, or forest to tundra, in the space of a decade or less. Our own short history’s littered with drought, plague, famine, war and tyranny. What’s one more…
Comments closed-Unpublished research into COVID-19 When hunger, heat and poverty kill millions of us annually, why is is there so much focus on this novel kind of virus? This is one is not a mystery: since there is no costly vaccine,…
Comments closed-after Miguel James If I write a poem against the CAA and the NRC,that poem will be a love poem.And if I write a poem about Chandra Shekhar Azad leading a march in Daryaganj in support of the constitution and…
Comments closedWe lay awake, trembling.We no longer understood the rules, or where we were going. We stopped posting selfies;we flirted with memes and sarcastic stories. One by one, we got VPN’s.We shifted to Signal for politics, gossip and love. We could…
Comments closedGo fix your gaze on the setting sun, or even a welder’s torch: the damage you suffer may result in blurred vision or blind spots. Your eyes will heal, but for a while, when you study a budding tree you…
Comments closedDid you ever see Mani Ratnam’s film, Bombay? In the midst of the terror,an old man or woman— it’s difficult to remember now—raised her hand and said: Stop! Enough is enough!And then all through the city, brave men and women…
Comments closed