I’m dressed in my best at the wedding hall or is it a gym in Saket? I’m not ready to marry but don’t want to fight, so I slip out for a smoke. I meet a sweeper, we chat for…
Comments closedPoems about the dark times.
I’m dressed in my best at the wedding hall or is it a gym in Saket? I’m not ready to marry but don’t want to fight, so I slip out for a smoke. I meet a sweeper, we chat for…
Comments closed-January, 2022 The dull, orange moon was hanging there, a dusty, swollen ache. The guard said, Close your phone– you said, friend, it’s just the moon. He shrugged his shoulders and looked down– what was left to say? This waning…
Comments closedThe emperor is worried: first the plague, and now the council of ministers turning against his favourite viceroy– and what of the guilds– how can one trust those who build, weave or reap? It’s time to take strong action: re-invade…
Comments closedThe two year old child is kicking the mud outside the flooded playground: I don’t like the rain, I want to go back, take me home, take me home, take me home! On a flyover in Punjab, an old man…
Comments closed-writing from Tihar Jail, Umar Khalid quotes Faiz Ahmad Faiz In the photos the young lovers post, they are smiling as they sip from the same bottle of cola, they are sharing a plate of chaat, they are sitting on…
Comments closedYou said you’d been weighing the cost of self-censorship and looked pained when I let slip a laugh. Forgive me, my friend, I could not explain: it was not about you, but what I can’t say.
Comments closed-January 1, 2022 Flocks of sheep drift down from the hills, like dry leaves blown free by a gust of winter wind– they block highways, refuse any compromise. In Lutyens’ Delhi, the Home Minister paces and shouts: Who’s in charge…
Comments closed-Christmas Day, 2021 i. One morning, during the plague that followed the fires that scarred the capital, you were feeding our pet rat, when word came from the town cryer: The farmers have circled the city. ii. A year and…
Comments closed-Lodhi Garden, December, 2021 I was reading that story by Manto about two old friends, now soldiers, fighting each other in Kashmir, and I was thinking about how the distance between us has grown, but also how we sat on…
Comments closed-for Sabbah Haji When I heard the Kashmiri educator had been jailed for calling a general a ‘war criminal’, a serious question came to my mind: How often does anyone in any large country rise to the level of general…
Comments closedOmicron’s arrived, be it mild or strong– Delhi smells of smoke; Amit Shah’s an animal. Still, let’s celebrate– Sudha Bharadwa: out of jail; the farmers have proven when we unite, we do not fail.
Comments closedThese days on the metro, I keep seeing this pair: the old guy with his thick white beard, and his orange-robed friend— the one who’s always smiling. They’re building homes and universities; handing out jobs and free vaccines. I feel…
Comments closedLast week I crossed a narrow bridge strung over a wide canyon, and as I crossed, I felt a hole open in my belly. Last night under a swollen moon, I dreamt of Umar Khalid; I heard him laughing in…
Comments closed-Dyal Singh College Road, 9 P.M. Emerging from the metro, I met a swollen moon, I sipped a little smoke, tripped on the NIA. There was Hany Babu singing out a lecture— it was so soft and clear; it sounded…
Comments closedThe marching farmers fall, like wheat beneath a fast combine; young and old, they fall, stuck from behind, struck from behind! Watch the video: it is so clear, my friends, so clear; they’re marching peacefully: they do not fear, they…
Comments closedyou remember how often you misunderstand important things— like that time the drunken drain cleaner looked straight at you and said, Of course, I read poetry, or the night you saw the shopkeeper you’d argued with days before, wearing no…
Comments closedPatriotic schools, large flags— prayers and promises; our CM’s studied Gandhiji; says Ram Rajya is his goal. Let’s study Ravidas, Kabir, Phule and Ambedkar; instead of ‘soft Hidutva’, friends, let’s learn to live together.
Comments closedModi met with Biden about free trade, China, and more; no mention of riots, drone strikes or bias, the threat of nuclear war— That’s not what this was for! said the lizard outside my door.
Comments closedLast night, I dreamt my sister spoke up in the council, and when I rose to back her, I felt a gentle tremor. No matter if it’s UP, Kashmir or even Delhi, when your sibling stands, you must stand up…
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