Image Courtesy: PTI What should we do when dystopia is here? I pick up the copies of We, Brave New World, and 1984, which just appear to be simplified versions of the reality we live in. Since they are premised on ‘conditions of possibility’,dystopias as a literary category and their construction within a discourse have … Continue reading Covid-19: The Next-Door Dystopia—Sujato Datta
Biopolitics of Pandemic and the Cult of Stupidity in India—Suchintan Das
Image Courtesy: GCN The stranglehold of the Covid-19 pandemic on the world doesn’t seem to be losing strength. With over a million people infected and about sixty thousand of them dead already, the future appears rather bleak. Even if a possible end to this pandemic can be imagined, the costs—both humanitarian and economic—that it will … Continue reading Biopolitics of Pandemic and the Cult of Stupidity in India—Suchintan Das
A Pandemic Panning Across: Corona and the Questions It Asks—Ananyo Chakraborty
Courtesy: People's Archive of Rural India The Covid-19 or the novel Corona virus pandemic has affected vast sections of the world population and has already caused widespread damage in almost all aspects of human life. The world has come to a lockdown where people are being forced to self-isolate and not go outside to prevent … Continue reading A Pandemic Panning Across: Corona and the Questions It Asks—Ananyo Chakraborty
How Muslim is Muslim Enough?—Nabila Ansari
The Women of Seelampur (Picture Courtesy - Author) On 29th December 2019, Shashi Tharoor, in a tweet, identified the chanting of ‘la ilaha illallah’ at an anti-CAA protest at Jamia Milia Islamia with “Islamist extremism”. The statement is also known as the Shahada and is a basic tenet of Islam – its literal translation being … Continue reading How Muslim is Muslim Enough?—Nabila Ansari
Nabarun Bhattacharya’s ‘This Valley of Death is No Country of Mine’—Translated by Suchintan Das
Picture Courtesy: Reuters The father who fears identifying the corpse of his dead child, I despise him. The brother who is still unperturbed—without shame, I despise him. The teacher, intellectual, poet, or professional Who does not ask for avenging these deaths in public, I despise him. Eight lifeless bodies Lie across my consciousness, I am … Continue reading Nabarun Bhattacharya’s ‘This Valley of Death is No Country of Mine’—Translated by Suchintan Das
City of Indifference: A Trip to the Gas Chamber—Riya Lohia
The Yellow Balloon Delhi has become a gas chamber, where the internet is filled with pollution-awareness articles, satirical memes and cartoons and the streets are filled with masked faces. When the pollution seems to affect everyone we know, the only people carrying out their lives normally are the ‘People of the streets’- the rickshaw-pullers, weight-machine … Continue reading City of Indifference: A Trip to the Gas Chamber—Riya Lohia
Kashmir: A Case of Imposed Utopia—Monjima Kar
Courtesy: Kashmirkry A typical scene in Kashmir invokes in our mind lush green forests, snow clad mountains, a calm Dal lake. The notion of a picturesque Kashmir, that is romanticised, dominates our understanding of the place. Any kind of violence that occasionally springs up in media reports is represented as a kind of break in … Continue reading Kashmir: A Case of Imposed Utopia—Monjima Kar
Temple Intrigues and Classical Dances: Historicizing the Devadasi System—Arnaaz Zaman
Image Courtesy: The Covai Post As a student of history, I have been interested in the devadasi system in general and its relevance in the genealogy of contemporary Indian classical dance forms in particular. In my opinion, existing approaches and appraisals fail to adequately historicise the evolution of these dance forms. It is only when … Continue reading Temple Intrigues and Classical Dances: Historicizing the Devadasi System—Arnaaz Zaman
The Curious Case of Anti-Intellectualism in MODIfied India—Ananyo Chakraborty
Since May 2014, India has seen a rule which can be safely termed as authoritarian. Just like any other authoritarian regime, the Narendra Modi government has strengthened a cult of Anti-intellectualism through various propaganda methods. Anti-intellectualism is the complete disdain towards rational thinking and nuanced critical analysis. It propagates shallow knowledge and understanding of issues … Continue reading The Curious Case of Anti-Intellectualism in MODIfied India—Ananyo Chakraborty
The Making of the Anti-Nation—Suchintan Das
Image Courtesy: The Economic Times The University of Delhi, which is no stranger to controversies, has recently found itself at the centre of another. The issue in question pertains to the revision of the syllabi of several undergraduate honours’ courses in general and that of History in particular. The specificity of the objection raised by … Continue reading The Making of the Anti-Nation—Suchintan Das
Lokayata 