A Symphony of Memory and Change
Mahanagar
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Mahanagar
Rain and the City: Eulogy to a Walk some Twenty Monsoons Ago
In the obtuse bend of timeI walk the lonely city lightsAnd each step keeps me moving,Till I see beyond the mirageOf nothingness beyond the heightsOf unknown troubles of noisy horns;And the calm melody of the storm;And drowsy lamplights,And the rain…
Faith Betrayed, Politics Weaponized: Radical Political Islam and the Shadow of U.S. Foreign Policy
The divide between Islam as a personal faith and Radical Political Islam as a geopolitical force is one of the defining tensions of the modern Muslim world. Islam—spanning over 1,400 years of theological depth and spiritual pluralism—is not inherently political…
Dazzling Days and Metiaburz: The Once ‘Mini Lucknow’ Within the City
“Ishrat-e qatra hai dariya mein fanaa ho jaana,Dard ka had se guzarna hai dawa ho jaana.” Ghazals like this by Mirza Ghalib were once common in the streets of Calcutta. On a rainy July night when the roads drenched, amidst…
Though the Face radiates Light
These tears in the eyes, they don’t belong here,The city smouldered in the heat, so severe.Suddenly, a flood surged forth,What is the source of this torrent’s birth? Countless pebbles will pierce the feet,Such is the journey of life, bittersweet!Where is…
A Bundle of Sorrows, Patched and Hidden
Tucked under their arms, they carry it around,Treasuring every pain, without a sound.Pressed deep within their chests, they hide,Yet walk with pride, never to confide. Each sees the other as a fool,Eager to appear cunning, maybe as a rule.In the…
The beauty of Calcutta in the Monsoon
Ghosh Debaditya Ghosh has been graduated from ‘University of Calcutta’. He has passed in the year 2021.
Amorino Breathing
The table is ink, serviettes o lyrical gymnasts,the barmaid is queen moon—sharks observed from quarter light. The majorette sweatingdream, amorino breathing tattoos. Floatinghead in xenon lamp,trussed arch nightand Andromeda. In a corridor,a muse erupts. A stylus of solid perfumepaints a…
An Enduring World within a Changing World? Juxtaposing M.N Srinivas’ ‘Remembered Village’ and Gertrude Emerson’s ‘Voiceless India’
The picture of a self-sufficient, unchanging Indian village society has been painted for long by orientalist thinkers. Metcalfe was the modern progenitor of the idea where an Indian village was viewed as an autonomous, isolated and idyllic body with its…
Mayamoy
Minoti hated her name. So old fashioned and back dated. Her annoyance with her parents for not having a spine to stand up to her grandparents when they named her so. ‘A prayer or was it supplication?’ The servility of…
The ‘Garhs’ and ‘Nagars’: The Epitome of Trauma and Resistance
Teler Sishi Bhanglo Bole Khukur Opor Rag KoroTomra Je Shob Buro Khoka Bharot Bhenge Bhag Koro! Tar Bela?a The partition of 1947 consists of a significant phase in the Indian historical discourse. As depicted in the lines of the famous…
Analysing Adolescence through the lens of Vulnerability Studies
Vulnerability studies explicate how individuals or certain groups are othered by pre-existing power structures, relational imbalance or personal struggles. It involves identifying and analysing the frailties of individuals, systemic forces. It also depicts how vulnerability can lead someone to consequences…
A City, and its Song
This is the tale of a city long lost to the pages of history, the tongue once spoken by its people now perhaps lies buried somewhere beneath an inconsequential hill, etched into some withered fossil lips that whisper into the…
Stories of a Golden Diaspora: Tracing a Vanishing Heritage
A faded red sign creaks overhead – Hap Hing Co., Chinese provision and medicine store, opened in 1934. The paint has flaked off in places, and the wooden door groans a little when you push it. Just outside the store,…
The Storm
Your face invades my memoryon a certain stormy night.While a song sways rapidly in therestless winds!Your body flickers inside thesoft wax,when the current betrays us.My drunken eyes give way tothe mystic jar, and I turn soft.So soft, so gentle! My heart…
Pankha
I had a hand-fan once.The air rose,and the mosquitoes fell withits swift stroke!That pujo filled with countless heads;How gently you removed your hand,from mine.Now suddenly, this vast emptinessin my hands!The next day, you asked for the hand-fan;And once again we…
Monologue of a young woman: “What Went Wrong?”
I didn’t always feel this way.There was a time I believed in the system—truly believed in it.Get a good education, work hard, climb the ladder.Build something.Buy something.Become someone. And for a while, I did.I watched my parents save every rupee,…
Food For Thought
While cooking a meal, most women and some men, think about what to prepare for the next meal of the day. The kitchen is the hub of all intrigues and strategies – is it going to be a ‘kasha mangsho…
Walking through Kumortuli: A Brief History of the Potter’s Colony of Calcutta
Once renowned as Calcutta, Kolkata is a city dwelling in history, culture, customs, and a unique blend of the new and old. Located on the eastern bank of the river Hooghly, it served as the imperial capital of British India…
Look, Maa! I made a documentary
Some years ago, I was working as an assistant director for the costume department of a Bollywood production. Someone on set told me, “Cinema is the highest form of technical art”. In the nascent stage of my filmmaking career, the…
The Woman and the City: Narrativizing Spaces in Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar
Adapted from the short story “Abataranika” (“Introduction”) by Narendranath Mitra (1916-79), Mahanagar (The Big City) (1963) is considered to be one Satyajit Ray’s (1929-92) most masterly directed films. Set in 1950s Calcutta, the film zooms in on the quotidian drama…