June 2023

A Sabjiwali

Masi called me, and asked for coming another day to hear the story of her son, aged sixteen only. The boy asked Rs. 30 from her, and she refused, and the boy killed himself by consuming a bottle of pesticides, which she kept hidden in a corner of the room wrapped with paper. And today was the twentieth day of her boy’s death!

Freevoice
June 22, 2023

A Shirtless Man at a Graveyard

Then I saw the shirtless man at a far northern end of the graveyard. He was murmuring and looked sheepish. He collected a fistful of wet leaves and slowly spread them over a sunken grave covered with weeds and twigs. Now he was brushing his eyes, his head; now he was smiling comically.

Freevoice
June 20, 2023

Betrayers of Indian Muslims

A poem on the deceits Indian Muslims suffer from their good neighbours, friends, godi media, poor leaders and average intellectuals

Freevoice
June 19, 2023

New Year Celebration

A poem on the fear and betrayal of Indian Muslims who live only to be killed in riots or to be lynched with the support of the state.

Freevoice
June 17, 2023

A Tribal Mother

A poem on the the struggle and resilience of a tea tribal mother of Dooars, depicting the poverty and illness of her daily existence.

Freevoice
June 17, 2023

Jute Planters

A poem on the hope and hopelessness of jute planters of Bengal, depicting dreams and nightmares of the Bengal peasantry in general.

Freevoice
June 17, 2023

Lynch the ways of the ‘others’

Madrasas are waiting for coming flames, For they are terrorist hubs Medical schools are not required, For they presage our age-old ways of healing

Freevoice
June 15, 2023

Murshidabadi Masons

And when I closely look at him, His sweaty, sculptured face delights me, A cheaply designed t-shirt, hands full of lines, Face marked with pangs of leaving home,

Freevoice
June 15, 2023

Lynching in Indian Poetry

“We are the mob and the mob is us.Left-wing, right-wing or in the centre, what difference does…

Freevoice
June 15, 2023

Arab Intellectuals and Arab Spring

To put it mildly, the social, cultural, religious, political and strategic events that history will remember as the "Arab Spring" sent a shockwave across an entire region. Today, the legacy of this chain of events is contested and, to an extent, still uncertain, but one thing is clear: the conditions for engaging in politics in these countries have shifted completely. Across the region, the social and political spheres have become more secular as both a cause and a consequence of the Arab Spring.

Freevoice
June 15, 2023