Freevoice

Freevoice

He writes about the invisible—their struggles, their resilience, and the quiet fortitude that keeps them going.

Khedi

It attests the trajectory of a nameless old maid, Khedi. Her masters love her for her work. They are happy to erase her real name.

On the Fallen Leaves

It is about a daily evening picture of our town's Barrack Square. This way, the sun mellows, the day wanes, and evening appears.

Prelude to a Riot

Set in an unnamed southern town amid lush plantations of pepper, bananas, coffee, rice, and narrated in soliloquy Annie Zaidi’s 184- page novel, Prelude to a Riot is a brilliant, bold, honest, critical commentary on contemporary India.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Jute Planters

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