Perfection is a misnomer, but touted by many as an outstanding feature. The Teacher by Raghav Prashant Sundar is a classic example of the pertinent flaw between perfect and imperfect. In this story technology plays a momentous role to elevate human characteristics. (FEATURE)

Ranjit Kulkarni through the contemporary tale Just one minute, sir emphasizes the crucial role time plays in our lives. The recurring phenomenon of imploring for a minute from one’s day is a sort of an eye-opener. This tale emphasizes the dependence of humans on one another. (FEATURE)

The transient nature of relationships and the world that goes blurry at times has been caught briefly in the story Interminable Blues by Sanat Sankar R. The story through the span of a single day briefly casts light on a day of an individual and the questions that surround one. (FEATURE)

A Modern House by Archana Gaur written in a play format brings out the unequal relationships within a home and how gender specified roles remain intact within the confines of a home for a woman. (FEATURE)

“Modernity in Indian has not been unambiguously liberating. Previous forms of sexual identities were reformed to fit the norms of the colonial power and contributed to the Indian nationalist rhetoric. Although the subaltern environment gave rise to new queer spaces, in India, modernity has erased existing spaces.” – Supreeth Sundar: “Tracing the Lineage of Queerness in India and The Sexual Subaltern”
(LITERARY SECTION)

The story ‘The Three Friends’ by Ananya Sarkar highlights how the pandemic has changed the tenets of friendship. Friends no longer meet or spend time together but this does not alter their relationship. In fact, virtual meeting is an unexpected and welcome doorway for many.
(FICTION)

Suguna Kannan’s ‘Fourth leg of righteousness’ is a simple tale with a profound import – dharma or truth. Values play a pivotal role in molding individuals. The story about a small town coffee vendor emphasizes that truthfulness is a virtue, which is thought to decline in the present age but the vendor proves otherwise.
(FICTION)

Shakti Pada Mukhopadhyay’s poems are filled with feelings of despair and a sense of loss surrounds his works. The loss of a loved one and the regrets one is filled with have been captured in a simplistic style giving the poems a more powerful effect.
(POETRY)

Anish Jha’s poems put the “I” at the centre and questions the various theoretical constructs that have been created to define an individual. The poems open up a conversation regarding how well is one familiar with one’s self.
(POETRY)

Sanjukta Dasgupta’s It Begins at Home and Other Stories “peppered with many literary allusions” and “acerbic wit and humour” (reviewed by Lakshmi Kannan) beckons the readers. This is one of the 11 books of variety in the current issue, comprising 4 fiction, 2 non-fiction, 4 poetry books (one of them a translation from Sanskrit), and 1 play. (BOOK REVIEWS)

India’s northeast region holds oodles of varied attraction, and The Tombstone in My Garden: Stories from Nagaland by Temsula Ao (reviewed by Malsawmi Jacob) is one such work. This is one of the 11 books of variety in the current issue, comprising 4 fiction, 2 non-fiction, 4 poetry books (one of them a translation from Sanskrit), and 1 play. (BOOK REVIEWS)

Sunaina Jain reviews Anu Kay’s novel Like the Radiant Sun is an “enticing tale…interspersed with modern people as well as the most ancient in the garb of modernism” in a confluence of mythology, mysticism and masterful narrative. This is one of the 11 books of variety in the current issue, comprising 4 fiction, 2 non-fiction, 4 poetry books (one of them a translation from Sanskrit), and 1 play. (BOOK REVIEWS)