Text by Meghna Sachdev   You are seven. When I ask you, “Who’s your superhero?” without blinking an eyelid, without a second thought, before your next breath, you joyfully scream “Meri maa!”   When you say you are your mother’s shadow, I see pride in your eyes. You are the only girl child in a family of five. Your two brothers and your mother and …

Early morning is the best time of day for me and there’s nothing like starting the day with a cup of tea, sitting relaxed in the fresh air. And when it was time to say goodbye to the existing seating arrangement of cane chairs, I thought of making something myself. For this, the shuttering wood scrap I had bought some time ago was the natural …

Editor’s Note-  अपने Slow Interview में मानव कौल ने लगातार दो मिनट सिर्फ़ समोसे पर बात की। चलिए जानते हैं इतिहास हम सबके अज़ीज़ चटपटे समोसे का…   त्रिकोणीय प्रेम कहानियों में इतना स्वाद नहीं जितना कि इस पेट फुलाए त्रिकोणीय समोसा में है। तीन चोंच निकले कोने, आलू से फूला हुआ पेट और उस पर एक सीधी लकीर। जब इसे हरी-लाल चटनी में डुबो …

As the news of the possibility of Cyclone Nisarga hitting Mumbai — first-ever storm to make landfall in Maharashtra’s coast in June — spread like wildlife on social media, I started receiving messages. Messages on how, since I had missed reporting on cyclones from the east of India this year, which ‘normally’ faces more storms as compared to the west coast, a cyclone had decided …

मई से लेकर जुलाई तक के ये तीन महीने हम रेगिस्तान में रहने वालों के लिए सबसे मुश्किल होते हैं। रेत बेतरह तपती है, बिजली का दो दो दिन के लिए गुल रहना भी हैरानी की बात नहीं। उस पर पाकिस्तान की तरफ़ से उमड़ते काले पीले तूफ़ान, वक़्त बेवक़्त कभी भी रेत के गुब्बारों का सब कुछ धुंधला कर जाना। इन सबके बीच आँखों …

An account of somebody guilt-stricken who found limitless love and happiness through teaching at Neelesh Misra’s virtual online-classrooms!

Translated by Kanishk Rohilla An Indian farmer teaches Israel and the world a successful conservation technique This inspiring story of a village that was once called the village of mad people. Lapodia is approximately 80 kms away from Jaipur in Rajasthan. The hero of our story 62-year-old Laxman Singh tells of how, 40 years ago, the village was riddled with horrific droughts and poverty. The …

Editor’s Note- अभिषेक पेशे से फ़ोटोग्राफ़र दिल से कवि हैं। इसलिए इसकी खींचीं तस्वीरों में बड़ी प्यारी सी कहानी छिपी होती हैं। पेड़ पौधों के शौकीन अभिषेक के घर चिड़ियाँ क्यों बसेरा करती हैं ,सुनते हैं उन्हीं की बयानी-   आज सुबह जब ये तस्वीर खिंची तो ये दोनों बच्चे आपस में चिपक कर बैठे थे। आज लखनऊ में थोड़ा ठंडा मौसम है। आज वर्ल्ड …

Every summer, a mournful, undulating call would rise, just for a few days of the year. Phalse, kale phalse, thande meethe phalse.. (Phalse, black phalse, cool and sweet phalse). The Phalsa is an Indian fruit that is available for a few short days before the monsoon hits the country. As fruits go, the phalsa would lose out from other bigger, fleshier fruit. We have so …

Translated by – Chhavi Nigam Every year our village hosted the Ramleela. It took place at 9 pm. When the air had just started to cool, and when the shadow of the roadside wall began to lengthen, in the season of shorter days as my Dadi used to say. She and I were always ready by that time having taken care to cook and clean …