Among the myriad ways that storytellers and novelists have invented to narrate their tales, stream of consciousness is perhaps the only tool that has caught everyone’s fancy. While it sounds fascinating and surreal, it has not been everyone’s cup of…
By: Rimli Bhattacharya It is during my visit to Unakoti hills of Tripura that I got the opportunity of meeting Meena. Wearing a Rignai covering the lower half of her body and Risa and Rikutu covering the upper half of her torso,…
By: Jessica Lao Court against country, mind against body, even truth itself against fiction—in a play filled with dualities, perhaps none is so encompassing as that of action and passivity in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. As its characters struggle…
By: Jessica Lao Let’s get things straight. This isn’t a story of getting personally stomped on by the police, or being forced to leave school because of my (as it happens, conveniently not) natural hair. For the most part, I can’t…
By: Jessica Lao Picture a 13-year-old sitting in a classroom, gradually consuming her weight in pencil erasers as her Georgia Studies teacher embarks on one of his infamous rants. “Did y’all see the video of that boy going after the store…
By: Jim Alexander Dave and I stood dumbfounded when we gazed across the Tiber Valley at the ancient city of Civita. The abandoned medieval buildings that clustered atop steep cliff looked surreal and the distant plateau might have been an apparition….
By: Alina Das The iridescent lights and hundreds of filled seats made my heart beat in a way I had never felt before. As my name was called, I slowly walked onto the empty stage. Using all my gathered confidence…
By: Angel Ramnani The biggest challenge I have faced is knowing that Indian families typically want their first child to be male. My parents conceived a child before me, but my mother aborted because she was afraid it would be a…
By: Vraj Patel I was trapped by the laughter coming closing in from all around me. I couldn’t distract myself from the noise. The voices around me suddenly became quiet and one voice was louder than the rest. This voice was…
By Ian Fletcher Before I start my humble analysis, here is the poem to refresh the memories of those who know it and to introduce it to those who haven’t read this masterpiece of nineteenth century poetry: Because I could…