Currently thinking: Middle of nowhere is not a place. It is a process. 14.07.23
The Price of Goodwill
The use of the word “goodwill” hints at the “peril” that he picks up later. Like, a host, he charges his Muslim guests of Bengali origin “goodwill” to accept the occasional snide remark and not dare use the language (s)he uses at home to create poetry. The peril – he says – is that of…
Thoughts on the threats against “Miyah Poetry”
Ten poets have been booked for “spreading communal disharmony”. They have been harassed, bullied and threatened online. Their private life has been ridiculed on my own social media feed over the last few days. The people have were part of the “intellectual” debate have gone silent. If they thought of their fellow poets as equals,…
while reading for Emily Apter’s workshop
This Thursday (25th of April, 2019), the great Emily Apter holds a workshop at the Freie Universität. While I have listened to her great keynotes at least twice (once at a conference in Delhi and once in Berlin’s HKW), every time I have listened to her, a deeper reservoir of knowledge opens itself up for…
What I am up to in 2019
This year, I am telling myself, will be different.
In Appreciation of the Slow Burner Podcast
What is more fascinating to me is precisely this residue of the contour between the two kingdoms of fact and fiction that are opposing only in theory. In the way most narratives unfold, the two things are merely versions where one layer enriches the other. The form of the podcasts – used rarely to bring…
The Seduction of Narratives, or why I chose to delete my 19000 tweets
The strangeness of the entire thing is something I am still coming to terms with. I deleted my Twitter. Almost. With the recent #deletefacebook drive which has now conveniently become the #deletewhatsapp race, I started to dive deep into my own habits. Full disclosure here: I work for an internet company. Well. I used to…
Sound Candy 27.02.2018
“The Assassination” podcast with BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones is nearing its season-finale. If I could recommend one podcast this January, it’d be this one. It is so well-researched and well-produced that it makes you feel the historicity of the moment with new-clips and interviews with people who were right there as Benazir Bhutto was murdered. This…
Sound Candy 18.02.2017
The great and wonderfully talented Jóhann Jóhannsson died last week in Berlin. It was absolutely heartbreaking to imagine someone so talented and wonderful dead at 48. This reminded me of great episode that Hrishikesh Hirway did with Jóhannsson; the way he spoke of the OST of Arrival makes it one of my favorite episodes. As a tribute,…
Neglected Essentials of Berlin: The Chop
This is not a Sound Candy post because I have been in love with The Chop for ages now. I wanted to write about things they do. I think this homegrown Berlin paper that writes about local gigs and then puts up the monthly Neglected Essentials is one of the best things about the music…
“The world is full of paper. Write to me.“