In the dream, I am walking. The chain around my foot rattles like a hungry snake. Yet I am walking, floating... down the sleek black streets of my past as if there is no chain around my ankle. As if this rain-soaked evening is as fresh and untainted as the day its first memory was… Continue reading Look Elsewhere
Poison penetrates me, drop by drop. I stand before her gaping mouth and count the rotting teeth. Row upon row of stones dark with ever-oozing blood and pus, and I think of the depths the poison would have to reach before being able to carve out such exquisite pain from their steadfast roots. The roots… Continue reading Purgatory
This is about love, and the fear that comes with that territory. I guess.
If the gods were real, what would I ask of them? Riches, comforts, unencumbered health A home with white walls and a courtyard with trees A river to swim, a river to drown A meadow to walk without pain A release, from pain. If the gods were real, should I bow to them or accuse… Continue reading If the Gods were Real
Trigger Warning: Trauma, Self harm, Intimate Partner Violence
The heaviness in your heart is not for the world to see, yet who to share it with, but the world? Who to cling to but the unknown, the unfamiliar? Love can heal, they say, but what if love is not enough? What if the hurt you carry has spilled one too many times and… Continue reading Unfamiliar
A life update about three hundred words too long on which I procrastinated for two years.
Till a while ago, whenever I looked down from a high ledge, I'd retreat, afraid of a fall. Now, I enjoy looking down from this abandoned balcony without rails, strewn with blood-red broken chairs. Down below another abandoned balcony comes into view. Shadows deepen in the woods, clouds rumble in the sky. And in the… Continue reading Raai, Awake 5: Translating Ritam Sen’s Jaago Raai
It irks me to no end when environmental safeguards that are already in place are diluted to make way for 'ease of doing business'. With the EIA notification draft 2020, the Indian government is all set to effectively set aside one such environmental safeguard that is already in place.
প্রিয় সঙ্গীতা দি, আপনি আমায় চেনেন না। আমিও যে চিনি তেমন নয় তবে আপনার নাম জানি, লেখাও পড়েছি।আমি আপনার ফেসবুক বন্ধুতালিকাতেও নেই কিন্তু আমার পরিচিত অনেকেই আছেন ফলে সেই সূত্রে আপনার পোস্ট মাঝেমধ্যেই চোখে পড়ে। খারাপ লাগে, ব্যক্তিগত ভাবে আঘাত লাগে যখন ভাড়াবাড়িতে থাকা, খসখসে চামড়া, ফুটপাথ থেকে কেনা সস্তার চাদর আর দড়িতে ঝুলে থাকা… Continue reading সঙ্গীতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়কে একটি রাগ-না-করা খোলা চিঠি
In Other Words 