Known Turf

Indian woman wearing traditional Indian clothes (before 'western' influences hit mainstream sartorial choices): Exhibit 1 Ind...

It could be that I'm blinded and deafened by the deliberate sexiness of the new Bollywood. But I often feel like feminine desire as de...

  Gulab tests the limits that our mind sets upon a ghost’s powers. If you see her as a woman clinging to life, there is not much to fear...

This is the latest comic I wrote for the Mint . I have been thinking for a while now about the inadequacy of our secondary and sen...

The best thing about being able to look at a banned book in hindsight is that it also offers a kind of foresight. The short stories – ...

I stack books in double rows on each shelf so that an invisible row sits behind the visible row. Some shelves are three thick. I’ve also b...

I was invited to read and talk about love at the Godrej India Culture Lab book club event in February 2013. I had upheld love as the onl...

Peoples’ political and cultural choices are directly impacted by history, or whatever little scrap of history is allowed into our narrative...

As citizens and voters, we are often stumped by the glaring lack of options. There doesn't seem to be anyone 'good' around. Al...

Further musings on toilets and our shared existence as citizens, families, lovers etc. I do firmly believe that the day we all start leavi...

"cubs are slow, fathers fast and lion mothers know that truth is the thing that prevails... " I have a new-ish poem in Kindle m...

For a minute, nothing. Then a pool of light gathered at the window across, smearing itself untidily against the grimy glass. I didn’t ...

This is the latest script I did for The Small Picture in Mint . It comes from me missing music in public spaces, and then, chancing upon a...

I had, on an impulse, begun to tweet a wish-list in the new year. Most of these were civic or political wishes. Am compiling them here in o...

This piece was written for The Small Picture on December 6, in memory of my grandfather, who left so much work unfinished, so much unsaid:...

I cannot fully express the nature of my regret at not having done this post before. I had meant to, as soon as I walked out of the hall aft...

For a while now, I have been thinking about the need for 'drama' in stories, especially scripts. It is taken for granted that for a...

Reviewed ' Alternate Realities: Love in the lives of Muslim Women ' for Time Out . Sharing the text below, with some personal addit...