Known Turf

Respect is hard. I don't just mean that it is hard to win the respect of others, or to hold onto your self respect. It is also hard to...

The paths of glory, a poet has said, lead but to the grave. What the poet may not have imagined is the path that leads to the actual graves ...

Growing up, I never heard anything about who belonged in the kitchen. My mother didn't stay any longer in the kitchen as was necessar...

यूँ तो प्रेम का मामला हमेशा नाज़ुक ही होता है, लेकिन कुछ प्रेम कहानियाँ इतनी नाज़ुक होती हैं कि जैसे ही उनका ख़ुलासा होता है, प्रेमियों की सम...

A few months ago, I had the good fortune of being invited to the Women of the World Festival, held in Brisbane this year. Because it fo...

A script I wrote recently, Untitled 1, has won The Hindu Playwright Award for 2018. I am glad and grateful and feel very lucky.  Here ...

My grandfather was once in jail. As a kid, I’d pronounce this with a little flush of pride.  My  grandpa! Way back in 1939. As a young...

There was something odd about the way he wore the rubber slipper on his right foot. It was half off all the while he kept his foot presse...

Consider the difference between watching a film in a foreign language and trying to read a book in that language. The film will still give...

One of my favourite experiences while traveling in more developed nations is the button you can press whenever pedestrians want to cross ...

Somewhere in the Haryanvi village of Mughwali, there is a little acquifer. That is to say, there is a hole in the earth, bricked around, a...

To call it filth is to dress it up. To call it a disgrace is to lend it grace. Let us call it what it is. It is the manifestation of minds ...

When does a borrowing turn into a theft? The answer is obvious – ask before borrowing, and do not go about saying that the goods are your ...

One can’t help it. One feels good about an Indian (well, okay Indian origin) girl growing up to do big things. Nikki – probably a pet nam...

The way to a man's heart, they say, is through the stomach. The way to keeping a nation's heart healthy is also sort of through the...

When I was little, I remember reading a story, or perhaps a play, where an Irish family is considering migrating to a new land, America. Mo...

I've enjoyed reading and reviewing two books this past month: Tabish Khair's "Night of Happiness" and Intizar Husain'...

There have been times when I've been asked what city I'd like to live in for the rest of my life. What sort of neighbourhoo...

One of my enduring memories from the first time I visited Melbourne is walking around looking for lunch and spotting a compact row of bri...

This poem had appeared in The Narrow Road zine. What more does a girl want? ·          notebooks. new, with hard covers so the page...