Known Turf

When was the last time there was a massive public uproar about our leaders concealing truth, or flip-flopping on facts presented in court, ...

We like to believe that justice is served when a murderer goes to the gallows. Death offers closure. It also shields us from the awful trut...

मेरे नाना साहब की लिखी एक बहुत पुरानी नज़्म. उस ज़माने में वो लखनऊ यूनिवर्सिटी में पढ़ रहे थे. उम्र क़रीब 22 साल रही होगी (नज़्म पे तारीख़ 1938 ल...

In other news, Facebook has finally successfully figured me out. It has my profile down pat:interested in literature (writing), films, cult...

Somebody on Twitter called me a 'corona virus ki shakal ki...' (other words followed) It was obviously meant as an insult. Made me...

Less going out of the house (which I do reluctantly at the best of times) means more reading. Over the last few weeks, between deadlines, a...

He could have said that peaceful protest is an inalienable democratic right. If he had said it before, or even after winning the state as...

Women's day, so I'm linking to the first documentary I made in 2015. It's online and free to watch now. I'll also say ...

I have a new short story out in the Massachusetts Review. The story's called  Mallika Reflects on the Events of Discount Monday.  The j...

अली जवाद ज़ैदी साहब की एक नज़्म जो उन्होंने 1941 में लिखी थी, लखनऊ जेल में, जहाँ वो जंग-ए-आज़ादी में शामिल होने की वजह से क़ैद थे।  गोली के ज़द...

An interview with the Huffington Post, India about my new novel:  Prelude to a Riot An excerpt published in Scroll.com : Annie Zaidi’s ...

In 2018, one of the essays I published but did not share around much, was about protest, about how I grew up apolitical and was suspicious ...

The recent wave of protests by students, and several others, and especially young people opposed to the CAA and the NRC/NPR rolled out by t...

ये मेरी पसंदीदा नज़्मों में से एक है, उर्दू के नामी शायर अफ़ज़ाल अहमद सय्यद की लिखी हुई: 'शायरी मैंने ईजाद की' काग़ज़ मराकेशों न...

Indications that you might be an adult: You are able to sit down to a meal in a dining hall full of bright young people with whom you have ...

हिंद में हिंदी बनते बनते बनी, कई सौ साल लगे। अब भी बन ही रही है। संस्कृत के ताने पे तुर्की फ़ारसी का बाना और फिर जाने कौन-कौन ज़ुबान की कढ़ाई...

I have a new novel out. It's called Prelude to a Riot. Please read. The Amazon buy link :  https://www.amazon.in/Prelude-Riot-No...

A new poem published in Narrow Road (Vol 8) is an attempt to examine chickens, roads and crossing over to the other side: Why did the chick...

As a child, I had thrilled to the story of a powerful, warrior woman on the throne of Delhi but had never wondered about who her ancestors ...

By now, he had published his first poem in the school magazine. It was written in Hindi, during his “Casio phase”. He had been taking priv...