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The Horror Within: On watching Life
After watching Life (2017) on Netflix I wondered how the small responsive unassuming alien life form grows, feeds, and transforms into a creature that eventually squeezes the vital parts of the body in order to nurture itself. Much in the vein of Frankenstein (1818) killing its creator/stimulator and thus, warning of the perils of meddling…
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Dressing Amsterdam in a Ghazal
Do you think I can ever write in the vein of Delhi about Amsterdam? I did not choose Delhi, but once upon a time I selected living in Amsterdam In Delhi, we have serpentine avenues with magnificent trees I could find the cycle of seasons, getting and shedding leaves, in Amsterdam Sometimes I went looking…
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Building Inclusive Safe Spaces: my brown dream
Two institutions have come under the radar recently for allowing their platform to spout bigotry; both apologized, and in their inner circles professed that the core consensus was to give everyone a forum to vent out their inner feelings. However offensive they might have been they had the “right” to express. Here is my (to…
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Scratching at Layers of Patriarchal Sedimentation
During my research on the ghazal, I discovered that the work done by several women poets in the eighteenth and nineteenth century had been removed from written history. Women had systematically been excluded from several anthologies. In Urdu, as oral poetry started being complied and printed, the biographies penned by poet and historian Altaf Hussain…
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On Reading “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros
I am currently reading The House on Mango Street (2004) by Sandra Cisneros. It came recommended by a friend’s daughter; she read it as part of her English Literature syllabus in Grade 8. Well firstly, I am absolutely delighted that this young bright student recommended this book to me. Secondly, how fabulous that a book…
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Top 5 books I read in 2018
It is almost the end of the year and a good time to reflect on the best books I read in 2018. I try to read as many books as my age, this year had the ambitious 39 figure. I managed to read 33. Falling short of my goal by 6 books, but then it…
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English Pronunciation in a Global World: with Dr. Rupp, Futurelearn, and VU
I am absolutely delighted that I will be a mentor and facilitator in this ingenious course that Dr. Laura Rupp has created. What a great way to learn and grow; please do take a look. Details: Join the Futurelearn course ‘English Pronunciation in a Global World‘ developed by the Faculty of Humanities of Vrije Universiteit…
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Field Notes on “Diversity sensitive education, the International Classroom and the Mixed Classroom” for Talent, Diversity and Internationalisation
At the Vrije Universiteit (VU), the International Office along with the LEARN! Academy offers the “Mixed Classroom in Practice” – a cutting-edge workshop that provides a hands-on, bottom-up approach to pedagogical diversity training. I am one of the facilitators of this workshop. I had worked on a project to explain why we use the term…
