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Dilruba Pe Dil Aaya
I discovered Dilruba Ahmed’s poetry in the early part of this year and it has stayed with me. The first poem I read was: “Snake Oil, Snake Bite” and it lingered over my days, making me smile at odd-moments as I remembered its tender irony. Imagine my joy when I discovered she had written a ghazal.…
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“Stop interrupting me.”
10 Words Every Girl Should Learn By Soraya Chemaly / alternet.org “Stop interrupting me.” “I just said that.” “No explanation needed.” [..] “Parents interrupt girls twice as often and hold them to stricter politeness norms. Teachers engage boys, who correctly see disruptive speech as a marker of dominant masculinity, more often and more dynamically than girls.”…
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Paris in the rain
Saturday, January 10, 2015, I was to be in Paris for the day to meet poet and translator Marilyn Hacker. I had many questions about her experience with the ghazal and ghazal poets; she was generous enough to offer her day to me. On Monday 5th I booked my tickets to travel by the Thalys…
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When I went to watch “The Hundred Foot Journey”
Has the study of literature made me lose the ability to enjoy an ordinary film? Has it? Has it? I went to watch “The Hundred Foot Journey”. The film promised the agreeable mingling of food and diaspora. Purab laughed, “Are you watching the diaspakoda?” I wanted the movie to move me. It had Om…

