Antiserious — Home 2019
Rachelle Bharathi Chandran, Kazi Neel, Karishma Hazarika, Shalim Hussain, Nzanmongi Jasmine Patton, Nilanjana Bhattacharjee, Changmin Yuan…
Rachelle Bharathi Chandran, Kazi Neel, Karishma Hazarika, Shalim M Hussain, Nzanmongi Jasmine Patton, Nilanjana Bhattacharjee, Changmin Yuan and Nicolas Jaoul.
Most of us grew up with the idea that home is shelter. Those who could not relate to this idea thought there must be something wrong with us. In a practical sense, it is a shelter. It is also revered in cinema, literature and religious texts as ghar ek mandir.
The chaukath of the house is a tired metaphor, neatly dividing the inside and the outside — this side Ram, that side Ravan with 10 heads full of evil thoughts; this side Sita, that side Surpanakha snatching away prized brahmin men.
But home is also its absence. Home isn’t where the feet are, for those who walk on flimsy soil. They aren’t sucked up by the earth but constantly spurned for breathing the air they do not deserve. Madhu Chindaki, whose case still awaits trial, was murdered in broad daylight on February 22, 2018, because he was hungry and thought he had a home. So did the Muslim residents of Dhamaspur village, Gurgaon, who had been living in that locality for years and thought at least video evidence of the mob attack on them would ensure fair investigation.
Then there are those who are forced to respect their homes they did not know existed. Did the people of Manipur know how important they are to the nation that has for decades now kept them under the shadow of the draconian AFSPA?
This issue of our magazine deals with the various meanings of home. And we hope that in our limited space, we have been able to address some facets of it. This issue includes adaptations of Joy Goswami’s ‘Pagli, Tomar Shonge’ into English by Shalim M Hussain and Assamese by Karishma Hazarika and Kazi Neel. We see how the poem leads separate lives in two languages distinct from the Bengali of the original, and cities (Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati) with political connotations of their own. Rachelle Bharathi Chandran’s poem ‘ Kintsukuroi’ sees the body as home and talks about how the structures of caste and gender give a person ‘a sense of non-belonging both in the outside world and internally.’ The 10 poems by Changming Yuan explores displacement of space and self, and Nilanjana Bhattacharjee’s personal essay documents the life of her grandmother’s kitchen, verandah and staircase.
We are also extremely excited to carry two folktales of the Lotha Nagas, translated for us by Nzanmongi Jasmine Patton. And in our Not Trending section, we have Nicolas Jaoul’s essay that asks why in this age of ‘heritage ❤’ we still look at Dalit architecture, including Ambedkar statues, as vain show of wealth.
Wishing you a fulfilling read.
Debojit Dutta
Co-founder and editor
Poetry
Aubade: My Home is a Hotel, & Other Poems
by Changming Yuanantiserious.com
Kintsukuroi
by Rachelle Bharathi Chandranantiserious.com
Three Poets Recreate Joy Goswami’s Pagli Tomar Shonge in Assamese and English
by Shalim Hussain, Kazi Neel and Karishma Hazarikaantiserious.com
Folktale
The Sesehampong and the Velongvu: A Lotha-Naga Folktale
translated by Jasmine Pattonantiserious.com
Essay
The Ghost in Thamma’s Kitchen
by Nilanjana Bhattacharjeeantiserious.com
Not Trending
Learning the Use of Symbolic Means: Dalits, Ambedkar Statues and the State in Uttar Pradesh
by Nicolas Jaoulantiserious.com