Category: Greetings from Borderless

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Greetings from Borderless

Auld Lang Syne…

Art by Sohana Manzoor
Courtesy: Suzanne Kamata
Some of our visuals in 2024

As we wait for the new year to unfold, we glance back at the year that just swept past us. Here, gathered together are glimpses of the writings we found on our pages in 2024 that herald a world of compassion and kindness…writings filled with hope and, dare I say, even goodwill…and sometimes filled with the tears of poetic souls who hope for a world in peace and harmony. Disasters caused by humans starting with the January 2024 in Japan, nature and climate change, essays that invite you to recall the past with a hope to learn from it, non-fiction that is just fun or a tribute to ideas, both past and present — it’s all there. Innovative genres started by writers to meet the needs of the times — be it solar punk or weird western — give a sense of movement towards the new. What we do see in these writings is resilience which healed us out of multiple issues and will continue to help us move towards a better future.

A hundred years ago, we did not have the technology to share our views and writings, to connect and make friends with the like-minded across continents. I wonder what surprises hundred years later will hold for us…Maybe, war will have been outlawed by then, as have been malpractices and violences against individuals in the current world. The laws that rule a single man will hopefully apply to larger groups too…

Courtesy: Ratnottama Sengupta
Courtesy: Farouk Gulsara
Some of our visuals in 2024

Poetry

Whose life? by Aman Alam. Click here to read.

Winter Consumes by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal. Click here to read.

Hot Dry Summers by Lizzie Packer. Click here to read.

House of Birds (for Pablo Neruda) by Ryan Quinn Flanagan. Click here to read.

Poems for Dylan Thomas by Michael Burch. Click here to read.

Dylan Thomas in Ardmillan Terrace? by Stuart McFarlane. Click here to read.

Bermuda Love Triangle & the Frothiest Coffee by Rhys Hughes. Click here to read.

Satirical Poems by Maithreyi Karnoor. Click here to read.

Three Poems by Rakhi Dalal. Click here to read.

Manish Ghatak’s Aagun taader Praan (Fire is their Life) has been translated from Bengali by Indrayudh Sinha. Click here to read.

Manzur Bismil’s poem, Stories, has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Ye Shao-weng’s poetry ( 1100-1150) has been translated from Mandarin by Rex Tan. Click here to read.

Amalkanti by Nirendranath Chakraborty has been translated from Bengali by Debali Mookerjea-Leonard. Click here to read.

The Mirror by Mubarak Qazi has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Homecoming, a poem by Ihlwha Choi on his return from Santiniketan, has been translated from Korean by the poet himself. Click here to read.

Pochishe Boisakh (25th of Baisakh) by Tagore (1922), has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Nazrul’s Ghumaite Dao Shranto Robi Re (Let Robi Sleep in Peace) has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Jibananada Das’s Andhar Dekhecche, Tobu Ache (I have seen the dark and yet there is another) has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Tagore’s Shotabdir Surjo Aji ( The Century’s Sun today) has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Non-fiction

Baraf Pora (Snowfall)

A narrative by Rabindranath Tagore that gives a glimpse of his first experience of snowfall in Brighton and published in the Tagore family journal, Balak (Children), has been translated from Bengali by Somdatta Mandal. Click here to read.

Dylan on Worm’s Head

Rhys Hughes describes a misadventure that the Welsh poet had while hiking as a tribute to him on Dylan Thomas Day. Click here to read.

Travels of Debendranath Tagore 

These are from the memoirs of Tagore’s father translated from Bengali by Somdatta Mandal. Click here to read.

Two Pizza Fantasies

Rhys Hughes recounts myths around the pizza in prose, fiction and poetry, Click here to read

‘Is this a Dagger I See…?‘

Devraj Singh Kalsi gives a tongue-in-cheek account of a writer’s dilemma. Click here to read.

Still to Moving Images 

Ratnottama Sengupta explores artists who have turned to use the medium of films… artists like the legendary MF Husain. Click here to read.

How Dynamic was Ancient India?

Farouk Gulsara explores William Dalrymple’s latest book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. Click here to read.

The Magic Dragon: Cycling for Peace

Keith Lyons writes of a man who cycled for peace in a conflict ridden world. Click here to read.

A Cover Letter

Uday Deshwal muses on writing a cover letter for employment. Click here to read.

A Manmade Disaster or Climate Change?

Salma A Shafi writes of floods in Bangladesh from ground level. Click here to read.

Pinecones and Pinky Promises

Luke Rimmo Minkeng Lego writes of mists and cloudy remembrances in Shillong. Click here to read.

 Educating for Peace in Rwanda

Suzanne Kamata discusses the peace initiatives following the terrors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide while traveling within the country with her university colleague and students. Click here to read.

Breaking Bread

Snigdha Agrawal has a bovine encounter in a restaurant. Click here to read.

From Srinagar to Ladakh: A Cyclist’s Diary

Farouk Gulsara travels from Malaysia for a cycling adventure in Kashmir. Click here to read.

A Saga of Self-empowerment in Adversity

Bhaskar Parichha writes of Noor Jahan Bose’s Daughter of The Agunmukha: A Bangla Life, translated from Bengali by Rebecca Whittington. Click here to read.

Safdar Hashmi

Meenakshi Malhotra writes of Anjum Katyal’s Safdar Hashmi: Towards Theatre for a Democracy. Click hereto read.

Meeting the Artists

Kiriti Sengupta talks of his encounter with Jatin Das, a legendary artist. Click here to read.

The Comet’s Trail: Remembering Kazi Nazrul Islam

Radha Chakravarty pays tribute to the rebel poet of Bengal. Click here to read.

The Myriad Hues of Tagore by Aruna Chakravarti

Aruna Chakravarti writes on times and the various facets of Tagore. Click here to read.

The Year of Living Dangerously

Professor Fakrul Alam takes us back to the birth of Bangladesh. Click here to read.

A Short, Winding, and Legendary Dhaka Road 

Professor Fakrul Alam takes us on a historical journey of one of the most iconic roads of Dhaka, Fuller Road. Click here to read.

 A Sombre Start 

Suzanne Kamata talks of the twin disasters in Japan. Click here to read.

Fiction

The Snakecharmer

Shapuray by Nazrul, has been translated from Bengali by Sohana Manzoor. Click here to read.

Significance

Naramsetti  Umamaheswararao creates a fable around a banyan tree and it’s fruit. Click here to read.

Just Another Day

Neeman Sobhan gives a story exploring the impact of the politics of national language on common people. Click here to read.

The Ghosts of Hogshead

Paul Mirabile wanders into the realm of the supernatural dating back to the Potato Famine of Ireland in the 1800s. Click here to read.

A Queen is Crowned

Farhanaz Rabbani traces the awakening of self worth. Click here to read.

The Last Hyderabadi

Mohul Bhowmick talks of the passage of an era. Click here to read.

The Gift 

Rebecca Klassen shares a sensitive story about a child and an oak tree. Click here to read.

Galat Aurat or The Wrong Woman

Veena Verma’s story has been translated from Punjabi by C Christine Fair. Click here to read.

The Melting Snow

A story by Sharaf Shad,  has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Conversations

Ratnottama Sengupta talks to Ruchira Gupta, activist for global fight against human trafficking, about her work and introduces her novel, I Kick and I Fly. Click here to read.

A conversation with eminent Singaporean poet and academic, Kirpal Singh, about how his family migrated to Malaya and subsequently Singapore more than 120 years ago. Click here to read.

A brief overview of Rajat Chaudhuri’s Spellcasters and a discussion with the author on his book. Click here to read.

A review of and discussion with Rhys Hughes about his ‘Weird Western’, The Sunset Suite. Click here to read.

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Greetings from Borderless

We wish You a Happy New Year

The year 2023 seemed to have been hard on all of us. Wars in the post-pandemic world, weapons and armies that destroy innocent civilian lives have taken the centre stage, vying with climate disasters, refugees, senseless shootings and unrest.  Amidst this gloom and doom, we need hope — a gleam of light to help us find solutions towards a peaceful world. Let us give the newborn 2024 a fair chance towards its own wellbeing with cheer and laughter. Let’s laugh away our troubles and find the inner strength to move forward towards a better future where people live in harmony… perhaps to hum and recall Paul Mc Cartney’s wise words in ‘Ebony and Ivory'(1982)…

We all know that people are the same wherever you go 
There is good and bad in ev'ryone
We learn to live, when we learn to give 
Each other what we need to survive, together alive

A solution to find that hidden strength within us is given to us by a bard who we cherish, Rabindranath Tagore. He suggests a panacea in his poem, Tomar Kachhe Shanti Chabo Na (I Will Not Pray to You for Peace): 

....
Amidst this wave of conflict, 
In the haze of the games you script, 
            I will swing towards my own dream. 

            Let the breeze blow off the lamplight,
            Let storms thunder in the sky —
Every moment in my heart,
I can sense your footfall. 
             In darkness, I strive to find my stream.

In that spirit, we look inward not just to find our dreams and materialise them, but also into the treasure chests of Borderless Journal to find writings that bring a smile to our lips. Tagore, translated by Fakrul Alam and Somdatta Mandal, leads the way as we start with humour and wonder in poetry and meander into a few prose pieces that evoke laughter, at times upending our current stream of thoughts or values. We move on to our three columnists, Rhys Hughes, Devraj Singh Kalsi and Suzanne Kamata, who bring laughter and uncover the nuances of the world around us on a monthly basis. Included also are the pieces by our travelling granny, Sybil Pretious, whose spirited travels prove that age is just a number. Capturing the spirit of diversity with a tinge of laughter, let us usher in the new year to a more hopeful and sturdy start.  

Poetry

Giraffe’s Dad by Tagore: Giraffer Baba (Giraffe’s Dad), a short humorous poem by Tagore, has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Dangermouse by Ryan Quinn Flanagan. Click here to read. 

A Poem About Mysore by Rhys Hughes. Click here to read.

Voice of the Webb by Ron Pickett.  Click here to read.

The Writer on the Hill by Kisholoy Roy.  Click here to read.

Philosophical Fragments by Don Webb. Click here to read.

A Blob of Goo? by Wilda Morris. Click here to read.

Dino Poems by Richard Stevenson.   Click here to read.

Rani Pink by Carol D’Souza. Click here to read.

Walking Gretchums by Saptarshi Bhattacharya. Click here to read.

The Decliner by Santosh Bakaya. Click here to read.

Prose

Travels & Holidays: Humour from Rabindranath: Translated from the original Bengali by Somdatta Mandal, these are Tagore’s essays and letters laced with humour. Click here to read.

Humbled by a Pig: Farouk Gulsara meets a wild pig while out one early morning and muses on the ‘meeting’. Click here to read. 

Leo Messi’s Magic Realism: Sports fan Saurabh Nagpal explores the magic realism in famous footballer Messi’s play with a soupçon of humour. Click here to read.

I am a Jalebi: Arjan Batth tells us why he identifies with an Indian sweetmeat. Click here to read why.

A Day at Katabon Pet Shop , a short story set amidst the crowded streets of Dhaka, by Sohana Manzoor. Click here to read.

Columns

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes… Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter by Devraj Singh Kalsi … Click here to read.

Adventures of a Backpacking Granny by Sybil Pretious… Click here to read.

Notes from Japan by Suzanne Kamata … Click here to read.

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Greetings from Borderless

Happy New Year

Art by Sohana Manzoor

As the old year winds up, we wait for the new year in anticipation… We wait to see how the new born blossoms as each year takes a unique form. This year, while we strengthened the population with vaccines, other kind of politics set in, which finally found fruition in a war that has perhaps been one of the saddest events of human history — people made homeless, towns erased, lives lost, nature polluted with gunpowder and shreds of machinery along with the ultimate threat of nuclear weapons erupting every now and then. What could possibly give hope amidst the darkness of the receding year with price hikes, the threat of looming hunger, joblessness, more conflicts and fear?

The fact that we have survived for more than 200,000 years in our current form is heartening. That we have lived through wars, plagues and disasters without being erased out of existence only highlights the resilience of our species to adapt to all kinds of contingencies. Perhaps, with the current crises, we will move towards new world orders…perhaps, we will find hope in creating and evolving new ways of living in consonance with nature and more by our need than greed.

With that hope in heart, we wish you a wonderful start to the New Year with a few interesting pieces from our journal, including a highly entertaining piece by Suzanne Kamata on how the Japanese traditionally, literally make a clean start each New Year and Michael Burch’s fun poems and a translation of Tagore’s adaptation of the traditional year-end Auld Lang Syne. We have sprinkled more humour in poetry by Rhys Hughes and Santosh Bakaya and, in prose, by Tagore, translated by Somdatta Mandal, Ruskin Bond and Devraj Singh Kalsi. Laughter at the this juncture will hopefully give us a year with more shades of happiness.

Poetry 

Tagore’s Purano Sei Diner Kotha or ‘Can old days ever be forgot?’ based on Robert Burn’s Auld Lang Syne, translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Fun Poems for the New Year by Michael R Burch… Click here to read.

Kissing Frogs by Rhys Hughes… Click here to read.

The Recliner by Santosh Bakaya… Click here to read.

Prose

Travels & Holidays: Humour from Rabindranath: Translated from the original Bengali by Somdatta Mandal, these are Tagore’s essays and letters laced with humour. Click here to read.

A short tale from Friends in Wild Places: Birds, Beasts and Other Companions by Ruskin Bond. Click here to read.

In A Clean Start, Suzanne Kamata tells us how the Japanese usher in a new year. Click here to read.

In The New Year’s Boon, Devraj Singh gives a glimpse into the projection of a new normal created by God. Click here to read.

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Book Talks

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Greetings from Borderless

Carolling Christmas

Painting by Sybil Pretious

Christmas is a time of loving and giving — values which cannot be reiterated often enough. It is a time when people meet friends and relatives, a tradition that had been hampered by the pandemic and one that will hopefully be resumed with gusto this year.

Many celebrate the season but not the religiosity of the festival as they are from cultures that give precedence to other religious events — Eid, Hanukkah, Durga Puja or Diwali — to name a few. But the spirit of the season affects us all. As the year draws towards its close, Christmas becomes a time for reaffirmation of the human spirit across the globe. We celebrate it everywhere and in any season — in summer, winter or in tropical climes where the weather stays the same round the year. Perhaps… because it is the last major event of the ripened year…

Wishing you joy, we invite you to savour of our fare — including poetry, not just describing Christmas but of compassion. We have humour in prose, essays on great writings that have survived more than a century, and a translation of a poem that was published a hundred years ago.

Poetry

Christmas Poem: A fresh fun poem by Rhys Hughes… Click here to read.

Poems by Sukrita Paul Kumar: A tribute to our fellow humans in war-torn Ukraine… Click here to read.

Prose

My Christmas Eve “Alone” : Erwin Coomb has an unusual adventure on Christmas Eve… Is it friendly or spooky? Click here to read.

Yule Do Nicely: Hilarious short stories from Rhys Hughes‘ funny Christmas collection. Click here to read.

Completing a Century

Rebel or ‘Bidrohi’: Nazrul’s signature poem, ‘Bidrohi‘, completed one hundred years of publication, translated by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

T.S Eliot’s The Waste Land: Finding Hope in Darkness: Dan Meloche muses on the century-old poem and its current relevance. Click here to read.

Me and James Joyce in Trieste: Mike Smith makes a trip to Trieste, where the hundred year-old Ulysees was written. Click here to read.

Ivory Ivy & Stephen Dedalus: Paul Mirabile explores James Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus and his passion for words keeping in mind the hundred year old Ulysees & the even older, A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man. Click here to read.

Courtesy: Creative Commons

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

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Greetings from Borderless

Illuminate the World…

“Light festive lamps, make bright the night,
Shine your own lights, illuminate the world.”

— Tagore’s Autumnal Nights, translated by Professor Fakrul Alam
Courtesy: Creative Commons

Celebrating and reinforcing the victory of the human spirit over darker forces is a cathartic experience in a world reeling under the impact of senseless wars, depression and economic crises. While the Earth too upheaves changes to create new lores, we draw comfort from the perpetuation of rituals that have solaced us over centuries. These festivals are celebrated in different ways across the world on different days. But, the festival of lights has become a major one, celebrated by a diaspora across all continents. The rituals were varied but the celebrations include lighting of lamps across the board.

The Combat of Rama and Ravana (late 18th century) Courtesy: Creative Commons

Lamps were lit to celebrate Rama’s return home after destroying darker forces as Diwali among North Indians. Among those from the South and West, it was the victory of Krishna over demon Narakasur that warranted the celebration of Deepavali. And yet those from the East, celebrate Kali’s victory over the rakshasas with lamps, sparklers and prayers. The Jain and Buddhist communities also have their special observances on this day.

Krishna killing Narakasura
Kali killing Demons
Courtesy: Creative Commons

To bring to you a flavour of these festivals, we have writings by Farouk Gulsara from Malaysia on the celebration of Deepavali during his childhood; Debraj Mookerjee on Kali Puja celebrations in his ancestral home and a sample of Bibhutibhushan’s stories on the darker tantric practices — intrinsically linked to the worship of Kali along with Basudhara Roy’s review of the translation of his book by Devalina Mookerjee.

We begin our selection to jubilate this festival of lights with a translation of Tagore’s poem on light and another by Mike Smith.

Poetry

Tagore’s Paean to Light. Click here to read.

Last Lights by Mike Smith. Click here to read. 

Prose

In Dim Memories of the Festival of Lights, Farouk Gulsara takes a nostalgic trip to Deepavali celebrations in the Malaysia of his childhood. Click here to read.

In Vignettes of Life: Unhurried at Haripur, Debraj Mookerjee revisits Kali Puja in his ancestral home. Click here to read

Basudhara Roy reviews Taranath Tantrik and Other Tales from the Supernatural by Bibhutibhushan, translated from Bengali by Devalina Mookerjee. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Taranath Tantrik and Other Tales from the Supernatural by Bibhutibhushan, translated from Bengali by Devalina Mookerjee. Click here to read.

Courtesy: Creative Commons
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Greetings from Borderless

For Auld Lang Syne

Painting by Sohana Manzoor

What will the New Year bring? Will it connect us all like a tree that has its roots deep in the Earth but reaches out to the sky with its branches rearing high? Its blooms seem like stars on the planet, connecting all life and non-living in its embrace. We hope as global consciousness grows for living in harmony with nature and science, love and kindness, may we all move towards a better more connected world. We, at Borderless Journal, wish you all a happy start to a wonderful New Year!

Our oeuvre this time brings to you a selection from the year 2021 that showcases the change makers we met, and writing that with their values connect us or ring with goodwill and look forward to a better future.

Meet & Greet

These are people you can meet on our pages — people who impact the world in a way that touches lives.

Goutam Ghose, who finds colouring the world with syncretic lore as the best alternative to sectarian violence. Click here to read.

Anvita Abbi, an empathetic linguist who builds bridges to create a seamless world, accepting and co-existing with different ways of life as colours of a rainbow. Click here to read.

Nazes Afroz translated a book on Afghanistan by Tagore’s disciple, Syed Mujtaba Ali, a memoir that shows the roots of the current crises go deep. Also, a senior BBC editor of South Asia, Afroz takes us through the situation with compassion. Click here to read.

Jessica Mudditt travelled to Myanmar and wrote a book, which is an eye-opener about the current situation. She was brought to focus by Keith Lyons who interviewed her for us. Click here to read.

Sanjay Kumar founded Pandies, an activist theatre group that educates, bridging gaps between the divides of University educated and the less fortunate who people slums or terror zones. Click here to read.

 Sybil Pretious, a teacher who has taught in six countries to impact children, starting her career in Africa and living through and beyond Apartheid. Click here to read.

Poetry

Robert Burns & Tagore in Harmony : A transcreation of Tagore’s song, Purano Sei Diner Kotha, based on Robert Burn’s poem associated with new year’s revelries. Click here to read.

Snowball Earth: A long poem by Rhys Hughes in the spirit of a modern man’s Auld Lang Syne, touching on our climate debacle. Click here to read.

Gathering Blossoms: Poetry by Michael R Burch that lingers in the heart. Click here to read.

Humour

Travels & Holidays: Humour from Rabindranath: Translated from the original Bengali by Somdatta Mandal, these are Tagore’s essays and letters laced with humour. Click here to read.

Surviving to Tell a Pony-tale: Devraj Singh Kalsi journeys up a hill on a pony and gives a sedately hilarious account. Click here to read.

 Trouser Hermits: Rhys Hughes muses over men’s attire and the lack of them. Click here to read.

Prose

Temples and Mosques: Kazi Nazrul Islam’s fiery essay on the need for a syncretic lore translated by Sohana Manzoor. Click here to read.

To Infinity & Beyond!: Candice Louisa Daquin explores the magic of space travel. Click here to read.

Near the River Chenab and Under The trees: Sunil Sharma in a poignant telling takes us on a journey to the banks of a river where life, love and death sheathed in terrorism cumulate to a peak. Click here to read.

Richard Hughes: The Reporter Who Inspired Ian Fleming: Bhaskar Parichha showcases a journalist who wrote globally, spicing it up with humour. Click here to read.

The Lords of Lights: With photographs and a story, Penny Wilkes makes an interesting new legend. Click here to read.

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Greetings from Borderless

Merry Christmas

Christmas Candle: Painting by Sybil Pretious

Christmas brings not just the end of the year closer to us but also the spirit of loving and giving. The festival generates a feeling of hope in our hearts for a better New Year. The world links up together to celebrate this day which has a touch of beliefs from earlier times. Some connect to the festival with religious beliefs but others join in with the feeling of goodwill generated by the season, to celebrate in winter, summer or tropical weather with the same zest. In the same spirit, we at Borderless wish all of you fabulous Christmas holidays. 

For your entertainment, we have put together some pieces which not only showcases writings around the festival but the spirit that revives hope unfailingly each year. As a special Christmas bonanza to our readers, we would like to also present a selection of a few eminent authors who have added lustre to the gems in our treasure chest.

Enjoy our oeuvre & Merry Christmas!

Poetry

Christmas Poems by Rhys Hughes. Click here to read.

One Star by Ihlawha Choi. Click here to read.

Christmas Cheer by Malachi Edwin Vethamani. Click here to read.

Prose

Rakhamaninov’s Sonata

A short story by Sherzod Artikov, translated from Uzbeki by Nigora Mukhammad. Click here to read.

Hold the Roast Turkey Please Santa !

Celebrating the festive season off-season with Keith Lyons from New Zealand, where summer solstice and Christmas fall around the same time. Click here to read.

Authors from Around the World

We have an amalgam of writers from across borders who will bring the flavours of their part of the world right up to your doorstep.

Jared Carter: Click here to read.

Akbar Barakzai: Click here to read

Suzanne Kamata: Click here to read

Arundhathi Subramaniam: Click here to read

Aruna Chakravarti: Click here to read

Fakrul Alam: Click here to read

Ratnottama Sengupta: Click here to read

Somdatta Mandal: Click here to read

Courtesy: Creative Commons