Tag: Alpana

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Contents

Borderless, February 2026

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

What Do We Yearn for?… Click here to read.

Translations

Nazrul’s Ashlo Jokhon Phuler Phalgun (When Flowers Bloom Spring) has been translated from Bengali to English by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

An Elegy for the Merchant of Hope by Atta Shad has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Four of his own Malay poems have been translated by Isa Kamari. Click here to read.

Two of her own Persian poems have been written and translated by Akram Yazdani. Click here to read.

The Beaten Rooster, a short story by Hamiruddin Middya, has been translated from Bengali by V Ramaswamy. Click here to read.

Tagore’s Shishur Jibon (The Child’s Life) has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Allan Lake, Goutam Roy, Chris Ringrose, Alpana, Lynn White, C.Mikal Oness, Shamim Akhtar, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Snehaprava Das, Jim Bellamy, Manahil Tahir, John Swain, Mohul Bhowmick, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, SR Inciardi

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In The Clumsy Giant, Rhys Hughes shares a funny poem about a gaint who keeps stubbing his toes! Click here to read.

Musings/Slice from Life

From the Land of a Thousand Temples

Farouk Gulsara shares attitudes towards linguistic heritage. Click here to read.

A Tangle of Clothes Hangers

Mario Fenech explores the idea of time. Click here to read.

Dreaming in Pondicherry

Mohul Bhowmick muses in Pondicherry. Click here to read.

Champagne Sailing

Meredith Stephens narrated a yatch race between Sydney and Hobart with photographs by Alan Noble. Click here to read.

In the Company of Words

Gower Bhat shares a heartfelt account of a bibliophile. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In Horoscope or Horrorscope, Devraj Singh Kalsi reflects on predictions made at his birth. Click here to read.

Essays

The Chickpea That Logged More Mileage Than You

Ravi Varmman K Kanniappan gives an interesting account of the chickpeas journey through time and space, woven with a bit of irony. Click here to read.

Memories: Where Culture Meets Biology

Amir Zadnemat writes of how memory is impacted by both science and humanities. Click here to read.

The Restoration of Silence

Andriy Nivchuk brings to us repetitious realities that occur through histories. Click here to read.

Aeons of Art

In If Variety is the Spice of Life…, Ratnottama Sengupta introduces upcoming contemporary artists. Click here to read.

Stories

The Onion

JK Miller brings to us the story of a child in Khan Yunis. Click here to read.

Santa in the Autorickshaw

Snigdha Agrawal takes us to meet a syncretic spirit with a heartwarming but light touch. Click here to read.

Disillusioned

Sayan Sarkar shares a story of friendship and disillusionment. Click here to read.

Decluttering

Vela Noble shares a spooky fantasy. Click here to read.

The Value of Money

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao writes a story that reiterates family values. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Arupa Kalita Patangia’s Moonlight Saga, translated from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Natalie Turner’s The Red Silk Dress. Click here to read.

Interview

Keith Lyons in conversation with Natalie Turner, author of The Red Silk Dress. Clickhere to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Sanjoy Hazarika’s River Traveller: Journeys on the TSANGO-BRAHMAPUTRA from Tibet to the Bay of Bengal. Click here to read.

Rakhi Dalal reviews Sujit Saraf’s Every Room Has a View — A Novel. Click here to read.

Anindita Basak reviews Taslima Nasrin’s Burning Roses in my Garden, translated from Bengali by Jesse Waters. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Kailash Satyarthi’s Karuna: The Power of Compassion. Click here to read.

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

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

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Editorial

What Do We Yearn for?

Most people like you and me connect with the commonality of felt emotions and needs. We feel hungry, happy, sad, loved or unloved and express a larger plethora of feelings through art, theatre, music, painting, photography and words… With these, we tend to connect. And yet, larger structures created over time to offer security and governance to the masses—of which you and I are a part — have grown divisive, and, by the looks of it, the fences nurtured over time seem insurmountable. To retain these structures that were meant to keep us safe, wars are being fought and many are getting killed, losing homes and going hungry. We showcase such stories, poems and non-fiction to create an awareness among those who are lucky enough to remain untouched. But is there a way out, so that all of us can live peacefully, without war, without hunger and with love and a vision towards surviving climate change which (like it or not) is upon us?

Creating an awareness of hunger and destruction wreaked by war is a heartrending story set in Gaza by JK Miller. While Snigdha Agrawal’s narrative gives a sense of hope, recounting a small kindness by a common person, Sayan Sarkar shares a more personal saga of friendship and disillusionment — where people have choice. But does war leave us a choice as it annihilates friendships, cities, homes and families? Naramsetti Umamaheswararao’s story reiterates the belief in the family – peace being an accepted unit. Vela Noble’s fantastical fiction and art comes like a respite– though there is a darker side to it — with a touch of fun. Perhaps, a bit of fantasy and humour opens the mind to deal with the more sombre notes of existence.

The translation section hosts a story by Hamiruddin Middya, who grew up as a farmer’s son in Bengal. Steeped in local colours, it has been rendered into English by V Ramaswamy. Nazrul’s song revelling in the colours of spring has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Atta Shad’s pensive Balochi lines have been brought to us in English by Fazal Baloch. Isa Kamari continues to bring the flavours of an older, more laid-back Singapore with translations of his own Malay poems. A couple of Persian verses have been rendered into English by the poet, Akram Yazdani, herself. Questing for harmony, Tagore’s translated poem while reflecting on a child’s life, urges us to have the courage to be like a child — open, innocent and willing to imagine a world laced with trust and hope. If we were all to do that, do you think we’d still have wars, violence and walls built on hate and intolerance?

While in a Tagorean universe, children are viewed as trusting and open, does that continue a reality in the current world that believes in keeping peace with weapons? Contemporary voices think otherwise. Manahil Tahir brings us a touching poem in a doll’s voice, a doll belonging to a child victimised by violence. While violence pollutes childhood, pollution in Delhi has been addressed by Goutam Roy in verse. Poignant lines from Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal make one question the idea of home and borders while Snehaprava Das has interpreted the word ‘borderless’ in her own way. We have more colours of humanity from Allan Lake, Chris Ringrose, Alpana, Lynn White, C.Mikal Oness, Shamim Akhtar, Jim Bellamy,John Swain, Mohul Bhowmick and SR Inciardi. Ryan Quinn Flanagan has given fun lines about a snow fight while Rhys Hughes has shared a humorous poem about a clumsy giant.

Bringing in humour in prose is Devraj Singh Kalsi’s musing about horoscopes! While, with a soupçon of irony Farouk Gulsara talks of his ‘holiday’, Meredith Stephen takes us to a yacht race in Australia and Mohul Bhowmick to Pondicherry. Gower Bhat writes of his passion for words while discussing his favourite books. Ratnottama Sengupta introduces us to contemporary artists from her part of the world.

Mario Fenech takes a look at the idea of time. Amir Zadnemat writes of how memory is impacted by both science and humanities while Andriy Nivchuk brings to us snippets from Herodotus’s and Pericles’s lives that still read relevant. Ravi Varmman K Kanniappan gives the journey of chickpeas across space and time, asserting: “The chickpea does not care about your ideology, your portfolio, or your meticulously curated identity. It will grow, fix nitrogen, feed someone, and move on without a press release.” It has survived over aeons in a borderless state!

In book excerpts, we have a book that transcends borders as it’s a translation from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas of Arupa Kalita Patangia’s Moonlight Saga. Any translation is an attempt to integrate the margins into the mainstream of literature, and this is no less. The other excerpt is from Natalie Turner’s The Red Silk Dress. Keith Lyons has interviewed Turner about her novel which crosses multiple cultures too while on a personal quest.

In reviews, Somdatta Mandal discusses a book that explores the colours of a river across three sets of borders, Sanjoy Hazarika’s River Traveller: Journeys on the TSANGO-BRAHMAPUTRA from Tibet to the Bay of Bengal. Rakhi Dalal writes about a narrative centring around migrants, Sujit Saraf’s Every Room Has a View — A Novel. Anindita Basak reviews Taslima Nasrin’s poetry, Burning Roses in my Garden, translated from Bengali by Jesse Waters. Bhaskar Parichha reviews Kailash Satyarthi’s Karuna: The Power of Compassion. In it, Satyarthi suggest the creation of CQ — Compassion Quotient— like IQ and EQ, claiming it will improve our quality of life. What a wonderful thought!

Could we be yearning compassion?

Holding on to that idea, we invite you to savour the contents of our February issue.

Huge thanks to all our contributors and readers for making this issue possible. Heartfelt thanks to our wonderful team, especially Sohana Manzoor for her fabulous artwork.

Enjoy the reads!

Let’s look forward to the spring… May it bring new ideas to help us all move towards more amicable times.

Mitali Chakravarty

borderlessjournal.com

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE CONTENTS FOR THE FEBRUARY 2026 ISSUE.

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READ THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE FIRST BORDERLESS ANTHOLOGY, MONALISA NO LONGER SMILES, BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK.

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Poetry

The Bag I Carry to Work Everyday

By Alpana

The bag I carry to work everyday is a sole witness to my cheers and jeers.
Cheers.
Cheers to moments when a thought-provoking quote in discovered in a new book,
In Margret Atwood’s On Writers and Writings, enlightening my dim brain, feeling fogged in this northern nippy weather.
Cheers to spaces where marigolds are spotted gyrating to gushy chilled winds of January
In a lawn in front of my college library, shining in its morning dewy glory.
Cheers to lunch time when home-cooked food restores my faith in selfless love --
Love of my husband, who diligently cooks and packs and wraps and locks my lunch box.
Cheers to a noon, brimming with camaraderie of all who throng college --
The younglings, the chatty students, basking in the sun with all their trinkets and dogeared books.
Jeers.
There are many jeers too.
Jeers to the whims and fancies of a parent of two,
Her unmooring position with respect to the others, whiling away their day, nonchalantly.
Jeers to the mounting to-do lists of an aspiring poet,
The puerile blurbs or the clunky compositions being on the back burner for some time.
Jeers to the rising indifference and disdain among mortals,
The dereliction of what ought to be done and the celebration of the snivelling obscurity.
Jeers to the fact that your best friend lives in a far distant city.
The companionship and the tickles you shared are always remembered amidst the fissures and cracks of the day. 
Jeers to the decreasing number of cold winter days,
The diminishing charm of winters, the apparently irreparable climate change taking its toll on all that is nature and human.
Jeers to the scouring it takes to cleanse the mind of daunted blankness and the silence of boredom.
The incessant frenzy of ever day hustle, and disorderly nests of imaginative abodes, far away from the maddening crowd.
The bag I carry to work brims with cheers and jeers,
Hopes and hues,
Sighs and trials, 
And my relentless efforts to be better, calmer and quieter.

Alpana teaches in a government college of Gurugram, Haryana. She is a parent of two and is busy rummaging lost pieces of toys during her waking hours.

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PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

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

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Aeons of Art

Art is Alive

By Ratnottama Sengupta

The Gregorian calendar was still showing 1998.

I was in Oxford on a Charles Wallace fellowship to study John Ruskin’s influence on M K Gandhi and R N Tagore. Like any other student I lived in a hostel, walked up to the Ruskin School of Art and Ashmolean Museum, to the High Street and the flea market, to the Bodleian Library, and – of course – the book stores that continue to make that ancient city of academic excellence such a delight for a person like me who started crawling in the midst of books.

What caught my fancy on the book-lined shelves in the hometown of a ‘legal deposit’ library? The screenplays of Quentin Tarantino. Countless books on Elizabeth 1 – perhaps because Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth had just released worldwide. And the volumes on art. The gorgeous reproductions halved the tedium of walking miles of museums and galleries. And the history of art rekindled my love for paintings from our collective past.

But what I didn’t take kindly to was the neglect of – if not bias against — art from my homeland. There were books on Greek, Chinese, Japanese , African, Egyptian, Mayan, Roman art, on Russian Icons and Stained Glass windows, on French Impressionists and German Expressionists, Cubists and Moderns… But Indian art? For crying out loud, where was Ajanta-Ellora? The glass paintings and Miniatures? Pichwai and Patachitra, Nathdwara and Kalighat Pat, Warli and Madhubani, Santiniketan and Baroda?

That’s when I told myself, “Put the journey of Indian paintings between covers.” For, which other country has a continuity that I can boast, of a tradition that has continued unchequered for three thousand years and more?

Once I was back home, my friend Reeta Dutta Gupta approached me to edit an Encyclopedia of Culture for the India Series she was nursing. And Dr Jain of Ratna Sagar entrusted me to author a Notebook that would recount for school-going children the story of Indian art from Bhimbetka to the present millennia. What luck!

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Be it the hunters and the hunted of Bhimbetka, the rock art now on the UNESCO list of World Heritage, or Kolam and Alpana and Rangoli, the decorative designs of Kerala and Bengal and Maharashtra. Be it the Buddha of Ajanta Frescoes or the ploughmen and blacksmith of the Haripura Congress panels painted by the Bengal master Nandalal Bose, be it the illuminations in the Jain manuscripts or the Mughal manners immortalised by the kalams: art in India has grown out of everyday life. These art expressions have been an integral part of the people’s existence, regardless of the style or the period in which they were painted. Yes, down centuries Indian art has withstood change of regiments, religions, philosophy, social content, historical setbacks. And, aesthetic excellence has found an outlet in forms and lines, strokes and colours, whether these were obtained by crushing gems or pounded rice.

This has helped India enjoy a continuity that is rare even in the developed societies. From the sketches of Bhimbetka to those of the tribal artists of Warli, from the murals of ancient India to the art of contemporary masters, from the miniaturised figures to the Tantric patterns – art in India has reinvented itself again and again. And each time it has emerged with renewed vigour and vitality. Because, every age has related to art in an intimate way. By painting on the wall. Decorating the floor. Placing it on the altar. Or simply by keeping an account of the times.

Bhimbetka Cave paintings from prehistory
A fresco from the Ajanta caves,  2nd century BCE to 6th century CE
Art from Indian past. From Public Domain

As A Ramachandran – then professor of art at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi – had said to me, “Even when our ancient language that was deemed the language of the gods, fell into oblivion, art transcended centuries because it was communicating through a universal language – the visual language of colours and hues.” The lines defined the form, and also created a unitary area for the use of colour, he had further explained. “No matter what the subject, comprehension was never a problem for the Indian – until he was confronted by the art that was imposed by the colonialists.”

The Western overemphasis on realism played havoc, with the native sensibility that allowed for imagination and stylization, Nair Sir had pointed out. That sensibility had no problem accepting a ten-armed goddess, Dasabhuja Durga, or Dasanan, the ten-headed Ravan. “Lifestyle changes too have led to the dilution of Indian aesthetics that once enveloped our workaday lives. The only living art today is the visual art traditions in the villages, but that too might not last as villagers now want to ‘rise’ to the level of the urbans!” he had lamented.

In such a situation, art becomes doubly significant in the life of a child. When she or he is exposed to it, the child can not only access the history and the continuity of a culture but also nurture it with love that can ensure it lives in the days to come… With this in mind, I will write to focus on the high points of Indian art.

Ratnottama Sengupta, formerly Arts Editor of  The Times of India, teaches mass communication and film appreciation, curates film festivals and art exhibitions, and translates and writes books. She has been a member of CBFC, served on the National Film Awards jury and has herself won a National Award. 

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In Memoriam

Memories of my Grandfather

By Alpana

From Public Domain

My memories of my Dadaji[1] are numerous — profound, etched and radiant. I lost my grandfather in March of 2023. Therefore, you will witness grief being poured in the garb of this write up. Emanating heartfelt respect and love his grandchildren preserve in their hearts, it is difficult to comprehend grief. Many being young and thriving in their adulthood, all my cousins reminisce the remains of the day he passed.

Being a married, working parent, life does not give much room to stop the grind and think. There is an unsaid, unwritten normative rush to sustain, to survive and to soar high. Nevertheless, the souls do get sun kissed, the rumbling tummies do find solace in a warm home cooked meal and the minds find sheer joy in observing the cheers and jeers of their kids. Amidst the routine hullabaloo, there are moments offering whiff of fresh air and a dash of seasonal fragrance.

March is followed by April. It’s the month of harvest, month of Baisakhi[2], reaping what was sown to make space for the new. That’s how didactic and instructional nature is in its true sense, gradually progressing at a slow and steady pace. Embracing the untimely rains and hailstorms and yet reviving to thrive in the new day. That’s how grief pertaining to the loss of a grandparent might look like. It pulls you back so that you can consciously chart your future trajectory. The force holds you back in order to pierce the sky with your flight because that force makes us move, march and advance. That’s what we learn from our grandparents. Their relentless effort, how small or minute it might be, helps us to garner the courage and thick skin we must develop to remain afloat.

My Dadaji was an old wise man, true to his words, cool headed and had no qualms about people being judgemental or nosey. Always calling a spade a spade, he would make a statement, almost as firm as a sermon, and take leave, without worrying about what turn his children’s responses.

The constant urge to jump to conclusions gives us major disappointments but my grandparents taught us how to lead a life, sans the hurry, the anxiety and the inevitable will to speed up the tasks. I recall an incident when my Dadaji accompanied me to a district level speech competition because my parents were posted in some other town for a certain period. He had never been to a school, didn’t know how to hold a pen and yet agreed to listen to my speech delivered in English in an assembly of teachers, parents and students. I secured third position in that competition but what stole the thunder was how he reviewed my performance before my parents. In his words, “Sabte badhiya boli. Baaki to ruke thi.” (She spoke flawlessly. Others fumbled many times.) The memory of such observation, coming from a man alien to the academics and yet giving feedback so constructive and encouraging, can never be erased. Such is the magic of grandparents, enchanting, uplifting and promising.

[1] Paternal grandfather

[2] Punjabi New Year

Alpana is an assistant professor in English at Pt. CLS Government College, Sec-14, Karnal, Haryana. She completed her higher education in English literature from University of Delhi. When not teaching or reading, she can be spotted collecting fallen flowers from garden with her toddler.  

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

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

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

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Contents

Borderless, March 2024

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

‘If Winter Comes, Can Spring be Far Behind…’ Click here to read.

Translations

Travels of Debendranath Tagore are narratives translated from Bengali by Somdatta Mandal. Click here to read.

The Yellow Flower, a narrative by Haneef Sharif, has been translated by Fazal Baloch from Balochi. Click here to read.

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

Nazrul’s Amamai Nahi Go Bhalobashleo (Even if you don’t love me) has been translated by Professor Fakrul Alam from Bengali. Click here to read.

Rough Stone by Ihlwha Choi has been translated from Korean to English by the poet himself. Click here to read.

Phalgun or Spring by Rabindranath Tagore has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Conversations

A discussion with Radha Chakravarty on her new book, Subliminal, and a brief review of the book. Click here to read.

Jagari Mukherjee interviews Rajorshi Patranabis, discussing his new book, Checklist Anomaly and Wiccan philosophy. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Rhys Hughes, Alpana, Ron Pickett, Shamik Banerjee, Stuart McFarlean, Baisali Chatterjee Dutt, John Grey, Shahalam Tariq, Jim Murdoch, Kumar Ghimire, Peter Magliocco, Saranyan BV, Rex Tan, Samina Tahreem, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In Lines for Loons, Loonies and Such-like, Rhys Hughes shares a rare treat. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

The Elusive Utopia?

Farouk Gulsara discusses the ideal of a perfect world. Click here to read.

Serenading Sri Lanka

Mohul Bhowmick backpacks in Sri Lanka with a camera. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In A Conversation with God, Devraj Singh Kalsi has a bargaining chip. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In Cherry Blossom Forecast, Suzanne Kamata brings the Japanese ritual of cherry blossom viewing to our pages with her camera and words. Click here to read.

Stories

Prison Break

C.J.Anderson-Wu gives a poignant flash fiction. Click here to read.

Terrace

Rakhi Pande relates a strange tale from Goa. Click here to read.

The Temple-going Snake

Devraj Singh Kalsi almost creates a fable but not quite. Click here to read.

Monsoon Arc

K.S. Subramaniam shows the human spirit pitched against the harshness of monsoon storms. Click here to read.

Felipe Jimenez’s Quest of the Unheard

Paul Mirabile travels to Spain of Goya’s times with an imaginary friend who takes after perhaps, Don Quixote? Click here to read.

Essays

Where the Rice is Blue and Dinosaurs Roar…

Ravi Shankar takes us on a tour of a Malaysian town. Click here to read.

Conquering Fears: Bowing to the Mountains 

Keith Lyons tells us of his challenging hike in New Zealand. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Out of Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala and English Poetry from Sri Lanka and its Diasporas edited by Vidyan Ravinthiran, Seni Seneviratne and Shash Trevett. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Rajat Chaudhuri’s Spellcasters. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Ilse Kohler-Rollefson’s Camel Karma: Twenty Years Among India’s Camel Nomads. Click here to read.

Rakhi Dalal reviews Anuradha Kumar’s The Kidnapping of Mark Twain: A Bombay Mystery. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Mafia Raj: The Rule of Bosses in South Asia by Lucia Michelutti, Ashraf Hoque, Nicolas Martin, David Picherit, Paul Rollier, Clarinda Still. Click here to read.

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

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Categories
Poetry

Meeting  Poets Outside their Poems

By Alpana

Meeting poets outside their poems is like catching hold of a dandelion
always fleeting and flying.
fanning our desires to be light and liberated.

I met a poet in the wee hours of spring yesterday,
wrapped in thoughts,
inhaling more matter,
processing many ideas,
looked much like her poems,
blooming and how!

I met a poet in the early hours of baisakh*,
smelling like toil,
sprinkled with joy
of harvesting goodness,
just like his poems,
emanating courage and thick-skinned demeanour.

I met a poet walking briskly early morning,
panting and perspiring
due to swift movement
but also, gasping to let the poetry ooze out.
Her poetry is quick
Because the pace of her steps mirrors the pace of the gazillion words
plodding in her mind.

I met a poet chewing a gummy one day,
lost in her own reverie
absolutely chill,
rummaging her bag for more such gummyfying trysts,
sitting in a bean sofa with pen and paper
scribbling and doodling away her worries
just like that!

I met a poet engrossed in thrift shopping the other day
clad in comfort, spotting the comfort
not to discomfort his hard-earned moolah
but the words in his poems are priceless.
Because they reveal what being a parent is like.
The experience is valuable and so is his poetry,
causing ripples here and there,
echoing babbles now and then.

So, now you know where to spot poets.
When not absorbed in writing,
spot the happy souls or the dejected ones
in spring,
in the by-lanes of your colony,
or a high-end bar busy chewing a gummy.
Poets are fascinating.
Poets are otherworldly.
But how do you match the poets with their poetry?
How to remove the veil?
The make-believe.
The façade.
The art.
Please, tell me.
Because poets outside their poems
might be catching butterflies 
or responding to a cooing baby.
But exactly how do you match the poets with their poetry?


*April-May

Alpana teaches in a government college of Gurugram, Haryana. If not responding to her babbling toddler and her curious gestures, she finds herself occupied with reading haikus and listening to Jagjit Singh ghazals.

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PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

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

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Categories
Contents

Borderless September 2023

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

What do They Whisper?… Click here to read.

Conversations

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri in conversation with M.S. Viraraghavan and Girija Viraraghavan ( grand daughter of President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan) on their new book, Roses in the Fire of Spring: Better Roses for a Warming World and Other Garden Adventures. Click here to read.

In conversation with Isa Kamari, a celebrated writer from Singapore, with focus on his latest book, Maladies of the Soul. Click here to read.

Translations

A Hunger for Stories, a poem by Quazi Johirul Islam, has been translated by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

A Hand Mill, a story by Ammina Srinivasaraju, has been translated from Telugu by Johny Takkedasila. Click here to read.

Kiyya and Sadu, a part of this long ballad on the legendary lovers from Balochistan, has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

The Time for the Janitor to Pass by, poetry written in Korean and translated by Ilhwah Choi. Click here to read.

Sharat or Autumn, a poem by Tagore, has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Jared Carter, Rhys Hughes, Santosh Bakaya, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Sagar Mal Gupta, Nirmala Pillai, George Freek, Pramod Rastogi, Peter Devonald, Afshan Aqil, Hela Tekali, Swarnendu Ghosh, Alpana, Michael Burch

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In Tintin in India, Rhys Hughes traces the allusions to India in these iconic creations of Hergé while commenting on Tintin’s popularity in the subcontinent. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

Black Pines and Red Trucks

Meredith Stephens shares the response of some of the Californian community to healing after the 2020 forest fires with a narrative and photographs. Click here to read.

Remembering Jayanta Mahapatra

KV Raghupathi travels down nostalgia with his memories of interactions with the recently deceased poet and his works. Click here to read.

The Toughness of Kangaroo Island 

Vela Noble draws solace and lessons from nature around her with her art and narrative. Click here to read.

Where is Your Home?

Madhulika Vajjhala explores her concept of home. Click here to read.

A Homecoming like No Other

Saumya Dwivedi gives a heartwarming anecdote from life. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In Hair or There: Party on My Head, Devraj Singh Kalsi explores political leanings and hair art. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In Against Invisibility, Suzanne Kamata challenges traditions that render a woman invisible with a ‘sparkling’ outcome. Click here to read.

Essays

Jayanta Mahapatra: A Tribute to a Poetic Luminary

Dikshya Samantrai pays tribute to a poet who touched hearts across the world with his poetry. Click here to read.

Celebrating the novel… Where have all the Women Writers Gone?

G Venkatesh writes about a book from 1946. Click here to read.

Chandigarh: A City with Spaces

Ravi Shankar travels back to Chandigarh of 1990s. Click here to read.

The Observant Immigrant

In Climate Change: Are You for Real?, Candice Louisa Daquin explores the issue. Click here to read.

Stories

The Infamous Art Dealer

Paul Mirabile travels through Europe with an art scammer. Click here to read.

Getting Old is like Climbing a Mountain

Saranyan BV explores aging and re-inventing homes. Click here to read.

The Airport

Prakriti Bandhan shares a short, whimsical narrative. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Syed Mujtaba Ali’s Tales of a Voyager (Joley Dangay), translated by Nazes Afroz. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Sanket Mhatre’s A City Full of Sirens. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Begum Hazrat Mahal: Warrior Queen of Awadh by Malathi Ramachandran. Click here to read.

Basudhara Roy reviews Sanket Mhatre’s A City Full of Sirens. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Samragngi Roy’s The Wizard of Festival Lighting: The Incredible Story of Srid. Click here to read.

.

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Categories
Poetry

‘Fragrance of Childhood’

Poetry by Alpana

GULGULA-GULGULE

This is going to be sweet.
Leave behind the sour and savoury.
Come, feel the taste of this Haryanvi delight.
Monsoon special.
Teej* treat.
Take some wheat flour,
Add jaggery,
And a dash of fennel powder,
Leaving your hands and kitchen aromatic.
Give it a good mix with some water.
Keep your hands moving.
We don't want lumps in our gulgule. And in life, in general.
Glad, you noticed, they are called gulgule.
Gulgula in singular.
Gulgule in plural.
Packed with sweetness of dadi's* love and profound memories,
Deep fried in mustard oil and tossed in a huge thali,
Emanating the fragrance of childhood fondly wrapped in our hearts,
So that we may catch a whiff of love once in a while
Only to realise how loved we are.
Frantically moving and crossing various stations,
of remembrance and recollections.
Gulgule.
Embellished with tokens of toil, patience and warmth.
Never in a perfect shape
But evermore fitting for a perfect time.
Try it
For you will relish it.
And taste a flavour from the bylanes and dhaanis* of Haryana!


*Hariyali Teej is a festival of North India celebrated in the month of monsoon.
*Dadi -- grandmother
*Dhaanis are small conglomeration of houses located mostly in Punjab and Haryana
Gulgule. Courtesy: Creative Commons

Alpana teaches in a government college of Gurugram, Haryana. When not working on her laptop, she can be spotted making lists of her essentials, her husband’s sloth hours and her toddler’s tantrums.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

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

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Categories
Contents

Borderless, November 2022

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

We did it! … Announcing our first anthology … Monalisa No Longer Smiles… Click here to read.

Conversations

Suchen Christine Lim, an iconic writer from Singapore in conversation about her latest book, Dearest Intimate. Click here to read.

Blazing trails, as well as retracing the footsteps of great explorers, Christopher Winnan, a travel writer, delves into the past, and gazes into the future while conversing with Keith Lyons. Click here to read.

Translations

Rows of Betelnut Trees by My Window by Nazrul has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

A Day in the Life of the Pink Man is a story by Shankhadeep Bhattacharya, translated from Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee. Click here to read.

The Clay Toys and The Two Boys is a story by Haneef Shareef, translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Saturday Afternoon is a poem by Ihlwha Choi, translated from Korean by the poet himself. Click here to read.

Tagore’s poem, Tomar Shonkho Dhulay Porey (your conch lies in the dust), has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty as The Conch Calls. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read

Jared Carter, Asad Latif, Rhys Hughes, Alpana, Mimi Bordeaux, Saranyan BV, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Quratulain Qureshi, Jim Bellamy, Sourav Sengupta, Ron Pickett, Davis Varghese, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Jonathan Chan, Terry Trowbridge, Amrita Sharma, George Freek, Gayatri Majumdar, Michael R Burch

Poets, Poetry and Rhys Hughes

In Infinite Tiffin, Rhys Hughes gives an unusual short story centring around food and hunger. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

The Scream & Me

Prithvijeet Sinha writes of how Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, impacts him. Click here to read.

A Fine Sunset

Mike Smith travels with a book to a Scottish beach and walks in the footsteps of a well-know novelist. Click here to read.

The Death of a Doctor

Ravi Shankar mourns the loss of a friend and muses on mortality in his experience. Click here to read.

My Contagious Birthday Party

Meredith Stephens writes of her experience of Covid. Click here to read.

Dim Memories of the Festival of Lights

Farouk Gulsara takes a nostalgic trip to Deepavali celebrations in Malaysia. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In Strumming Me Softly with His Guitar…, Devraj Singh Kalsi talks of his friends’s adventure with the guitar. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In Therese Schumacher and Nagayoshi Nagai: A Love Story, Suzanne Kamata introduces us to one of the first German women married to a Japanese scientist and their love story. Click here to read.

Essays

My Favourite Book by Fakrul Alam

The essay is a journey into Fakrul Alam’s evolution as a translator. Click here to read.

The Ultimate Genius of Kishore Kumar

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri, an eminent film critic, writes on the legend of Kishore Kumar. 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.

The Observant Immigrant

In Piano Board Keys, Candice Louisa Daquin talks of biracial issues. Click here to read.

Stories

The Funeral Attendee

Ravi Prakash shares the story of the life of a migrant in rural India. Click here to read.

A Letter I can Never Post

Monisha Raman unravels the past in a short narrative using the epistolary technique. Click here to read.

Red Moss at the Abbey of Saint Pons

Paul Mirabile takes us to St Pons Abbey in France in the fifteenth century. Click here to read.

You have lost your son!

Farhanaz Rabbani gives a light story with a twist that shuttles between Dhaka and Noakhali. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An Excerpt from Manoranjan Byapari’s How I Became a Writer: An Autobiography of a Dalit, translated from Bengali by Anurima Chanda. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Evening with a Sufi: Selected Poems by Afsar Mohammad, translated from Telugu by Afsar Mohammad & Shamala Gallagher. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Reba Som has reviewed Aruna Chakravarti’s Through the Looking Glass: Stories. Click here to read.

Somdatta Mandal has reviewed Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises. Click here to read.

Basudhara Roy has reviewed Afsar Mohammad’s Evening with a Sufi: Selected Poems, translated from Telugu by Afsar Mohammad and Shamala Gallagher. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha has reviewed Rahul Ramagundam’s The Life and Times of George Fernandes. Click here to read.

Borderless Journal Anthology

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