Culture

He came closer,
He brought his face close to mine.
I turned my face towards the wall.
"Nervous?" he asked.
I nodded my head.
He smiled and offered me his cigarette.
"Are you nervous too?"
He nodded and took the cigarette and kept it aside.
It was still burning, like my dreams.
He brought his lips closer,
Perhaps to kiss me.
My hand created the barrier,
He kissed it.
Along with his lips,
His teardrops also touched my dying body.
"Why? You don't even love me" I asked.
"I love you." He said.
A drop of tear rolled down my cheek,
And finally, I slept peacefully.

Author: Puroshottam Agrawal
Publisher: Rupa Publishers
Rating: 4/5
Isn’t it strange how love can be the happiest thing ever but can also cause immense pain? And yet, everyone keeps searching for it! The recent agitation following the release of Padmavat by Sanjay Leela Bhansali evoked the interest of several to dig deeper and know more about the history of Queen Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji. Apparently, the portrayal of Johar as the central theme of the movie cut the Rajputs to the quick and wounded their beliefs. But then, on a brighter note, it also gave fuel to the flames burning within the minds of the writers who cherry pick any such opportunity that gives them a concrete plot and relatable characters.
Amidst all the ‘Padmavat’ books, I liked ‘Padmavat’ by Rupa Publishers the m

Neither beneath anyone nor superior
This well-trodden road whispering,
“Only you are here”.
My breath and my heartbeat,
Such seclusion and me.
It makes me believe in my existence
Being able to feel the universe inside me.
Each step forward,
I seem to learn again and again that life is unpredictable.
Being a guest on this earth,
Whose life is not just a quest, an opportunity,
Or a story to tell or just an experience.
Leaping into the future in little tentative steps,
Never quite knowing what’s to come.
Everything struggling just to exist.
The flow of life so turbulent outside,
But delicate and fleeting inside it seems.
As I walk further,
I come to this realization of being blessed and alive.
To even slightly comprehend this life.
Is it okay to linger?
Clos

“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”
This quote by Francis Bacon always evokes the memory when I first read the pages filled with “immoral” literature that was dazzling enough that I thought they must be chewed and digested thoroughly to engage my brain with the cynicism and societal disregard.
The saying “men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine” seemingly comes to be true in the only novel of Oscar Wilde- The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), a classic instance of aestheticism and Gothic horror fiction of classic English literature.
The Plot of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
The tale of “art for art’s sake” begins with three characters- Lord Henry Wotton, Basil Hallward and Dorian Gr

Red..
Was her favourite colour..
The colour of her wedding card
Of the vermilion showcasing her marriage
Of the bindi on her forehead
Of the lipstick of her favourite brand
Of the rose, she always kept under the pillow
Of the saree her mother gifted
Of the fingernails always polished in red
She never changed colours.
Red..
Soon became the colour
Of her eyes crying hours at night, and
Of her blood that drained out of her wrists
On one fine red evening.
Her room all stained in red
Where no one was caught red-handed
People said, married life to be colourful
For her.. It was Red
Always Red.
*The poem was originally published in the second edition (June 2018) of With The Coffee (Click here to download your free copy of the magazine).

I opened my eyes,
I was there across the bed,
All alone.
The glitter of my skin, that yesterday shone,
Has faded away.
I walked,
Stumbling on my way.
Who am I?
The girl of the night.
Oh! For the happiness
That I want to receive in the bright light.
My virgin heart,
My bruised body.
My survival,
Is my struggle.
You eat me hungrily at night,
But under the warm sun rays,
You will look at me from the corner of your eyes.
Questioning along with others,
You win the glory of your clean character.
So what, if I am a prostitute?
Who the hell are you?
No, I am not pure,
But yes, I don't fake innocence like you.
My subsistence,
Is in your existence
But shhh!!! Let me take the blame.
I am the predator and you are the innocent prey
Let me walk towards the darkness,...

“When death tells a story, you really have to listen” That’s the line on the cover of the book, and, in my opinion, sums up the entire book. There is no way you can put “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak down once you have picked it up.
There are hundreds of books about the horrors of the holocaust and the world war two time in both the fiction and non-fiction genre, and I have read a few of them. But, there is something about this one which makes it stand out, not just for the way it is narrated but the story it tells.
The story is about a little girl, Liesel who arrives at the Hubermann’s who are going to foster her. She has just lost her brother and is separated from her mother and is obviously both frustrated and distraught. The story takes us through Liesel’s life as she gets to k

Asha, a girl from small town in India, is excited about her moving into the city to pursue her higher education. It is like her “great city dream'' has come true. Sitting on the window seat, she realises a city is simply is not an urban landscape to her. It is a stimulus which rushes her adrenaline; it fills her with a sense of freedom and capability. The idea of living in the city brings to her the encouragement and enthusiasm which was denied to her, back in her hometown.
Unfortunately, unlike her name, RB Bhagwat of International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, sees no hope for Asha in Indian cities. He says – “In large cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Delhi, existing social relations and hierarchies based on religion, caste and gender come into conflict with the novel soci

"... it is a very long time since we have had cases of crimes committed by these animals... I petition for the deer and other eventual animal culprits to go punished, because their alleged deed was a reaction to the cruel soulless conduct of the victims, whom my thorough investigations have shown to be active hunters...", speaks Janina Duszejko from Agnieszka Holland's Polish ecological thriller 'Pokot'; who becomes convinced that the murderers are animals taking revenge for being hunted, after her neighbours and acquaintances are murdered in mysterious circumstances.
Sounds like an enthralling storyline, but is quite enough to create a huge predicament about the mankind and his standpoint towards the environment. Those Homo sapiens in Duszejko's village in Poland (like their other brot...

To Kill A Mockingbird is the first book that I have read in 2017. The first few pages were tough for me to read because I was getting confused a lot but then finally after reading the first two pages twice, I picked up the rhythm. The book is written by Harper Lee. It was first published in 1960. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this book. The book tries explaining about sensitive topics like rape and racial inequality in a very warm manner. The remarkable story-telling skill of Harper Lee makes the book a wonderful read.
The Background of 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
The story is set in the year of 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama. The story revolves around four main characters: Scout Finch, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. The author draws the attention of the readers to many

The first thing that I saw when I opened my browser was the Google doodle. The doodle has correctly depicted the many forms of a woman. I was happy to see it and I was wondering the history behind this day which has now become so important. The day has become a catalyst for the gender equality. We celebrate International Women's Day every year without knowing its history. Today, let us first look at the origin of this day.
How Did International Women's Day Start?
#BeBoldForChange
This year the theme is #BeBoldForChange. The theme encourages everyone to take a stand for gender equality. If you have never experienced or seen inequality against women, you must be thinking that gender equality exists. But that's not true.
According to World Economic Forum, gender gap won't close entir

For me, the most exciting thing about New Year is the resolution that I make. I stay so confident when I make these resolutions. Do you know why? Because I always believe that I will be able to keep them. But things never turn the way I want them to. So, few days before 2017, I have surveyed to know the real reason behind such failure and how we can avoid them in future. After seeing the response to the survey, I have noticed that not many people are different than me; I will share the result of the survey with you.
Analysis of Survey Conducted About New Year Resolution
The age group of the participants of the survey lied between 13 to 30 years. 50% of the participants didn’t keep any New Resolution this year (2016).
We will exclude the people who have no resolution because they a