creative nonfiction

CREATIVE NONFICTION / The pond remembers: On visiting Lojithan Ram’s ‘Arra Kulamum, Kottiyum, Āmpalum’

In a time where spectacle often overshadows sincerity, where art sometimes forgets its heart, Lojithan Ram offers a whisper. A blue whisper. And in that whisper, you may just hear your own name

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Ink, jasmine, and the ghost of Ma: Unlearning my father

When it comes to our fathers, especially the ones who try to be good men, a rampant affliction known as patriarchy has left us with no language to imagine them outside of what they were to others. Strip away the roles, and what’s left?

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Nani’s salt

Her voice, thin as a whisper, sharp as a blade, sliced through the kitchen air thick with mustard oil and regret.

KHERO KHATA / The morgues are full

In Gaza, the names of the martyrs slip through silence, lost to a world too distracted to listen

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Something smells fishy

The large green pond of Dhanmondi Lake was probably the first source of natural water that I had witnessed. It sheltered a huge number of people who have lived,

CREATIVE NONFICTION / The tall and short of it

It feels like only two days ago that my dadu was still here, worrying I’d always be too short like her.

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Not waiting for answers

How long does a corpse of a hero take to rot? 50 years or more? What about the corpses of martyrs? One week? 10 days? The 40-day mark to blow the candles of funeral fires?

CREATIVE NONFICTION / PeaceCity alley

The Notorious Loverboy, Slum Boy and Millionaire’s Daughter, My Bride or My Mother, My Mother’s Body in a Wedding Saree,

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Of moms and balcony gardens

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a mom in Dhaka must be in want of a balcony-garden

November 25, 2023
November 25, 2023

Of faith: Mother and memories

Back in 2006 at the age of 11, I was introduced to faith, in the most domestic way possible.

October 14, 2023
October 14, 2023

Homeward

When I was born, my skin was dark, like my grandfather’s, in whose arms I discovered my first home. Relatives old and new, whose disappointment was being nursed by my parents’ fair complexions, looked from afar as my rotund cheeks melted into the sleeves of my dada’s discolored half-sleeve shirt.

October 7, 2023
October 7, 2023

Of love, longing, and music that make us

My mother’s house is beside a lake that separates the rich and mighty of the city from a little isle of people who work for them.

September 1, 2023
September 1, 2023

The graveyard in Banani

Love is the enormous mango tree growing directly from an ancient grave, so old that no headstone remains at all.

August 19, 2023
August 19, 2023

Anjuman and the stories of the mango people

My father’s ancestors were Ayurvedic medicine men from a remote corner of the North Bengal. A few generations ago, one of them had cured a long-lasting ailment of the Raja of Taherpur and had received, as a reward, a large chunk of agricultural land or “joat” next to the mighty Joshoi Beel.

August 9, 2023
August 9, 2023

7 minutes to midnight

In exchange for the presidential suites at the Ritz and so on, the men holding our city keys have already opened our skies to all that may come.

May 6, 2023
May 6, 2023

An odd memory in Dhaka city

The only thing I like about this city is the thought of leaving it. And I was leaving it finally, after one and a half months, my longest stretch of stay in the last three years. Juggling my luggage with one hand and my phone with the other to get Google Maps directions while I balance myself on the rickshaw racing through bumpy Dhaka roads–it is a metaphor that sums up my life in this city.

February 4, 2023
February 4, 2023

In Ireland once: A story of ghosts

Are ghosts real? This was the question Mollie, a little 8-year-old girl who lives at the end of our street asked me in a–real–letter she wrote me recently. I had apparently included a book of ghost stories in a bag of books I had given her.

January 20, 2023
January 20, 2023

Fail better: A new year’s resolution

But I understand. I am part of a historic pattern. So not everything is personal. I can't help but fall into some of the traps and become prey to some of the vultures.

December 24, 2022
December 24, 2022

A fairytale ending

Football, bloody hell! Like the chapters of a book, slowly unfolding towards the eventual climax, this edition of the World Cup has been nothing short of breathtaking. From gorgeous goals to late drama, with a few major upsets sprinkled throughout, this year’s World Cup has probably been the most spectacular iteration of football’s greatest tournament.

  •