Serving in the Corps was, for me, a masterclass on isolation and its consequences. The average person has their fair share of assumptions to make whenever they meet someone in service. There’s a degree of removal which allows a certain mythos to exist, helped by the glamorised (and often politically-charged) branding plastered throughout entertainment. Though…
Introduction Human beings never choose the circumstances into which they are born. We do not choose our parents, our genes, our natural abilities, or even the environment that first shapes us. Some people are born with extraordinary intelligence, musical ability, athleticism, or creativity, while others inherit different strengths and weaknesses. Scientific research suggests that these…
Up to 150 species go extinct daily. The acquisitions of businesses, housing units, and family heirlooms on Facebook marketplace transpire every minute. Class-action lawsuits are decided with impunity, giving life sentences, severe fines, or nothing at all. Flowers bloom. A girl laughs. Scientific discoveries regarding free, unlimited energy, rising sea levels and long-term psychological effects…
Domesticate culture. Doemesticate identity. The ideal wife in India is seen running around in circles at her husband’s house and then continuing her rounds at the temple while circling Gods like Krishna, Rama, and Hanuman chanting mantras for the wellness of her husband and children and never once for herself. While they bathe Lord Shiva…
Freedom is seldom peaceful or even more rare for explanations. We speak of it as if it were path Or a ray of light— as if it were expansion,individaulity or possibility. But freedom does not arrive like a gift, wrapped in a pretty wrapper or guarded to be unbroken. It tears. It confounds. But what…
There is a certain type of magic involved in the process of uprooting your entire life from one place and resettling into another. It is a quiet, nondramatic, even ubiquitous type of magic. Romantics would probably call it ‘the magic in the every day’. Which is weird, because the months leading up to the few…
The medieval danse macabre is often understood as a moral allegory: a skeletal Death leading kings, maidens, priests, and peasants alike in a grim procession toward the grave, reminding viewers of mortality’s universality. Yet this interpretation, while accurate, is incomplete. The power of the danse macabre lies not merely in its didactic insistence on equality…
No longer is it enough to simply meet a deadline or pitch a piece: almost every aspect of the literary world requires extra qualifications, strong networks, or ideally both in abundance. The younger and emerging generation of writers feel frustration when we look at the older generation. “Just try harder! Hard work will be rewarded”…
What even is the purpose of human existence if not to exhaust it in the pursuit of true art and perfection? Let not the word define its constraints, one who is proficient in their craft, who is, by layman’s terms, ‘good at what they do’, is an artist. ‘Art’ is, of course, a colloquial term…
This piece is a response to Tales from the Café: A Novel—the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. The series hinges on a cafe that allows one to travel back—and forward—in time. This is possible only while sitting in the chair, one which is constantly occupied by a ghost, and that…