Modern Literature

    Flags wave mightily within the shadows where the trade winds blow. * I walked a block from my San Diego fourplex housing myself and surfers who were scraping by to pay the rent and ride the waves. Living at the beach is like no other life. It changes your outlook and choices, sometimes, at a very high price. Freedom is expensive. As the...

  City of Sleepwalkers - A Novel By Constantin Severin (An excerpt)   The death of words - the most apt motto for the chapter of the post-human era.   V. I don't know what happened to Olav Thorsen, but after the first meeting he disappeared completely from my life, now I will have to tell my story only to the readers of this book. I...

    Book Review by Anjana Basu   Heresy of Verse Keki Daruwalla continues to be prolific with his poetry, with his roots firmly planted in the past. Landfall follows the pathway laid out by Dante for inspiration, down a thin thread of history and illumination. Though yes, the reference is to Canto X which talks about that section of hell reserved for heretics...

    When he loses his job in an AI lab, the cleaner Henry hacks into a supercomputer called Tim to make it work for him. Tim finds free accommodation for Henry in the homes of wealthy people when the owners are away and helps him steal other people’s identities and money. But no matter how bright Tim is, it’s not...

  Author's note: I really feel as though ...what I can contribute is exploration of themes related to mental illnesses.such as what is mental illness in the first place. And in this particular story, I explore as  what is multiple personality disorder... * … My setting, the setting of the story, such as a courtyard - Ms. B says that is important.  Such as: ...

    Translated from the Malayalam by Ra Sh (Ravi Shanker)  Suspicion I see a man looking like a cop At the junction. He asks me Whether I saw. I ask myself Whether I saw whether I saw It seems like I saw. When I say I saw He asks me Whether I did. I ask myself Whether I did whether I did. It seems like I did. When I say I did Those who saw And...

  Book Review by Anjana Basu   Witnessing The Daily Siege Manipur is known for being the land of poets. playwrights, choreographers and more. It is also known for Irom Sharmila’s long fast and the Special Powers Act. Famous for being the stage of Netaji’s lost hope in World War-2, Manipur was drawn into Independent India with consequences that were disastrous to the...

    Pedestrian incubus; deformed cardboard faces and a Polish girl chatting with two thuggish drug dealers as rain pisses down on dizzying faces with handfuls of coins. Posters advertising lesbian floor shows mask the elongated courtyard, distant and hallucinatory. I mask my enthusiasm and excitement with the typical New York cynicism that keeps my eyes on the thugs as they hover...

  Translated from the Malayalam by Dr. K.C.Muraleedharan  Tale of a MonkeyBeyond the river bank, she sat anticipating the juicy heart with the flavour of figs The river takes him into her. The loneliness swinging on the trees gazes into the mirroring river and finds a blooming heart. Half the way mid-stream, the river turns to sea. the sea, the end of the world. he sees in love the shadow of death. The loneliness...

  Translated from the Malayalam by Ra Sh (Ravi Shanker)   When I love a woman How do I love a woman? Swaying her like the wind on the sea shore or like the breeze that touches the leaves on the river bank, drizzling on her, then storming, cloud bursting upon her or spattering like the sun’s glare? Is it like the buds sprouting on the wild trees or like the flowers...