hopscotch

  In a world that loves labelling and slotting people into categories, the freedom to choose and to speak our minds is not easy. In the graphic novel, ZardoZi- Stitched with Love, 10- year-old Zi thinks he has lost his voice and his parents and friends will never be able to hear his truth. But someone recognises Zi’s innate talent and patience to learn and practise the art of embroidery. It’s Zi’s grandmother -- Rani the Naani – who is unlike the other elders in Zi’s family. Rani the Naani believes in living in the moment and knows that ‘nothing is too girlish or boyish’. Arts is for everyone! She hands over her book of embroidery designs to Zi and the boy feels encouraged to present a zari-work for his school’s annual day. He begins with liquid zari work and boy! He transform a sober black coat into something stunning! In this gently embroidered tale of Zi coming into his own, the author and illustrator Debasmita Dasgupta, addresses the oft quoted, but poorly understood, t...

One Lives on Hope... History is omnipresent, even if we make it a habit of  "moving on with life." It seems easier to keep your head low, buried in sand, and avoid acknowledging conflicts and crisis situations. But history, the socio-political times that we live in, shape us knowingly or unknowingly. It has ways of creeping in, tip-toeing in the form of biases, prejudices that positions us in the social hierarchy and pushes us to take a stand. How many of us are able to stand up for others, how many of us can change the course of river to what it rightfully was and how many of us can come to the aid of those who meant us no harm, and yet ended up paying a heavy price? Is it easier to rise above trauma and heal? It is; if we have empathy. Sucharita Dutta-Asane's collection of short stories, These Tongues that Grow Roots, turns around the subjects of bleak headlines -- of war, naxalism, pandemic, lonely senior citizens, dying lakes, eve-teasing and feeling of being hunted -...