By Jeet Thayil

While Ammu experiences ‘Elsewhere’ as a kind of ‘spiritual calling’—an inward choice rather than an external imposition—for others, it represents not merely a physical location, it is also a condition of unbelonging (p. 88). To be elsewhere is to be outside: of nations, of relationships, of language, of continuity. The primary narratorial voice belongs to Jeet, the son of Ammu and George. Like his parents, he is an Elsewherean, equally shaped by displacement and dislocation. Jeet retraces paths already taken: working for the Hong Kong magazine his father once led


Reviewed by: Amandeep Kaur
By Shabnam Virmani

A word now on sources and translations. As clearly perceptible from the quoted excerpts of the poems, Virmani’s translations are focused on capturing the spontaneous wit and crackling immediacy of Kabir’s vani. Towards this end, she dispenses with debates on literary translation; her endeavour is to get as close as possible to the lived, current idiom in the English translation so as to bring Kabir to non-Hindi audiences.


Reviewed by: Rohini Mokashi-Punekar
By Nandini Sahu

The collection opens with the titular poem ‘Medusa’ and immediately the poet wrests the narrative back with the announcement, ‘I will never reduce the illumination of my sparkling eyes./ Because you claim, my eyes have been your solitary gain’, followed by the declaration that ‘My “ecriture feminine” takes encounters/ with conformist patriarchal schemes.’ While making these assertions and refusing to be reduced to just a body part


Reviewed by: Shibani Phukan
By Sukrita

Such poems don’t lead you to a ‘deterministic’ meaning, rather they allow the reader to explore and find his/her own. The poet lets the reader embrace them as his/her ‘own’ poemlet. It’s as if the poet is side stepping, allowing the reader to take over and participate in the process of building up of a poem while reading it. It is both creative and courageous on her part to use a Hindi word


Reviewed by: Durga Prasad Panda
By Dr. Intaj Malek

Virtually all readers of this collection will recognize the many themes in these poems that tie into the well-known stories told about Krishna such as his childhood playfulness, his love for Radha, and the philosophical wisdom shared with Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. This poem builds on the boundless love of the Gopis,


Reviewed by: Christopher Key Chapple
Edited by Shweta Singh and Amena Mohsin

Gendered populism, as discussed in the third section, is masculine in its very essence and is often a key element of Right-Wing populist movements. It relies heavily on the politics of exclusion and ‘othering’; and governments use it to moralize political conflicts, demonize their political opponents, thereby mobilizing the masses. The final section, ‘Militarism and Militarisation’,


Reviewed by: Reshmi Kazi