Annie Zaidi's Blog, page 12

Looking at oneself grow

Indications that you might be an adult: You are able to sit down to a meal in a dining hall full of bright young people with whom you have no special desire to converse, nor any special desire to not converse. The hum of a hundred voices and clatter-tinkle of a hundred forks and knives rising and falling, washing over you like a clean rinse.Indications that you might be regressing: You are able

Prelude to a Riot: excerpts, interviews and reviews

An interview with the Huffington Post about the new novel:

Prelude to a Riot


An excerpt in Scroll: Annie Zaidi’s new novel takes us to a south Indian town where trouble is being brewed


A first review in The Mint Lounge: https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/...

Another review: http://www.jayabhattacharjirose.com/

Hindi divas

हिंद में हिंदी बनते बनते बनी, कई सौ साल लगे। अब भी बन ही रही है। संस्कृत के ताने पे तुर्की फ़ारसी का बाना और फिर जाने कौन-कौन ज़ुबान की कढ़ाई। अब अंग्रेज़ी के पैबंद लग रहे हैं।



हिंदी पे रहम कीजिए, फलने फूलने दीजिये। जब ज़ुबान नए धागे ढूंढ़ने लगे, नया मज़बूत रेशा, समझ लीजिए वो ज़िंदा रहना चाहती है। जितना उसे एयरटाइट डिब्बे में बंद करेंगे, उतनी जल्दी घुट के मर जाएगी। जिसे प्यार करते हैं उसे आज़ाद छोड़ना

New novel out

I have a new novel out. It's called Prelude to a Riot. Please read.






The Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.in/Prelude-Riot-No...

An extract in Scroll: https://scroll.in/article/936107/

Why did the chicken cross the road?

A new poem published in Narrow Road (Vol 8) is an attempt to examine chickens, roads and crossing over to the other side: Why did the chicken cross the road?

This issue was meant to be dedicated to 'anecdotal poetry', guest edited by Sivakami. My submission can be read as either anecdotal or a multiple choice question poem.

https://issuu.com/narrowroad.mag/docs...?

Ertugrul in the age of Erdogan

As a child, I had thrilled to the story of a powerful, warrior woman on the throne of Delhi but had never wondered about who her ancestors were. I had not thought of medieval Turks as nomads, casting about in whirlpools of contested nationalities. In the modern Indian imagination—especially the Hindutva narrative—Turks are seen as usurpers of power, lumped with Persians, Chagtais and Mongols

A profile of Akhil Katyal, bilingual poet and rising star on Delhi's literary horizon

By now, he had published his first poem in the school magazine. It was written in Hindi, during his “Casio phase”. He had been taking private music lessons for a few years, tabla in Dehradun and Casio (the keyboard) in Lucknow. A man came to their Ganga Sinchai Puram home and taught him and his brother to play simple Bollywood tunes. “It was songs like “Roop Suhana Lagta Hai”, and “Didi Tera

Naught Naught Narrative Justice

An obvious example is the retelling of fairytales. In the cultural zine, Toast, writer Anne Thériault argued that fairytales were probably women’s narratives to start with. They spelt out fantasies — “a prince, a castle, a happy ending” — and fears, such as being taken advantage of by a man or losing one’s children. It wasn’t until the Grimm brothers gained control of fairytales that “beautiful

Where to, from here?

The
messages doing the rounds are on the lines of “What can India expect if…?”
“What should we brace for?”



Those who
felt the need to brace for something in the event that the BJP-led NDA returned
to power through the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, are well aware of what they need
to brace for. The last few years have offered some indication.



There is an
assumption that bracing will help

A banned lullaby (Ek zabt-shuda, aur thodi si daraaoni 'Lori')

Level of expectations dekh lo, भई! कभी-कभी देश भक्ति के आवेग में बह जाते हैं लोग, तो ऐसी नज़्में लिख डालते हैं जो अपना जोश तो दिखाती ही हैं, अगली पीढ़ी के मैदान-ए-जंग में क़ुर्बान होने का वायदा कर डालते हैं। ये वीर रस में लिखी अनोखी 'लोरी' है। सोचती हूँ, इन साहब के साहबज़ादे को रात में नींद आती भी थी?

नज़्म: लोरी
शायर: अख़्तर शीराज़ी

कभी तो रहम पर आमादा बेरहम आसमाँ होगा
कभी तो ये जफ़ा पेशा मुक़्क़दर