Dr Rakhshanda Jalil is a translator, writer and literary historian. She has published over 25 books and written over 50 academic papers and essays

Is there an escape from the unfolding nightmare? How do we make sense of a world that looks no different from one? We must look to ideas all around us

An exploration of the history of thought, this new series by Hardnews stitches together several texts to ask the reader to engage with the world around them

In the evening of June 18, 2020, the police came to the mobile shop of P Jayaraj and his son Bennicks in Tuticorin and threatened them to shut the shop. They still had time before the curfew deadline.

The world should stand with India and Bangladesh. It’s time to rejuvenate, restore and resurrect. It’s time to heal.

To me the bigger question is whether this recovery of art and culture will be led by Asia?

There is a strong demand for participatory democracy, social justice and a radically different economic policy, to support people and the planet, not profits.

With millions of workers and the poor on the streets, the lockdown called by the PM has abjectly failed. All we can see is cruelty, inefficiency and insensitivity unsurpassed — in this case, all ‘Laxman Rekhas’ have been crossed. Is it the end of India as we have known?

When it comes to tacking a natural catastrophe or a pandemic, the Left government in Kerala, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has shown the way to the rest of India.

Letter from a dad to a daughter. An ode to freedom and beauty, from the earth and sky to the forest and the river. While the city waits with its seductions and sensuality