Outlook Magazine - Party is Elsewhere - 21 January 2026 Issue

We are living through a moment in history when real places have become increasingly difficult to speak about. Nations are reduced to charged and violent slogans; borders harden even as people are displaced; homes are reduced to rubble while the occupation continues. Speech is abundant, yet censorship renders any meaningful speech impossible. In such a climate, imaginary places are not escapes from the world. They are responses to it. For the 30th anniversary issue of Outlook, we bring together writers who treat imagined spaces as acts of resistance, remembrance, and ethical refusal. These pages hold cities that remember what has been erased, landscapes shaped by memory and desire, and futures that warn as much as they dream. These are not utopias offered as solutions, nor fantasies designed for comfort. Our 'Elsewheres' by Pico Iyer, Sudarshan Shetty, Geetanjali Shree, Perumal Murugan, Naveen Kishore, Amitava Kumar, Ruchir Joshi, Aradhana Seth, Geet Chaturvedi, Annie Zaidi, Janice Pariat, Aanchal Malhotra and others.