Feelings are the new fulcrum in our world. They construct identities and, consequently, politics. Like many other parts of the world, we have taken this on without question, aided by the internet and social media. But there is a politics of feelings, a politics to feelings not usually examined. In this issue, we explore this politics and its discontents.
How do we negotiate the vagaries, the transformations and the possible death of our feelings?
A woman shopkeeper in a busy city uses loneliness as a metaphor to deliver a message full of wisdom: even those who are not lonely are lonely, writes Roohi Dixit
Using Van Gogh’s philosophy of not giving in to despair and choosing active melancholy, Abhishek Anicca avers that we should reclaim our right to be sad and wonders why we fail to produce a remarkable piece of art when there is so much churning within us
Why must being beautiful be displaced either to a past or deferred to a future, wonders Aradhana Seth
Arundhathi Subramaniam draws a parallel between the present age of political bhakts and their blind devotion to their leader, and poets of an era long gone by whose devotion to God was not blind
Our revulsion for human beings of certain races, castes and classes and avocations comes from conservatism and rightwing thinking
In today's world, emotional bonds are rare as we chase for newness relentlessly
Jey Sushil writes about his experience of living in the United States, the Dream Land and a melting pot, where aliens like him are treated just like that, aliens
Emotions are at the core of the very practices through which power is constituted and challenged, whether it is the desire for passion or its apparent contrary, the desire for discipline, writes Margrit Pernau
For Manasvi Rukumpur, trusting is like a needle and when it pierces you it leads to regret
How the overwhelming emotion of revenge led to a spate of caste wars in the 1980s and ’90s over land, bleeding humanity in the Land of Buddha
A woman decides to follow her own desires and do what she wants instead of playing by the rules
As the sage Atri in the Rig Veda exhorts, we need love (erotic and spiritual) because without it the world lacks gloss—emotional and physical. And love is what gives humanity its authenticity and allows us to reap the bounties of paradise.
How we tell our stories will affect how they are remembered in the cerebral sieve that is memory
Kannadiga writer Vasudhendra talks about his latest historical novel Tejo Tungabhadra which traverses continents, religions and cultures via a love story
Scholars say hate has sustained human evolutions. Is it congenital or cultural? Only a deconstruction of hate can give us an answer.
Events in our lives determine how we see the seasons, says a photographer from Kashmir
Balancing self-hatred and a love for the world is difficult but necessary
The Joshimath ecological disaster was long in the making. But greed meant that no one was listening
A Chinese-Indian woman estranged from her parents unites with them after decades
