Our Private Literature

   Published Journals   
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Our Private Literature First Edition, 2009
Most of the poems in this edition were written post 23rd July fake encounter at BT Road in Imphal. This group has been trying to express the angst of a generation, which is often trampled upon and silenced by the current turmoil in Manipur.

Printed and bound in New Delhi by Burning Voices
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Our Private Literature - Road - Volume II, Issue II, 2010
For roads, it’s to connect. Connect man to man, culturally through exchange or even through assimilation; commercially, through occupation of viable means like ‘give and take’ or even through exploration, as new vistas; and sometimes through individual locus. But there are some roads that never connect. In fact, these roads do not exist to connect. Such roads create divisions by promoting a marked geographical entity rather than creating a homogenizing parley of different communities.

So at times, we need to deglamorise these connecting Roads and delimit its extent as mere link between two destinations. There is no denying the fact that the roads indeed help foster relationship, connectivity, trade and commerce amongst different groups of people. But with the growing insecurity to the existence of nation-states, the very purpose of road has also been altered dramatically. The main reason for laying a new road to a distant corner of the country is more of a strategic deployment in the name of security, rather than reaching out. And in the process, the demographic structure of the area is altered conveniently to meet the desire result of building a nation. Further, it invariably translates the exchange of cultures and ideas into a chaotic rhythm without appreciation. Tussles over the safeguarding of cultural identity lead to the malaise of resentment over liberal compromise. Societies/groups that are at the receiving end of this expanse will slowly but surely go out of existence.

We tried not to use the word “Road” as a theme. But sometimes, it’s not possible not to give names to certain things! We opted for it, because of the veracity it carries for a word. We are also aware of the politics it carries within it. In this edition, we try to understand the very concept of road through all sorts of medium.

The poems in the current theme are in one way or the other ‘connected’ to the theme of ‘Road’. Some also talk about the suffering of people when the ‘connection’ is brutally cut off as was seen during the Economic Blockade. The article “Reflecting about roads and not so much about the Chicken: Making sense of roads in India’s North East” by Ram Wangkheirakpam gives us an in depth analysis of different kinds of roads and problematizes its implication in the NE (North East) region of India in general and Manipur in particular. Haiku, which is one of our most popular sections, comprise a plethora of themes inspired from our daily life.

Roads now are as much about inaccessibility, about profound lost as much as it is about communication and accessibility. They have seen a play out of struggles of various kinds. Each crater marked road whose tar fades away somewhere has seen the markings of pain, starvation and somewhere a dead end. We look forward to suggestions and inputs from you all.
  1. Synergy
  2. Highway heroes
  3. A Home on the Road
  4. In the land of Worshippers
  5. Walk our Walk
  6. Nothing
  7. Operation summer storm!!
  8. Monsoon Blues
  9. Curfew
  10. Broken
  11. Roadwidener
  12. Haiku
  13. Reflecting about roads and not
  14. so much about the Chicken (article)
  15. END (visual)
  16. Freedom Street (visual)
  17. Modern Parasite’s Artery (visual)
CHECK THE POEMS AND ARTWORKS OF ROAD HERE
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Our Private Literature - Leibaklei - 2010
Leibāklei, n ('leɪ.baːk.leɪ)* 
*[Manipuri, leibak - of or relating to the earth + lei- flower]

Our Private Literature is a periodical from the Burning Voices with independent theme(s) on each issue, whether it - be a being or not-being… for be a being may be easier, so to say, with the acceptance of being a being no matter in whichever form it exists, but being a not-being has never been easier! And our themes, call it being or not-being; they may manifest the very angst of this confusion, but as always, they propose thoughts on certain why’s, like a flower or a poem or a short discourse or even a canvas seeking an independent bloom, a free expression yet waiting for its season of interpretations, the  appreciation  or  the  acceptance;  very  much  like  our  own existence.

In this issue we intend to use a theme contradictory enough to both the traditional and contemporary ideals on being or not-being, which are often seen as archetypical values. It will not be entirely wrong to say  that  we  tend  to  follow  the “Deconstruction”  as  a  new proliferation.  But  it  will  again  be  wrong  to  say  we  employ  it throughout  this  issue  as “the  prerogative being  against  the deconstruction of the word”. Thus, the Leibāklei came into being, as the representation of this theme on being or not-being against the backdrop of accepted notions on sexuality, morality, practices, myths and at the same time questioning our lives and times through the ideas of freedom, revolution and the search for an identity.

Leibāklei is not merely a flower that sprouts directly from theground during the cruelest time of the season, in the process; it also brings forth the different aspects of life, in opposites and even as analogues.  It comes as a lonely way-farer in the ruins yet leaves with the fragrance of livelihood. It is our thematic metaphor for this issue. In a more subtle and immediate expression, the poems in the collection deal with issues ranging from the cemented dogma, the qualms of living and pleasure in dying silently in obscurity, of using the sickle for chopping the overgrown beard and newspaper boy delivering the poetry, right in our doorsteps, wrapped in the news to being a dead Indian. What else could we say! Let the 'Leibāklei' crack upon the hard dry bark of the earth with its tender shoots.

  1. A Letter to Lord Krishna from Brindavan
  2. Manipur Stop Spanking Me
  3. Moirang Khamba Meets Krishna!
  4. Between Two Flags
  5. Wont You Agree
  6. Dablo Returns Home
  7. Landscape
  8. You Thief
  9. Because I am Your best enemy
  10. who are you
  11. I am a death statue!!!
  12. One Last Time
  13. In Defiance
  14. The Other Revolutionary
  15. Three Questions
  16. His and Hers
  17. Right to Education
  18. Dying Night
  19. In a Moment of Nirvana
  20. Senses
  • Haiku
  • Rooting for Neruda’s Images (Review)
  • Such Happiness (Visual)
CHECK THE POEMS, PROSE AND ARTWORKS OF LEIBAKLEI HERE ...................................................................................................................


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PS:  There are more essays and poems and a lotta other literary, creative works and a host of new media stuffs, which are coming up soon. Keep coming back!

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