Saturday, December 21

Issue 5 – April 2018

Contribute to the next issue
30Jan By Torchlight TeamNo Comments
Issue 10 – July 2019, Issue 11 – October 2019, Issue 12 – February 2020, Issue 2 - June 2017, Issue 3 - September 2017, Issue 4 – January 2018, Issue 5 – April 2018, Issue 6 – July 2018, Issue 7 – October 2018, Issue 8 – January 2019, Issue 9 – April 2019

Contribute to the next issue

Call for Contributions to Torchlight Issue 13, April 2020: Libraries, Reading and Resistance The year 2020 is seeing catastrophes unfold across the world- with violent political instability, economic collapse, and unprecedented environmental crises unfolding everywhere, while a new-media driven frenzy of dystopian narratives are shaping public discourse. Yet history has shown us- as much as contemporary times are doing- that libraries, books, and communities of story-tellers and story-keepers everywhere, have persisted in the face of dire odds to preserve alternative narratives – of solidarity, hopefulness, critical thought, emotional fulfilment - and resisted oppression in myriad ways. In this context, Torchlight: A Journal of Libraries and Bookish Love invites your contributions for ...
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<strong>Bookish</strong><i> Love? </i><strong>Bah!</strong>
27Apr By Sujata Noronha2 Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

Bookish Love? Bah!

Love Books! Books are Lovely! We Must Love Books! And now… Bookish love! Where is this stream of ideas about love and books being birthed? And how do these ideas flow into dominant talk? Who dare says, “Bookish love - huh?! Humbug!” And who is brave enough to cast this stone as naysayers? What has bookish love done for humanity and what has bookish love or love for books or any combination of the words ‘love and books’ done for those who do not read and declare that they do not like the act of reading? Where is the space for those of us who struggle with the written word in languages we barely understand?  For those of us who have never seen anyone with their heads buried in a book, unless within the classroom and closely watched? Can any of us raise our heads and hands and say, 'we con...
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<strong>किताबों </strong><i>से प्यार</i>
27Apr By Dashrath SharmaNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

किताबों से प्यार

जब मैं अपनी पिछली जिन्दगी में झाँकता हुँ (वैसे अभी ज्यादा गुजरी नही हैं) तो मुझे लगता हैं कि मैरे अकेलेपन के दिनों में कोई मेरा सच्चा साथी रहा हैं तो वो हैं किताबें। शुरू से ही किताबें खरीदने और पढ़ने का शौक काफी रहा। किताबें और खुद के बनाए हुए नोट्स संभालकर रखने की लगन इतनी प्रगाढ थी कि परिक्षा समाप्त होने के बाद जब हिसाब लगाते थे तो पता चलता था कि एक बोरा भरकर किताबें और रजिस्टर जमा हो गए हैं। कच्चा घर होने के कारण ज्यादा किताबें तो संभालकर नही रख पाया परन्तु फिर भी लगभग काफी किताबें सुरक्षित मिल जायेगी। सरकारी विद्यालय में पढ़ने के कारण हमें किताबें निःषुल्क मिल जाया करती थी या घर वाले किसी रिष्तेदार भाई-बहिन (जो मुझसे एक कक्षा आगे जा चुके थे) की दिलवा देते थे। मुझे पहली किताब कक्षा छः के दौरान खरीदने का मौका मिला, वो भी घर वालो से काफी जिद करके तथा पाँचवी में अच्छे प्रतिषत अंक प्राप्त ह...
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<i>My </i><strong>Bookish </strong><i>Desires</i>
27Apr By Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar1 Comment
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

My Bookish Desires

Two books roused desire in me while I was in school, an adolescent. These books were Jean Webster’s novel, ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’, and Danielle Steel’s novel, ‘Wings’. Desire, while in school, was a mushy thing that seemed to melt inside my being or break out of a fist-sized, fist-shaped cage and flow out freely, leaving an elation in its wake. I was in school in the 1990s. Years later, in mid-2000s, when I saw on TV the advertisement of the chocolate lava cake of Domino’s Pizza – thick, lava-like, deep brown chocolate flowing out of a crusty, baked object – I felt that that desire that I felt in school was the same like this viscous, lava-like chocolate. With each book, with each kind of desire I felt, each layer of that cake crumbled. Both the books I mentioned are different from one another...
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<strong>A line from a poem </strong>-<i> A poetry podcast</i>
27Apr By Amlanjyoti GoswamiNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

A line from a poem - A poetry podcast

A line from a poem A line From a poem Came to me in dream In two versions: Almost like a legal document I did not know if It was a verb Or a mood I had to change Or perhaps, A whole person Broken up, fragmented In need of flight and Root, At the same time. A branch breaking off in perfect Calm To travel a safe distance Before disappearing From the bound of memory Forever.   A philosopher meets his match I never asked For the moon But she Arrived at my door One stolen evening Just like a summer storm Drenched and asking To be in Carrying the past as if It was only yesterday A baby in her arms Hers. My door is always open, I say, Come in. The past is a forgotten - extinct - species. At that time, I was wrapped in...
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<strong>The Bookshop </strong><i>Band</i>
26Apr By The Bookshop BandNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

The Bookshop Band

Stories sometimes seem like living creatures. The strong ones evolve, flit from one form to another and back again. They pass through languages, forms, format, are not tied to any one medium. There are stories that transcend boundaries and forge connections, sometimes because of the story’s power, sometimes because of the underlying structures that give them power. Take Lewis Caroll's instant classic, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. Steeped in symbolism, riddles, nonsense songs and dream logic, the book has haunted and delighted readers since 1865. But- this is the important part- even if you haven't read the book but are reading this, its surreal quality, vivid colours and young protagonist possibly inhabit some part of your consciousness. Translations, adaptations, abridged versions...
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<strong>Preface</strong> to <i>Issue 5</i>
26Apr By Alia Sinha and Aarti Srinivasan1 Comment
Issue 5 – April 2018

Preface to Issue 5

Dearest Readers Greetings. It seems to be the open knowledge that our times are marching towards doom, gloom and neatly engineered despair. But we at Torchlight: A Journal of Libraries and Bookish Love believe that books can hold ways to confront the realities of troubling times. In celebration of books and all they can represent, the editorial team at Torchlight is thrilled to present to you our fifth and current edition- on Bookish Love itself. ''Bookish Love!'' Those with even mild exposure to Torchlight might have heard these words used rather freely here. If you've ever wondered about this (possibly made-up) phrase, this issue will offer you a multiplicity of voices and perspectives on what bookish love can entail - for our contributors, readers and editors... and for all the other ...
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<i>Not Just </i><strong>Fantasy</strong>
26Apr By Aashutosha LeleNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018

Not Just Fantasy

I was stuck in fantasy. Ursula Le Guin helped me look beyond. A few weeks ago, I heard that Ursula K. le Guin, the notable American science-fiction and fantasy author had passed away. My first reaction on hearing that was, “What? Was she still alive?” For some reason, I had always thought of her as one of those old-time authors, contemporaries of people like J.R.R. Tolkien. Something about the way she wrote didn’t seem characteristic of a ‘modern’ author - or what ‘modern’ meant by the definition I created in my juvenile simplicity. Image courtesy: http://aboulder.com I picked up my first Le Guin book, A Wizard of Earthsea, when I was in my fantasy-obsessed phase, having, as a compulsive re-reader, just made my way through Tolkien’s A Lord of the Rings for the millionth time. I was br...
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<i>The Books</i> <strong>That Changed My Life</strong>
26Apr By Kevin ShaneNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018

The Books That Changed My Life

Illustration credits: Anisha Thampy I recently finished a project wherein Quicksand, the company I work for, undertook the improvement of the user experience with a book-reading app for children. Over the course of the project, the team spent much time discussing the transformative effect that reading had had on our own lives. In our small way, we were trying to help replicate the impact books had on our own lives; we were stewarding the same love we have for reading to a younger generation. Our approach to work at Quicksand is rooted in human-centered design, which in turn is fundamentally concerned with empathy. You engage with people in their contexts in an attempt to experience their lives. Once you understand how a particular product, service, or system affects them, you can work ...
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Of the <i>Inn</i> and the <i>Traveller</i>
26Apr By Arundhati GhoshNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018

Of the Inn and the Traveller

My childhood was very quiet. Both my parents were busy doctors and would return home late at night. I would get back from school in the afternoon and pad around the silent, empty house alone, walking in and out of doors, placing my ears on walls to listen. But the walls were reticent too. The house was tiny so there weren’t too many variations to my daily routes through it. Yet I would poke at corners and pull at things stacked away pretending to see them for the first time. On one such occasion when I was six, perhaps seven years old, I discovered two big boxes and one old almirah - full of books! Illustration by Alia Sinha These belonged to my parents who had to leave their homes in a hurry when they eloped. Busy with work and setting their lives on a new course, they perhaps did n...
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<i>It’s Just a</i><strong> Little Crush</strong>
26Apr By Pearl DsilvaNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018

It’s Just a Little Crush

The craggy cliffs are treacherous; the gentle bobbing of the brook nearby seems to help in calming my racing heartbeat. For there he is, standing tall and handsome; all grown-up and touted to be the next best super sleuth of the country (not mine, but nevertheless). He is just as I imagined him- fourteen. Dressed in a jersey and shorts, he turns slowly towards me as I hear his name roll from my lips…”Julian”, I sigh and run towards him, hopping from stone to stone in the brook. Splash! I lose my balance and fall into the brook…and I’m shaken from my pleasant daydream as I sit and watch the kids swim mindlessly in the indoor pool. I blush scarlet. Did I just say Julian? I look around sheepishly, hoping no one has heard me. Growing up in an all-girls school, our tryst with boys (apart from ...
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<strong>Book </strong><i>Dedications</i>
26Apr By Neha YadavNo Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018

Book Dedications

Hi. Do you feel this? You don’t know me and yet here you are, following a stranger’s string of words, trusting they will lead somewhere. Go back to the first line again, won’t you? Aha! Made you look. Made you listen. All language and thus all literature is, and always has been, about this search for connection, for the community. In the oral tradition, Homer sings the song of Ilium to his people; several oceans away, Vyasa tells a similar story of bloodshed and betrayal to another set of listeners. Sutradharas narrate tales of high-born figures to rapt audiences; folk singers and poets travel from place to place weaving magic with melody and words. After the advent of print though, even that worthy Victorian institution of the family – with its practice of fireside read-alouds – c...
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<i>On The Same</i> Page
26Apr By Beena Choksi2 Comments
Issue 5 – April 2018

On The Same Page

Being able to criss-cross the globe on the strength of the Internet has made it possible to engage with creative ideas, conversations, and experiences which otherwise would be beyond our reach—and at times, even beyond our imagination. On The Same Page will bring to the reader of Torchlight, a combination of textual-audio-visual curated content, about and around libraries and bookish love. Book-journeys I recall a friend who wasn’t much of a reader being put in a quandary by a college application essay question: ‘If you had to take no more than 3 books with you to live for the rest of your life on an uninhabited island, which would you choose?’ Although posed as a hypothetical question, it resonates strongly with any book lover who knows that journeys, brief or lengthy, casual or purpose...
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<i>For the love of</i> <strong>Bookmarks!</strong>
25Apr By Aarti Srinivasan1 Comment
Issue 5 – April 2018

For the love of Bookmarks!

A collaborative piece put together by book-crazy, bookmark-obsessed humans. Some see a train ticket, a reader sees a bookmark. If you love reading, you might agree that almost anything you look at can turn into something that sits between the pages of your book. Some might be bookmarks gifted by a loved one, some might be special because they are handmade, some that have travelled the world with you, some that are random objects you lay your hands on, and some clearly not objects because they come crawling towards your book. The video here has a collection of all these and more. And what strings it together, is a lovely French song by Carla Bruni, with its refrain ‘someone told me that you still love me’, that tries to capture a bookish-love triangle between books, bookmarks and the ...
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