RE-MARKINGS March 2026 Silver Jubilee Number (www.re-markings.com)

 

 RE-MARKINGS March 2026 Silver Jubilee Number

EDITORIAL

It is my privilege and honour to greet the members of the Re-Markings’ fraternity with a feeling of excitement and humility on this precious moment that has brought us to the landmark 25^th anniversary of our publication since we began our adventurous journey in March 2002. In the vast continuum of time twenty-five years may be a mere speck but I wish to reiterate that what we truly need to celebrate is not the time span but our commitment to consistently provide a platform for the dissemination of ideas and concerns related to vital vibrant issues across the globe.

As a student in school I used to be fascinated by William Wordsworth’s line, “My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.” Today, I can say with a great deal of confidence that, among other avowed aims of Re-Markings, I hold paramount the need to bring the hues and shades of the uplifting rainbow of hope to the pages of the journal through debates and discourses on every conceivable issue that urges and compels us not to turn our gaze away from grim reality be it that of religion, race, colour, caste, class, gender, language, nature, community, nation or what you will. There can be little doubt that what we see all around is bound to fill us up with gloomy despair but it cannot be denied that what stirs us through such disconsolate terrains is our responsibility to believe and keep marching ahead in sync with the line from Rabindranath Tagore’s “Jodi tor dak shune keu na aase taube ekla chalo re” (If no one responds to your call, move alone) or with Arthur Hugh Clough’s poem “Say not the Struggle nought Availeth.”

Through 1500 plus articles, interviews, essays, stories, interviews, poems, memoirs, reviews and other variant genres like films, television, mass media, journalism and social media, Re-Markings has been able to showcase efforts made by individuals and communities to uphold the quest for truth and justice in whatever way possible. If established and acclaimed celebrity writers and academics have been adorning the journal with their brilliant creativity, it is heartening to mention that we have spared no pains to encourage and motivate young upcoming scholars and teachers to contribute their very best to the journal. Through our rigorous peer-review process and constant mentoring we have guided these enthusiastic youngsters to enhance their skills to understand complex texts and issues by adhering to meticulous and ethical norms of research and express their observations and views with clarity in lucid jargon-free language and style.

The current celebratory number of Re-Markings offers a kaleidoscopic range and variety of significant material catering to troubled landscapes on planet Earth in every possible domain of existence from ancient Kapilavastu to contemporary Africa, America, India, Australia and other spheres of human existence. Many a heart of our avid readers is bound to ‘leap up’ to see the towering presence of the first African Nobel Laureate in Literature – Wole Soyinka – at the top of the list of contributors in this volume. It is especially noteworthy that his poem shows the path of resistance and activism as medium of transforming the world by challenging the status quo approach adopted by the wielders of power everywhere. It is a matter of great significance that when the esteemed Soyinka was approached to contribute to this edition of Re-Markings, he instantly agreed to share his rebellious poem. Remarkably bold and strong even at the age of 91, the writer, playwright, poet and activist – who dared to cause affront to the dictatorial attitude of Donald Trump towards artists and intellectuals without bothering that his outspokenness would deprive him of his US citizenship – told Dr. Tijan Sallah that he was happy to learn that Re-Markings found his poem ‘usable’. Such a unique gesture of humility from a person of his stature reminded me of the lines from Kipling’s poem “If”: “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,/ Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, … / Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.” 

The voices from Africa in this issue succeed in bringing to the foreground the immensity of the power of narratives that have emerged from a continent that had for long been relegated to the epithet of a ‘dark’ and ‘uncivilized’ part of human civilization by many obsessed bearers of “the White man’s burden.” Likewise, narratives of traumatic disasters not only make us aware of the human ability to unleash mass destruction through Nuclear bombs and other lethal arsenals but also highlight how the resilient power of the struggle of survivors have motivated succeeding generations to remember, like Hemingway’s Santiago, that “a man can be destroyed but not defeated.” No less important are events like the Operation Blue Star that wrought unimaginable havoc on a particular community whose collective motive had always been ‘seva’ or service to humanity. Besides the post-colonial discourse on Macauley, the illuminating essays on teaching poetry, the Paika Rebellion in Orissa, the battle against vested interests to preserve and sustain the environment and thought-provoking insights into the arena of marginalized populations – be it the Dalits in India or the African Americans in the world’s most powerful democracy – have greatly enriched the contents of this beautiful bouquet of ideas. It is no small matter that, taken together, the contributions here amply reflect, like the rainbow, the spirit of harmonious multiculturalism cutting across divisive barriers and boundaries of discrimination and prejudice.

To all distinguished members of the Advisory board, editor friends, eminent contributors, passionate readers and ardent admirers of Re-Markings, I place here on record my everlasting gratitude. Thank you, one and all!

Nibir K. Ghosh

Chief Editor

CONTENTS

h The Deathless Battle Hymn - Wole Soyinka / 7

Five Poems - Tanure Ojaide : New Acquisitions / 9, Black & White / 10, Revisiting Warri / 10, I Seek Transformation / 11, They Call Us Names / 13 

Fame, Solitude and B. Traven: An Autobiographical Essay - Jonah Raskin / 15

Revisiting the Bluestar Operation and its Aftermath - Amritjit Singh / 27 

The Poet Harry Lloyd Van Brunt: Memories of My Benevolent Teacher - Tijan M. Sallah / 36

Surviving Hiroshima: A Conversation with Charlotte Jacobs on Hiroshima Survivor and Activist Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow - Robin Lindley / 47

Short Story

The Body - Véronique Tadjo / 59

There is No Cause for Control: Everything is Under Alarm! - Tess Onwueme / 65

The Hotel Malogo - Helon Habila / 71

How Does Poetry Teach Us? What Does it Teach? An Essay in Notes - K. Narayana Chandran / 83

Macaulay: To Whip or not to Whip, That is the Question - Shanker Ashish Dutt / 103

Tim Winton’s Shrine: Dramatizing Trauma - Mukesh Ranjan Verma / 117

The Buddha as an Epic Hero in Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddhacarita - Nibir K. Ghosh & Sunita Rani Ghosh / 125

Hero, Myth, Memory and Discourse: The Literary Afterlives of Buxi Jagabandhu and the Paika Rebellion - Tanutrushna Panigrahi / 141

 On the Cross: Tennessee Williams’s The Night of the Iguana–An Exploration - Shernavaz Buhariwala / 151

The American Dream and Exceptionalism in Contemporary African American Narratives of Resistance Konda Nageswara Rao / 158

Revising History: A Study of Narratives of Resistance in P. Sainath’s The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom - Parwinder Kaur / 167

Environmental Ethics and the Challenge to Anthropocentrism in Ranjit Lal’s Budgie, Bridge and Big Djinn - Amandeep Kaur & Ankdeep Kaur Attwal / 177

 Rewriting Dalit History through Memory: Reading G. Kalyana Rao’s Untouchable SpringHarpreet Kaur / 184

Review Essay

On the After-life of the Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984 - Tej Nath Dhar / 191

Hindi Cinema vis-a-vis Muslim Representation - Pradeep Trikha / 195

 “I Love, Therefore, I Am”: Harjeet Singh Gill’s Dialogue with a Girl Friend - Hiba Aleem / 197

 

 COMMENTS

More than ever, we need clear thinking and reflection. Thank you so much for the celebratory Silver Jubilee March 2026 issue of Re-Markings.   I shall read it with interest and pleasure. - Véronique Tadjo

Many Congratulations on the Silver Jubilee issue of Re-Markings- this is truly an enriching and diverse collection of scholarly voices and research. - Shivika Mathur

I'm thrilled, Prof Ghosh! Such enriching and inspiring products of creativity. Well done with your team and our dear brother Tijan Sallah. Tess Onwueme

Dear Nibir Ghosh: Thanks a million for Re-Markings. I appreciate your using five of my poems that I submitted through my friend, Tijan Sallah. I will print the entire anthology. I hope to use it when writing essays on poetry. Again, thanks for the wonderful anthology. A poet is never happier than when published for the public to read! - Tanure Ojaide

Thank you Dr. Nibir Ghosh for your dedication! Congratulations on your splendid landmark! - Mini Nanda

Respected Sir,

First of all, please accept my best wishes for this silver jubilee march issue, as it is an outstanding achievement. It needs one hundred percent commitment, perseverance and a kind of unwavering devotion. This voyage of yours explicitly reflects these characteristics and inspires me a lot. I have also read your blog. It is outstanding, and it's ironic that amid this escalation of war, humanity has not learnt not even a single lesson from the previous wrongdoings that are visible in your work.- Pallavi Goyal Sharma

Professor Ghosh Sahab, Heartiest greetings and congratulations on the publication of the 'Silver Jubilee' Number of your journal of high esteem and recognition. The credit of the continuity of this great academic exercise solely goes to your missionary approach and visionary thinking. Thanks for your kindness to send me a copy of the celebratory "Re-Markings".... Dr. Nand Kumar

Dear Prof Nibirda...it took a little time to respond, since I have been reading the article no.of times...An excellent Article, which can be penned by none other than Nibirda and Sunita jointly...we both also enjoyed it together, interacted, respected the wisdom of Paromita...and thanked you for sharing such a wonderful researched writing...Conquering ourselves although remained a question mark, but you have incited practicing it ... for the benefit of mankind...Thank you once again dada...With warm regards...Debasish and Paromita