SHE turned 22 on December 10. Dense smoke, dust, debris, rubble, broken windows, discarded memories, lost homes, unidentified photo albums—these were her birthday gifts. She posted videos, photos and journal entries chronicling the war and its impact on her homeland since October 7. Her Instagram handle @byplestia that used to be a space for posting her social life updates—her spending time at libraries, restaurants, or the beach at Gaza with her friends—is no longer a virtual space for giving ‘life updates’. It now works as evidence that she is still alive.
This is Plestia’s journey—from the day her house was bombed to the present moment when she awaits a ceasefire.
October 9: Plestia walks through her neighbours’ houses and rushes to check on her parents. Deafening sounds of bombs, shaky window panes and smoke are the witnesses. The sounds of sirens intensify. A pause. Another bomb. Fortunately, she is still alive.
October 10: In the impenetrable darkness, Plestia runs, runs for her life. They have bombed some apartments in her building. But there is an update: “I still don’t know how I made it out alive. TURNS OUT NOT THE WHOLE HOUSE IS BURNED.”
October 11: No electricity, no internet. No water. Ambulance can’t even reach any place. She went to her house. Though it is still there, it is ravaged. Within the rubble of a nearby house, she finds family photographs, albums of unidentified people. Who are these people lost in the dust?
Denne historien er fra January 11, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
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Denne historien er fra January 11, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
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Trump, Up And Charging
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Post and Past the Oil in Azerbaijan
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Bhutto's Nehru Story
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The Anaphora to Zeugma of the Queen's English
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The Wind Knocked
THE wind knocked on the door. Hesitantly. Wanting to be let in. It had heard the murmuring of the flames. And knew that there was a fire. The wind sought shelter.
The Way Home
“We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.”—Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
The War Artist
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Mining Adivasi Votes
If the BJP manages to win Jharkhand, it will be the third mineral-rich state after Odisha and Chhattisgarh that will fall into the party's kitty
Unequal Republic
Political parties make promises of equal represention to women, but patriarchy continues to dominate electoral democracy
