THE smell of half-bloomed tulips, green pastures and the sun-soaked grass welcome you to the grandeur of nature—the hearth-throbbing beauty of an ancient city. The undesired dusts that used to cover the vacant resting benches don’t find their accomplice anymore. They are clean. The old structures, tainted with the burden of the past, no more hang over the vision of the future.
The future glows just like the lighting show—the colourful fountains, laser lights, and many more. On your way to this heavenly serenity of ‘Magic Bullet Paradise’—a renowned nursery in the heart of the city—you will never feel exhausted. The early days of dense, congested roads filled with scumbags, who illegally entered from foreign countries to occupy the streets, ambushing the civilisational ethos, are past now.
You can find colourful dry leaves covering your way to the nursery. The dryness doesn’t always symbolise the past. It is a new dryness that exists just to show you the contrasting appeal of the fresh—the ‘new’. Once, some foreign invaders constructed a humongous space for demon worshipping. Cockroaches with white stings—visually emulating the aliens from a Hitchcockian imagination—used to fill it in numbers. They are successfully replaced with beautiful incense sticks.
This story is from the October 21, 2023 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 21, 2023 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Layers Of Lear
Director Rajat Kapoor and actor Vinay Pathak's ode to Shakespeare is an experience to behold
Loss and Longing
Memories can be painful, but they also make life more meaningful
Suprabhatham Sub Judice
M.S. Subbulakshmi decided the fate of her memorials a long time ago
Fortress of Desire
A performance titled 'A Streetcart Named Desire', featuring Indian and international artists and performers, explored different desires through an unusual act on a full moon night at the Gwalior Fort
Of Hope and Hopelessness
The body appears as light in Payal Kapadia's film
Ruptured Lives
A visit to Bangladesh in 2010 shaped the author's novel, a sensitively sketched tale of migrants' struggles
The Big Book
The Big Book of Odia Literature is a groundbreaking work that provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to the rich and varied literary traditions of Odisha
How to Refuse the Generous Thief
The poet uses all the available arsenal in English to write the most anti-colonial poetry
The Freedom Compartment
#traindiaries is a photo journal shot in the ladies coaches of Mumbai locals. It explores how women engage and familiarise themselves with spaces by building relationships with complete strangers
Love, Up in the Clouds
Manikbabur Megh is an unusual love story about a man falling for a cloud. Amborish Roychoudhury discusses the process of Manikbabu's creation with actor Chandan Sen and director Abhinandan Banerjee