triveni spotlight: 17th december 2023

triveni spotlight A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY! hosts: Kala Ramesh and Vidya Shankar GUEST EDITOR: Ustat Kaur Sethi 17th December 2023

funeral lillies

the white noise

of grief

— John Pappas

haikuKATHA, Issue 23

I once read somewhere, that when you talk about wars, you don’t talk about the death and destruction that follows it, you talk about the charred doll of an eight–year–old girl. Wars have a tendency of stripping us of our humanity, of making us forget, that there exist actual people, people with real lives behind these death tolls and numerals. And that they, with their singular hopes, dreams, wishes and aspirations matter – probably the most in the true scope of things, once you remove the societal expectations that envelope it.

Winter is a time when the world is dusted with snow, but nature sheds away its ostentations – a harsh reminder of the cold that creeps through at that time. For many, it is a time of joy, of remembrance and gratitude. For many others - the ones in makeshift camps, the ones on the battlefield, the ones suffering, it is a beckon to prepare for tough times ahead – because winter is coming, and it will stay. The December edition of Triveni Spotlight is an attempt to look at these realities, with the aim to divert a certain amount of attention to the current conflict plaguing Israel and Palestine.

- Ustat Kaur Sethi

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Thank you for being our next guest editor, Ustat. We are looking forward to this month-long haiku from the past issues of haikuKATHA! Wow! This is going to be a treat!

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