Umar Nizar Father Brown, GK Chesterton’s indefatigable clergyman sleuth says in one of his romps, ‘G.O.D spelt backwards becomes D.O.G’. In the recent Iranian movie Kupal (2017, Kazem Mollaie) winner at the Bogota Film Festival, which is about a taxidermist who finds himself locked inside a safe chamber by himself, having to kill and …
2017-Year of the Snuff Movie
Umar Nizar Snuff films: murder on camera for commercial gain. The world’s first conference devoted to the mythology of snuff took place at the University of Bournemouth on a weekend in November 2012, a clear indication of how attitudes have changed in the last two decades: the organizers and a number of the delegates …
Rohingyas and Origins of the Caste System
Umar Nizar How foolish it would be to suppose that one only needs to point out this origin and this misty shroud of delusion in order to destroy the world that counts for real, so-called ‘reality’. We can destroy it only as creators.-Nietzche, ‘Gay Science If you are seeking origins of the caste system, then …
The Fish Milk of Kindness
Umar Nizar In the mess bill that is religiously brought out every month by JNU’s Jhelum hostel, there is an outstanding amount of Rs.5200 against the name of J.Muthukrishanan. This is the sum that he owes the ‘nation.’ It is a bad education loan, given in kind, and extracted pitilessly. The research scholar’s relationship …
The curious case of Indian psychoanalysis
Umar Nizar Marxism has been critiqued variously for its occasional elitism and casteism. But the Freudian establishment in India, a flourishing one at that, has escaped criticism. Ashis Nandy, has so far been Indian psychoanalysis’ fall guy. He has managed to create controversies in virtually every public platform that was given to him. His antics …
Poetry and Parochialism in Kerala: Sugathakumari opens a Pandora’s Box
Umar Nizar The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, in his customary impish fashion rephrases Heidegger’s oft-quoted dictum that ‘language is the house of being’ as ‘language is the torture-house of being.’ For him there is no genocide without poetry. Sugathakumari, a major Malayalam poet, and winner of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, …