Eroteme Volume 3

V O L U M E

Centre for Sociology and Social Anthropology Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Off-Campus

EROTEME

At a glance

What’s Inside

This issue brings together a range of contributions from across the Centre for Sociology and Social

Anthropology. Student essays engage with themes of migration, displacement, belonging, and the social meanings embedded in everyday life and cultural expression. Creative submissions, poetry and short stories, offer intimate registers through which questions of identity, memory, and marginality are explored. Interviews with members of our faculty illuminate the intellectual journeys and research concerns that animate our department. Throughout are facts drawn from the discipline's history and findings, intended to inform and to provoke reflection.

In this issue: Centre Report 2025-2026 (Student Spotlight, Centre Initiatives, Field Visits and more) - Pg. 3 In Conversation... - Pg. 10 Student Corner (Creative Writing, Poetry, and more) - Pg. 15 Did You Know? Sociological Snippets

Welcome to Eroteme

Sociology begins with a simple but deep idea: that the things we take for granted, our habits, beliefs, and everyday interactions, are shaped by forces far larger than ourselves. While social anthropology helps us see the beauty in the diversity of the world and how all societies and cultures are beautiful in their own ways. This newsletter community to is a space for our explore those forces together, to ask questions, and to share the ideas that excite us about studying human society. It is a collection of people’s diverse expressions of their perspectives on the world around them.

Whether you are a student, a faculty member, or simply curious, we hope these pages spark conversation and remind you why the study of society really matters. We are proud to share with you- Eroteme Volume 3.

-Editorial Team

Message From The Centre Chair

The Centre has long served as an important intellectual space where students and scholars engage critically with society, culture, and contemporary challenges. Beyond classrooms and formal academic requirements, it nurtures curiosity, dialogue, and a spirit of inquiry that encourages us to look beyond the obvious. The Centre’s strength lies not only in the knowledge it imparts but also in its ability to foster meaningful conversations that bring together diverse perspectives and experiences.

In this regard, Eroteme occupies a special place. As a student newsletter, it provides a platform for voices that may not always find expression in conventional academic writing. It allows students to reflect, question, experiment with ideas, and engage with issues that matter to DR STEPHEN PAMEI

Chairperson Centre for Sociology and Social Anthropology them. A publication such as Eroteme enriches our intellectual life by creating a shared space for dialogue and reflection. I hope it continues to evolve into a vibrant forum where students contribute thoughtfully, challenge assumptions, and build a community of critical thinkers who are attentive to the complexities of the world around them.

The significance of Sociology and Social Anthropology today cannot be overstated. We live in a time marked by rapid social change, technological transformation, political polarization, environmental uncertainty, and growing inequalities. Understanding these developments requires more than statistics or policy prescriptions; it demands careful attention to human experiences, social relationships, cultural meanings, and structures of power. Sociology and Social Anthropology equip us with the tools to examine how societies function, how identities are formed, and how communities respond to change and conflict.

At a moment when societies are increasingly interconnected yet deeply fragmented, these disciplines remind us of the value of empathy, critical thinking, and contextual understanding. They encourage us to listen carefully, question responsibly, and engage thoughtfully with the social world. In doing so, they remain indispensable for both academic inquiry and the pursuit of a more inclusive and informed society.

Signing out…

CENTRE REPORT2025-2026

Contents:

Faculty Highlights Student Spotlight Centre Initiatives /Activities Field Visits and Reports

A round-up of the year at the Centre for Sociology and Social Anthropology

The past years at the centre have been full of activities, achievements, and growth. From seminars, to fieldwork and extra curricular activities, our students and faculty have both carried out commendable work within and outside the department. The report gathers some of the highlights.

• Faculty Highlights
• Dr. Stephen Pamei
• Dr. V. Sawmveli

Dr. Subeno Kithan

1 Dr. Subeno Kithan Presented a paper titled "Beyond Celebration: The Complex Dynamics of Cultural and Religious Identity Around the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland." at The Indian Anthropology Congress (IAC) on 21 February, 2025.

2 Dr. Subeno Kithan completed a certification course on "Outcome-Based Pedagogic Principles for Effective Teaching" by NPTEL online certification, Feb-March 2025.

3 Dr. Stephen Pamei attended Online NEP 2020 Orientation & Sensitisation Programme under Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme (MM-TTP) of University Grants Commission (UGC), Organised by UGC-MMTTC, Mizoram University from 6th to 14th November 2025.

4 Dr. Subeno Kithan and Dr. Stephen Pamei got selected for ICSSR Major project on 26 December 2025, on the topic " Families and the Impact of Inter- Ethnic Conflict in Manipur".

5 Dr. V.Sawmveli gave two Lectures as Resource Person on two topics: “Data Analysis

Theme Development

“Writing

Reporting Qualitative

Research”, on an ICSSR-sponsored three-day workshop on “Qualitative Research Tools and Approaches “ in collaboration with North Eastern Social Research Centre (NESRC) at Assam Don Bosco University from 26th to 28th March, 2026.

From First Steps to Farewells: The SSA Family

• Celebrating Our Graduates (2023-25)
• Batch of 2024-2026
• Welcoming the Batch of 2025-2027

Student Spotlight

Academic Achievements:

Arya Dubey Qualified GATE 2026 -Sociology (AIR 93) Qualified UGC-NET Sociology Dec 2025 Shreya Kerketta Qualified UGC-NET Sociology Dec 2025 Jane Seldou Qualified UGC-NET Sociology June 2025

Extra-Curricular Achievements

Panchali Sarkar Awarded the Mirchi Rising Star Award (In the category Emerging Dance Talent) Edited the Book - Flight of a Mute Swan by Dr Mira Biswas Anushka Gautam Achieved 1st position in Tote Bag Painting Competition in LitFest’26 Ashwin KR Singh rd

Achieved 3 position in 100m Race (IGNIS’26)

Achieved 3 position in 200m Race nd

Achieved 2 position in Relay Race

Did you Know?

A lunchbox delivery system that logisticians study

Around 5,000 dabbawalas move roughly 200,000 home-cooked lunches across Mumbai every day, using bicycles, handcarts, local trains, and a colour-and-symbol code rather than computers. Their error rate is so famously low that Harvard Business School wrote a case study on them.

Reference: Thomke, S., & Sinha, M. (2010). "The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time." Harvard Business School Case 610-059.

Centre Initiatives/Activities

FRIDAY DISCUSSIONS

The Friday Discussions were conceived as a vague concept during a classroom brainstorming on a random day. The idea slowly took shape, and with the Centre faculty's guidance, the students began hosting discussions every other Friday. The discussions, centred on social topics such as consumerism, decolonising academia, and freedom of speech, fostered awareness and student engagement through dialogue perspectives.

and highlighted diverse

MOVIE SCREENING th

On 6

February, 2026, the Centre organised the screening of the film ‘Bhagwan Bharose’ for students at TISS Guwahati. The movie was screened as part of one of our papers: Religion and Society. The movie raises awareness of blind faith and provides a critical lens on social reality. The screening was followed by a thoughtful discussion between students.

INTERACTION WITH PROF BARBORA th

On 29

August, 2025, the Centre organised an insightful interaction with Dr Sanjay Barbora, Associate

Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and former Dean and Professor in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at TISS Guwahati. The session, ‘Good Sense or Common Sense?’, inspired critical reflection among the attendees and questioned what creates common sense and how it is different from good sense which comes from a critical approach to society.

and inquiry-based

Field Visits and Reports

FIELD TRIP: MAWPHLANG SACRED GROVES

Students visited the ancient sacred grove of Mawphlang- a forest protected by the Khasi community for over eight centuries. For studying the sociology of religion, it offered a living text in animism and totemism. Walking among mosscovered monoliths and sacrificial stones, they encountered a worldview in which nature has a sacred presence. Students observed how religious belief, clan structure, and environmental conservation are woven into a single cultural fabric

GAUHATI HIGH COURT VISIT

A visit to the Gauhati High Court for the paper law and society brought students face to face with the machinery of law in action. Observing proceedings from the courtroom gallery, they watched abstract legal principles take concrete form in argument, procedure, and judgment. The experience was enriched by conversations with practising lawyers, who spoke candidly about the realities of the profession. It helped them understand how access to justice is also shaped by social and economic circumstances.

FIELDWORK IN SUALKUCHI

The village of Sualkuchi, long celebrated as the weaving heart of Assam, served as the setting for a rural practicum and ethnographic study. Students practised the core methods of their discipline:

observation, immersion, and the patient work of listening. They explored how the famous silk-weaving tradition organises the local economy, together structures questions households, and binds of caste, labour, and livelihood. Their time in Sualkuchi offered an invaluable lesson in translating fieldwork from a classroom concept into a lived, grounded practice.

• Field Visits and Reports
• FIELD VISIT TO KALAKSHETRA
• At the Srimanta

Sankaradeva

Kalakshetra, students spent a day immersed in the cultural heritage of Assam and the wider Northeast. Conceived as a living repository of the region's art, tradition, and memory, the Kalakshetra brought students into direct contact with the customs, crafts, and performance traditions that give the region its distinctive identity. Moving through its galleries and cultural spaces, students reflected on how culture is preserved, curated, and transmitted across generations

VISITS TO PILLANGKATA

Visits to Pillangkata at the Assam-Meghalaya border gave students a close view of the dynamics of development and everyday rural life. Engaging directly with residents, they examined how broad processes of economic, infrastructural, and social change register in the lives of an ordinary community. Students observed the textures of daily life like crime and education while asking searching questions about development: who benefits from it, how it reshapes local livelihoods, and what tensions arise between progress and continuity.

FIELDWORK: FANCY BAZAR

The bustling commercial hub of Fancy Bazaar became a vibrant field site where students dispersed to pursue distinct lines of sociological inquiry. Each chose a lens like migration, gender, history, or poverty, and through observation and interviews, set about reading the life of the marketplace through it.

Some traced the journeys of migrant traders and workers; others examined how gender shapes labour and public space; still others explored the area's layered history or the visible presence of poverty amid commerce. The exercise revealed how a single, ordinary place can contain a multitude of social stories, each depending on the questions one asks.

‘On Sociology, Teaching, and a Changing World’

In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us for the SSA Eroteme newsletter. We hope you are doing well. To begin with, as someone who taught at the Centre for Sociology and Social Anthropology at Tata

Institute of Social

Sciences, Guwahati, memories, are there classroom any particular moments, or student interactions that you still fondly remember?

I am thrilled to be responding to the Eroteme team after serving as its first faculty advisor in 2023-2024.

There are so many wonderful memories of teaching at the Centre for Sociology and Social

Anthropology at TISS Guwahati. I honestly feel I learned more than I taught. From the first batch (in 2015) to the last (until I left in 2023), I made it a point to teach the incoming first-year batch in their first semester. Students arrived with anxieties and dreams in equal measure, so watching them grow in confidence over the two years was very special. I know the theory classes are exceptionally boring, and every cohort I taught was polite enough not to let it be known to my face that they hated the class.

However, occasionally the mask slipped. There were times when students fell asleep in the middle of class, or, in their frustration and anger, would press me for reasons why these “old dead European men” mattered! This forced me to centre students’ experiences and contextualise the impact of the Industrial Revolution, colonialism, and modernisation on their lives. Hopefully, it made the theory classes relevant and less boring.

PROF SANJAY BARBORA

Associate Professor University of California, Santa Cruz

Sanjay Barbora teaches sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was the Former Dean and Faculty member of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati. His research spans peace-building and reconciliation, food sovereignty in the Eastern Himalayas, and the politics of Northeast India.

He is the author of the book: Homeland Insecurities: Autonomy, Conflict, and Migration in Assam (2022). His coauthored works include- Land, People, and Politics: Contest over tribal land in Northeast India, and Modernisation and Women’s Status in the Northeast India.

How do you think sociology and social anthropology can help us better understand the rapidly changing social realities of our times?

Sociology and social anthropology are disciplines that encourage students to value empirical work. Our pedagogical methods require deeper engagement with the world we share with other sentient beings. The ability to reflect and

In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)

the willingness to change our minds equip us with a secular agnosticism that enables us to offer more enduring explanations of the changing times we live in. It is easy to be cynical or needlessly laudatory about some of the changes we are seeing now. The use of Artificial Intelligence is a case in point. Our discipline – SSA – teaches us that AI is but one innovative platform upon which capitalism is relaunching itself in st the 21 century. As practitioners of our discipline, it is up to us to determine how we interpret AI’s impact on our lives. We could be its uncritical cheerleaders and end up working for the soul-crushing tech industry exemplified by companies like Palantir. Or we could bury our heads in the sand, pretend it does not exist, and end up irrelevant to how newer generations navigate this world. I believe someone who has taken their training in sociology and social anthropology seriously can avoid both extremes.

Now that you’re teaching at an American university, how has the experience been different from teaching in India? Are there any differences in classrooms, student interactions, or academic culture that stood out to you?

My university here, the University of California at Santa Cruz, is one of ten campuses in a publicly funded system. A large share of our funding comes from California taxpayers, so there is an inherent commitment to serving firstgeneration students, especially those who transfer from community colleges. Almost all students here, including undergraduates, work and pay their way through college. As a result, they tend to Read More on our website think carefully about the courses they choose.

This leads to more frequent interactions, as students in the US expect clarity on pedagogical matters. They want to know the rubric I will use to grade them on a particular theme, or how they can improve their answers. I also find the academic culture of interaction here refreshingly devoid of hierarchy. Students, though respectful of their teachers, will not hesitate to voice differences of opinion in class and will not allow faculty to get away with lazy prejudices. There is a generosity among equals in interactions between faculty and students here that I am learning from.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in pursuing research or higher studies abroad?

Always remember that you are one of many applicants for a PhD programme at any university abroad.

The expectations from applicants differ from one continent to another. For instance, British universities require a two- or three-page proposal outlining your research interests; this may not be the case for American universities. In most US universities, you are expected to write a persuasive statement of purpose that tells the admission committee about your intellectual growth, interests, and why you should be shortlisted.

My advice would be to start early. Identify your interests soon.

TISS Guwahati is good because it encourages you to write an MA thesis, in which you have to think through a research topic and conduct basic desk and empirical research. While doing your literature review, focus on at least two or three peer-reviewed journals that publish cutting-edge research on the subject you are interested in. This will give you a

In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)

better idea of the researchers and the universities you wish to apply to (since you will see their affiliations when you follow their work). While in the field, remember to do diligent, immersive

For students who are just beginning their academic journey in sociology and anthropology, what habits or approaches would you encourage them to develop?

Read! That is the best way you can expand your horizons.

Read good ethnographic books that will inspire you to do engaged, in-depth fieldwork.

work and make long-lasting friends with the people you meet. These are small ways to strengthen your application.

Having said all this, the world seems to have changed immensely in the past two years.

American universities have

Furthermore, do not be afraid to write more, especially in the public domain. Write for journals, the OpEd page of your local newspapers, webzines, and other places where people read and respond. It will make you accountable to readers.

reduced their budgets for recruiting PhD students, leading to a decline in the number of international students. The UK is in an austerity drive that has implications for higher education.

Cooking helps, strangely! Maybe it is the process of selecting ingredients and planning the dish that closely mirrors how we choose to conduct our research.

Australian universities have a somewhat personalised recruitment system for PhD research in the social sciences, where you need exceptionally high marks throughout college.

European rsities, univeincluding

Were there any particular experiences/ challenges during your time teaching in India that shaped the way you think aboout teaching, research, or academia more broadly?

those in Germany (by far the country that spends the most on higher education), focus more on government-funded thematic research areas, so getting into these networks can be challenging.

Do not be afraid to write more, especially in the public domain.

My significant teaching experiences in India are limited to TISS Guwahati, which was different from other places. We had an active Board of Studies, and as Dean, I tried to implement curriculum changes -

Sometimes you might find that the person you want to work with, the one who has been doing cutting-edge research, is not in some foreign university, but just around the corner from you. That is why following journals and reading up are important elements across the different

Centres, incorporating input from student representatives. This consultative process was very helpful in shaping my views on the relevance of period change in teaching syllabi.

Hopefully, this will remain and improve over time.

in deciding on your PhD journey.

The challenge (at TISS) were financial in

In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)

nature, which I guess comes with having a multi-campus university with a centralised financial reporting system. This meant an acute shortage of people to teach and do administrative work that is essential for a good academic experience for students and teachers. Hopefully, this will change.

We’d also love to know about the kind of research you are currently working on. What questions or themes have been occupying your attention lately?

ations. This edited book will include some very important authors who have worked on plantations in their lifetimes and will map the kinds of interesting areas emerging from these studies.

My fifth book project is an edited handbook on Northeast India. I am working with Sanjib Baruah and Dolly Kikon to produce a handbook that includes both new and older research on the region, in an effort to amplify the complex and diverse layers of history and politics that exist here.

It’s a busy time, to be sure.

I have a longoverdue book peacebuilding reconciliation on and that will hopefully be out for peer review at the end of this year.

For me, the governmentdriven emphasis on traditional Indian knowledge, often at the How do you see the future of social science evolving coming research in the years, especially in South Asia?

I am also consolidating on some exciting research on sovereignty in food the Eastern

Himalayan region that I was engaged in with Bengt Karlsson, Dolly Kikon, Dixita Deka, expense of the influence of Islam and Christianity and their contributions to the diversity of Indian culture, is unlikely to yield anything intellectually honest and inclusive.

It is hard to tell, especially in India.

For me, the government-driven emphasis on traditional

Indian knowledge, often at the expense of the influence of Islam and Christianity and Meenal Tula, and Joel Rodrigues. I am working on a book on pollution, pests, and people in Assam that emerged from this study, and I their contributions to the diversity of Indian culture, is unlikely to yield anything intellectually honest and inclusive.

should have a proposal out this year.

I also plan to consolidate my earlier work on territorial autonomy in Northeast India for OUP India’s Short Introduction Series.

Read More on our website There is a fourth book project with Prof Mythri Jegathesan on 21st-century plant-

In countries like Bhutan and Nepal, there is an emerging interest in more-thanhuman worlds, particularly in relation to climate change. This is an exciting new area of research that we can look forward to.

Both the Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan ac-

In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)

ademic worlds have recently experienced a period of openness emerging from intense movements for political change. Hence, we might gain valuable insights into reconciliation, which will undoubtedly enrich political sociology worldwide.

From what little I know of social science research in Pakistan, much of it used to focus on development, conservation, and politics.

Lastly, is there any message you would like to share with the students of Centre for Sociology & Social Anthropology?

To those who are about to graduate, congratulations! I wish you a wonderful future, with lots of opportunities to grow and mentor others.

To those who have another year and those who have just joined: I hope you make the most of your time at the Centre. Look out for each other, and if there are two things you can learn while you are at TISS Guwahati, I hope they are solidarity and caring for others.

Did you Know?

High heels began as men's military gear Long before they were women's fashion, heels were functional footwear for men. Persian cavalry wore them to lock their boots into the stirrups, steadying them to shoot arrows on horseback. The style later spread to European aristocratic men before becoming coded as feminine.

Sociological Snippets

Families who eat together, fare better

Adolescents who share regular family meals report higher academic performance and better mental health, and lower substance use, even after accounting for how emotionally connected the family is. The study shows a correlation, not proof that dinners themselves cause the benefits.

Reference: Eisenberg et al., 2004 Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine

Archives of Read More on our website

STUDENT CORNER

The Student Corner is a section dedicated for students, across the institute, to showcase their work, with a focus on society and social issues. These include essays, stories, reflections, poems, commentaries, etc.

We are proud to share their voices and hope that you read them as we received them- with attention, and with delight.

Contents:

1 Poetry Collection 2 The Mango at The Corner 3 The Story of Migration in ‘Dinwa Ginat Mori’ 4 Illusion 5 Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta

Written By: Antarlina Bhattacharjee

Poetry Collection

Fermented Fish

We all are fermented fish Fermenting over years, Through Surma and Kushiyara With smell so pungent That they want to keep away From what we carry

We are long dead Our houses washed away, In floods and famines Yet our bones & blood carry the river and mud That once held us

We are fermented fish Not stagnant Always flowing across borders Negotiating with Feni Adrift in its waters, never meeting a shore Not knowing where we belong We un-belong

Yet shores claim us Our identities are brined in salts From the sweat of longing Our rootlessness preserved In jars of history And our belonging Forever fermenting

Margins

Draw a margin on the paper Said the teacher Hence, I kept drawing margins On every paper Only to learn My home is a margin too

Drawing Margins are important Margins are not Margins are ignored & forgotten But there must be a margin on every page So there is a margin And my homeland is a margin

Margin is forgotten as My homeland is We are the numbers on the margins Counted yet discarded There but not seen Fondly called marginals

(continued on next page)

Margins

(continued)

Home is the first margin I knew Before I learned That the center was never mine Since then It is only margins that I have drawn

My homeland is a margin Pushed aside But say it, without my margin Your state collapses Yet you want to pretend, We are the empty space.

Did you Know?

The colours of the nursery weren't always so fixed. A century ago, colour and gender weren't reliably linked at all and some publications in the early

1900s recommended pink for boys as a "strong" colour and blue, as "dainty," for girls. The neat "pink-for-girls, blue-forboys" rule we know today only settled in the mid-20th century, driven largely by department-store marketing.

Yellow Fever Dream

Like Kherengbar The flowers you gave me lost their smell

Like the story of Kherengbar I put the flowers in my hair

Like Kherengbar’s story You turned into a gibbon

Mourning you, I died Maybe I was born as a lizard And maybe it was for us That Gods decided To take away smell from Kherengbar

But all of these Is my yellow fever dream

There are no Kherengbars in your land You are still a human I am still alive Mourning us And the gods decided to turn away

And every flower retains its smell Only ours lost its smell

Yellow fever dream frequents me Only to tell me If you were a gibbon I’d be a lizard too But alas, we are still human

Eroteme 2026

Photo by Ana Jovanovski on Unsplash

Written by: Vedansh Pareek

The Mango at the Corner

There was not much to do in those summers. Its intense heat would distort distant views, crack lips to pour blood, enfeeble egos by making people faint, all the while creating oases on the grey tar of roads. The days were lived, then, in my garden. They were rather simple: I would use my thumb to nozzle out water from the hose in weird ways, create rainbows, and breathe in smells of the soil. I would mould the mud into structures held together by bamboo twigs and label them houses for insects and reptiles. And in these scenes, a constant whirr of the motor was ever-present as it would pump water from the infinite underground tank — an enigma whose interior I would always wonder about.

Due to my inexhaustible bouts of binge-planting (much in the face of opposition from my irritable summer family) in our very much exhausted rectangle of a garden, roots infiltrated the tank. I discovered this when I traced one running eerily on the surface and into the tank; squatting, laboriously removing the rusty lid, I experienced a rapture: there was tranquillity upon seeing the surface alive, beautiful, hair-like flowing white roots, whose flesh so contrasted with the absolute dark abyss, making them glow as they reflected daylight. They were drinking as they were persevering through the waves of Rajasthan heat. Mesmerised, I’d refocus my eyes, and the abyss would reflect my silhouette in its art.

Life was good with these dillydally occupations; only that I was still a child, having to listen to my parents. They had their tensions and apprehensions, which I’d try to ease by making them tour the garden wilderness, no matter their sombre reactions. I had faith in these natural charms. Even the trees that Daata (my father) and I had so lovingly planted on the pavement right outside our home a few years ago were flourishing. Emblazoned golden showers of the Amaltaas, soft purples of Kachnaar, and the grouplets of tiny leaves on the Amla. The whole neighbourhood was awestrucontinued on next page)

ck by the flowers, but weirdly critical of the rest of the wild foliage in their conservative views of a garden. Nevertheless, it was thriving amongst the rows of concrete. Lying on the moist soil with my hands under my head, I was almost content with my garden, almost because I was only wishing, stubbornly like a child my age would, for that one corner to be housed with the summer dream of a mango tree; after all, I shared history with such a tree.

I had learned that newer varieties were available in nurseries, ones that would fruit in the first year and would not grow that tall. And to my joy, Daata shared these wishes. Pampering the heart of a twelve-year-old, he surprised me with not one, but two Amrapali mango trees. Obsessively, I thoroughly inspected the trees: lush, sturdy, and old enough to be planted right away.

My heart raced at the thought of harvesting my mangoes from impatience, I planted one of my garden, and so, with much them where it was destined to be.

Some days passed, and the manadjusting to the change uneventfully, we were parents told me that the our circumstances. Not knopaid it no heed. But I practiced, and it came off peculiar of professions: architecture, as I understood, which out of our household. The negativity middle-class financial burdens, and go at the corner was gracefully in soil and light. Seemingly scheduled to have a visitor. My visit was in order, given wing what that meant, I was told what this visitor to me as one of the most Vaastu. A mix of astrology and would resolve and reorient negativity perhaps, was the sporadic arguments, “bad times” in general.

As this visitor first walked into the vermiddle-aged man with a mediocre and-shirt set one would imagine and earnest, I revised salbarefoot by the door in white vest and dark he x-rayed our home stepped forward. We, too, of hospitality when we had a andah, he was revealed only to be a moustache, wearing an everyday pantpeople of his age to wear. Eager utations in my mind, standing the summer uniform of a shorts. Expressionlessly, with his eyes as he began working the gears visitor: imbued with values of “the guest is god,” we presented an overly formal greeting, amplified by servility to this “man of divinity” who would drive away “negative vibrations” caused by the placings and makings of this profane house we had bought.

Something happened then that struck my childlike wonder: he brought out an even more peculiar object from his bag—a Vaastu-meter. “Wow! Technology, man!” I thought to myself, amazed that there is now a gadget that reads “positive and negative energy” just the way we read our weight on a digital scale. Brandishing that negativity compass of a Vaastu-meter, he examined our home and gave resolute remarks on the astrologically incorrect architecture. The bathrooms, the kitchen, the living room, and, in that vein, perhaps all other rooms were incorrectly located. He saw continued on next page)

devtas and asuras where there were only…things, or no-things. Though there was some sense in locating impurities caused by a bathroom near our kitchen or mandir But my parents acknowledged him immediately by estimating the cost of redoing much of our home. It would resolve our circumstances. And as long as I got to hear prospects of a room to myself, I was happy.

With my same indifference and my parents’ enduring devotion, we followed him out onto the porch. He pointed the Vaastu-meter toward one side of the garden, and apparently, my sustainable composting practices there did not produce fertile manure but drove away Lakshmi, or, simply, money. It was to be removed as soon as possible, he commanded. My parents eyed me, and I obeyed the compromise that had to be made. Now, this little “urban jungle” of mine, I thought proudly or maybe cautiously, interested him as he looked around, stepping curiously. He slowed down and stopped. The next few seconds were instantaneous but also excruciatingly long: standing diagonally opposite to me, this man disregarded any obligatory eye contact, being in the position of a guest, with my mother, father, or me. With a self-entitled authority, he shot his hand straight, catching hold of the tree at the corner; his precise movements made them seem planned from the moment he set foot onto the porch. In a merciless manoeuvre, he grabbed the stem of the young Amrapali, which was only as thick as his middle finger; using his fingers to grip and his thumb to coerce, the mango snapped into two. Dangling on the thin bark that didn’t tear, the dead remains spoke of the coveted violence that just happened. Somewhere, a bird halfchirped. “Why did he do this?!” I interjected vehemently. I could not understand. I just planted that tree. It was just a tree. That tree was my dream, and I was going to relive those years when we used to live with my grandparents, picking mangoes together. That tree was also logged to death, merely because it had reached the overhanging electric cables. I teared up, and I shouted and sobbed louder and louder. Seeing me, Daata asked him, rather monotonously, as to why he did this. “Vaastu forbids mango trees in a home. And as soon as I looked at this garden, I knew that you would never remove it.”

Perhaps my cries and wailings were inaudible, or perhaps my parents and the “man of divinity” were deaf. But certainly, my child-self has not forgotten the transgression of either the “guest” or the “god.” And that summer passed by in the refuge of the soil that I smelt, lying down with my hands under my head, looking up at the sky, and hearing the same sporadically echoing sounds of negativity from the walls of my home.

Sociological Snippets

The Bystander Effect: The more people present, the less likely anyone helps.

In emergencies, adding more bystanders actually reduces the chance that any one of them will intervene; each person assumes someone else will act. Known as the bystander effect, it's one of social psychology's most replicated findings.

Reference: Darley & Latané, 1968 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The Story of Migration in ‘Dinwa Ginat Mori’

Written By: Ashwin Kr Singh

The song ‘Dinwa Ginat Mori’ was sung by Suman Kalyanpur in the year 1963, and is a beautiful song that carries a heavy social cause. It actually shows the reality of the rural india which is not always self-sufficient and simple as we perceive. The song is a part of the Bidesiya tradition, which grew out of Bhojpuri-speaking regions that describes the sufferings and pain of men leaving their villages in search of work into big town and city. The song is not only about women missing her husband but it is about how migration can often pull a family apart.

The Pardesi in the song represents the outsider, who travels to different towns or cities like Kolkata or Mumbai because of lack of opportunities in village. The movement of people is often related to their economic pressure because local or small farming activity can no longer feed a family. The song records the history of survival, showing the growth and development of the cities was built on the sacrifices of those coming from the rural areas.

The most touching part of this song was the focus on the women who stays behind. The phrase Dinwa ginat mori, ghisli ungariya which mean “Counting the days, my fingers have worn out” captures emotional and social burden that women carry when their partner migrates. The women manage the entire household activities and farms on their own.

It creates a situation where women are seen as a primary holder of rural economy but despite of that they suffer from loneliness and lack of social support. In many cases men who migrates to other cities often fail to return Read More on our website home because they remarry there putting more burden to women.

Photograph by John Stanmeyer, Nat Geo Image Collection

The song shows the gap between the rich urban areas and the struggling rural areas where migration is not just a movement of workers but a story of families and the quiet resilience of those waiting at home. The song remains relevant in the contemporary society because the same social and economic issues continue to shape the lives of the many people across the India.

Illusion

Written By: Rajashree Boral

They say, “if you don’t learn, The same pattern repeats”. So I keep on getting the same lesson, Guess I am a tough student to teach.

He was there, I swear he was I swear he whispered the spell, Everyone in the room confirmed Yet there was no proof, I failed, “You did love me, please don’t lie” I begged as many times as I could “It’s none of that, you got the wrong idea” It didn’t sound well, almost rude.

I could recall every word he said Perhaps it’s my destiny, To lose at the last moment Unable to see the illusion of love offered to me.

Photo by Solanin on Unsplash

“Please admit it, you loved me” I said again, crying, pleading “I’ve never thought anything like so” At this my heart was bleeding.

Was I a fool? To believe I could be loved? Oh what a shame, what a shame, Even the almighty laughed from above.

Written By: Akash Manna

Content note: This story deals with bullying, isolation, and suicide. Some readers may find it distressing.

He woke up. Sweating. Shaking. Head spinning. Everything was a blur. His mind was racing. “Robert!” his mother called, “Get up! You will be late for school!” But he didn’t hear her. Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta. That’s all he could hear.

“And what is so important that keeps stealing your attention from my class Robert?” his teacher shouted angrily. “Or do you just want to fail my class too?” His eye darted around him. Everyone was looking at him. Judging. Cold. Mocking. And yet, Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta. Read More on our website That’s all he could hear.

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Written By: Akash Manna

(continued)

“Young man”, his father continued, “You need to focus on school, not on those video games, or I will have to confiscate them” “And stop talking to your friends so much”, his mother said, “You will not die if you don’t talk to them after school” He never looked up. His palms were sweaty. On the verge of tears. And still, Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta. That’s all he could hear.

He sat on his bed, mind racing. Thoughts he never wanted to have resurfaced. “You are nothing”, they said. “Worthless”, said another. “Alone in this cruel world” “Never understood” ‘This world isn’t for your kind” “This world isn’t for you” Slowly, he got up. His legs wobbly. His hands shaking. “Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta”, he hummed. No more, he thought, a smile forming on his face. Slowly, he opened the door. Tears fell from his eyes. “Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta”, he sung. He looked at the knife. “No”, the voices said. He looked at the gas stove. Yes.

“So, what did you see exactly?” the reporter asked the firemen, who were the first responders to the fire that had engulfed the apartment. “Well, it was a gruesome sight for sure”, one of them said. “People screaming, some running, some stuck under burning debris.” “But that’s not what truly scared us”, he continued. “On the second floor, when we entered the 2nd room , we saw him. A boy. Maybe 16 or 17. He was sitting on the burning sofa. We tried calling to him, but he just looked at us, smiling.” “Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta” the others said “that’s what he kept singing. It looked like a horror show, you know? Like we were seeing a ghost” “So it was him who started the fire?” the reporter pushed. “Well, we can’t be sure, but it is highly likely. The source of the fire was that room.” “Must have been some psychopath, eh?” the men laughed.

But no one understood. No one tried to save him. They just judged. Like all people do If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. You are not alone.

Counsellor- Mrs. Amrita Mazumdar Contact: 9387532882 [email protected] iCall (TISS): 9152987821, Monday–Saturday, 8 a.m.– 10 p.m. Tele-MANAS

(India's national mental health helpline): 14416 or 1-800-891-4416, available 24/7

• EROTEME VOLUME 3
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• Arya Dubey

Dr. Subeno Kithan

We invite readers to share their responses to this issue and to contribute to future editions. Submissions of writing, artwork, and ideas from students and faculty are warmly welcomed.

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