Sujata Achrekar

The Ascetic
They say I've lived a million years...
They say I'll live a million more.
Orange flames
paint my skin...
Camouflaging
the scars beneath.

Somnolent

I see the world

That lies before

'Her' mangled ghats...

The horizon

is on

the brink of decay...

Choked

with vicious

Urbane-ness.

I immerse myself

in Ganga's depths.

Her holiness

Chars my body...

Scalds it,

till I exist no more

The river

still burns

upon my scars - 

Exhuming

dead bodies

from her womb

And - 

My shadow walks away from me
Eclipsing the million years I've lived
Eclipsing the million years I'll live.
©Anukriti Sharma 2012 

To know more about Sujata Achrekar, click on any of her paintings below:

Online Publication of EI

Dear Poets/Artists,

Ekphrasis India is extremely sorry for the delay in the publication of its online magazine: EI

The delay has been due to some unavoidable circumstances. We are now back and will soon publish the magazine.

We will keep you posted and publish the online magazine by April 30.

I request all our dear poets to please bear with us for sometime.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Warm regards,

Anukriti Sharma

Results - Poetry Writing Contest: 2

Dear Poets,

Thank you for participating in Ekphrasis India's Poetry Writing Contest: 2. We truly appreciate your time and effort. The judges surely had a tough time! We are extremely happy to announce the results.

But before we do that, let us know about EI

EI, Ekphrasis India's online magazine, aims to bridge the gap between various art forms. It promotes budding artists and poets by giving them a platform to express their creativity.
The Editorial Board includes Samik Bhattacharya, Rahul Sharma, Mihir Vatsa, Anukriti Sharma.

We are proud to showcase a glimpse of EI 's second issue. It will be released by the end of September.

Here's the cover (Concept and Design - Anukriti Sharma)

We have chosen 49 beautiful poems for this issue of EI ( The poems shall be published in our magazine along with a short bio/photograph of the poet). Ekphrasis India team wishes all the poets the very best in life. Many Many Congratulations to all of you!

EI's featured poets along with their poems are (in alphabetical order) :

1. Aditya Singh - Red was the Colour
2. Aman Mathur- The Forbidden Fruit
3. Amlandeep Bhattacharya - Confusing Times
4. Amrit Sinha - Canvas
5. Anindita Deo - Parasitic Harmony
6. Arvind Kumar Sharma - The Portrayed Souls
7. Aryak Ray - The Red, the Dream, and She
8. Avantika Kaushik - Eve with an Apple
9. Cinthya Anand - The Mask

10. Debasmita Ghosh - The Knife under my Skin

11. Dr A V Koshy - W--king with Colours
12. Dr Aprilia Zank- Mirroring
13. Dr Nicola Coutinho - Beneath the Surface
14. Gajendra Mohan Jha - Break Free
15. Gayatri Soni - Birth of Beauty with Dignity
16. Gorakhnath Gangane - Lifeless
17. James Heller Levinson - Countenance Curational
18. John Fraser. R - Marriage of the Moneylender's Daughter
19. Kanchan Jindal - Who am I?

20. Kavya Sharma - Eve-ness

21. Kriti Sharma - Corners
22. Kritika Pramod Kulshrestha- The Wrath of Betrayal
23. Maliny Mohan - Mirror Hues
24. Manaswita Ghosh- Born in a Closet
25. Mugdha Basu - The Pieces Black and White
26. Nandini Garg - Of the Inopportune!
27. Neeraj Naidu - Bloodstained Dream
28. Nikhita Satnalika - Unrevealed Mask
29. Paramjit Paul - A Tainted Chronicle

30. Piyush Dayalal Bhatt - My Perception

31. Pooja Lokhande - Unrest of Desire
32. Pooja Sharma Rao - Crimson
33. Preeti Singh - Canvas
34. Ragini Puri - Masquerade
35. Rekha Seshadri - Bittersweet Meetings
36. Rukhaya MK - The Lost Canvas
37. Rupam Goswami - Camouflage: Colours of Redemption
38. Saptarshi Basu - Dead Man Talking39. Sarat Kumar Saikia -  Mirage
40. Saravana Kumar Murugan - Cry of a Night Queen

41. Sheetal Kakar - Very Few Times I Fall in Love with Myself

42. Shloka Shankar - Phoenix. Apparently
43. Soujanya. B - The Apple of my Blind Eyes
44. Souvik Sinha - Behold my Love
45. Sukanya Kar - A Masked Existence
46. Susma Sharma Gurumayum - His Fantasy
47. Tom Thomas - Gloom
48. Zeenath Ibrahim - Broken Images
49. Zepphora Lyngdoh - Disguise

The magazine would be online by April 30
If you have any queries or would like make a contribution in EI -
Mail us at ekphrasis.india@gmail.com

The Winners of Poetry Writing Contest: 2
So here are the results! Heartiest Congratulations to all the winners! We shall soon contact you.

1st Prize - Receives a special prize from Ekphrasis India, worth 350/- INR
Rukhaya MK for the poem "The Lost Canvas"
Kerala, India

2nd Prize - Receives a special prize from Ekphrasis India worth 250/- INR
Shloka Shankar for the poem "Phoenix. Apparently."
Bangalore, Karnataka, India

3rd Prize -  Receives a special prize from Ekphrasis India worth 200/- INR
Zeenath Ibrahim for the poem "Broken Images"
Calicut, Kerala, India

4th Prize -  Receives a special prize from Ekphrasis India worth 150/- INR
Kavya Sharma for the poem "Eve-ness"
New Delhi, India
and

5th Prize - Poem to be published in Vayavya/ Impulse magazine
Shared by:
James Heller Levinson for the poem 'Countenance Curational'
New York, USA
and
Nandini Garg for the poem 'Of the Inopportune!'
Bahadurgarh, Haryana, India

Thank you,
Ekphrasis India Team

Poetry Writing Contest: 2

Dear Poets,

After the grand success of EI  - Ekphrasis India's online magazine,  we are glad to announce our second Poetry Writing Contest

Your dream to get published(online) may just come true; since every relevant entry shall be featured in EI.

And that's not all.

The top three winners will receive their favourite books and two lucky contestants will have their poem published in our partner magazines - Impulse and Vayavya

So, what are you waiting for? Just pen down a poetry based on the given painting and win fabulous prizes!
Participate now!

Please read the following guidelines:
1. Poems must be written in English. Translation is a must for those who wish to submit poetry written in any other language.
2. Your poem should be based on the given painting only. Do not forget to include a title. Irrelevant entries shall be rejected.
3. Submit your work here - ekphrasis.india@gmail.com
4. Please mention the following, when you submit your poem -
Name:
Location:
Date of Birth:
Email address:
5. Entries shall be accepted from Friday, June 29, 2012 to Monday, July 16, 2012. Multiple submissions are allowed and late entries shall not be entertained.
6. The poems shall be judged based on creativity, content, and relevance.
7. This contest is open to people from all over the world. We do not discriminate poets on the basis of gender, religion, colour, caste, creed, community, ethnicity, etc. Please refrain from writing hateful/ discriminatory content.
8.  For further queries please leave a comment or contact us on ekphrasis.india@gmail.com
We are always happy to help.
9.  The result shall be announced by the first week of August.

This is the painting for the Contest:

© Subrata Gangopadhyay

All the best! :)

The painting is by a very talented artist: Subrata Gangopadhyay

Sekhar Roy

The Blue Boy

I knew a little boy once who painted his face blue,

For he was born so different from me and you.

His face looked like just another in the crowd,

But his thoughts had their abode higher than the clouds.

Hidden behind the smoke, sunlight was hard to find

When the tanks used to march the deserted streets.

It was the year 1989 and thus not very kind,

For in some corner of the world, people still were colorblind.

Some places where sunlight shone just bright,

He danced and trotted and played around fearless.

While other childhoods of neighborhoods grew up with fright

The Blue Boy merely chose to see a different sight.

He sang as he walked, of the colors he could see,

For he wanted every soul to listen to his songs,

'The colorful flag fluttered with warmth and glee'.

Wind carried his songs to the world where people were living free.

The mother’s heart was frightened when she heard,

Her little boy was the 'Blue Boy' as they called him in the streets.

For it were still 1989 there and thus not at all kind

But the Blue Boy had a special question in mind.

When his mother caught him down there, he said,

'Why can’t I be blue Mamma? When I can see right?

Why do they need so many colors everywhere?

“If they want it to be just black and white?'
©Samik Bhattacharya 2012

To know more about Sekhar Roy, click on any of his paintings below:

Murali Nagapuzha

The Small Store

Adjoining my life

I set a small store

Of little smiles

And laughters

Enveloped with dimples

And sweet smelling sound

I come to life thinking about them

I come to what is real

From stations and electricity bills....

© Rahul Sharma 2012

To know more about Murali Nagapuzha, click on any of his paintings below:

EI - Ekphrasis India's first online Magazine

Presenting EI - Ekphrasis India's first online Magazine.

Featured Artists - Abanindranath Tagore, Om Swami, Anjolie Ela Menon, Pawan Sharma, Ranabir Saha, Gouri Vemula, Satish Multhalli, Jiaur Rahman, Sunil Tambe, and Ajay De.

Featured Poets - Reena Prasad, Rajarajan, Felino A. Soriano, Abhishek Rath, Annie Besant, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Cijo Abraham Mani, Dr. A.V. Koshy, Abhishek 'Sahir', Anukriti Sharma, Gopakumar. R, Jaya Swarup, Madhumita Ghosh, Rahul Sharma, Nishi Jain, Pooja Sharma Rao, Rukhaya MK, Suraj Samtani, Susma Sharma Gurumayum, Zeenath Ibrahim, Samik Bhattacharya, and Mihir Vatsa.

Featured Event: Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai.

Click here to read - (For best results - click on the magazine below and view it as single page.)

Open publication - Free publishing - More art