Did You Ever Love Me? by Rithvik Singh is a tender contemporary poetry collection about love, heartbreak, longing, self worth and learning to let go. Its greatest strength is emotional accessibility: Singh writes directly to readers who feel intensely and care deeply. The collection offers comfort without pretending heartbreak is simple, though its simplicity may occasionally feel familiar to seasoned poetry readers. Did you Ever Love Me? Have you ever loved someone so completely that, after they left, you were left wondering whether they had ever understood what they had been given? Not merely whether they loved you, but whether they ever noticed how much you loved them, how much patience you offered, how many small things you remembered, or how often you chose to stay when leaving might have been easier. There is a particular loneliness in that question because it rarely arrives at a dramatic moment. More often, it finds you while you are doing something completely ordinary. Yo...
The Presidential election is a matter of prestige and pride for a ruling party to affirm its position in the Indian politics. The NDA government had no doubt an upper hand and the BJP has an excellent opportunity to place before the country a statesman figure with stature and respect to become India's first citizen. Instead, what the BJP did was to reduce this election to caste and identity politics. It conveniently forgot that Dalits are no longer impressed with such shallow symbolism as is evident from decline of popularity of major Dalit leaders like Mayawati. In fact, by trying to force casteism in a simple political election, the BJP today stands totally exposed. That the government is bereft of any imagination is quite evident as most of its major achievements are actually carry forwards of the previous UPA regime. The GST, Aadhar and other reforms were halfheartedly pushed by the UPA and carried with a vigor by the NDA. On the Kashmir issue, on joblessness, on man...