Painting by Gautam Benegal
Cover designed by Bitan Chakraborty

Empowerment precedes healing. Honestly, when I conceived Hibiscus, I was particularly keen on curating poems that address healing. Anu Majumdar, one of the associate editors, proposed “empowerment” to the theme. It was an eye-opening moment.

Where does healing lead to? As a clinician myself, I can tell you, healing is not all about back to normalcy, or in other words, restoration of the state of being. Healing imparts strength. ...