Kushal’s haunting poetic voice reveals a child’s trauma, silence, and yearning for lost maternal warmth through the psychiatrist’s chilling observation in Different Truths.

"We don't have to talk," says 
the psychiatrist, and we
listen to me portray and narrate 
the exploits of the child 
in this room, the one who can 
seep inside the skin and drip out,
make you shiver and wane 
when for days he stays within 
and seeks the myth of the mother's 
warmth. We don't have to talk,
tell him what happened to her.
He knows.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Kushal Poddar

Kushal Poddar, the author of ‘A White Cane for the Blind Lane’ and ‘How to Burn Memories Using a Pocket Torch’, has ten books to his credit. He is a journalist, father of a four-year-old, illustrator, and editor. His works have been translated into twelve languages and published across the globe.

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