{"id":7538,"date":"2025-11-01T22:20:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=7538"},"modified":"2025-11-01T22:20:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:20:43","slug":"pfn-call-for-submissions-to-parcham-online-theme-justice","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/event\/pfn-call-for-submissions-to-parcham-online-theme-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"PFN – Call for Submissions to Parcham Online. Theme: Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Theme: Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guest Editor: Devashish Makhija<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many years ago, as a little child, from my first floor balcony, I watched a man being chased. The man\u2019s clothes had been ripped away. He was bleeding. And the two men chasing him had swords in their hands. I was 8. Barely high enough to peek over the verandah wall. The man being chased was stumbling. The men chasing him slashed at him with their swords.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of it is sort of blurry to me now except for one thing. Every time his pursuers turned to check if they were being watched, I would duck. I remember not wanting to be seen. I remember being cold and clammy. I remember feeling the urge to piss in my shorts. I remember my throat so dry I couldn\u2019t gasp. I remember my heart thumping. I remember feeling very very afraid. First for myself, and then for the man being hacked.<\/em><\/p>\n

I never forgot that\u2026 that I felt afraid for myself first.<\/em><\/p>\n

The man was pleading, screaming, begging, as he ran, tumbled, fell, got slashed, got up again, ran. After that everything is a blur. I cannot remember if his attackers killed him right there. Or if he managed to run down the street and out of sight around the corner where he screamed one last time. I don\u2019t know now if I imagined some of the details. Or if they even managed to kill him. But I do remember my fear. And I carry that guilt.<\/em><\/p>\n

I did not respond to those pleas for help. I did not raise an alarm. I did not show myself. I remember going down on my knees, shielded by the verandah wall, and crawling back into the house on all fours. I remember crawling all the way into my bed, and trying hard to erase what I had seen and heard. I couldn\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve carried this guilt inside of me all my life. If that man died that night, he did not die because of his pursuers. He died because of me. Because of people like me.<\/em><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t like to confront violence because we don\u2019t like to acknowledge it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I use the word \u2018violence\u2019 because if I said \u2018injustice\u2019 I\u2019d run the risk of alienating some of us. What appears unjust to one might seem like \u2018justice served\u2019 to the other. But \u2018violence\u2019? We can all agree on what that entails.<\/em><\/p>\n

What matters more \u2013 An individual\u2019s Right to his\/her life? Or a social sense of Justice?<\/p>\n

Is death-for-death fair trade?<\/p>\n

Is Society greater than the sum of its many Individuals?<\/p>\n

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Why is it that when an individual metes out death it is seen as Murder, but when a social institution metes out death it is considered Punishment?<\/p>\n

Humans are merely one of Earth\u2019s many species. Then how did Humanity become a synonym for Compassion?<\/p>\n

Franz Kafka (in \u2018The Trial\u2019) said that the Law presupposes guilt. It makes no distinction between voluntary and involuntary crime. If you\u2019re suspect you\u2019re guilty until proven innocent.
\nFriedrich Nietzsche and Fyodor Dostoevsky (in \u2018The brothers Karmazov\u2019) said something similar: if God is dead everything is permitted (\u2018God\u2019 here must not be taken literally \u2013 it stands broadly for a collective sense of morality). This seems to be at the heart of crime in the modern world \u2013 that the evil \u2013 in a larger sense \u2013 almost has no explanation\u2026 it proliferates in the Death of God.<\/p>\n

Academic Sunipa Das Gupta says, \u201cJustice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive what they deserve. But in a top-down political hierarchy, it is the apex that decides what the bottom deserves, and more importantly, gets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can Justice then be relied on to be Fair?<\/p>\n

What really does Justice mean? To you? To me? To us?<\/p>\n

Tell us through short stories, Flash Fiction, Poetry and Editorials.<\/p>\n

The world is standing on its toes at a dangerous precipice today. If we need to tip-toe back from our collective annihilation, some difficult conversations must be had.<\/p>\n

This could be one of them.<\/p>\n

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~ Devashish Makhija<\/em><\/p>\n

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We invite\u00a0previously unpublished Poems, original Short Stories (In English), translations of Short Stories, Non-Fiction pieces, Editorials on the above theme for our December 2025 Issue.<\/p>\n

Photo-Stories\u00a0and articles on\u00a0Films and Popular Culture\u00a0are welcome on themes of the contributor\u2019s choice. We are keeping the thematic concerns flexible only for these two sections.<\/p>\n

Send in your submissions for the\u00a0December Issue by the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0of November 2025 to\u00a0parchamonline@gmail.com<\/a>. Please follow the guidelines below and in case of any queries please write to\u00a0parchamonline@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0or WhatsApp 6289935412.<\/p>\n

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Submission Guidelines<\/p>\n

Poetry<\/u><\/strong>: Please send in your\u00a0previously unpublished poems (not more than 3)\u00a0in a single\u00a0MS Word<\/strong>\u00a0document to the email id mentioned above with the subject line\u00a0Poetry Submission- December 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For Fiction\/ Short Stories<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0(Originally in English and in translation<\/strong>): Please keep in mind that short stories should be no more than 4,000 words. Send in the short story to parchamonline@gmail.com with the subject line\u00a0Short\u00a0Story Submission- December 2025<\/strong>. The submissions should be in\u00a0MS Word<\/strong>\u00a0format. In case of a translation, the contributor should send in an Acknowledgment\/No Objection from the original author so that we at\u00a0Parcham\u00a0<\/em>know that the translation is being done to the knowledge of the author.<\/p>\n

For Editorials\/ Opinion Pieces\/ Interviews and Book Reviews<\/strong>: For Editorials and Opinion Pieces, please ensure that your submissions are free from unparliamentary language or religious or cultural bigotry. The editors have complete authority to reject a piece if they feel that they are not upholding the spirit of the magazine. Please send in your submission with the Subject Line Editorials\/Opinion Pieces-December 2025.<\/p>\n

Copyright for articles, artwork and photographs published in this magazine shall rest with the authors, with first publication rights to\u00a0Parcham<\/em>. As the magazine follows an open access policy, articles or extracts from articles may be used by others, with proper attribution, for academic and non-commercial use. We reserve the right to publish the work in print in case we go for a print edition later.<\/p>\n

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Please send in a short bio (no more than 40 words) and a recent picture of you along with the submissions.<\/p>\n

Note: If your submissions in any of the above-mentioned sections have found a place on our platform in the previous two issues, we request you to please wait for another cycle (One Issue at most) before submitting again.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can Justice then be relied on to be Fair? What really does Justice mean? To you? To me? To us?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[2],"class_list":["post-7538","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","hentry","tribe_events_cat-call-for-submission","cat_call-for-submission"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/7538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/7538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7539,"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/7538\/revisions\/7539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7538"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=7538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}