Concept Note : September 2026

The Age of Betrayal (Issue # 12)

Editor : Chinki Sinha

Last Date for Submission : 10th September‘ 2026

Concept Note

For a long time, we have witnessed betrayals from those we have loved or those we have revered. The one that has achieved almost a mythical reputation is that of Julius Caesar being betrayed by Brutus, immortalized by “Et tu Brutae?” . A glance across history would give us plenty of such examples, spanning across the spectrum of the personal and the political. For people of the Indian Sub-Continent, we are still carrying the seeds of betrayal, mistrust and ensuing violence that had rocked civil society during the Partition of the nation into India and Pakistan. More recently, in the context of the Indian nation and the social and political fabric, we have had the Ram Mandir project where the funds have been siphoned off, which has caused massive anger and disappointment in the Hindus who had celebrated the event and the court judgment as an establishment of divine right. History is full of such stories of breaches of integrity.

With technology providing more choices and more “moving on” options from a mere washing machine to people, that sense of betrayal has led us to extreme isolation among individuals who have now been forced to go into therapy that promise to help them break the betrayal bond with people.

We sit and wonder, “how did we get here?”

here are countless instances. Political trust has seen a decline over the years and as loneliness grows in scope and sharpness, betrayal becomes more implicit. As we move towards more uncertainty with regard to our future and our very being that is threatened by technology that is being developed to replace us, we know this is us betraying ourselves.

At Parcham, we would like to explore the emotion and the complexities of betrayal as an emotion and as a political reality and invite essays that explore this feeling. What does it mean to be betrayed? Who betrays us? Where do we find trust? Do we find it at all?

How do we write about this violation? We believe sharing stories can help us understand more about where we are headed.

Submission Guidelines

Poetry: Please send in your previously unpublished poems (not more than 3) in a single MS Word document to the email id mentioned above with the subject line Poetry Submission- September 2026. Individual poems should not exceed 40 lines.

For Fiction/ Short Stories (Originally in English and in translation): 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 Short Story Submission—September 2026. The submissions should be in MS Word format. In case of a translation, the contributor should send in an Acknowledgment/No Objection from the original author so that we at Parcham know that the translation is being done to the knowledge of the author.

For Editorials/ Opinion Pieces/ Interviews and Book Reviews: 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-September 2026.

Book reviews should be no more than 1500 words. Send in your submissions to parchamonline@gmail.comwith the subject line Book Reviews- September 2026.

Photo Stories:  Please send in your photographs (not more than 7 and not less than 3) to parchamonline@gmail.com. The photos must be accompanied by a short write up/ captions and should be in the Jpeg format.

For Articles on Films and Popular Culture: Please send us a short pitch before sending us the complete article to parchamonline@gmail.com the subject line Films and Popular Culture. We are hoping to look beyond run-of-the mill film reviews and delve more into the contact zone of films and society/culture in general. We’re particularly interested in articles on Non-Hindi and Independent cinema.

***** The Photo Story and the Films and Popular Culture Section are open sections not restricted to the thematic concerns of the June 2026 Issue.

Please Note : Copyright for articles, artwork and photographs published in this magazine shall rest with the authors, with first publication rights to Parcham. 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.

Please send in a short bio (no more than 40 words) and a recent picture of you along with the submissions.

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.

Last Date for Submission: 10th September 2026

***** All Submissions should be accompanied by a declaration by the author/ poet that her/his work has not been composed/ written with the help of A.I.