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Call 24: To Return

 

Looking to the past and anticipating the future, we continue our journey in the present. Along the way, we sometimes pause and return to an object, a moment, a memory. For instance, we might long again for a congratulatory pat on the back we once got, or seek to relish the lingering taste of a delicious dish. Conversely, we may try to forget the touch of a lewd gaze. This principle of returning extends into creative processes; even after a writer finishes a piece of work, revisiting it may reveal a more nuanced form. Similarly, a vocalist can discover beauty by returning to a sam or a refrain. On a broader level, contemplative individuals and societies alike return to the past moments to reflect on them with a discerning gaze, thereby cultivating a richer vision for life.

In the 24th edition of हाकारा | hākārā, we wish to explore and curate contemplative writings and artistic works centered around the concept of ‘to return’ with you with the following points and questions:

How, in your view, have the impulses and actions of returning developed in different societies and cultures? How does the act of turning back affect our everyday lives? What does it mean to return to moments passed, to experiences left behind, or to places we have abandoned? When we return to something, does that thing itself change, or does our way of seeing it transform? Is returning simply about re-turning back, or does it mean reliving previous moments and experiences anew? What artistic forms take shape by responding to the act of return? And how do sensitive individuals and societies deal with looking back at humiliating experiences in specific social and economic circumstances?

Accepting Submissions for: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, Visual Narratives, Art Criticism, Book Reviews, Cultural Criticism or Translations.

Submission Deadline: October 30, 2025.

Publication: December 2025.

Submission Guidelines: You can read the detailed submission guidelines given below. Please use the following link to the google form to send us your work. We are not accepting email submissions.

Ashutosh Potdar
Editor, हाकारा | hākārā

Purvi Rajpuria
Associate Editor, हाकारा | hākārā

Pallavi Singh
Assistant Editor, हाकारा | hākārā

Editorial Support: Anagha Mandavkar and Asmita Chaudhary.

 

Submission Guidelines

  1. In response to the primary focus of the upcoming edition of हाकारा । hākārā, we welcome contributions that take on new and innovative forms and new ideas not previously analyzed or that extend beyond an older conversation in the field of creative expression and/or enquiry.
  2. हाकारा | hākārā is a peer-reviewed journal. Being an online journal, we accept only electronic submissions.
  3. The written work has to be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (as .doc and Not PDF or any other format), and be double-spaced text in 12 pt Times New Roman font as an attachment. For the text in Marathi, please follow Unicode format. If the contributor wants to maintain a certain style in presenting work, please inform Hakara Editors while submitting the work.
  4. The image size has to be 150 dpi or more in resolution for visual work submission. Additionally, If you wish to submit your work to the ‘Panorama’ section, images must be at least 1000×600 pixels. Please share details of artworks including title, medium, size and year. In case, the images included do not belong to the contributor, the contributor should provide a source of the images.
  5. Please don’t send video files to be included in the submitted narrative. We can provide links to the video work uploaded on Vimeo, YouTube or other platforms that can be openly accessed.
  6. We require a title page with the contributor’s contact information, a short abstract and a contributor’s bio as part of the submission process.
  7. Submissions must not be previously published nor should they be submitted for publication elsewhere while being reviewed by हाकारा । hākārā’s Editorial Board or outside reviewers.
  8. For the submission of research articles/essays(2500-3000 words), please follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) style. The contributors are requested to verify facts, names of people, places, and dates, and double-check all direct quotations and entries, and images in the Works Cited list.
  9. We request the contributor to obtain permission for illustrations, and images from the concerned to be used in submission. Also, translators submitting their work should seek necessary permission from the original writer/publisher if the work will be accepted by हाकारा । hākārā for the publication.
  10. Contributors would hear from the हाकारा । hākārā team a month after the submission regarding the decision on consideration of the work.
  11. For accepted contributions, हाकारा । hākārā Editors would be happy to work with contributors, if required, in finalising the work before its publication.
  12. Copyright remains with the contributor. However, if work on हाकारा । hākārā has been published elsewhere again in print or electronic format, we request the acknowledgement stating that the work was first published in हाकारा । hākārā, an online bilingual journal of creative expression published in English and Marathi. Visit www.hakara.in.
  13. At this stage, हाकारा । hākārā cannot pay contributors. But, we are seeking financial support that may help us pay our contributors in future.
  14. For any queries and submissions, please e-mail us: info@hakara.in
  15. हाकारा । hākārā: ISSN 2581-9976: Included in the University Grants Commission (UGC) CARE-LIST.
  16. We don’t charge any fees to get the literature/art published in हाकारा । hākārā.