If you ask Mumbai what its poetry scene looks like, chances are it’ll point you towards a cosy Bandra cafe, a dimly lit spoken word venue, or a packed auditorium where the same familiar names take the stage. Ask Dr Abhijit Khandkar the same question, however, and he’ll ask a different one: Where are the poets from marginalised communities? It’s a question that stayed with him for years.

Dr Khandkar is a doctor by profession and a poet by passion. For over a decade, he has written poetry and short stories on the side, some of which have found homes in national and international publications. “I had gotten deeply into Ambedkarite literature,” he says, “I started looking around me to see how many openly Ambedkarite poets or writers who wrote in English from community spaces were part of these literary circles. To my surprise, there were barely any. There’s a lot of work being done in regional languages but due to language and regional barriers it doesn’t get a broader access.”