VIDHA Saumya

03/06/2026

”What continues to surprise me is that even after working with over 450 contributors, with every new commission we are exposed to topics and positions that make us question our own understanding.”
- Vidha Saumya, co-editor of NO NIIN

Six years ago, Elham Rahmati and Vidha Saumya set out to create the critical publishing space they felt was missing in Finland. Today, NO NIIN has grown into an internationalist platform connecting writers, artists, and ideas across borders with 34 issues, 4 print publications, and over 450 contributors.

We spoke with the co-editors about courage, compromise, and what fearless cultural journalism can look like.

Read the full interview: https://saastamoinenfoundation.fi/en/building-a-platform-for-fearless-cultural-journalism-a-conversation-with-no-niins-editors

—

“Minua edelleen yllättää se, että vaikka olemme työskennelleet yli 450 kirjoittajan ja siten yhtä monen näkökulman kanssa, jokainen uusi teksti avaa meidät aiheille ja näkökulmille, jotka haastavat omia käsityksiämme ja ymmärrystämme.”
- Vidha Saumya, NO NIIN -lehden päätoimittaja

Kuusi vuotta sitten Elham Rahmati ja Vidha Saumya päättivät luoda sen kriittisen julkaisualustan, joka heille Suomesta tuntui puuttuvan. NO NIIN on kasvanut kansainväliseksi alustaksi, joka yhdistää kirjoittajia, taiteilijoita ja ideoita ympäri maailmaa 34 numeron, 4 painetun julkaisun ja yli 450 kirjoittajan verran.

Keskustelimme toimittajien kanssa rohkeudesta, kompromisseista ja siitä, mitä peloton kulttuurijournalismi voisi olla.

Lue koko haastattelu: https://saastamoinenfoundation.fi/pelotonta-kulttuurijournalismia-keskustelu-no-niin-lehden-paatoimittajien-kanssa

📷: .mboup

02/06/2026

सलाम दोस्त!

ज़िंदगी में ऐसे कई दोस्त आते हैं जो आपकी रोजमर्रा की आदतों, फैसलों, और काम को खुले दिल से प्रोत्साहित करते हैं। ऐसे दोस्त जब ज़िंदगी में आएं, उन से प्यार से मिलो, बातें करो, गले लगाओ। किसी की तारीफ करना एक उदार तोहफा है, जो उसे लाए उस दोस्त के हाथ चूम लो।

शुक्रिया फातिमा, मेरी दोस्त बनने के लिए। हाथ पकड़े हम बहुत से तूफानी दरियायों को पार किया था।

मेरी प्यारी फातिमा,
तुम प्यार हो
गुलनार हो
मेरी अज़ीज़ यार हो
टिमटिम तारा
इतना न्यारा
जगमग जिस से
आसमां हमारा
तुम्हारी इठलाती मुस्कान
एक राहत का मकान
तुम एक पूरा जहान हो
कभी हल्की थपकी
कभी ज़ोर की झप्पी
तुम हिम्मत का फरमान हो

11/05/2026

The constant of the hacks and crosses, for the shudders there are friends.

21/04/2026

The universe, they say, conspires to bring you what your heart truly desires. And then, there are those who do not merely desire, they rearrange the galaxies, and build the very sky under which their longing lands. Abhinit Khanna is one such dangerous dreamer, a gem whose light is sharp, restless, alive, cuting through the dullness of ordinary days, leaving whoever it touches quietly, irreversibly brilliant. And because he is the main character of his story, that brilliance has now taken solid, breathing, gregarious form. Last Saturday, Six Continuum opened its doors in Mumbai. A space that is generous, energetic, mischievous and tender-hearted. I believe it is the space that Abhinit has carried in his heart through every city, every heartbreak, every late-night conversation that refused to end, every individual and community that taught him how to belong without shrinking, every room he has belonged and not belonged in, loved in, argued in, danced in.

Congratulations, my dost.
The host with the most.
And more to come! The stars have been warned!

10/04/2026

Koshy Brahmatmaj opened her debut solo 'how so i make you believe' last evening at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art. To say that I'm proud and overjoyed would be an understatement. Koshy's practice has been inspiring to me. In it I find the potential that even the smallest of desires hold to respond to the world around us, no matter how close or extended it's orbit. There is play, sincerity, the belief to hold any material and make it one's own.

I sorely missed this evening. The enthusiasm and joy of the first exhibition, where works mark a significant movement from the studio to a public space and presenting thoughts, feelings, experiments and experiences marked by time. So many things to be proud of. Along with all this, what truly thrills me about her practice is her fervour - her belief in beauty and its respite against her illness, against the worldly order or things.

19/01/2026

03/09/2025

Long time no see
I've been drawing

14/06/2025

ग़म बेतरतीब हैं
दिल के करीब हैं
दिल है भी या नहीं
सीने में एक जगह
खाली मालूम होती है

16/11/2024

Nineteen years—a mere blink in the eye and still many different lives had passed since we last met Mahendra Damle, our teacher, our tormentor, our guide. As we sat across from him once again, memory and presence entwined. Of course, time had left its traces; it always does. There were stories to spill, laughter to rediscover, and the bittersweet tang of unfinished sentences hanging between us. "We must meet again," next time with some splash and spirits. As students, we had orbited him like erratic moons, drawn by the gravity of his brilliance, annoyed at times by the jagged edges of his authority. Awe, admiration, irritation—they coexisted. Ali and I always felt very loved by him. Now we found ourselves once more in his orbit, ready for many meandering conversations.

12/11/2024

How lucky to be in Bombay to see works in the exhibition 'Stain Canon' at Gallery XXL this evening. Priyanka is showing their work alongside artists Anikesa Dhing and liactuallee.

I have long been drawn to Priyanka’s work, always curious to see the hairatangez karnaame that spill from their mind. Hence, it was thrilling to see them in the exhibition, in the presence of their works.

What stays with me, always, in Priyanka's work, is the gaze: not just a witness but a participant, peeling back the surface of what is to reveal what remains unseen - there is the complexity of language, of worlds, of the selves we carry and confront.

Don't miss the show. Go, if you can. Follow their work, and let it unravel what you thought you knew.