The Sacrifices of Matrimony in A Suitable Boy
Mira Nair’s limited series, A Suitable Boy—based on Vikram Seth’s novel—reveals even with changing times, many of our approaches to arranged marriage in India have remained the same. By Nidhi Choksi Dhakan.
When The Music Stops
While India’s musicians take the show online, the unsung heroes of live shows—technicians, backstage coordinators, tentwallahs and more struggle to make their ends meet since the lockdown. Some in the events industry have united to give back. - by Barkha Kumari
Ghats, Gullies, and Ganga
Photo Essay: Lost without direction, and happy to keep moving—Varanasi’s labyrinthine old gullies and the Ganga riverside provide the glimpse of a world without time, where the ancient world collapses into the present. By Karan Madhok
A harsh truth to digest: Revisiting Pinki Virani’s Bitter Chocolate
In Bitter Chocolate (2000), Pinki Virani turned the spotlight on the extent of child sexual abuse in India, and the possible ways forward to address the challenges with this issue. - By Nikita Chatterjee
Bulbbul: A Hypnotic Ride into the Horrors of Patriarchy
How Anvita’s Dutt film Bulbbul (2020) turned the age-old story of churails into a complex feminist fairy tale - by Harshita Murarka.
Mental Health in India: Looking Through a Filter of Colonialism and Casteism
India has to grapple with both caste and colonisation to get a holistic understanding of mental health issues, stigma, treatment and community interventions. - By Sadaf Vidah
Music from the Hills: Abdon Mech dreams of better days in “Again”
Nagaland-based singer-songwriter Abdon Mech discusses his lockdown-inspired single “Again”, his song writing process, future plans, and more.- by Ady Manral
India's Wait for the COVID-19 Vaccine and Economic Concerns Post-Lockdown
An interview with Analyst & Writer Shefali Saldanha on the COVID-19 vaccine research, logistical challenges for India, promoting hand-washing, fighting disinformation, and much more.
The Somersaulting Cat
Poetry by Sanskriti K: ‘And watching me- / hacking the fruits of / the subconscious / from the tedious branches / of unexposed reality.’
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi: Arjuna on the Hardwood
Basketball star Vishesh Bhriguvanshi won the Arjuna Award this month, joining a prestigious list of sporting greats. Here’s the story of the Varanasi-born baller, and what he represents for the less-celebrated sports in India. - by Karan Madhok.
The Novel and the Nation: How A Burning Translates the News of the New India
Megha Majumdar’s debut novel A Burning is a study in media and myth-making, of an India that is no longer an imagined community with the same news-reading rituals, but a collection of nations, each with their own interpretation of reality - by Kanika Jain.
Where Will You Be
Poetry by Lesley Simeon: ‘Where will you be then? / In books and magazines, where history is mass produced? / In your mind, trapped by your conscience, guilty of slumber?’