The Great Nicobar Betrayal (2024) is essential reading for anyone concerned about India’s ecological future and the future of our species on Earth. Tansy Troy discusses the collection with an inspired set of illustrations of the island’s many breathtaking species.

Photo Story by Anamika Tamuli: ‘In the rural rhythms of Assam, care reveals itself in invisible labors—the hands that keep a home running, the feet that move through flooded fields, the time lost between one obligation and another.’

Fiction by Sarthak Sharma: ‘I caught no more reflections. Soon enough, I smelled cattle. The truck moved away from Praznath. In my rush, I had carried the old T-shirt, carrying with it the dust of my home.’

Nalanda was not a singular anomaly but the culmination of a thousand years of intellectual tradition. Amritesh Mukherjee reflects on Abhay K.’s latest book on the subject, and how the ‘mahavihara’ can serve as a beacon for contemporary educational institutions.

Satire: The solution to AI mimicking humans is to have humans mimic the AI that mimics the human. From Vikram Chandra and Salman Rushdie to mythological adventures and a popcorny topsy-turvy romance, here is our preview of the 15 hottest and thoroughly fraudulent Indian books for the 2025 summer. By Karan Madhok

Poetry by Sreeja Naskar: ‘i am learning how to measure loss in rings. / each year, the body thickens. / each year, the body splits. / no one asks why the tree bends — / they only marvel at the curve.’

Even with its feminist gaze, Dabba Cartel’s biggest win is how it resists baking its narrative with one-note markers of gender and social identity. The result is a batch of hungry women out to hunt—sinking their teeth in this world to devour it to their heart’s content. By Sneha Bengani

Despite an incomplete end to a promising career, Indian cricket will remain indebted to Virat Kohli for revolutionizing the Test game, leading the national team through tough transitional phases, and becoming one of the best batsmen the country ever produced. By Jamie Alter

Bollywood has had a long history of finding “inspiration”—or barefaced plagiarism. Nivedita Dey recounts the many films, songs, and creators who imitated from the West (and more) and muses on the value of artistic originality.

When a young man calls a woman a ‘bandi’ in Made in Heaven, he casts the burden of decency upon her shoulders. Kavya Maheshwari explores how the intersection of language, power, and gender in contemporary Indian society reinforces patriarchal norms.

Films like Mrs., The Great Indian Kitchen, Thappad, Dor, and more sparked widespread discussion about the value our society assigns to women’s labour and agency. Sarthak Parashar writes about how the impossible choices faced under patriarchal social obligations—in reel and real life.  

Author and journalist Sudeep Chakravarty speaks about the stories that drive him, wandering across genres, and his Delhi-based latest work, Fallen City. By Amritesh Mukherjee