What’s in a name? India has a long history of rebranding cities, streets, and buildings to reflect the political influence of the time. Instead of this empty tokenism, Vipin Labroo argues for the country to shift priorities towards its more pressing concerns.
Photo series by Vijay Kowshik V P: Parallel Indias is about proximity without connection, a study of coexistence without recognition. These are images of adjacency, lives, symbols, and bodies, all occupying the same space, often within the same frame, without ever meeting.
Despite a lack of narrative focus, Anisha Lalvani’s Girls Who Stray (2025) is a welcome, urgent entry to contemporary Indian literature, a poetic voice echoing the angsts of a generation of Indians, and specifically, of Indian women who refuse to be assigned to their roles. By Karan Madhok
Short story by Karan Madhok: “Now, Lady, Miss: Please take the flowers and lean into your husband, like this, as if you are falling into him. Just a little. That’s why in English they say, ‘falling’ in love, no? Bas, gir jao unpar!”