Open Magazine - Top Stories

NO REELS BEFORE THE DEITY | Why Tamil Nadu Temples Are Charging ₹5 to Leave the Phone Outside
NO REELS BEFORE THE DEITY | Why Tamil Nadu Temples Are Charging ₹5 to Leave the Phone Outside
8 min read
From September 1, devotees visiting 52 major Tamil Nadu temples must deposit their phones before entering. The ban targets selfies, videos and reels, but raises a deeper religious question: can darsha ...
Tim Cook’s Legacy: How He Transformed Apple Beyond Steve Jobs’ Vision and Built a $4.6-Trillion Giant
13 min read
Tim Cook inherited Apple’s most impossible job and turned a $350-billion company into a $4.6-trillion empire. He built watches, earbuds, chips and services, but leaves Apple chasing AI and its next gr ...
Brand Messi: How Lionel Messi Won Argentina’s Heart and Became a Marketing Masterclass in Belonging
8 min read
Lionel Messi conquered Barcelona, football and the commercial world long before he conquered Argentina. He did not manufacture patriotism, imitate Diego Maradona or unveil Messi 2.0. He kept returning ...
The School Bell That Saved 1,600 Children Before the Nepal Flood Swept Their School Away
4 min read
For years, the bell at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School told children when to enter classrooms and open their books. On August 26, Principal Rajendra Dawadi rang it to make them run. Nearly 900 stu ...
Welcome to India’s Startup Graveyard: Here, Even the Good Founders Get Buried
15 min read
Satvacart pursued profitability and became too small to save. PepperTap raised millions and burned itself out. Koo found users but no buyer. Dunzo found Reliance and still ran out of money. From Gurug ...
Five Generations, 162 Years & a 31% Discount: Why Did the Zaveris Sell TBZ to GRT?
8 min read
Chennai-based GRT Jewellers will pay up to ₹1,033.7 crore for the Zaveri family’s 74.12 per cent stake in TBZ, ending five generations of ownership. The acquisition gives a southern heavyweight 37 sto ...
Game, Set, Tears: When Federer and Djokovic Discovered That Even Greatness Can't Defeat Time
8 min read
Roger Federer entered the Tennis Hall of Fame and wept over everything the game had given him. Twenty-four hours later, Novak Djokovic cried as his body collapsed during his earliest Grand Slam exit i ...
If Gutkha is Banned Across India, Why is it Still Sold? Inside Loopholes, State Orders and a Failing Enforcement Regime
9 min read
Gujarat has renewed its gutkha prohibition for another year. But tobacco and nicotine have been barred as food ingredients across India since 2011. Twin sachets, separately regulated tobacco, surrogat ...
Unmasking The Ugly Face of India’s Beauty Boom
13 min read
The beauty opportunity is enormous. The economics are not always as pretty, with brands spending heavily to win consumers who can switch to the next serum, shampoo or skincare routine at the swipe of ...