Arts & Letters

Who’s Laughing Now?

Michael Edison Hayden

Personal liberty is an undervalued commodity; we often do not appreciate it until we find someone has taken it away

No More Goddesses, Please. Bring in the Sluts

The ‘Abused Goddesses’ ad campaign on domestic violence is appalling and terrifying. By deifying women, it strips them of individuality, sexuality and power

City of Perpetual Wait

Chinki Sinha

The generation that grew up in Patna’s years of anarchy understood the wisdom of waiting and it has remained with them

Wilful Ignorance

Omair Ahmed

Urdu originated as a mix of several languages spoken during the Sultanate era in Delhi. Those who reject the language now are rejecting their own legacy

Coming Out in Celluloid

Mohan Sikka

An account of how a dark Delhi short story written with great personal investment was reincarnated and brought to life in cinema

Tango’s First Steps

Shyamant Behal

How the Great Depression, Juan Peron and the brothels of Argentina influenced the creation of one of the world’s most vibrant forms of music

Ananya Vajpeyi’s book Righteous Republic is a reminder of the moral quest that set the tone of the freedom movement, of leaders whose lifelong aim was to deny violence legitimacy. Sadly, our political parties have seceded from this moral realm