Essays

The Irreversible

Manti Devi

Why I dumped my baby in a garbage heap

Living with Lalli

Kalpana Swaminathan

One afternoon on a bus in Mumbai, writer Kalpana Swaminathan discovered her detective, Lalli—a collector of curiosities that hint of murder

Merchants of Policy

Shanu Athiparambath

There is nothing ‘non-profit’ about most Indian think-tanks, contends Shanu Athiparambath, given the mindboggling ease with which funds are usually siphoned off

From a meeting with Mahesh Bhatt at his fourth floor office that led him to write the song Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai to another meeting at a fourth-floor office, this time with Aditya Chopra, about writing the film Ek Tha Tiger, journalist Neelesh Misra speaks of his first ten years in Bollywood

‘You Are My Illegitimate Father’

Rohit Shekhar

For six years, he has fought in court to be recognised as ND Tiwari’s son. Any day now, Rohit Shekhar will learn the results of the DNA test

The Undefeated

Payel Bhattacharya

She is India’s only known patient of Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, and has undergone eight surgeries so far. She couldn’t complete college because she was always waiting in doctors’ chambers. She lost her father as he couldn’t afford a bypass surgery. Payel Bhattacharya on the loneliness and anger of being the only one of her kind

The Revenge of the Mithun Fan

Anuvab Pal

After his book on Disco Dancer described Mithun Chakraborty’s acting the ‘worst ever’ in Hindi cinema, Anuvab Pal got a letter from a certain Mimoh. Who took revenge in a way that can only be called ingenious

Pakistan’s TV Warriors

Rajendra Bajpai

Pakistan’s new media is fearlessly taking on India bashers and those distorting history in ways that would have been seen as unpatriotic a few years ago.

The Metro Magnet

Amrita Tripathi

Delhi’s upper middle-class has never cared to be seen rubbing shoulders with the city’s plebeians who use public transport. Which is why it’s so surprising to see how well they have taken to the Metro

How My Conscience Was Abducted in Dantewada

Akshay Pathak

In the garb of social responsibility, the Essar Group recently organised a storytelling festival for the ‘benefit’ of children in this Maoist-dense area. Apart from the organisers’ poorly disguised disdain for local artistes, what emerged most starkly was the stench of corporate propaganda