Essays

Reading in Sin

Arpita Das

If sexual explicitness caused the most outrage in the early phase of book bans in India, there was a point after which it became almost entirely about religion

The Guru Ambedkar

Ananya Vajpeyi

BR Ambedkar chose a religion rather than a political ideology to empower India’s Untouchables for a reason

The Man Who Wanted to Wed 500 Times

Guinness Rishi

Holder of world records for the most flags tattooed on his body, most straws stuffed in his mouth and longest non-stop scooter journey ever, Guinness Rishi explains his need to break and set new records

Moby Dick’s Avenger

Siddharth Chakravarty

Once, he sailed on ships that carted oil and timber around the world; today, Siddharth Chakravarty prowls the high seas in search of illegal whaling ships to thwart

The Gandhi Style Statements

Namrata Zakaria

Namrata Zakaria on the First Family’s enviable wardrobe, and why their sartorial sense matters so much

The Man Who Wore a Sanitary Napkin

Arunachalam Muruganantham

Villagers saw him cleaning his undergarments stained with goat blood and thought he had a sexual disease. But Arunachalam Muruganantham was only trying to make a smart, cheap sanitary pad for his wife

Finding Fact in Fiction

Kalpish Ratna

Real life intrudes on fiction all the time. Kalpish Ratna indulge in some literary detection as they search for clues to the true character of Arthur Conan Doyle in Sherlock Holmes’ life and movements

From Tagore to Thakur

Sumana Roy

Durga puja pandals have clay figurines of Tagore. As do Saraswati puja ceremonies. Parents buy their kids Tagore dolls. In a state where the Left dismissed him as too elitist, Sumana Roy observes the canonisation of the poet-educationist

My Life with Crickets, Frogs and Bees

Vivek Nityananda

The sex life of crickets, the hearing of frogs, the visual capacity of bees. Vivek Nityananda reports on the sleepless nights and surprising pleasures of his arcane pursuits

Joseph, No Last Name

AJ Bryant

His birth certificate read ‘Joseph, no last name given’. An American couple adopted him; 32 years later, AJ Bryant returns to District Three Hospital in Kottayam where the mother he’s never met gave him birth