Essays
My Grand Uncle Sálim
Rauf Ali
The grand old bird man of India had no problem eating chicken, or any fowl for that matter. And even when he was well into his eighties, he would take a rifle into his garden to shoot crows. Rauf Ali introduces his grand uncle Sálim Ali the way he knew him, a man who was completely deaf in one ear, yet mortified by snorers
Kalari and I
Tired of the silk and jewellery of Bharatanatyam, Gitanjali Kolanad discovered the martial art Kalaripayat in her thirties, a little late in life. Yet, once in the pit, soaked in sweat, she found herself absorbed by it. And years later, when a man groped her, she had the retributive satisfaction of landing a blow at a perfect marma point
To Catch a Flying Snake
Intrigued by the question of how a limbless, rope-like animal can ‘fly’, Dr Jake Socha films snakes in mid-air motion for his lab. Sometimes, it all goes well; at others, it takes, a ball-point pen to rescue his staffers from fierce snakes
Why Shillong Flips for WWII Jeeps
The Second World War years linger in this hill town in strange ways, and none more unusual than in its abiding fondness for Willys jeeps
93
At 93, she looks after her 72-year-old daughter, an Alzheimer’s patient. Shefali Chowdhury on the slipping away of memory, and her daughter
Shooting Stars in Leh
Bollywood loves shooting in Ladakh, and Odpal George makes it possible. He shares all about the crazy demands directors make, and the life-and-death crisis that befell the shooting of 3 Idiots in this cold desert
Trunk Call
Shy lovemaking, illicit liquor consumption, and other elephant habits that this researcher has noted in his 15 years on their tail
The Girl with the Front Row Invite
Taking notes alongside Anna Wintour, trying to place a familiar face that turns out to be Kylie Minogue's, chatting backstage with John Galliano on matters unsemitic, Namrata Zakaria likes her life
Where’s the Great Indian Novel?
A novel written in English can never really become a ‘Great Indian Novel’. Such a book in English can only be a translation of an Indian novel, rather than one originally written even in His Salmanness’ sparkling prose
Battle of Bhadu
In a prison in Calcutta, Mimlu Sen learns the meaning of ‘bhadu’, the season of scarcity. But Bhadu is also a deity of hope, one that gives uneducated, imprisoned women the strength to carry on. And one that her rebel comrades could not comprehend
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