Essays

Shooting Stars in Leh

TCA Sharad Raghavan

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

B Ramakrishnan

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

Namrata Zakaria

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?

Arunava Sinha

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

Mimlu Sen

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

Voices from Colonial India

Sohini Chattopadhyay

The records of India’s first and only Linguistic Survey, conducted by the British Raj over 1914-29, are now up on the net, thanks to an impatient history professor

The American with a Marathi Aai

Amanda

She had heard chilling tales of the Indian monster-in-law even in the US. So she practised her Marathi diligently when it was time to meet hers. They got laughing in the first three minutes, and they still are, says Amanda

The Princess of Arts

Janice Pariat

The youngest daughter of Maharaja Sir Churachand Singh of Manipur, Binodini Devi, was a feisty beauty who authored the first recognised Manipuri short story, wrote the script for a film that won the Grand Prix at Cannes, and took Manipuri dance to the world. Yet astonishingly little survives of her work on record

A Man of Leisure

Samrat

Unemployment, especially without vital assets like breasts and long legs is a great vantage point to find out who still has the time of day to talk to you

Even Gods Must Die

Shubha Mudgal

Like children listening to tales of kings and queens, my sister and I would listen wide-eyed to stories of the flamboyant Panditji who sang with great relish and complete abandon. We competed fiercely for standing rights in the wings of the stage when God came down to perform, remembers Shubha Mudgal