×

Essays

Good Food vs Bad Food

Gautam Pemmaraju

Move beyond vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Start thinking of ethical and unethical food.

The Hungry Poet

Over 300 books, films for Satyajit Ray, a friend of Allen Ginsberg. And, of course, poetry that has redefined love, rebellion and restlessness. Just how do you define Sunil Gangopadhyay?

The Par Avion Friends

It was 1968 when they became pen friends. Marriage, kids, Clinton, photos of brothers in bell bottoms, they discussed everything, sitting continents apart. They are closest friends, but with no real desire to meet.

About Science and Sex

Tired of the same old stuff about love and loss, migrants and displacement? Delve into Ian McEwan’s Solar and encounter the discomforts of making science interesting.

The White Woman’s Burden

When she goes out with her Indian husband, she’s taken to be a foreign prostitute. When they holiday in Goa, they’re busted for drugs. Yet neighbours line up to meet her, coolly ignoring her husband. The curiosity of what it means to be a white woman married to a brown man.

Bicycle Chief

Cycling 10 hours a day, travelling across 13 countries, from Ireland to India, he realised that everyday irritants like the traffic and the weather colonise too much of our time. Life, after all, comes with bumps and all, and we should enjoy the ride. Wobbly or not.

Neither Salaam, Nor Bombay

He ran away from home to Bombay and landed the lead in Mira Nair’s Academy award-nominated Salaam Bombay! But after years of looking for another role, any role, he’s back home in Bangalore driving an auto.

Who Moved My Town

What happens when you live the early part of your life in a ‘small town’, move out as you grow up, and eventually return, only to find that the small town has moved on?

Three Minutes and Fame

The gramophone era in India made stars of gaanewalis who would otherwise be heard only at mehfils. Experience the ethos of the time, and find out how vinyl records, with their three-minute format, came to change social norms in the 20th century.

Being Charlie Chaplin

It was on a stolen trip to the cinema that he met his hero, Charlie Chaplin. And a chance encounter that got him the Cherry Blossom ad. So many years, so many gigs, yet he still isn’t done being Chaplin.

Magazine

Subscribe today and save up to 85% off the cover price