Essays

In Mother We Trust

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A year after completing school, Magdalene Polton, the daughter of a rich landowner in Bengal, became the second nun to join Mother Teresa in her mission to serve the sick and the poor. Now, at 82, Sister Gertrude, as she came to be called, is the only surviving member of this original group. She recalls the early days when they would beg each day for the poor, but struggle to feed themselves, surviving solely on the strength of prayer.

A Tipsy-Turvy State

Soutik Biswas

There are few quite like the merry men of Communist Kerala. From a group’s 27-year crusade for senior citizens’ right to subsidised alcohol to others who shoot off indignant SMSes if a liquor shop delays opening its shutters by even five minutes, Soutik Biswas records the desperation of the Malayali alcoholic.

Home Alone, at 97

Homai Vyarawalla

Three years short of being 100, Homai Vyarawalla believes that spontaneity is the key to life. This is what motivated her to become India’s first woman photojournalist and capture the key moments of India’s independence, to sell the Tata Nano gifted to her by the company the day it arrived, and to fearlessly continue living alone in Vadodara. In her own words...

Almost Dead in Leh

Arindam Mukherjee

In an unexpected twist, this enthusiast saw his rafting trip on the Zanskar turn into a struggle for survival against floods and landslides. Passing by wreckage of bad weather, he realised the violent river was the only way to safety.

Sholay, the Beginning

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Hindi cinema’s biggest blockbuster officially completes 35 years this 15 August, but it was actually born in 1973 in a small room. Screenplay writer Salim Khan remembers how Sholay was conceived.

Writer Blocked

Gouri Dange

The thrill of having a well-known publisher stamp its name on the spine of your debut novel doesn’t last too long, says Gouri Dange. Bruised and hurt by the publisher’s constant neglect for being an ‘unknown writer’, she decided to go it alone and self-publish her second novel.