×

Essays

The Abbey Road to Rishikesh

India had a tremendous influence on the Beatles and their music. Many a song came about just hanging around the Maharishi’s ashram at Rishikesh. So the Beatles’ double album is really a hymn to India

Happy Birthday, Asterix!

At the banquet to celebrate their 50th anniversary, his tummy bursting with boar and ears straining to drown out Cacofonix, a fan tries to remember exactly why he loves these Gallic warriors.

Mr Creepy Crawly

Disappearing for days into the Western Ghats, this man looks under rocks, sifts through piles of leaves and generally gets his hands quite dirty looking to discover new species of amphibians and reptiles. In fact herpetologist Varad Giri is a pretty rare creature himself: a researcher who can’t have enough of the creepy crawlies

What Do You Call Picture Books for Adults?

The ‘graphic novel’ is a great marketing gimmick. So grown-ups can buy comics about men in flashy briefs, unabashedly.

Surviving Child Abuse

Harish Iyer recounts his journey of self-discovery through years of pain and trauma

Blood in the River

The Yamuna is dying. Restless and troubled, artist Inder Salim cut off his finger and threw it into the river. Call it art, call it angst, but he forged a link with the river.

Bollywood Dreams

Khatera Hakimi is an Afghan settled in New York. Her obsession is to make it as a heroine in Hindi movies, and time is running out on her.

Last Train from WTC

Shazia Omar shares the shock of watching 9/11 unfold in front of her eyes and how it brought perspective in her life.

We Are What You Are

Being Muslim means something to others. It is also much more than stifling labels

The Death of Ideology

Why is it that since 1992, despite umpteen changes of government in India and several different Prime Ministers of every ilk—left, right and centre—it feels as if we have had the same government in power for 17 years?

Magazine

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