The Alchemy of Secrets, by Priya Balasubramanian ♦ Originally published in Biblio India. I read The Alchemy of Secrets on the first really scorching day of India’s nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, feeling dehydrated, irritable and headachy. At a time when everything else passing before of my eyes—the news, the Twitter news, the creative ferment on Instagram—seemed …
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ On March 22, 2020, two petrol bombs exploding near Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Millia Islamia caused barely a ripple before sinking into a sea of COVID-19 coverage. A few days later, as Delhi went into lockdown on March 24, the police scrubbed away all …
Tea and Azadi: What We Learned from the Women-led Citizenship Protests Read More »
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ On a cool day in February, on a ground strewn with rose and marigold petals, two swarthy pehelwans engage in intense combat. One is thick and solid, in a red singlet and undershirt; the other, more toned, wears a red langot. They grapple on the …
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ Kiran Dua wears sparkly red bangles over her workout gloves, and a bindi and earrings over her polyester sports-shirt. Her arms bulge as she easily chest presses two dumbbells. “Give me heavier weights,” she says, “I’ll lift those too.” The 41-year-old housewife is …
In Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, dangers lurk in the long shadows of Nithari and Nirbhaya ♦ Originally published in India Today. Smog meanders through the pages of Deepa Anappara’s moving debut novel; an oppressive presence, like one of the malevolent djinns that nine-year-old Jai worries might be behind a series of …
Suñatā Samantā: Emptiness Equality invites you to look beyond the obvious in art to see discontent and dissent ♦ Originally published in India Today. Scribbled on the back of a landing, positioned so that you see them as you walk down the stairs when leaving Suñatā Samantā, are two scraps of text in Hindi and …
Part of the Khabar Lahariya long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦ “This is how it happens during elections,” Priya* tells us during an interview in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. She’s an MSc Physics graduate from Atarra College, Bundelkhand University, but as a Dalit, doesn’t feel she can speak freely without anonymity. “There’s some Panditji, and some …
A Tale of Two Universities: Student Politics, Caste and Compromises Read More »
Book Review ♦ New Kings of the World: The Rise and Rise of Eastern Pop Culture, By Fatima Bhutto Originally published in Open. As 2014’s feeble monsoon faltered to a close, India burnt for Fawad Khan. The Pakistani actor had just crossed over into Bollywood with Khubsoorat, reducing women across the country ‘to wobbling blobs of …
The new miniatures from the studio of Waswo X. Waswo are as captivating as his latest photobook. ♦ Originally published in India Today. Nearly two decades ago, when Waswo X. Waswo was travelling in Pushkar, a group of camel herders started referring to him as “Chacha”. “The name just stuck,” the artist tells me in …
William Dalrymple discusses his new book on the rise of the East India Company ♦ Originally published in Mumbai Mirror. “At the dawn of the nineteenth century all seemed dark; the stars were paling, and it was not by any means plain what the day was likely to be,” wrote orientalist historian HG Keene in …