Essays
Modernism and Modernity
By Nathaniel Gaskell and Diva Gujral 0The modernist turn to Indian photography may have been chronologically belated but its practitioners were pioneers, creating works that were uniquely hybrid, ‘unruly and layered, global and local, colonial and postcolonial’, write Nathaniel Gaskell and Diva Gujral
View ArticleMud
By Anuradha Roy 2At her home in the mountains, Anuradha Roy watches the snow and rain, considers warmth and the stirring of new life in the earth
View ArticleSweat Symbols
By Jai Arjun Singh 1How have Hindi films treated heat, asks Jai Arjun Singh. And what of the effect of heat, literally, on the making and preservation of those films
View ArticleThe Hunger Artists
By Revati Laul 1At the unlikely venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Revati Laul found a serious attempt to engage with agrarian distress. Perhaps our politicians should take a look
View ArticleThe Anger Games
By Shougat Dasgupta 0From the bully pulpits occupied by TV news anchors and politicians, rage has been the rallying cry. What is the effect on our national health, asks Shougat Dasgupta
View ArticleThe Spice Imperative
By Michael Snyder 0From Mexico, Michael Snyder traces the history of the chilli pepper and reflects on prandial ties, forged under the colonial yoke, with India
View ArticleIndia’s Great War
By Vedica Kant 0Millions of colonial subjects fought alongside their ‘masters’ in World War I. Long ignored by both coloniser and colonised, are these forgotten soldiers now getting their due, asks Vedica Kant
View ArticleA City Speaks
By Shreevatsa Nevatia 0Banaras is so old, so steeped in its own legend, that we forget it still breathes, that life goes on and that it has new stories to tell, argues Shreevatsa Nevatia
View ArticleLet’s Talk About Sex
By Iona Italia 0In India, #MeToo has been criticised as urban and elite, irrelevant to the lives of most women. But can it force a public conversation on topics that were once taboo, asks Iona Italia
View ArticlePrecious Pulp
By Rakhshanda Jalil 0Urdu writer Ibn-e-Safi’s highly popular crime novels remind us of a lost fantasy—a world of unlikely internationalism, glamorous intrigue and deep secularism, writes Rakhshanda Jalil
View Article