Phoolan Devi: The story of India’s Bandit Queen
On 12 May 1996, a young woman from the Mallah caste wins a seat in the Indian parliament. She has no formal education, and from the age of 11 has been repeatedly raped and abused by her older husband. But she is also a dacoit, leader of a band of armed robbers, the “Beautiful Bandit” […]
Holy Land: The world’s No. 1 Jesus-themed amusement park
Nuns get free entry into Holy Land but for the rest of us it’s 70 pesos. A trio of smug-faced sisters glides past security while the less godly are crushed together in the sweaty mass of a 20-minute queue. I am wedged in the middle of a group of Mormon missionaries from Utah wearing personalised
The Shaolin: Child warrior-monks of Henan Province, China
If you stand at the foot of the imposingly vertical Mount Song in China’s Henan Province at four o’clock in the morning, you are treated to a curious sight. Dozens of tiny figures crawl down the mountain’s winding steps on their hands and feet, wearing nothing but thin cotton tunics to
Hard to Stomach: Diary of an Extreme Vegan
“l consume all my urine,” Brian Nexus tells me. “It’s the third most powerful thing in my lifestyle [after] sungazing and meditation.” However this is far from the most unusual aspect of his diet—an extreme form of raw veganism known as ‘sproutarianism’. Raw vegans eschew all animal
“There’s a big hole where the left should be.” An interview with Nick Cohen
“This division of a left represented by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and a right represented by Peter Hitchens: no one is like that in British society. It is a media creation. They’re equally contemptible, predictable, immune to evidence, what’s the point?” Nick Cohen is a journalist whose political
Lives in Three Lines: The Artistic Form of Tweets
“Two heads are better than one, reckoned Ndako, of Bosso. His nosy neighbors, who made him open the dripping bag, objected.” Over the past two years, novelist and art historian Teju Cole has tweeted hundreds of the curious, violent, often tragic stories found in the crime and metro sections of l
An afternoon with Oxford’s nudists
“Peggy, reach over and press the bubbles button, would you?” As the tub comes to life with a loud gurgle, Lenny begins to shake with laughter, causing the bubbles to spill over the edge. “The bubbles help out modest naturists who don’t want to have their bits on show!” Peggy and Lenny are
Laughter in the Dark: How Philip French Found Film
“I discovered almost everything through the cinema rather than, as it were, communing directly with nature and the society around me,” said Philip French, the Observer’s longstanding film critic, and former The ISIS editor, as he reminisces about how his love of films began. “It was a way to
“We are invisible people”: Getting to know Oxford’s rough sleepers
“If people haven’t had that experience of being dragged up with nothing, you couldn’t explain to them what it’s like. They would not understand.” John doesn’t talk about being brought up – the word is always ‘dragged’. Homeless since the age of 14, he has spent the last nine of his