Tagore and I
Rabindranath Tagore – renowned poet and composer, writer and artist, philosopher and polymath – has always been revered as a God-like figure in city-bred middle class Bengali families, and ours was no different. As a child growing up in the US, my understanding of God was limited to Ma’s daily
Keep
I don’t see it as a word anymore spell out every letter enunciate every syllable begging for kinship from a word so distant, like your grandmother’s saris, the one in the pictures where she smiles unaware of being photographed woven in Banaras, home to poverty and colour, eyes wandering from
Ecdysis
She starts off in vibrant red, the same colour as chandlos on the brown foreheads of Indian women. The scene changes. Countless embroidered mirrors glint on the folds of her lehenga, the sky-blue skirt flowing down from her brown midriff. Cue another scene change. She emerges in a yellow salwar kame
Weekly Round Up: Guava Island, A Black Hole Pic, and Fire in Notre Dame
Assange arrested On Thursday, April 11, WikiLeaks founder and director Julian Assange was arrested by British authorities at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange had been escaping extradition to Sweden and the US since 2012 under Ecuadorian protection at the embassy. However, Ecuador revoked As
Weekly Round Up: Solange, Jordyn’s Red Table and the Indo-Pak Student Solidarity Demo
Michael Jackson Abuse Scandal With the upcoming release of Dan Reed’s documentary Leaving Neverland on Channel 4 (it has already been shown on HBO in The US) the conversation about power and abuse within the music industry and celebrity spheres continues. Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 40,
China and Clay
It was the morning of Christmas Eve – never a big deal in their part of Calcutta – when Putul came in with her mother in a hand-me-down jumper. The Mistress of the Mansion was awake, sweeping the dead leaves in the garden towards the southern wall. She never truly honoured her title, which irked
The Destruction of Art and Architecture in Delhi
Wandering through the streets of Old Delhi at dawn is unlike anything else. While the crowds of market sellers, imams, and cycle rickshaws lie asleep, the last remaining traces of the Mughal capital loom over you through the morning mist. One discovers a whole new set of marvels on every trip: the m
India, unafraid.
tw: mentions of sexual assault, violence, rape 16th December 2012 – a day that started like any other, but which now marks a turning point in the struggle for women’s rights in India. In South Delhi, 23 year-old physiotherapy intern Jyoti Singh climbed aboard a bus with her male friend. They
