Driven by a yearning to shed the legacy of past humiliation, defeat, and cultural dispossession, we attempt to obliterate traces of that history. Yet, that very past lingers embodied within us. The…
The tendency of the human mind, whether fighting for personal territory or fighting for justice, is to create an enemy: self vs the other, us vs them. good vs evil. In our times, which seem more…
It is a poor account of Vivekananda's life that is written without studying the Bengali writings on him, that downplays the Ramakrishna-Narendranath relationship and that pays only little…
The tiger-charmers of the Sundarbans have been seen by forest guards and scientists as unscrupulous. But the islanders argue that tiger-charmers are able to better communicate between human and…
Southern blockbusters have a star playing a man of the masses, spectacular action and song and dance sequences, magnificent sets, and computer-generated imagery. Whether or not they make a profit,…
Between the 14th and 17th centuries, the states of the Deccan drew on the same resources to base their authority -- the memory of the prestigious Chalukyas maharajas of Kalyana, and the prestige…
'The shared expression among women majlis during Moharram of an iconic grief that is both personal and communal seems to create a community of women who mourn, who share a sense of the lives of…
In the wake of Covid-19, racial discrimination towards people from the North East has acquired a new edge. The lack of cultural understanding in mainland Indian communities has always manifested…
