BOOKS
Amitav Ghosh on why the original American model of wildlife conservation doesn't work, Donald Trump & end of Eurocentricity in the world
Amitav Ghosh's new book review: 'Wild Fictions' offers a glimpse into the mind of Amitav Ghosh, and on to the world through the lens of a well-read and widely travelled anthropologist-turned-writer.
BOOKS
How medieval India's wealth, power and influence grew under the Chola kings - and queens
Medieval Indian Chola kings gave the world many things: Nataraja bronzes, economic systems that persist today, words like cash...
INDIA
Why Amitabh Kant had to get involved when China wanted US visa guarantees for 2026 G20 Summit
Amitabh Kant on why he thinks the 'G20 is today a far more important body than the United Nation', why developed countries need to cough up trillions of dollars in climate finance instead of billions and how the Global South representing over 80 percent of the world population can increase its influence in international fora.
LIFESTYLE
India's theatre is growing again because of technology, mobility: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time director Atul Kumar
Aadyam Theatre Festival Season 7: Theatre director Atul Kumar on using artificial intelligence for live theatre productions, why he hopes to explore the potential of cinema and virtual reality for stage, and his latest production - 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'.
LIFESTYLE
From getting a corporate box at IND vs AUS Border-Gavaskar Trophy to planning ICC Champions Trophy 2025, meet one of the BTS people working away in the nets to make things happen on the ground
What does it take to put together cricketing events for the ICC in India and abroad? And is India ready to host a Coachella-like event? We asked someone who's been in the event management and experiences business for over 20 years.
BOOKS
Isaac Asimov's 105th birth anniversary: what you need to know about the GOAT sci-fi writer
Born in Russia in 1902, Isaac Asimov first read a science fiction magazine in 1929. His experiments in writing began a couple years later. In June 1938, a publisher rejected his first story, but offered copious notes that Asimov said he found useful.
LIFESTYLE
Water buses in Goa vs air taxis & self-driving cars: Charles Correa Foundation wants you to think about the future of public transport in India
Navi Mumbai architect Charles Correa thought a lot about ways to build efficient cities around the three key ingredients of jobs-housing-transportation, with adequate attention to social, cultural and educational institutions. The Charles Correa Foundation's Nagari Film Festival 2024 was all about urban mobility.
LIFESTYLE
Who needs another book of chocolate recipes & how to make an eggless lamington cake for New Year 2025
Made for India: Bake with Shivesh creator Shivesh Bhatia's fifth and latest book has (mostly) eggless chocolate recipes that are on-trend for 2025. (Think chocolate pistachio thumbprint cookies.) What's missing is something to challenge the palate and really push chocolate as an ingredient in Indian kitchens.
BOOKS
When Indian Air Force flew to the rescue just hours after 2004 Tsunami hit & more stories of skill and courage in the IAF
Wing Commander (Retd) Arijit Ghosh on how a team from the Indian Air Force rescued 58 people from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on an aircraft made for just 25 in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, other stories of courage and skill from the Indian Air Force, and his book 'Air Warriors'.
LIFESTYLE
Why Titan's sales head is counting down to quick commerce delivery of watches in 2025...
...And all about the Unity watch which marks 40 years of the first Indian going into space and has astronaut Rakesh Sharma's famous first words in space - 'Saare Jahan Se Achha' - inscribed on the back.
IIMS
Why IIMA Professor Pankaj Setia offers Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore to students as a thought experiment
A world without jobs? Information Systems Prof. Pankaj Setia, who also runs the Centre for Digital Transformation at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), on revisiting human purpose and work in the age of artificial intelligence.
BOOKS
Why Samvidhan architect BR Ambedkar was an original thinker, despite borrowing freely from others
'A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of BR Ambedkar' author Ashok Gopal on why the world needed another biography of BR Ambedkar, why Babasaheb was unique among his contemporaries, and the flavour of Ambedkar's own writing in Marathi as well as English.
LIFESTYLE
Why & how to implement passive design ideas in your home, architect Chitra Vishwanath explains
Do you live in a hot and dry city? Try greening your roof to bring down air-conditioning costs. If your home is in a hot and humid city, a shaded terrace can help to cool things down. In both cases, avoid indoor carpeting - advises Bangalore-headquartered Biome Environmental Solutions' Chithra Vishwanath
LIFESTYLE
How do you solve a problem like MF Husain?
MF Husain was so prolific, and had such a wide range of interests, over his long career that often exhibitions are able to give only a limited idea of his range and his thinking. It doesn't help that so much of his work is squirreled away in private collections in India and abroad. So how to get a sense of the real MF Husain?
BOOKS
Murty Classical Library's Ranjit Hoskote: It is not meaningful to complain bitterly that ‘people from elsewhere’ are translating ‘our classics’
10 years of Murty Classical Library of India: Editorial board member Ranjit Hoskote on how the spiritual and secular 'entwined, entangled, mapped over each other' in the world that Indian classical texts emerged from, who can translate these texts and how these stories survive in multiple formats.
LIFESTYLE
Amrut Distilleries dedicates its first city-specific single malt to Kolkata; City of Joy to cost Rs 5,680 for 750 ml
Why Indian whisky maker Amrut is dedicating its first city-specific limited-edition whisky to Kolkata, the cost of Amrut Distilleries' 'City of Joy' single malt and where to buy one of the 1,800 bottles released in Kolkata.
BOOKS
Even the greatest Sanskrit playwrights went to secular sources for their stories and not just to Hindu myths and epics: Arshia Sattar
Author Arshia Sattar on the role of universities in the translation ecosystem, her new book comprising retellings of Sanskrit plays by greats like Kalidasa and Bhasa, and why she finally decided against including 'Bhavabhuti’s magnificent Uttara Rama Charita'.
LIFESTYLE
Economics Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee: 'In India, the act of eating and not eating is extraordinarily potent and political'
Economist Abhijit Banerjee on why he reads and writes cookbooks, his new book at the intersection of food and economics, democratizing the social sciences, and presenting new Indian flavour ideas to the world.
LIFESTYLE
Artist Subodh Gupta on why he continues to work with steel utensils, aluminium buckets: 'They are heavy with stories & emotions'
Artist Subodh Gupta grew up in a railway town in Bihar in the 1960s and '70s, and trained at the College of Art, Patna, from 1983 to 1988. Now he's returning to Patna with an exhibition at the Bihar Museum.
LIFESTYLE
Ramayana's Kumbhakaran, Lakshman and Urmila; risqué comedy in Kannada theatre; & a witch hunt: what to expect at Manam Theatre Festival 2024
Manam Theatre Festival 2024 will have workshops and panel discussions as well as plays about Lakshman and Kumbhakaran; Lakshman and Urmila; women with superpowers; and a female comic character who ran riot in Kannada theatre for decades before being sidelined and forgotten by history.
TRENDS
Ramachandra Guha: History doesn't have to be about kings & winners, it can be about the losers who had the right idea all along
From Rabindranath Tagore's engagement with nature at Santiniketan to JC Kumarappa's rural renewal, and from Patrick Geddes' neotechnic cities to Union Minister KM Munshi's Vana Mahotsava—Ramachandra Guha gives brief biographies of 10 people who thought about different aspects of human-nature interactions in India.
TRENDS
Among India's first major abstractionists, Bimal Das Gupta's art pays homage to the country's natural beauty
Delhi event: Around 90 artworks by the late Bimal Das Gupta—watercolours, oils, acrylics—are on show in the Capital for two days. The last time his works were shown was 10 years ago.
TRENDS
Paul John on how he got into the alcobev business & what to buy for your home bar ahead of Diwali 2024
MC Interview | Paul John says the bulk of his business comes from the Indian market, with Karnataka emerging on top. John Distilleries Pvt Ltd expects to top 22 million cases this year, he adds.
TRENDS
What to do if you spot a snake on a train? Herpetologist Nirmal U Kulkarni explains
'The most important thing when you see a snake is that you step back. We don't recommend running away, but it's always good to step back and see the snake.'
