Jesudas and his son Edwin are skilled craftsmen, known in the Carnatic music universe of Chennai and elsewhere for the mridangams they give life to, though they still face occasional communal biases Ashna Butani The sounds of Carnatic music on the radio fill a cramped room painted blue in a small lane of Mylapore. Photos… Read More The mridangam makers of Mylapore
“What is history for? … It makes us brave!” ADAM TOOZE I’ll never forget this response by my distinguished colleague Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith to one of the “theory and practice” questions with which we used to torture Cambridge undergraduates back in the 1990s and early 2000s. Riley-Smith’s answer resonated with me, precisely for its profound, almost archaic… Read More The courage of Vladimir Kara-Murza
Eco-anxiety stems from a sense of hopelessness and the realisation that there are limits to how much agency we have as individuals to affect global change. But we are not hopeless, far from it. The future is still unwritten; we cannot know what it holds, but we will make it first in our minds, in our… Read More Does climate breakdown mean we’re doomed? No: if we’re brave, big change can happen fast
William Shakespeare (aka William Sexpeare in Waste Bengal) had got most things right, especially when it came to portraying the seven deadly sins, as per their revised version in India’s Amritkaal. Whether it was “honour killing” in Othello or “love jihad” (by Romeo, naturally, trying to entice a Capulet to become a Montague) in Romeo… Read More Avay Shukla: ‘A rose by any other name..’ really?
Michael Harriot When Tennessee lawmakers expelled two Black legislators from the state’s Republican-dominated house of representatives, pundits described the decision as “stunning” and “historic”. Joe Biden called it “shocking, undemocratic and without precedent”. The New York Times characterized it as “an extraordinary act of political retribution”. Sorry, have you met America? This tragic comedy always has the… Read More Removing Black lawmakers is voter suppression – and the US has done it for centuries
Recycling energy takes cycles and lots of energy P. Sainath The koilawallahs, or coal carriers of Godda district try earning a living by picking up coal from the waste dumps near the Rajmahal mining project at Lalmatiya and pushing huge loads of it – ranging from 100 to 250 kilograms – to Godda town 40 kilometres away… https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/albums/the-koilawallahs-of-godda/
American Civil Liberties Union Today, more than 76 percent of incarcerated workers surveyed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics say that they are required to work or face additional punishment such as solitary confinement, denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence, and loss of family visitation. They have no right to choose what type of… Read More Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers
Pascal Soriot The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is a grim, yet unsurprising, reminder of the catastrophic effect global heating is having on our planet. The message from leading climate scientists is clear: action is needed now. Not tomorrow, not next year, not by the end of the decade. Even drastic carbon reduction today… Read More Climate emergency is the biggest health crisis of our time: bigger than Covid
Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, who faces up to a quarter of a century in jail on treason charges, has told a Moscow court that he stood by all of his political statements and said his prosecution resembled one of Joseph Stalin’s show trials. Kara-Murza, 41, who holds Russian and British passports, has denied several… Read More Defiant Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza likens his case to Stalin’s show trials
Every time the student activist’s bail has been approved by a court, the police slapped new charges against her to prolong her imprisonment. Currently, her bail plea is pending before the Delhi high court. Tarushi Aswani “If you remain quiet despite injustices, you will survive. But if you criticise them (government), they will open the… Read More Delhi Riots: New Charges, Multiple Bail Rejections Keep Gulfisha Fatima Lodged in Jail for 3 Years
After the truth-shower 