One Afghan refugee’s stunning photographs of the country’s ‘many stories that need to be told’

by Joey Watson with pictures by Muzafar Ali Muzafar Ali, who lives in Adelaide, grew up as a refugee in Pakistan after his family fled Afghanistan in the mid-1980s. As a child, the only pictures he saw of his birth country were through Taliban-issued jihadi calendars and the occasional news report. Photo: Muzafar Ali / The Guardian Ali is… Read More One Afghan refugee’s stunning photographs of the country’s ‘many stories that need to be told’

15th January 2023 Dilip

Nadoja Sara Aboobacker

Chandan Gowda Sara Aboobacker and her husband, an engineer with the government, moved to Bangalore in 1981. He had been transferred from Mangalore. One day, as she was heading out of a public library in Halasur, Lankesh Patrike, which was dangling in a roadside stall, caught her eye. She bought a copy of the eight-page Kannada… Read More Nadoja Sara Aboobacker

15th January 2023 Dilip

Prince Harry has left the zoo, so why is he being treated like a caged animal?

Catherine Bennett Early signs are that Prince Harry’s revelations may not, frustratingly for experts and republicans alike, seriously threaten the monarchy. Even if he’d wanted to, he probably picked the wrong moment, the public still being in an exceptionally forgiving mood. For all his divulging, to seriously “stain” or “trash”, as alleged, the royal brand,… Read More Prince Harry has left the zoo, so why is he being treated like a caged animal?

15th January 202315th January 2023 Dilip

The companies that churn through young workers

By Alex Christian After working for less than a year in fashion retail, Sarah secured an e-commerce assistant role in the head office of a global luxury brand. In both jobs, she was surrounded by like-minded twenty-somethings, all of whom wanted to succeed in the fashion world. “It’s like any creative industry: young people always… Read More The companies that churn through young workers

14th January 202314th January 2023 Dilip

Two Popes: Mohan Bhagwat’s feeble attempts to reassert himself

Bharat Bhushan Bhagwat claims that the ‘1000-year war’ against ‘foreign aggressions’ has now been transformed into a war with the “enemy within’ It is a measure of the marginalisation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) under the Narendra Modi regime that its head Mohan Bhagwat is compelled to symbolically reassert his authority time and again. His latest… Read More Two Popes: Mohan Bhagwat’s feeble attempts to reassert himself

14th January 202314th January 2023 Dilip

The Just. By Jorge Luis Borges

A man who cultivates his garden, as Voltaire wished.He who is grateful for the existence of music. He who takes pleasure in tracing an etymology.Two workmen playing, in a café in the South, a silent game of chess. The potter, contemplating a color and a form.The typographer who sets this page well, though it may… Read More The Just. By Jorge Luis Borges

14th January 202313th January 2023 Dilip

Rabindranath Tagore’s essay on the cult of the nation

The Cult of the Nation is the professionalism of the people. This cult is becoming their greatest danger, because it is bringing them enormous success, making them impatient of the claims of higher ideals. The greater the amount of success, the stronger are the conflicts of interest and jealousy and hatred which are aroused in men’s… Read More Rabindranath Tagore’s essay on the cult of the nation

14th January 2023 Dilip

A child’s prayer. By C. M. Naim

The outcry in Bareilly last month over students singing an Iqbal poem reminds us that we live in a hyper-nationalist time, where leaders glorify territorial nationalism beyond measure and deliberately concoct insidious ancillaries anchored in religion, language, race or colour. As I read about the furore in Bareilly over Iqbal’s poem “Bachche ki Du’a” (“A… Read More A child’s prayer. By C. M. Naim