The bhajan had a very familiar tune but the words and the off-key singing made it difficult to recognise at first. Then it came like a flash — the tune was that of “Allah, yeh ada kaisi hai in haseenon mein, roothe pal men na mane mahinon men,” a song from the forgettable 1968 Dharmendra-Sharmila… Read More Shobhit Mahajan: The ties that bind religion, popular culture
On the Christmas afternoon of 2006, Nao visited me again, accompanied by his son and, to my surprise, volunteered to narrate a new story of Juro, the headhunter. I shelved my linguistic work and sat down with my notebook. He instructed me, to my amusement, to switch on the recorder. He wanted in return a… Read More Anvita Abbi: Ten rare stories and 46 songs of the Great Andamanese
He was the star of my favourite film, Madhumati (1958). It was the first film shot in the Kumaon hills near our town of Nainital. For a few weeks, all of us in school strained our ears, above the teachers’ unending lessons, to hear the song, Aaja re pardesi, reverberating down in the valley, where… Read More Mrinal Pande: Goodbye Dilip Kumar, creator of our first dreams of love
Poet, folklorist, orator, teacher, legislator, administrator and co-founder of the Dalit movement in Karnataka, Siddalingaiah’s many-layered engagement with the life of the state defies easy characterisation. Indispensable for a historian of contemporary morality in Karnataka, Siddalingaiah’s work is an elaboration of a rich vision of humanism. His debut book of poetry, Holey-Maadigara Haadu (The Song of… Read More Chandan Gowda: The humanism of Siddalingaiah (1954-2021)
An excerpt from Kabir, Kabir: The Life and Work of the Early Modern Poet-Philosopher – by Purushottam Agrawal. Why were Kabir’s detractors “forced” to escalate matters up to the sultan? Mostly because they were smarting from having failed so miserably to check his influence themselves. Kabir’s fame was sky- rocketing, despite his obvious lack… Read More Kabir’s search for solitude resembles our search for privacy in totalitarian times
NB: Once in a while, very rarely, something appears in the media that reminds me of Goa, where my mother was born, in village Saligaon, in 1924. And which reminds me of my Goan heritage. My thanks to the author for a sprinkle of sossegado in this troubled world! Dilip Lucy Aunty, as Lucy Fernandes… Read More Remembering Lucy Aunty
The government’s willingness to hold the Kumbh Mela in the middle of the worst health emergency in a hundred years and its unwillingness to curtail it despite a tsunami of second wave Covid infections raise an interesting question. Is Narendra Modi a rational actor on his own terms? Rational, here, doesn’t mean ‘secular’ or ‘progressive’.… Read More Mukul Kesavan – Kumbh vs Corona The logic of Hindu nationalism / Milind Murugkar: The political project of Hindutva is up against many contradictions
As an American living in India, I often find myself confused about what to say or think in these sorts of situations. I can recognize that Rihanna probably has no context for the farmers’ protests, other than what she’s read online. Shit–I’ve spent half my life in India, and I’m still not as politically savvy… Read More Reflections of an American living in India…
At the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the country’s new Parliament building, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that in a vibrant democracy like India, there was room for differences, but not disconnect. This is a welcome acknowledgement of the Argumentative Indian who loves debate, who is curious about the world around them and is open to… Read More Shyam Saran: If Modi really sees India as a democracy, then he must stop the labelling exercise / Sukhbir Badal says BJP is ‘real tukde tukde gang, has smashed national unity’
Diwali, also known as the festival of lights, is one of the most widely celebrated festivals of the Indian subcontinent. Diwali, as celebrated in various parts of the country today, has regional variations and is often adapted to the traditions of the respective communities. For instance, Brahmanical Diwali celebration offers homage mainly to Goddess Lakshmi;… Read More Diwali: The Various Shades of the Festival of Lights. By Silpisikha Baruah
After the truth-shower 