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World Music Day: When mixtapes were a labour of love

New Delhi, June 21 -- With age, my mother slowly started to lose her hearing. A few weeks before she died, she suddenly started hearing songs. Entire songs. "Can't you hear them?" she asked us perpl... Read More


My mother, the family's memory-keeper

New Delhi, June 6 -- After a great-aunt died, my mother read a little tribute I wrote for her and said wistfully, "You're the writer in the family. Perhaps you'll write something like that for me afte... Read More


How we have steadily devalued the book review

New Delhi, May 18 -- As an offer it sounded almost too good to be true. Last month I got a message that said the upcoming issue of De Mode magazine wanted to feature my book in The 10 Best Books of t... Read More


How social media posts overshadowed the Pahalgam tragedy

New Delhi, May 3 -- As a child I visited Kashmir on a family vacation. I remember that trip well, the line of houseboats on Dal Lake, a thrilling cable car ride in Gulmarg, the pine trees and green m... Read More


The summer season taught us to slow down

New Delhi, April 20 -- Last week I was looking for fresh peas in my market in Kolkata. "Peas now?" the vegetable seller asked me with a look of surprise. "Peas are gone. It's time for potol (parwal) ... Read More


Bringing in Kolkata's iconic trams to help combat climate change

New Delhi, April 4 -- Sundari tram amader, Sundarban (Our beautiful trams, our Sundarban). As Swarna Chitrakar sings about crouching tigers and trundling trams at the Esplanade tram terminus in Kolka... Read More


Governments, there's nothing IRL on social media

New Delhi, March 23 -- They are coming for our Facebook. And Instagram. And any other social media platform we might be on. In India, the new Income-Tax Bill 2025 proposes to empower the authorities ... Read More