By Sami Ha Zen
I have been resisting the urge to write. For someone who had been vocal during the beginning of the #MeToo movement and then turned mute, realising how it was being used to wash dirty laundry in public — the death of Arghya Basu shouldn’t have shocked, but that’s exactly what it did. The hashtag #WhoKilledArghyaBasu has been doing the rounds, but a life lost is a life lost.
By Sandhya D’Mello
“You must be the only woman in the UAE who’s wearing a saree.”
It’s been days since someone told this to me in my face, but these words continue to haunt me. Why? First, it was certainly not a compliment when I was made to endure those harsh words stated in a derogatory way from no less than a fellow Indian woman, clad in a trouser and sleek top. Second, it was obvious that it was blurted out in a tone that implied how on earth could you still be living with such an archaic sense of fashion? Yes, I was angry and hurt; who gives anyone the right to comment on my sense of fashion, questioning the prime importance of making me feel comfortable and be myself? I am comfortable in a saree and I don’t think I owe anyone an explanation. Why do these world’s mortals judge people based on their clothes?
Continue reading Message to all haters: what’s wrong with the saree?
By Abhishek Sengupta
For most people around the world, yesterday must have been just another day.
Continue reading When language crusaders won a lasting victory
By Bikram Vohra
Now that the Indian Republic Day parade has refreshed the country’s passion and patriotism and like a flavoured mint at least temporarily removed the sourness of political bickering from our mouths we can be a bit more dispassionate in our collective excitement to anoint Priyanka Gandhi as the find of the century. Her arrival on the stage with the first official appearance on Monday being a huge success there is little doubt she is now the face of the Congress.
Continue reading Forget dynasty, Priyanka has mass appeal of her own
By Suresh Pattali
Envy has been my constant companion. Like a driving force. Like an element in my DNA. Like an elixir that spurs me back to life. Like a biological clock that reminds me it’s time to rediscover myself. Like a voice from my deeper self sounding me out about what I really wanted. Like what German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche said, the private part of my soul.
Continue reading Never too old to study. Look at her breaking records at 97
By Sarwat Nasir
It didn’t take me long to pack my suitcase for my holiday in Islamabad, Pakistan — salwar kameez (traditional Pakistani clothing), party wear for the wedding I was going to attend, thick coats for winter, makeup bag, toiletries, and I was ready to go.
Continue reading How Islamabad floored me this time when I went back home
By Anamika Chatterjee
It’s not often that one finds that someone penned a book titled The Book I Won’t Be Writing And Other Essays. And yet, H.Y. Sharada Prasad did just that. In the brief introduction, the former media adviser to Indian prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi made a case for not writing the book his peers so badly wanted him to write: an insider’s account of the leader that was Indira Gandhi. He said he lacked “the capacity to do justice to her complexity” — that prevented him from trying.
Continue reading It makes no sense to protest the release of a political movie
