By Rohma Sadaqat
These past few years have proven to be a good time for anyone looking to see more of powerful female characters on the big screen. We have seen everything from royalty-turned-combat generals to superheroes, cyborg battle angels, and even a power-hungry Asgardian diety. Well, maybe not everything — still waiting on a full length Black Widow movie — but the future looks bright.
By Keith Pereña
Here’s a riddle: What’s red, white and blue, saves the world from oppression and is utterly gigantic. No, it’s not America. It’s Gundam — a term for giant robots who towered over television screens and were piloted by select humans who used them to fight tyranny. Gundam first came to life four decades back — on April 7, 1979 — with the release of the anime show Mobile Suit Gundam. Japanese network Sunrise is credited with the creation of the series which now boasts hundreds of spin-offs.
Continue reading How Comic Con has resurrected a giant robot’s popularity
By Farhana Chowdhury
Deadlines have become an integral part of my life — as a writer and as a cosplay enthusiast. It is an exciting challenge, a bit masochistic in its own way, but never did I imagine I would adopt a hobby that would leave me in fits of stress and anxiety.
By Allan Jacob
Thanks to a musical diversion this week, my plan to let off some steam against politicians must wait for another occasion. Their antics have enraged me. I am not in the mood for it. Not this time, not on the weekend. I must heal first.
Continue reading A Kenny Rogers hit helped me find harmony at work
By Anamika Chatterjee
From a fairly young age, I knew I would never be short of mothers. Not because I was surrounded by warm and loving ladies, but because my mother’s standing instructions were to suffix the word ‘ma’ whenever my brother and I addressed our paternal and maternal aunts. Why? Because that’s what good Bengali kids from good Bengali families living outside Bengal did. This is how my elder uncle’s wife became Jethi-ma and my younger uncle’s wife became Kaki-ma. My brother, an obedient son, complied; I was reluctant. Ma, to me, wasn’t a nomenclature, it was a distinction that had to be earned. The only aunt I was happy to anoint ‘Ma’ was my father’s elder (and only) sister, aka Pishi-ma.
Continue reading How I learnt to love an aunt who has forgotten me
By Disha Didlani
A lot changes when you journey from the role of an intern to an employee. It can be challenging and fun — greater responsibilities, team lunches, higher expectations, and a work station of your own.
By Suresh Pattali
On a morning badly sullied by a sandstorm last week, I woke up in my bed to find myself transformed into a child. Sounds like a page from Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis? Don’t be so judgmental. Mine wasn’t an excruciatingly distressful biological transformation like what happened to salesman Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s novella. Mine was a sweet-and-sour yet inexorable phenomenon that afflicts every human as he grows and matures enough to celebrate life on its cyclical completion. It’s a moment of realisation that we all ultimately grow back to childhood, and then to where we belong.
