business 
On March 15, some States and cities in India experienced the first of severe heatwaves for the year 2025. This was 20 days earlier than the first severe heatwave in 2024. In the last decade, the number of severe heat days and the severity/intensity of heatwaves have been rising. The year 2024 was the warmest … Read more
The story of Alaipayuthey, told in a series of flashbacks while a husband goes in search of his lost wife, segues into how they fell in love and got married. The summer of 2000 offered a celluloid high for Tamil cinephiles. On April 14, Mani Ratnam’s Alaipayuthey was released and the movie turned 25 recently. This was … Read more
The MCC-MRF Innovation Park at Madras Christian College. MRF has contributed ₹30 crore from the MRF Foundation to the establishment of the park. | Photo Credit: BIJOY GHOSH Apart from engineering colleges, arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu are becoming hotbeds for entrepreneurial activity. With innovation and start-up culture spreading, colleges are improving their … Read more
(This article is part of the Gender Agenda newsletter. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Sunday, subscribe here.) Years ago, a friend, who was studying at a reputed technical institute in Chennai, called me one weekday afternoon, sounding both annoyed and amused. He said he had suddenly been given the gift of time, having … Read more
Last week, Telangana became the first State to notify categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs) after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment last year upholding the constitutionality of sub-classifying SCs and Scheduled Tribes (STs) to grant separate quotas for the most marginalised groups within these communities. Soon after the Court’s verdict, the Telangana government headed by Chief … Read more
‘Some countries have chosen to maintain silence regarding the U.S.’s illegal actions, issuing insipid statements that they are carefully examining the U.S.’s decision’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images The world is shaken by the reckless decision of the United States to impose reciprocal tariffs, which were announced on April 2, 2025, though it has been … Read more
Theoretical physicist and teacher A.P. Balachandran, known for his work in understanding the physics of fundamental particles, passed away on April 18 in Coimbatore. He was the Joel Dorman Steele emeritus professor at Syracuse University and an internationally recognised theoretical physicist. After completing his bachelor’s degree at the Madras Christian College, he received his Ph.D … Read more
Back in the days when tennis’ Davis Cup was played exclusively on the home-and-away format right until the final, it was one of sport’s grander spectacles. The sheer energy and electricity of playing at home almost erased the gulf between nations and between players. Tennis history is replete with stirring deeds in the country vs … Read more
There’s a harmless addiction that many people share: knuckle-cracking. That ‘pop’, better than the one from squeezing bubble wrap, results from the synovial fluid between your joints releasing a small bubble of nitrogen when you twist or compress your fingers or toes. It’s also a reminder of the centrality of nitrogen to life. The fifth-most … Read more
A drone view of the house belonging to Pasijah and other buildings, surrounded by mangrove planted by her, in Rejosari Senik, February 19, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters Rejosari Senik is a hamlet in the Demak district of Indonesia’s Central Java province. In the 1970s, the distance between the hamlet and the nearest shoreline, on … Read more