Lying on his bed cushioned with folded sheets and towels, Babutty, the yesteryear star among the circus artistes of Thalassery, vividly remembers the day on which his life changed forever. It was the 28th day of September, 2002. A youthful Babutty, dressed in flashy costumes, enthusiastically waved to the crowd from the circus ring. The … Read more
Even a single poem, taught with care and received with wonder, can leave a lifelong imprint. | Photo: Still from the movie I was ten when our primary teacher made our entire class learn “O Captain! My Captain!” by the American poet Walt Whitman for the school’s poetry competition. In the week leading up to the … Read more
Two legs, two wins, and a place in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2009. Five goals scored, just one conceded and Real Madrid, European royalty, silenced. This was the coming of age for Arsenal, played out in high definition with the world watching in awe. Real has shown … Read more
Daily Quiz | On Gabriel Garcia Marquez A still from the recently released Netflix adaptation of a Marquez novel- One Hundred Years of Solitude START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Name the style of narration attributed to Marquez 2 / 6 | Name the Peruvian author, who died this week, who had an altercation with … Read more
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley Quiz: Easy like Sunday morning – What has April 20 ever given us? What is English actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis best known for? START THE QUIZ … Read more
The monarchies of of Europe may have been some of the most powerful families in the world, but little did they know that a genetic mutation would wreak havoc in their royal blue bloodlines. Starting from what is now thought to be a spontaneous mutation in one of Queen Victoria’s X chromosomes, haemophilia cast its … Read more
‘Letters are love. They may mean nothing to the world but they can mean the world to us.’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images The other day, my partner Bishan showed me a letter his mother had found. It was addressed to him, from his father, written in Bengali, just a few sentences long, each sentence … Read more
Mahmood, Zaad., and Bhattacharya, Soham (2025), ‘The Roots of a Populist Regime: Examining the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal’, Studies in Indian Politics, 1- 18, Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The 2011 Assembly Election was a watershed moment in West Bengal politics. It saw the end of the Left front era and … Read more
In the three months since U.S. President Donald Trump launched his “America First” trade policy, weaponising trade to extract concessions from his partner countries, there are indications that it could bring the global economy to its knees. “Reciprocal tariffs” were proposed as a key component for eliminating what Mr. Trump perceived as “unfair trade practices” … Read more
A woman at work in a semi-mechanised match manufacturing unit at Kovilpatti in Tuticorin district. | Photo Credit: RAJESH N One of the drivers of Viksit Bharat will be manufacturing. One of the pillars of Viksit Bharat is ‘nari (women)’. However, women are missing from the factory floors. The share of women in India’s formal … Read more