About a month ago, residents of Maduvanahalli in Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar district witnessed the bizarre sight of a youth perched on the higher reaches of a metal structure supporting the overhead high-tension cables passing through the village. Notwithstanding the cries of his mother and pleas by other villagers, who had gathered beneath, cautioning him … Read more
Mario Vargas Llosa, who died at 89 on April 13, 2025, was once described by John King, his translator and editor, as “art critic, football commentator, film buff, polemicist, political essayist, literary critic, playwright, chronicler, short story writer…” Llosa’s Nobel Prize was a couple of decades in the future then; so too were half his … Read more
Almond-shaped eyes, aquiline features, elongated faces with defined chins and noses, earthy tones, panoramic landscapes and stylised clouds — these are some of the things that set apart Kishangarh paintings from the other miniature traditions of India. Drenched in bhakti and sringara rasas, these miniatures originated somewhere around the 17th Century in Kishangarh in Ajmer, … Read more
Vasanthan Selvam, Chief Executive Officer, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, at the milky mushroom cultivation and incubation centre, a startup industry, at Horticulture College and Research Institute, Periyakulam. in Theni district. | Photo Credit: G. KARTHIKEYAN A recent LinkedIn post on Theni having more than 150 startups kicked up a flurry of comments on the … Read more
A curious phenomenon has always plagued the Star Wars fandom. It’s this frustrating reverence for rebellion and the fantasy of resistance neatly repackaged for family-friendly consumption without the stomach for reality. But in the third episode of Andor’s second season, showrunner Tony Gilroy commits an act more transgressive than anything we’ve witnessed so far from … Read more
“It’s an urgent film to make,” says Ananth Mahadevan amid an intense conversation on his upcoming biopic of the social reformer Jyotiba Phule. As an actor, Ananth often plays a mild-mannered man, but as a filmmaker, his choice of subjects is anything but soft. From Gour Hari Dastan to Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, he has raised many pressing issues through … Read more
Image for representation only. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Infectious diseases experts have flagged the overuse of a potent antibiotic leading to it losing its efficacy, and drug resistance. The Drugs Controller General of India has been urged to lay down strict pathways for these newer antibiotics, so that they are not misused by practitioners. … Read more
Along the bustling stretch of Casa Major Road, opposite the Government Museum at Egmore, Chennai, stand the Guild of Service (Central) and the Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) that are highly regarded for their social service. Though they are independent of each other, the name of Mary Clubwala Jadhav links them by a common … Read more
Symbol of health: Orthodontic interventions often lies outside the scope of conventional insurance and welfare coverage, placing it beyond the reach of many families, especially in rural areas. Hence, the Virudhunagar district administration adopted a collaborative approach towards handling the problem. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT It began on what seemed like an ordinary day: just another … Read more
Posing a problem: New-comers to the city accidentally take the flyover connecting Vandalur and Mannivakkam villages. | Photo Credit: File photo Confusion prevails among commuters driving to Chennai from the south as they cross the Kilambakkam-Vandalur stretch of the Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road, which connects the city with places such as Tiruchi and Kanniyakumari. … Read more