How Kashmir’s Sufi Shrines are a Reminder of an Accommodative Islam That Once Existed in the Valley
Kashmir has a rich Sufi heritage, which is enshrined in the ancient tombs and hermitages (or khanqahs) that dot its landscape. Its encounter with Sufism started in the 14th century, when wave upon wave of Sufi theologians from former Mongol and Timurid territories migrated to Kashmir. Historically, six Sufi monastic
How Jules Verne’s Visionary Works Inspired Modern Technology and Innovation
When French author Jules Verne died in 1905, powered air flight, which he put at the centre of his 1886 book Robur the Conqueror, had moved from fiction to reality. Just two years earlier, the Wright brothers had achieved the first manned air flight in human history. Yet more of
T.M. Krishna: Standing Ovation for the Sangita Kalanidhi’s Concert a Turning Point in Carnatic Music History
When T.M. Krishna received a standing ovation from an overflowing audience at the Music Academy on a bright Christmas morning this year, it marked a momentous point in his musical journey and, indeed, in the history of Carnatic music and the cultural history of South India. Here was a venerable
TRIBUTE | M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1933-2024): Legacy of the Prolific Malayalam Writer, Scenarist, and Filmmaker
How does one describe M.T. Vasudevan Nair? Respectfully called “MT”, he was primarily a writer who was widely admired across generations, and his works have remained bestsellers for more than half a century. In the industry and among cineastes, he commanded the respect of both serious auteurs and commercial filmmakers.
TRIBUTE | M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1933-2024): Noted Malayalam Writer and Director Dies at 91
Noted writer and Jnanpith Award winner M.T. Vasudevan Nair, who had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala, following heart failure, has died, hospital sources said on December 25. He was 91. “M.T. has died,” a hospital source told PTI without elaborating. He had been under the
TRIBUTE | Shyam Benegal was a Diverse and Inclusive Filmmaker
Shyam Benegal’s love for films started when he was a child. His appetite for them was voracious. When he couldn’t afford to watch them, he befriended the projectionist of his local cinema and watched them through his window. Sometimes he and his friend wedged the door open a crack so
Frontline At 40 | ‘Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions are the only record of old Tamil’: Interview with Iravatham Mahadevan
Iravatham Mahadevan, an epigraphist of international repute. | Photo Credit: T.A. HAFEEZ Iravatham Mahadevan was an administrator-turned-scholar who did acclaimed work on the Tamil-Brahmi and Indus scripts. His Early Tamil Epigraphy, published in 2003, was based on 40 years of labour on Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions. His earlier work Corpus of Tamil-Brahmi
The Show Must Go On: How Cinema Refuses to Fade to Black in India
Indian cinema began contemplating its own mortality exactly four decades ago, prompted into self-reflection by the seismic effects of the television and video revolution across the country. In 1984, just two years had passed since the Asian Games were held in Delhi, an event that was responsible for the mass-scale
Does Rasam Hold the Secret to Transforming A Glum Day Into A Flavourful Experience?
As the sun slouches westward, are you having a day like mine? Snail-slow, all grimace and growl, stagnant, the very air in aspic—in a word, glum? Breakfast is a memory from deep time, lunch is a receding mirage—did I just see you reach for chai? Toxic masala or green detox?
Catfish| A Hindi Story in Translation
They were catfish. Seven catfish thrashing about in a flat tray made of white Styrofoam. Their skin was dark grey and smooth, their moustaches big and black. They were huddled close together, tail to mouth, moustache to back, their movement arrested at the edge of the tray for they could