Obituary | Surjit Patar, the poet who explored Punjab’s collective consciousness
The celebrated poet, who passed away at 79, explored the region’s cultural richness and pluralism, giving voice to its struggles and aspirations. As I think of Surjit Patar, this following verse, which I had first heard on radio during my college days, reverberates in my mind: Je ayi pathjhar taa
It is time we made a truce with that reviled vegetable, cabbage
Cabbage must be the most deeply loathed vegetable on the planet. Condemned as vapid and tasteless, it is the acknowledged saboteur of a home-cooked meal. Bought for bulk and plonked on the kitchen counter with an air of atavistic triumph, it is a leafy cranium, freshly harvested off the enemy.
K.G. Subramanyan (1924-2016): Artist, activist, provocateur, teacher
The exhibition “One Hundred Years and Counting: Re-Scripting KG Subramanyan” (April 5-June 21), at Emami Art, Kolkata, organised in collaboration with Seagull, and the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Baroda, is an invigorating, brilliant, and multifaceted celebratory show worthy of the master. Curated by the cultural theorist Nancy Adajania,
All We Imagine as Light, Malayalam-Hindi film by film FTII alumnus Payal Kapadia, makes history, wins Grand Prix award at Cannes 2024
Director Payal Kapadia poses after she won the Grand Prix for the film All We Imagine as Light during the Closing Ceremony at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 25, 2024. | Photo Credit: LOIC VENANCE Payal Kapadia has scripted history by
Venice Biennale 2024 aims to deconstruct the Eurocentric gaze
With its storied history dating back to 1895 and a scenic setting for the thought-provoking art it showcases (although La Serenissima has been overrun by selfie-seekers lately), the Venice Biennale is a gift that keeps giving. This year’s landmark 60th edition, titled “Stranieri Ovunque—Foreigners Everywhere” (April 20-November 24, 2024), curated
Birds of the air: A Hindi story in translation
Translated by Vanashree and Bindu Singh A story from an influential voice of small-town India about two spirited young vagabonds, and their strange bonding. When the bagghi-cart driver felt that a naughty boy was swinging on the back door footboard, he swirled his whip, yelling: “Get down, you bastard!” Haribol—Harbolwa—jumped down, giggling, and
The exhibition “Past Disquiet” traces the histories of political engagement and solidarity of artists in the face of imperialism
“The question is not whether a given being is living or not, nor whether the being in question has the status of a ‘person’; it is, rather, whether the social conditions of persistence and flourishing are or are not possible…. Only under conditions in which the loss would matter does
Gangster: A Marathi story in translation
He pounded the ribcage of the staircase, his footsteps thumping as he walked. He struck the door with a powerful fist. The door took the blow and opened. Peace evaporated from the room behind it; it began to darken with fear. Seeing the angry demon standing there, the Bohri treasurer
12 years of Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards: Providing a Platform for Young Indian Dancers
Dancers in India’s contemporary dance landscape stretch the field’s meagre resources to grand ends, working alone and together, juggling any available space, time, and funding to sustain their practice. Any emergency throws their carefully wrought budgets and lives into chaos. In 2017, the dancer and choreographer Diya Naidu found herself
Saikat Majumdar: ‘The scariest thing is the chance to live by your own convictions’
aikat Majumdar is one of the most talked about writers in India today. The author of critically acclaimed novels such as Silver Fish, The Firebird, The Scent of God, and The Middle Finger as well as important non-fiction works like College: Pathways of Possibility and Prose of the World, Majumdar