Category: Features

We love the fact that Ghalib asks questions and does not give answers. We love it that Ghalib is mischievous, irreverent and outspoken. At the same time, he is so incredibly profound and ahead of his times. He sees our contemporary reality with razor-sharp clarity and it seems can lead us out of our self-inflicted troubles. Right then, just as we are ready to anoint

Swapna Liddle works to raise awareness about the architectural and cultural history of Delhi, and is the author of books, including Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi and Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of New Delhi. Shahjahanabad: Mapping a Mughal City is her latest book that reproduces the large-scale, beautifully drawn and coloured map, and considers the city as it had stood prior to

Delhi’s Shahjahanabad was first founded as an empire’s capital at the glorious height of the Mughal dynasty; from this vantage point, it was also witness to the empire’s decline and eventual extinction. The city would transform profoundly in the aftermath of the Revolt of 1857, with many of its neighbourhoods and buildings obliterated, and many of its inhabitants, including the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, having

Censorship – by the state, market, mob or even self – seeks to destroy ideas after they are uttered, and sometimes even before they are articulated. How does one resist or defeat censorship? Texts (defined here as books, pamphlets, posters, newspapers, journals or printed matter in any medium) that are banned often continue to circulate in a clandestine manner, at times at great personal costs

Delhi welcomes meWith its colours and chaosA feast for the soulThe city is aliveWith people and cultureA mosaic of diversityDilli has captured meWith its magic and its graceA gift for the heart Some events are so dramatic that any record of them appears like fiction. The life of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor of Delhi, and his family took such a drastic turn in

Words wear different garbs very often, almost playfully, as they go along. As time and use and events overtake, they cannot stay pristine. In each phase, a particular sense, an aura asserts itself. Take the word ‘encounter’, for instance. What did encounter mean to people in the first place, unlayered, unladen? Quite simply, two persons or things coming up face to face with each other.

The only good thing about summer is the array of cool treats that come with it – and we all need some quick, simple, healthy drinks to beat the heat. These summer coolers are easy to make, loaded with the goodness of fresh fruit, and very delicious. Picked from 3 different cookbooks, they can give your morning a great boost and get you set for

Devika Sethi teaches Modern Indian History at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, India. She has been educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and at JNU, New Delhi. She is the author of War over Words: Censorship in India, 1930-60. She recently published her second book Banned & Censored: What the British Raj didn’t want us to Read. We recently did a candid

We have prepared an Indian Thali with summer recipes from Nandita Iyer‘s The Great Indian Thali. Try yours and share your thalis with us! Appetizers, Drinks, Condiments Aam KashundiGreen Mango and Mustard SaucePrep time: 1-2 hours; Time taken: 10 minutes;Fermenting time (optional): 2 days | Makes over 1 cupThis quintessential Bengali condiment with its golden yellow colour and the right balance of sweet, sour, heat,

Banned & Censored, selected and introduced by Devika Sethi, will take you on a journey of words and ideas that were deemed dangerous and seditious by the British colonial state in the eventful first half of the twentieth century in India. If censorship gives us an insight into the weaknesses of a state – its many Achilles’ heels, as it were – these texts collectively