Long Reads

In Mumbai’s sea, a group of swimmers finds thrill, respite from the city, and a sense of community

Open sea swimming as a test of resilience, a sense of escape, and a way to build a community — Neerja Deodhar and Zahra Amiruddin document the Mumbai Sea Swimmers in action, in Part 4 of the series 'Leisure & Loiter'.

Of loitering and loss: Mourning a changed relationship with the sea, in a 'developing' city

With the coastal road slowly altering the visual and emotional landscape of Mumbai, I feel as though I'm being distanced from my sea, writes artist Gaurav Ogale in the third part of Firstpost's series, Leisure and Loiter.

Mrs Nischol: A short story on love, memory — and a tomato that refused to ripen

Even fantasies are built on a measure of hope," writes Meera Ganapathi in this short story titled 'Mrs Nischol'. It is Part 2 of Firstpost's series, Leisure and Loiter.

The pleasure of leisure: Finding value in disengaging from our pursuits, every now and then

If we are constantly filling our days with things to do, instead of small nothings like daydreaming or looking out the window, we are stifling the very source of our creativity and imagination.

In Sundarbans' Mousuni Island, rapid land erosion leaves villagers in the lurch, as natural calamities impact their livelihoods

At the moment, 80 percent of the farmland in Mousuni is under water.

Kashmir's healthcare workers go the extra mile to vaccinate shepherd populace against COVID-19

Carrying vaccine doses and medical equipment including oxygen cylinders, healthcare workers trekked through the mountains on foot or with the help of horses or porters for six hours to reach their destination in Lidderwat, 20 km from Pahalgam.

Queer Eye's Bobby Berk on the Netflix show's impact, road to Fab 5 stardom, and his design philosophy

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost over Zoom, Bobby Berk, the design expert on the Emmy Award-winning show, spoke with us about Queer Eye's brand of magic.

Two men, one ambulance, and their battle against Delhi's devastating second COVID-19 wave

Aadil and Azeem started free ambulance services in Delhi during the last week of April 2021. Their services are primarily targeted at patients from underprivileged backgrounds.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, deaths among Black Americans soar due to opioid addiction crisis

The portrait of the opioid epidemic has long been painted as a rural white affliction, but the demographics have been shifting for years as deaths surged among Black Americans. The pandemic hastened the trend by further flooding the streets with fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, in communities with scant resources to deal with addiction.

In Mandi, a reflection of Shyam Benegal's ambiguous yet nuanced perception of Indira Gandhi

Mandi is not a masterpiece, but it certainly is remarkable for the manner in which the implied textual meaning of its innocuous images is so totally different from its appearance.

Empathy engines, the paranormal and living vicariously | Inside Life is Strange: True Colors

Life is Strange: True Colors is 'a game about the power of empathy and the protagonist's critical journey of self-discovery'

How a Bolivian indigenous community is struggling to survive the loss of the country's second largest lake

The lake dried up about five years ago, victim of shrinking glaciers, water diversions for farming and contamination. Ponds reappear in places during the rainy season.

US documents hold answers to the mystery of former Japanese PM and wartime criminal Hideki Tojo's remains

The documents show the cremated ashes of Tojo, one of the masterminds of the Pearl Harbour attack, were scattered from a US Army aircraft over the Pacific Ocean about 30 miles (50 kilometres) east of Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city, south of Tokyo.

In Israel's mixed Jewish-Arab cities, communities find themselves on edge after war, violence

Like Jews and Arabs across the country, communities in Lod are on edge as the future of peaceful coexistence in mixed cities remains in question.