Long Reads News - Page 15

Beyond Holi ke rang: How the idea of colour has come to define Indian culture

While the idea of colours or rang is usually clubbed with the festival of Holi, to be fair, nothing could be further from the truth. Rang as a theme has been a mainstay of the culture of the subcontinent, shaping the region’s collective consciousness. Holi only accentuates our association with colours. However, this association with colour is in no way religious.

It’s Tango Time with Ratna Gupta

While Ratna Gupta might not physically be creating her artworks in the wee hours, she does use her insomnia anyway, to think up all the details she can in the run-up to the actual making.

World Poetry Day 2019: Karthika Naïr reads from Line 1 | Somewhere after midnight

You flinch in the crossfire of their smiles, as ire at finding a stray target supplants the amity, the mirth in both sets of eyes.

World Poetry Day 2019: Sampurna Chattarji reads her poem, Ghatkopar to Versova and Back

Impatient to exit, wondering who else is with me in this longing For the world outside, just outside this capsule which I must leave To revel again in glare and sweat and funk, snarl and din and blot, Drama and consternation, awareness of time and disability, Erosions, histories of heart — ramshackle — scaffoldings of skin.

Firstpost Poetry Project: Shruti Sunderraman presents 'How to Love Art' and 'Flowers and Friends'

Shruti Sunderraman says poetry is the first and easiest form of expression for her — like a first aid kit for her emotions

Firstpost Poetry Project: Ankita Shah presents 'A(f)fair Warning' and 'Vulture'

Ankita Shah, one of the founders of The Poetry Club, speaks about the importance of poetry collectives and what writers can gain from being part of them

Firstpost Poetry Project: Ramneek Singh presents 'Cheetiyaan' and 'Shehar Matrix'

Ramneek Singh talks about the strength of spoken word poetry and the value that the art form holds in his life

Firstpost Poetry Project: Aashna Iyer presents 'Labels' and '7 Minutes'

Aashna Iyer says that poetry to her is about making people break their veneer of poise and actually feel things

Inhabiting Urdu with Jaun Elia and Khwaab Tanha

Khwaab Tanha Collective was started with the intention of visibilising Urdu literary voices in a political and cultural climate, which would rather wish them, and their contributions, away. However, it has since broadened its horizon, to include, Hindi and Punjabi language literature. So firecrackers like Jaun Elia, Ismat Chugtai, Fahmida Riaz and Majaz Lakhnawi are now in the revolutionary company of Pash and Bhagat Singh, among others.

No water for a clean Ganga: River's reduced flow and declining health have caused much anguish

The numerous dams limiting the flow of the Ganga and its tributaries, as well as the massive extraction of water from the river, makes the aspiration of a free flowing river a distant dream.

Clean Kumbh, dirty Ganga: River's transformation during Mela was 'event management', not sustainable solution

At the Kumbh Mela this year, the Ganga ran clean, but it was the result of temporary solution — not enough to keep the river basin pollution free, and one that only concealed the problem

Calcutta, city of ruins: Documenting heritage houses, a fading reminder of 'babu culture'

The old and crumbling neighbourhoods of Shovabazar, Bagbazar, and old Chitpur in Calcutta once boasted of palatial houses built by the affluent babu class. These houses were studded with Corinthian pillars, lined with balustrades of delicate grill-work, and strewn with copies of Greek and Roman marble statues

Soaking in El Clasico: Witnessing La Liga's greatest rivalry

At the Santiago Bernabeu, tensions ran high as the 117-year rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona came to life during El Clasico — a battle that Barcelona FC finally won

Hindu Kush Himalayas witness growth in hydropower projects, despite climate change risks

With growing warnings of the cascading impacts of climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, the region’s hydropower sector ought to take note

In Meghalaya, a school teacher is spearheading a turmeric farming movement

Trinity Saioo, an award-winning turmeric farmer from Mulieh village in Meghalaya, has been silently leading 800 women in her state to cultivate and boost the popularity of the indigenous, high-curcumin content Lakadong variety of the spice.

Burying the Massacred: In the Shade of Kalandari

In the testimonies of those who survived the “dhamaal” of 2002, especially the survivors from Gulbarg Society and Naroda Patiya, Kalandari Kabristan is an oft-named place, because it is here that they buried their dead.

Communities in China and South Asia fight for greater say over river management, but will officials listen?

By forming cross border networks, civil society groups in China and South Asia hope to exert greater influence over government decisions, but will officials listen?

At the World Sacred Spirit Festival 2019, finding the spirit of India in a medieval fort

The World Sacred Spirit Festival wasn’t just about great music but also about everything that we hope our country can be. But who’s listening?

Louvre Abu Dhabi: New addition to UAE's art world presents connections between cultures

Louvre Abu Dhabi presents art work and artifacts from across the world as 12 chapters of human history, from pre-history to the present day. It has been criticised for being West-centric

Climate change poses risk to Hindu Kush Himalayas, but regional co-operation can offer hope

The communities of the Hindu Kush Himalayas region are critically stressed, but their hope lies in each other, and a high degree of foresighted diplomacy

In a remote Rajasthan national park, two women forest guards forge a friendship

In Rajasthan, a state where the sex ratio is low and the rate of female infanticide is high, two women who hold post graduate degrees are working as forest guards, finding comfort in their friendship amid the arid desert and the loneliness of their jobs

At the first-ever World Mallakhamb Championship, pros and novices rub shoulders in Mumbai

British men sporting bandanas and mehendi drawings on their chests. An Iranian woman wearing a headscarf as she conquers the rope. A French schoolgirl dabbing like Paul Pogba atop a mallakhamb. When the earthy sport of mallakhamb held its first World Championships last weekend, it was a surreal spectacle unlike anything the audience at Shivaji Park had ever seen.

Artist Gagan Singh slows down the news

New Delhi-based artist Gagan Singh draws. It’s his thing. He draws to think and thinks to draw. He draws to make sense of the world. From Gitanjali Dang | Khanabadosh's series, #JagteRaho

Water dangers loom for South Asia: Report suggests countries have to start cooperating, or pay a huge price

With glacier retreat, permafrost melt, and extreme rainfall events, ICIMOD’s HIMAP report suggests that the countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas have to start cooperating far more closely, or pay a huge price

India aspires to be a 'climate leader', but govt is eroding environmental protections

On the international stage, India positions itself as a climate leader, setting ambitious targets for renewable energy. Closer home, however, the cracks in this image become apparent.

In the Himalayas, women are left behind in climate change conversations, policies

When you look at climate change or disasters, the most affected are the poorest women in the Himalayas, because they don’t have access to resources, information, or the skills to adapt.

Jasmeen Patheja on the Many Miles to Go Before we Sleep

Jasmeen Patheja is an artist, and also the founder director of Blank Noise. Patheja is also a photographer.

'Let’s go see Agasthya' Part 2: Atop a Kerala peak, women reflect on what it takes to dismantle gender bias

Although the Agastya Ne Kaanam group's ascent to Agasthyakoodam began as the ultimate culmination of their protest against exclusionary regulations, somewhere along the way, patience and persistence had ripened into gratitude

From Manipur fulvettas to Darjeeling woodpeckers, bird-watching in Arunachal’s Dibang Valley

The best part about arranging for a birding trip from Assam to this region in Arunachal’s heart is that the roads pass through several other tributaries of the Brahmaputra, which also house tens of migratory and endemic birds in lower climes.

'Let’s go see Agasthya': Chronicling Kerala women's fight against forest department to scale a peak

For many years, women have not been allowed to scale the Agasthyakoodam peak. As of 19 January, the rule has now been struck down. A women's group, Agastya Ne Kaanam, which challenged this rule through a three-year agitation has set out on a debut, historic journey to scale the peak