Long Reads
Long Reads News
Of nature, culture and alcohol: A glimpse into Sikkim’s age-old brewing traditions
Most rural households across Sikkim have their own breweries, which are an integral part of the local culture.
Trams, part of Kolkata heritage, are little more than a nostalgia ride today
In recent years, hit by natural disasters and official neglect, the city’s tram system has become little more than a nostalgia ride, its passengers more often looking for a lark than an efficient trip home.
Online exhibition archives oral histories of the Kolis, degradation of Mumbai's coastal ecology
The online exhibition Through the Eyes of the Kolis uses their photos to highlights how Mumbai's ecology has been disturbed and how the fishermen community are adapting.
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'.
.jpg?impolicy=website&width=640&height=362 "In Sundarbans' Mousuni Island, rapid land erosion leaves villagers in the lurch, as natural calamities impact their livelihoods")
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.
.jpg?impolicy=website&width=640&height=362 "Kashmir's healthcare workers go the extra mile to vaccinate shepherd populace against COVID-19")
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.
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.
In Syrian camp, children left with no school, no play as only education coming their way is IS propaganda
It has been more than two years that some 27,000 children have been left to languish in al-Hol camp. Most of them not yet teenagers, they are spending their childhood in a limbo of miserable conditions with no schools, no place to play or develop and seemingly no international interest in resolving their situation.
After mainland China, Communist Party's focus now shifts to quashing Tiananmen Square tributes in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the recent arrests and convictions of prominent activists have had a chilling effect on those who participated in the vigil in the past.
In photos: How Guatemalan lives are being upturned by failed immigration bids
The COVID-19 pandemic initially blunted migration to the U.S. last year, but numbers were soon on the rise again.
Amid COVID-19 pandemic, restorers in Florence's Medici Chapel unleash grime-eating bacteria to clean Michelangelo's sculptures
Last fall, with the chapel operating on reduced hours because of COVID-19, scientists and restorers completed a secret experiment: They unleashed grime-eating bacteria on the artist’s masterpiece marbles.
On the India-Bhutan border, an indigenous group faces extinction due to mining pollution
The entire population of one of the world’s smallest indigenous groups, the Toto, live in a village on the India-Bhutan border. They are threatened by mining, water scarcity and a blood disorder.
World Press Photo 2021 contest winners include Mads Nissen's First Embrace, Antonio Faccilongo's Habibi
This year, the competition received 74,470 entries from 4315 photographers across the globe. The winners' list comprises 45 photographers from 28 countries, of which 35 are first-time winners.
Amid ceasefire after 11-day war, displaced in Gaza face familiar plight
The United Nations estimates that about 1,000 homes were destroyed in the 11-day war that ended last Friday. Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the region, said hundreds of additional housing units were damaged so badly they are likely uninhabitable.