Author Archives: Devyani Nighoskar

Shweta* got married last year, and as is the case for most people, it was a day that she would never forget. Marriages are supposed to be joyous occasions but Shweta spent most of her wedding day worrying about the final ritual she would be forced to face the following night – the regressive virginity test. “I hope I bleed,” she muttered to herself, thinking about the gruesome and arduous hours of physical training she had put in for her police recruitment tests. Would it have left her hymen intact?

[On 16th-19th January, 2019, Homegrown is throwing a first-of-its-kind music festival in Mumbai designed to celebrate the city’s vast and diverse music culture. Dive deep into a wide variety of dynamic workshops, exhibitions, curated tours, panels, pop-ups, performances and parties that promise to be inclusive of all kinds of tastes and people.

63-year-old Ranchod Bhai does not remember when his father migrated to Mumbai from their village in Gujarat. He, however, does remember spending hours with him every day, getting his hands dirty and learning to shape the perfect diya on his potter’s wheel. Dropping out of school after the eighth grade, making diyas is what Ranchod Bhai has done for the last 50 years. And as he proudly puts it – he would not have it any other way.

n March 2015, the controversial documentary on the 2012 Delhi Rape Case titled ‘India’s Daughter’ went viral on social media. In the film, one of the convicted rapists remorselessly states, “you can’t clap with one hand alone. A girl is also responsible for rape.” His thoughts seemed to resonate with most people in Haryana, as was seen in the documentary released by The Quint on the state’s shockingly prevalent rape culture a few months ago.

A portrait usually signifies a face, a person. How do you paint the portrait of a nation?” It’s a question that gnawed at Paul Abraham, Founder of the online museum Sarmaya, which showcases his vast private collection of living traditions,

As a young child, I would often stand by my grandmother in the kitchen watching her make crisp buttery uttapams for me, every morning of every June when I visited her in Hyderabad during my summer vacations.

It was a crimson sunset that evening. The waves lashed at the shore in the distance and the birds took their final flight back home. The coconut trees swayed and the narrow, muddy path went far beyond what I could see. I was

Almost everyone is familiar with the beauty of Mussoorie. Long winding roads, dense pine forests, stunning snow-capped peaks, the cool pristine air and the old colonial architecture – the Queen of the hills has rightly established its place in the picturesque stories of Ruskin Bond and the hearts of travellers who come to explore this charming hill town

Sounds of footsteps echoed heavily in the darkness as Ritam Nandy made his way through a long, dingy corridor all alone.

Someone once told me about how most Indians and Pakistanis living abroad enjoy a certain unlikely kinship. A shared history, a common language, similar cultures and a mutual love for food – in a foreign country, they have more things to bond over than fight about.

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