Articles

How My Closeted Aunt Helped Me Embrace My Sexuality

At 19, my aunt, who I once suspected of being a little bit butch, lashed out at my mother for trying to fix my engagement with a girl. She understood that I was different, just like her. And that #LoveMovesForward in different ways.

Manish Gaekwad April 9, 2016

Pop Culture

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay After Watching OK Computer

Anand Gandhi’s OK Computer is an example of a series that had too many good ideas on the table at the start to let go of any one. Is it a sci-fi drama, a parody, a satire on the present, or a vanity project, masquerading as concept-level induction for dummies like myself? To me, it felt like everything and eventually nothing.

Manik Sharma April 9, 2016

POV

Back Off Chennai, Let a Lady Smoke in Peace

In Chennai, I have to pay 200 rupees at a posh café, every time I want to smoke a 16-rupee cigarette. Not that chauvinism doesn’t exist in other Indian cities, but it is especially pronounced in my home city.

Tara Manikandan April 9, 2016

Gender

Will #MeToo Help Us Become Better Men?

Most heterosexual men are woefully inept at formulating their views about #MeToo. But discomfort is the beginning of introspection. One hopes this phase will lead to stock-taking, and provide men the opportunity to self-reform and become new, more attractive men.

Rahul Jayaram April 8, 2016

POV

You Might Be Liberal or Conservative, Pro or Anti-CAA, JNU Students Deserve Your Support

It wasn’t JNU students who went around smashing heads with iron rods, it was the masked thugs. It wasn’t JNU students who vandalised ambulances trying to enter the campus, it was the masked thugs. Regardless of your political ideology, JNU students were under attack. They aren’t the villains here.

Dushyant Shekhawat April 8, 2016

Sports

“Run Faster!” Said the Couch Potato to the CWG Athlete

We are quick to jump for our Twitter accounts whenever an athlete wins at an international event. The pride is great and necessary. But beyond the celebration of individual achievement, shouldn’t it inspire us toward deeper engagement with sports?

#VALUE! April 8, 2016

Pop Culture

The Lost Art of Downloading Music and Compiling Mixtapes

In the early 2000s, millennials triggered the shift from cassettes and CDs to MP3 downloads. Armed with P2P clients like Limewire, we realised our internet connections gave us all the power to be amateur DJs in our own homes and cars.

Jackie Thakkar April 8, 2016

People

Kyunki TV Bhi Kabhi Real Life Tha

Indian joint families and the Ekta Kapoor brand of TV serials are caught in an endless loop of art imitating life imitating art imitating life. The only difference is we don’t look as pretty as the characters on TV, and we can’t change the channel when we’ve had enough.

Apoorva Singhal April 8, 2016

Technology

Why It’s Wrong to Call the Chandrayaan-2 Mission a Failure

Despite some alarmist headlines, ISRO’s ambitious mission to the moon is no failure. “Only 5 per cent of the mission has been lost… the remaining 95 per cent is orbiting successfully,” an ISRO scientist said.

Arré Bench April 8, 2016

Sports

Five Young Indian Stars at the ICC U-19 World Cup 2020

India’s young prospects have had a fine showing in the ongoing U-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa. The Boys in Blue will now face old foes Pakistan on Feb 4 in a semi-final match. Here are the players to watch out for.

Arré Bench April 8, 2016