Richa Nigam
Optical art: Aesthetics playing tricks
April 13, 2021
“From different perspectives, these will look like just some random strokes of art, but viewed from a particular point, be prepared for some stupendous optical illusions,” says Mohak Pandit, a 35-year-old optical artist based in Delhi. The artform that Pandit is skilled at, n...
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Pandemic heaps more hardship on street children
April 11, 2021
Wearing a worn-out pair of shoes that are too big for his feet and no clothes on his body, 6-year-old Raja plays with a toy dog given to him by an NGO about a week ago. Beside Raja, stands 7-year-old Puja, his sister, eagerly waiting for her turn to play with the toy. Puja, weari...
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Food, festivals & other things that Indian diaspora misses
April 9, 2021
“You don’t know what you have got till it is gone,” says 28-year old Rekha Acharya who is pursuing a PhD degree in Physics from Michigan State University in the United States. Acharya belongs to New Delhi, the Indian capital city, and had moved to the US for higher studies....
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Maithili cinema: Awards, appreciation but no viewers
April 8, 2021
“Maithili cinema’s fate has not changed despite good quality content and awards that we have received in the recent past. We still struggle to get some time on television or even a theatrical release,” says Nitin Chandra, a Maithili filmmaker based in Bihar’s capital Patn...
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Exploring the monoliths of St Mary’s Island
April 6, 2021
Numerous rock monoliths make St Mary’s Island, a quaint island just off the coast at Udupi in Karnataka, great ecological wonder and a mesmerising place to be in. About 7 km into the Arabian Sea, the island is a geological treasure and hosts some of the most beautiful beaches i...
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Different colours of Holi on silver screen
March 26, 2021
From the symbol of ecstatic celebration in films like Sholay and Baghban to acting as a background for crime scenes like Damini, and for budding relationships like Ye Jawani Hai Deewani, the festival of colours has been aptly used as a plot device in Bollywood classic movies. Hol...
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“Time for India to speak up against human rights violations in Myanmar”
March 25, 2021
Ever since the military coup on February 1 that displaced the elected government of Aung San Suu Kii, Myanmar has been in the grip of widespread protests and a nationwide civil disobedience campaign that the military has tried to crush firmly. But though nearly 200 persons have b...
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Dawki: A divine discovery in Meghalaya
March 24, 2021
When Deepak Kumar, a second-year student of Psychology at the University of Delhi, visited Dawki in January this year, he felt it was nothing less than a fairy-tale in real life. “A boat takes you along the gleaming stream that has different kinds of fish and snakes floating be...
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Sikki craft: Art made of golden grass in Bihar
March 23, 2021
Every day at about 10 am, Munni Devi of Raiyam village in Bihar’s Madhubani district sits alongside a pile of Sikki, a golden-hued grass that grows in the wet and marshy areas around rivers and ponds in the state. Her deft fingers weave the pliable grass into an organic and bi...
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World Water Day 2021: Drinking water shortage in India
March 22, 2021
In a cramped slum of Bawana village, located in the northwest of the national capital, stays Mrinali. A 17-year-old school-goer, who stays awake almost every day till 3 am in the morning to make sure that the buckets and all the vessels at her home are filled with water. Mrinali ...
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Thirike: Representing Down syndrome on and off screen
March 21, 2021
For several minutes, the camera does not show the other child’s face. There are two children who are the subject of discussion – two little boys just orphaned after the death of their parents. The younger of them – four or five years old, looks worried, anxious, ev...
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Working part-time makes us independent & responsible: Indian diaspora students
March 19, 2021
Parul Priyadarshi, a 24-year-old actuarial science student at London’s City University, had always dreamt of working in an old bookshop. She wanted to spend lazy afternoons and quiet evenings at a bookstore, away from the noise of the busy city; arranging and finding books, whi...
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