Home - Vijee Venkatraman

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Vibrant Pigments, Global Exchange

Against a deep blue backdrop, sword-wielding demons attempt to disrupt a sacred ritual. Ram, who is dressed in a yellow dhoti and also rendered in blue rains arrows on them. Lakshmana ably assists him. The demons seep vermillion red blood. Demons Approaching Rama and Lakshmana at a Fire...

I am a graduate of the Science Journalism program at Boston University.

I chase stories on all topics of interest. I go where the reporting takes me. This website is a digital portfolio of my select articles and essays. I also translate short stories from Tamil, which is my first language. Feel free to contact me at my email address above.

FOOD & TRAVEL

Casteless Collective & Modi Mastan

Stars twinkled overhead; sparks flew from the embers of corn sellers’ coal stoves at Besant Nagar Beach. It was a typical Sunday evening crowd—families, couples and vendors. But at the far end, in the Urur Olcott fishing village, something interesting was underway: the Chennai Kalai...

Measuring Blood with Light

Some components of blood can be measured without a needle stick. Now an innovation in light-based methods could make even more of them visible. For about 40 years, physicians have been able to measure some qualities of blood using pulses of light. A recent breakthrough...

City Lights, Vanishing Stars

One December evening I climbed up to the mottai-madi, the bare terrace atop my parents’ four-floor apartment building in Chennai and waited for darkness to descend. The sun still hung low—an orange-red orb in the distance. Overhead, rose-ringed parakeets zipped towards their nightly roosts, squawking...