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Vibrant Pigments, Global Exchange

Against a field of deep blue, sword‑bearing demons surge toward a sacred fire. Ram — yellow‑clad, rendered in blue — lets loose a rain of arrows, with Lakshmana steady at his side. Vermilion blood spills from the demons as the ritual tilts toward battle. Demons Approaching Rama and...

I am a graduate of the Science Journalism program at Boston University.This website is a digital portfolio of my articles, essays and short stories translated from Tamil.

Carnatic legend M. S. Subbulakshmi's portrait, rendered in YInMn Blue, by my biophysicist cousin. The bluest blue is a novel material that keeps both its brilliance and its cool under the hot sun -- it is just the nerdy thing the artist and I bond over. Do check out her small joyous creations at YarnivoreGoods.

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...