Vijee Venkatraman

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Veet — A Brick

And the conversation drifted to sons who don't take as good care of their ageing parents as they should. The blame shifts to the daughter-in-law. The son gets off the hook -- old story. Which reminds me of the "sthalapurana" or origin story of the...

A Writer Meets His Idol

At the age of 14, Dilip Kumar had become a wage earner for the family. They were members of a mercantile community from Gujarat. These immigrants to Tamil Nadu lived in Coimbatore and Chennai, the state's capital. The death of this father slammed the doors...

Non-Alcoholic Beer

Many health-conscious beer lovers looking for suds without the hangover simply haven't found the right brew. Lower-alcohol alternatives don't taste like the real thing — not even close. Point Five, a new pilsner with alcohol “gently removed," has been creating a buzz among beer lovers...

From Controversy to Cure

Inside the Cambridge Biotech Boom In the summer of 1977, a contentious debate about genetic engineering erupted in the city of Cambridge, pitting scientist against scientist and citizen against citizen. An unlikely mix of science and engineering, politics, the space race, and urban renewal transformed...

The Invisible Sharp-Shinned Hawk

From the newsletter Inbound (go ahead and subscribe now!). Pigeons abound in North Station; South Station doesn’t have an indoor bird in sight. WGBH investigates and finds that the reason is the BIRD-X Repeller, a small speaker that randomly plays bird of prey calls, which...

The Hospital Rooftop Farm

One evening in a summer of record high temperatures in 2019, I went on a free public tour of a large rooftop farm in the heart of our fair city. To reach this destination, I took the orange freight elevator three stories up at the...