Vijee Venkatraman

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The Original Angry Young Man

Draw on a mustache with black kohl, wear your dad's wedding "reception" coat, memorize a couple of the poet's fiery verses, and you are all set! So many boys who went to school in Madras must have worn this costume for the school "fancy-dress" competition....

Ursula K Le Guin

From an essay in Aeon magazine: "In her essay ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ (1986), Ursula K Le Guin challenged the hero’s journey – ‘the story the mammoth hunters told about bashing, thrusting, raping, killing’ – as not only narrowly masculine but also threatening humanity’s...

Irulappa Samy and the 21 Goats

In colonial India, the British passed the Criminal Tribes Act, which in essence, notified that people born into certain tribes or castes were criminals by birth. This piece of legislation gave the police power to restrict the movement of such tribes or castes, ghettoize them,...

The Secret History of The Rape Kit

Pagan Kennedy, author of Inventology, the 2016 book on inventions that bring about social change, and the people behind them, became fascinated by what she describes as a “a piece of technology designed to hold men accountable for brutalizing women.” So, who invented the standardized...

Elements of Marie Curie

If there is a book reading/discussion by Dava Sobel at a bookstore near you -- you should absolutely go. Dava is such a charming, intelligent and articulate person, chances are, you will immediately decide to read anything/everything she has ever written. Her beat is historical...

Selvi — A Story by RKN

A beautiful story by R.K. Narayan -- an alternate ending to a celebrated life in Carnatic music. At the end of every concert, she was mobbed by autograph hunters. They would hem her in and not allow her to leave the dais. At that moment...