For a few weeks now, Kannada actor and social activist Chetan Ahimsa has been at the receiving end of endless abuse, attacks, fights, and a barrage of police complaints for which he has already appeared multiple times for hours-long questioning . All this because he has initiated a dialogue on caste and Brahminism, and has continued to remain outspoken, unscathed by such bullying. Many of his statementsincluding the very terminology and critique of Brahminismare derived from longstanding anti-ca

Books This list put together by the team at Champaca Bookstore in Bengaluru is essential reading for Pride Month. Team Champaca Champaca Bookstore For Pride Month, the team at Champaca Bookstore, Bengaluru, has put together a list of book recommendations for you to read. They find that books can help us understand ourselves and our contexts better. In this list, there are memoirs, theory and fiction, coming-of-age novels, and translations: a range of books that they love, and hope that you will

The state has blurred the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity. If such blurring gains traction, democracy would be in peril . This was the observation of the Delhi High Court while granting bail to three student activists arrested for allegedly instigating the Delhi riots of February 2020. The concern of the court raises serious questions about the transformation of the Indian polity. It is gratifying that the courts have finally come forward in d

Tourism With the administration planning to 'develop' the island like the Maldives, Lakshadweep's fragile ecosystem is likely to suffer, say environmentalists. Susheela Nair NCF With its glistening lagoons enclosed by an almost continuous line of palm fringed beaches and vibrant coral reefs, Lakshadweep, an archipelago of 26 (earlier 36) islands off Indias south-west coast, is a veritable underwater paradise teeming with myriad species of marine life. One can enjoy the delights of

Human interest Born in Poojappura central prison to communist parents, J Saradamma and Avanakuzhi Sadasivan, Jail went on to become a lawyer. Cris After being taunted at school for years, a 15-year-old Jailkumar went to his father with an application form. He wanted to change his name and needed his guardians signature for the gazette. His father, a noted communist politician in Kerala at the time Avanakuzhi Sadasivan said no, not right away. He asked Jailkumar to wait till he was 18 and then

On June 14, 2021, we lost a jewel of a human being. His name, VK Harindran, would probably not ring a bell even for the large number of people in Bangalore and elsewhere who are in mourning this week. But Hari, as he was commonly and affectionately known, had a special place in the hearts of anyone who had the good fortune to have known him. What was it about Hari that made him so special? Was it the fact that he was a low-key pioneer in the fast-track field of information technology, a succes

Books For Dr. Siddalingaiah, love came easy. He always had enough of it to give to everyone he met. Divya Malhari There is a sad lull in the air since the 11th of June, the Friday that Dr. Siddalingaiah, a renowned Kannada poet, Dalit activist, professor, and writer, breathed his last. I just re-readOoru Keriand was still basking in the beauty of his stories when the news of his passing reached me. I wonder what words I must use to describe a man like Dr. Siddalingaiah, a man who made time for p

Food In a series on caste and food, the Instagrammer has been putting together illustrations of dishes, recipes, and history with a personal touch. Anjana Shekar Instagram/The Big Fat Bao/Illustration of Lakuti The Lakuti is a dish made using solidified goat or pigs blood (rakti in Marathi) fried in some oil along with onions, haldi and chilli powder. This seemingly easy-to-make dish, however, is a caste marker in India where it is associated only with Dalit households. With an illustration of t

Music video The song, composed by Ashwin Renju and written by Manu Manjith, has its video concept written by Santhy Balachandran and directed by Dominic Arun. Cris Still from 'Oblivion' An accident has occurred in the night. A man, young in years and injured in one eye, is rushed to a hospital. There, he looks intently at a woman doctor trying to revive him, and slips into another world. A song begins to play, unaffecting the mans journey into his past, as he walks in and out of his childhood an

Entertainment From buying groceries to paying rent, the team has been helping families affected by the coronavirus in the second wave. Rajeswari Parasa Nayini Anurag (left) and Sachin Vikas Titled Dis page vll Entertain U, the motto of the Facebook page when it came up about a decade ago was to do just that entertain people with creative content. Slowly, the page also spread to Twitter and Instagram. And now, the social media pages have become a bridge to connect donors and the needy in these te

Books The singer was in virtual conversation with Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the Jaipur Literary Festival. Anjana Shekar Facebook/TM Krishna Musician TM Krishna calls his latest bookThe Spirit of Enquiry: Notes of Dissent, published by Penguin Random House India, a journey in itself, an incomplete journey, and when his readers leave the book, he hopes, they begin on their own path. Its not about being right, or having it all worked out in a progressive sense. I think there are things that are still

by Dhanya Bhaskar and Charuta Kulkarni As a brutal second wave of COVID-19 ravages the country, the spiraling of urban unemployment rate to its highest point since May 2020 does not seem to have received enough attention. The migrant exodus from cities also failed to grab headlines this time in the backdrop of pressing concerns such as shortfalls in critical healthcare facilities and the alarming death toll. With recurrent coronavirus waves and concomitant lockdowns predicted to continue into th

Business A volley of tweets and posts on social media and emails sent to the owners are proof of how much people, Chennai residents in particular, fondly recall the retail brand. Anjana Shekar Witco's Director VP Harris with his son Althaf and daughter Amina Shopping for luggage involves a lot of excitement and anticipation. For many, the bag becomes an important part of the journey ahead, a carrier of dreams, the beginning of a new chapter. Therefore, the news thatWitco, a popular retail brand

COVID-19 Beautiful Bharat, co-founded by Odette Katrak, is using innovative campaigns to build awareness on the link between spitting and the spread of disease, and hope to take the message to the rest of the country. Suvasini Sridharan Odette Katrak during campaign drive Odette Katrak clearly remembers the day in March 2020, which inspired her to start the StopIndiaSpitting campaign. The COVID-19 pandemic was in the news, there were guidelines being issued on washing hands with soap for 20 seco

Theatre Director of the play Lakshadweepam Hazim Amaravila speaks of the possibilities and challenges of the platform. Cris Poster of 'Lakshadweepam' There is a television discussion going on, the topic is Lakshadweep. Arnesh is the host and Sumeshji, a Dweep observer, is also part of the show. As they talk, however, two strange voices somehow seep into the discussion. The connection has gone haywire and you hear these two voices of fishermen in Lakshadweep talk in misery about whats going on in

Employment With COVID-19s first and second waves and less supply of bamboo, the Medha tribes art of bamboo weaving slowly withers away. Sindhu Nagaraj Sindhu Nagaraj Papanna sits on a chair before a variety of bamboo paraphernalia that remains unsold. His face and arms tattooed with wrinkles glisten in the morning sun. His experience in the trade for over 65 years does not amount to much in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been affected to an extent that the bamboo trade seems uncertain

Tollywood The film uses plenty of point of view shots and also has a reverse screenplay that is unusual. Rajeswari Parasa By Arrangement 'Kotha kadha cheppalante, easy ga cheppali. Adhe andariki arthamayye kadha ayithe kothaga cheppochu'. That is, a new story should be told in a simple manner, but a story that can be easily understood should be told in a new way. This motto led young director Deepak Reddy to make an unconventional short film,Manasanamaha. This 16-minute romantic drama uses cinem

Agriculture Founded by Ananthan Krishnan, Himakiran and Parthasarathy VM, all of them organic farmers, the main aim of the Thondaimandalam Foundation is to focus on sustainable rural livelihoods. Anjana Shekar They say if an elephant were to enter a harvest-readykaatu yanam (180-day crop)rice field, no one would know. For the sea of paddy, which would stand at least eight-feet tall, would completely hide the pachyderm. S Ganapathi Tamizhselvan, who is a paddy farmer and researcher, talks about a

Education As the tribal panchayat has zero COVID-19 cases, the teachers got themselves fully vaccinated and undertook the tedious 14 km journey by foot to reach the school ahead of the reopening. Jisha Surya A six-year-old student of the Government Tribal LP School, Edamalakkudy in Keralas Idukki district had to start early on the school reopening day as it takes 1.5 hours to reach his school in Societykudi from his house in Kavakkattukudy. In Edamalakkudy, Keralas first tribal gram panchayat, d

Coronavirus The oxygen plant is expected to function in three months. Nirupa Sampath Screenshot There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is posing a challenge to the public and health infrastructure. Due to shortage of beds and oxygen supply in the hospitals, the death toll continues to climb causing deep fear among people.Although the pandemic has pushed people into a deeper crisis, many good Samaritansfrom common citizens and social media influencers to celebrities, are finding ways to sav

Social Media Malayalis are moving their interactions online to rooms on the Clubhouse app, to discuss a range of topics from parotta and fascism, fictional filmmakers to current political developments. Sreedevi Jayarajan Image Credit: Picxy.com/mrwildborn7 Can a Parotta be a Parotta if it looks like a Chapathi? Some fierce Parotta loyalists believe that migrant cooks from West Bengal and other states are turning Keralas famous Malabar Parottas into flat breads. There seems to be a hesitation to

Music Vedan recently released the Malayalam rap song Vaa, which calls Dalits and other oppressed communities to come together and stand united against systematic caste oppression. Korah Abraham Screenshot Vaa, a recently released Malayalam rap song, opens with the following lines: Come friend, Shoulder to shoulder, Lets go fight, Become fire, Shatter the barricades (English translation). Twenty-six-year-old Vedan has made it clear in these opening lines that his song is a call for some form of u

Food Long before modern zero-waste movements found their footing in India, regional styles of cooking embraced a tradition of thriftiness, using vegetable and fruit peels, or meat scraps in various preparations. Nikhita Venugopal My Curry Veda In 1973, the cookbook author Aroona Reejhsinghani asked homecooks to take a good, hard look inside their garbage bins. In her book, Tasty Dishes from Waste Items, she lamented on peoples propensity to throw away peels and rinds of vegetables, top leaves of

Fundraiser The fundraiser hopes to raise Rs 20 lakh that will reach 1,000-1,500 artistes. Anjana Shekar Chennai-based artiste and music producer Tenma, singer and YouTuber Gana Muthu and arts development consultant and entrepreneur Shreya Nagarajan Singh have come together for an initiative that hopes to support folk artistes across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana districts. The trio have started a fundraiser with a target of Rs 20 lakh. There are several thousand artistes in these three sta

Travel The tourism industry, from hotels to street vendors, is an important source of revenue for Mysuru but is struggling to stay afloat. Susheela Nair Susheela Nair Feeling cooped up in her home amid the pandemic, little Meera was looking forward to spending her summer holidays with her grandparents in Mysuru, and visit her favourite attractions like the Mysuru Zoo, the Mysuru Palace, Brindavan Gardens and the Rail Museum. Like Meera, many visit Mysuru as a summer destination, with the city se

Cinema S Harikrishnan explores the relationship between photography and cinema in Malayalam movies especially with respect to wedding and couple photographs and how they are used to add layers to the story. S Harikrishnan Scene from 'The Great Indian Kitchen' Between cinema and photography, Roland Barthes famously chose Photography in opposition to the Cinema, from which [he] nonetheless failed to separate it. To Barthes, this was to do with the temporal distinction between photography and cinem

Culture What prompted them to launch the station last year was, in fact, the lockdown. Anjana Shekar Image for Representation/Picxy.com/Abir About a year before Twitter Spaces was rolled out, a small community came up with the interesting idea of starting its own internet radio station with its base on Twitter. The point was not just to play music on the radio, but to discuss and share ideas, a lot like what Twitter Spaces is today. From lighthearted shows likeIsai Puthir(music quiz) to educatio