~Vani Mishra There was a time when the boundaries of the known world were sketched not in sharp lines but in speculation, fantasy, and sometimes in advisories: “Here be dragons.” Maps were more than travel guides for centuries. They were reflections of human desire, ambition, and fear. In the Age of Exploration, approximately between the […]Read More
-Bhoomee Vats Habib Tanvir, born on September 1, 1923, was 86 years old when he died in 2009. His connection and working with the stage stayed alive until his death and hence spanned nearly three-quarters of his life. In the time he worked for the theatre as a playwright and director, he not only evolved […]Read More
-Bhoomee Vats T.K. Radha, or Thayyoor K. Radha, was born in Kerala in British India, an era when educating girls beyond high school was not so common. The fourth child of her parents, she was the smartest among all her sisters while pursuing higher education at the Presidency College in Madras, which is now known as Chennai, […]Read More
-Ananya Sinha Power has ever been a double-edged sword. Kings and leaders over the centuries have been in a self-contradictory role, graced with divine right or periodic charisma, but haunted by rumour of treachery, downfall, and devastation. In cultures everywhere, the legend of a ruler’s curse, either divine or moral retribution, or symbolic prophecy, has […]Read More
-Vani Mishra The Olympic Games are usually characterized as a celebration of human spirit, athletic talent, and international unity. They are supposed to rise above political conflicts and cultural divisions, at least on an ideal level. History, however, instructs us that sports are never completely severed from the societies and power relations in which they […]Read More
– Vani Mishra History tends to best illuminate emperors, generals, and treaties while relegating the hundreds of thousands of plain men who carried the burden of empires to relative darkness. Among the twentieth century’s big silences is the tale of over a million Indian soldiers who traversed seas and deserts to die fighting another man’s […]Read More
-Vani Mishra When Partition occurred in 1947, the human cost was tremendous. Millions were displaced, families separated, and whole cities rewired overnight by borders slicing through soil and memory both. Amidst this vast disruption, another lesser-known story was unfolding. It was the tale of books—libraries torn out of context, manuscripts destroyed, and whole sets of […]Read More
-Vani Mishra There are times in history when the plainest objects bear within them the burden of empires. Tea, that unassuming brew of leaves and water, was one such force. For Britain, it was not just a drink; it was a cultural fixation, a source of vast wealth, and a rationalization for empire itself. For […]Read More
~Vani Mishra To write about India without writing about its railways is simply not possible. The sweet rumble of the train, the iron rails unrolling into the distance, and the crowded platforms thronged with tea vendors and porters are not only a part of travel. They are a part of memory, of identity, and of […]Read More
– Bhoomee Vats Used in the border of the saree and not in the saree itself, the term “kasavu” refers to the Zari that is used in the border of the famous Kerala sarees, making it the name of the material which is used in the manufacturing process of the saree. Extending this term, when […]Read More