Society News, Religion, History, Culture, Monuments, Communities

When governments restrict creation, guerrilla art gets energised: Afghan artist Amanullah Mojadidi

The visual artist says the world can well expect a different side to Taliban 2.0, but only time will tell its impact on the country’s cultural heritage and its people

Jannal Kadai to Kalathi Rose Milk Shop: How some of Mylapore’s iconic street foods survived the pandemic

Despite two challenging years, many of Chennai’s small, but iconic restaurants and vendors are standing strong. We follow a popular food trail to meet the people who fought back

Challenge of penance

Anyone who succumbs to anger, ahamkara, and desire is sure to regret the act at some point of time is the message taught through the purana stories.

Encountering the new through dialogue

Bengaluru-based Encounter Eclectic hopes to open up avenues of personal growth by introducing topics of interest to participants

Republic Day walk explores people and places associated with the Indian Constitution

On January 26 in Chennai, The Equals Project hosts a walk and a reading circle with the Constitution of India as its focus

Ahamkara, virtue and vice

It is held that there is dilution of dharma in the course of time as the yugas Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali, follow in succession. Dharma is the way

Adherence to Truth

The Sastras speak of adherence to Truth or Satya, as the highest dharma. The Ramayana shows how Truth is Supreme in all the worlds. In the

Are community dogs made for gated communities? A tale with O Henry-ish twist in the tail seems to offer an answer

Kasthuri Prasad was pitted against a trio: Tiger, Black Maama and Howie. Here is how she lost the protracted battle that played out at a gated community in Kazhipattur on Old Mahabalipuram Road

Daily Quiz | One nation, many festivals

A quiz on the various festivals celebrated around this culturally diverse nation on January 13 and 14. Compiled by V.V. Ramanan

Resumption of good deeds

Sage Vashishtha praises Aditi, the presiding deity of the star Punarvasu. Aditi is Goddess Mahalakshmi, and Vashishtha says She is Savitri and

To stranger, with love: When requests to write romantic letters came my way

‘Each letter required me to become the boy who asked for it, to imagine love and lust for another boy’

Nehru worried that elections always brought out the worst in people

It irritated him that the focus of elections was always himself rather than policies and programmes

Expert play?

Today’s deal is from an all-expert team match. Both East-West pairs bid to the cold six hearts and both North-South pairs judged well to sacrifice in

Green Humour

How Mattu Pongal is celebrated in Tamil Nadu

Farmers celebrate the cattle that keep farms running by massaging them with sandalwood paste, rubbing their horns with castor oil and decking them out with garlands

Into the feminiverse: The world of K-dramas is full of women

One reason why K-dramas are so popular in India is perhaps the fact that they are largely by, for and of women

Cursive writing, without curses

Katta’s ‘h’ looked like ‘b’ and ‘y’ looked like a tape worm crawling out of an ‘e’ that looked like a ‘c’ with teeth in its open mouth

Daily Quiz | Words and their etymology

With the online game Wordle becoming a viral sensation, here is a quiz on words and their etymology (origins). Compiled by: Srinivasan Ramani

Delightful Krishna leelas

There is a verse not part of Srimad Bhagavatam or any of the Puranas, which talks of Yasoda’s reaction when she tried to frighten Krishna away from

Daily quiz | Swami Vivekananda

A quiz on Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu spiritual leader, and reformer. His 159th birth anniversary was celebrated on January 12, 2022. Complied by V.V. Ramanan

Chennai rapper Nigavithran’s ‘Dishonored’ talks about the politics of the indie music space

Rapper Nigavithran’s new EP ‘Dishonored’ discusses the rejection that budding rap artistes face in the now-crowded indie music space

How SEWA Livelihood initiative in Kerala supported women through the pandemic

SEWA opened food counters and a food cart to support women who lost their means of livelihood due to the pandemic

Dharma triumphs

Often it seems as if adharma is winning, but in the end it is dharma that triumphs, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. Before we take up a cause

How Indian states revel in the goodness of jaggery

Sankranti, Pongal, Lohri... no harvest festival in the country is complete without the use of ‘gud’ or jaggery. Fans know that the texture and taste of this traditional sweetener differ from region to region, lending a distinct flavour to festive dishes. Travel around India with us to sample some well-loved heirloom recipes

How Tamil Nadu’s farmers revived heritage rice varieties over decades

The past two years have seen a surge in the demand for heritage rice in the State. This Pongal, we look at the decades-long movement behind this revival, and the farmers, researchers and entrepreneurs who affected change at the grassroots

King among ascetics

Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam gave the name Ramanuja darshana to Visishtadvaita, in honour of Ramnujacharya, who was responsible for giving the

Visionary poet and saint

The Tirumandiram of Tirumoolar is placed as the Tenth Tirumurai among the Twelve Saiva Tirumurais. He is a visionary and a Siddhar who is aware of the

Sunday quiz: Easy like Sunday morning

‘Never give up, for even rivers someday wash dams away.’

Extra chance missed

Today’s deal is from a team competition some years ago. Both tables reached four hearts and both West players led the five of diamonds. Paths diverged

Green Humour

The reporters who cover the remotest parts of rural India have now reached the Oscars

As a documentary on news network Khabar Lahariya makes it to the Oscars, we look at a few news networks that report from the most neglected parts of rural India

Civic sense beyond the backyard

Here are two examples — one from Mylapore and the other from Manali — of what you can do for the betterment of neighbourhoods not your own

135 moth species documented from aChennai neighbourhood, largely from one apartment

Three millennial naturalists prepare a paper on these 135 lepidopterans, which sees the light at threatenedtaxa.org

Imprinting a sustainability message

Corporate house saves printers from being scrapped, donates them to the needy

A lake sustains local residents during lockdowns

Agaramthen lake illustrates how a waterbody can be a blessing to the local community; and the time to protect it from possible future ills is now

God and His bhaktas

The essential dharma or duty of the jiva is ‘Seshatva’ or ‘Dasatva’ to the Lord and hence unconditional service to the Lord is central to the

You’ve been covidised

As the pandemic rolls along, here’s a list of words that might burrow into our vocabulary and outlive it

On a wing and a prayer: Pigeon fanciers of Kashmir are getting ready for the annual race of their birds

Kashmir’s pigeon racers have begun prepping their birds for this year’s edition of a much-loved sport

The jiva’s swaroopa

Sastras say that the relationship of the jiva with God is eternal and unbroken. Visishtadvaita philosophy explains the nature of the association

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