Long Reads News - Page 6

Lack of Pak govt's intervention can spur migration, ecological imbalances in once-flourishing Indus Delta

Dam construction and mismanagement of water by the government have significantly reduced river flows, causing the Indus delta to shrink, threatening both human life and its ecology.

The Other Side: A new look into Muzaffar Ali’s creative mind, through landscapes and the outdoors

Each artwork in filmmaker-artist Muzaffar Ali's latest exhibition The Other Side has a single mission: to position itself at the axis of the beauty and wonder of the outdoors. He says ideas come to him when he goes on walks, takes in scenes, when he sees leaves on trees; there is a stack of leaves on his desk at all times.

In new Final Fantasy 7 game, a blueprint for true remakes — and philosophical themes to mull on

Considered by many as one of the greatest games ever made, expectations have been sky-high around the return to Final Fantasy 7

Coronavirus crisis' mental health burden: Notes on battling germophobia during a pandemic

As the coronavirus crisis rages, what coping with germophobia has meant for an individual with the condition

Art in the time of coronavirus: Indian artists channel lockdown experiences into insightful, evocative works

Art is serving various functions during the coronavirus lockdown, from expressing individual agency and keeping up the momentum of protest to offering a sense of catharsis and entertainment.

Category Error: Amid a lockdown, an ideological impasse, gambling on love, and learning generosity

In 'Category Error', writer-painter Amruta Patil marries news-triggered observation with fiction, history, philosophy, against the backdrop of an Indian high rise.

Bangladesh's Jaladash community of fisherfolk dwindles under onslaught of climate change, state apathy

Almost no member of the Jaladash community owns any land, so farming or aquaculture are not options open to them. They use the same fishing nets that their ancestors did.

COVID-19 crisis highlights long-term neglect of Himalayan women in determining water policies

In moving forward as the cases rise and water availability goes down the Hindu Kush Himalayan region has a choice: to deal seriously with its water problems, to involve women and marginalised communities in its decision-making, or to suffer the consequences of a health emergency boosted by a long neglect of its water policies.

Re-thinking productivity during the pandemic, countering a culture obsessed with being 'useful'

In a more well-adjusted world, we would not expect ourselves to be constantly productive during a pandemic. But our world is dysfunctional at best, and we need reminders about how we’re not working from home but rather "at home during a crisis, trying to work", to stop feeling disappointed in ourselves

Category Error: In the midst of a pandemic, life goes on in an Indian high rise complex

In 'Category Error', writer-painter Amruta Patil marries news-triggered observation with fiction, history, philosophy, against the backdrop of an Indian high rise.

On 50th Earth Day, a look at what is causing the Amazon rainforest to fast approach its tipping point

Amazon Aid Foundation founder Sarah duPont talks about the Amazon rainforest's tipping point, a documentary on illegal gold mining, and effects of the coronavirus on the indigenous inhabitants of the region.

Thrissur Pooram cancelled due to coronavirus crisis: What the festival means to a city and its people

The cancellation of the Thrissur Pooram in the wake of the nationwide coronavirus lockdown has hit the city — which has a deep-rooted emotional and economic connection with the festival — hard.

Remembering Nemai Ghosh: The unassuming man behind the extraordinary photographer

Photographer Nemai Ghosh's enviable eye for detail and perseverance steered him through 25 years with Satyajit Ray, where he meticulously recorded every moment of his movement through film sets, dubbing and recording studios, and even his home. Ray's son Sandip takes us down memory lane, tracing the life of an extraordinary man.

Dastaan-e-Dilrubai: Revisiting the poetic tradition and artistic legacy of Chanda, better known as Mah Laqa Bai

This week in #DastaanEDilrubai, a series by Shreya Ila Anasuya: Chanda, or Mah Laqa Bai, was a contemporary of Mir, Dard and Sauda. Scholars agree that she was among the first, if not the first woman to have published her own diwan of Urdu poetry.

Struck by coronavirus crisis, art enthusiasts rally around Hyderabad's century-old Surabhi theatre group

The Surabhi theatre group is known for its repertoire of plays that draw from Indian mythology, staged every weekend at the Lalitha Kala Toranam in the Public Gardens in Hyderabad.

Coronavirus Outbreak: In Kathmandu, ancient stone water spouts offer solace during lockdown

Kathmandu's ancient water distribution system through stone spouts provides both water and arena for social theatre.

Category Error: Three snapshots of life during a pandemic, from an Indian high rise complex

In 'Category Error', writer-painter Amruta Patil marries news-triggered observation with fiction, history, philosophy, against the backdrop of an Indian high rise.

Even as the return of a tiger to Ajanta after over 50 years shows their resilience, conservation requires trust with local people

With TPWL-T1C1 as tigers return to Ajanta, prioritising conservation over human safety needs trust between the people who want to see these animals protected, and the people who will live with the animals that have been protected.

Category Error: In an Indian high rise complex, residents respond to a world they no longer know

In a new column, 'Category Error', writer-painter Amruta Patil marries news-triggered observation with fiction, history, philosophy, against the backdrop of an Indian high rise.

Turning newspapers into sculpture: Amritah Sen's unique art traverses fear, life's uncertainties and politics

Kolkata-based artist Amritah Sen's intriguing creations, a hybrid of newspapers or books and sculptures, mirror the society as we know it today. The results are stirring images that follow her stream of consciousness, to reflect grotesque realities, capturing the artist's reactions to the world around her.

How sustainable methods adopted by tribal honey hunters could conserve bee population, improve food security

The Nilgiris are home to over eighteen ethnic groups. Of them, Kattunaickens, Kurumbas, Sholigas and Irulas are known to be the primary honey hunter tribes.

In Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma levels the playing field between artist and muse

The relationship between male artist and female muse has been as deeply unequal as it is romanticised. Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire upends that narrative.

With Mithila art, women in Nepal's Janakpur brought about a socio-cultural renaissance

Women in Nepal's Janakpur have found a new lease of life, full of hope, optimism and self-worth, by taking to the region's ancient traditional art of Mithila painting.

Caught in a series of dams and hydro projects, is Nepal's Marsyangdi river slowly drying up?

The Marsyangdi used to offer a three-day rafting trip in a 52-kilometre section from Nygdi to Kahirene. Due to three operating hydro projects, the rafting is now largely a thing of the past.

In Ladakh, vulnerable migrant workers face increasingly uncertain future as coronavirus outbreak unfolds

'I first travelled to Ladakh in 2011 and have since been documenting the migrant workers and their living situation. Over the past decade, they may have acquired more construction tools but overall, their conditions haven’t changed much and their struggles remain the same,' writes Ritayan Mukherjee of his photo project documenting migrant workers in Ladakh.

Dastaan-e-Dilrubai: Mukhtar Begum's music moved a world that desperately needed her magic

As the world reels from the spread of a pandemic and is forced to reckon with the breakdown of its known systems, perhaps those of us who have the means to do so can seek a quiet moment to find Mukhtar Begum's music, and let it change us | From #DastaanEDilrubai, a series by Shreya Ila Anasuya.

Reply All's PJ Vogt on 'The Case of the Missing Hit' — the podcast episode being considered among the medium's best

A '90s pop song that no one seemed to have heard of, and of which no trace could be found on the internet. A caller who'd tried for months to locate the original. And a dogged host who wouldn't give up. Reply All | PJ Vogt | Gimlet Media | #TheCaseOfTheMissingHit

Coronavirus Outbreak: 'No matter what it takes, I will walk the 500 km to Kanpur'; stories from the migrant exodus out of Delhi

While most of the country has stayed indoors, for the millions of undocumented workers in India’s informal economy, the lockdown has meant a long trudge home.

Dastaan-e-Dilrubai: Remembering Jahanara Kajjan, whose incandescence burned briefly, but brightly

Little is known about Jahanara Kajjan, a singer-actress who was active in the 1920s and 1930s, on the stages of the Parsi theatre in Calcutta, and in early cinema, and whose 105th birth anniversary was observed in February 2020. What we do know about her makes one lament the limitations of the Indian film archive, particularly lacking in information about the interiority of the women who were crucial to the making of the film industry — not only in Bombay, but in regional centres such as Calcutta and Madras. Introducing #DastaanEDilrubai, a new series by Shreya Ila Anasuya.

Inside 'Lovely Villa': The homes we build are witnesses to our lives

Lovely Villa, a housing complex in Mumbai built by architect extraordinaire Charles Correa, was more than just a building. It was a microcosm of a secular nation, a notion of ideal living, and a repository of memories past and future for its residents. Rohan Shivkumar and Avijit Mukul Kishore's documentary on it looks at how it represented making order out of chaos, both in the political and personal sense.