Amrita Dutta
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‘Deve Gowda was pragmatic about the fact that you need society to be inclusive, without it you cannot progress’
The biographer of HD Deve Gowda, Sugata Srinivasaraju, on the unheralded career of India’s first OBC Prime Minister, and why his democratic engagement is the best argument for coalition politics
Fri, Mar 04, 2022
Why Kaveree Bamzai’s new book, The Three Khans of Bollywood, fails to land
From mapping history to anecdotes, the book presents how the superstars improvised and built on the language of popular cinema
Mon, Nov 08, 2021
In Indian families and in Parliament, tears are the weapons of authority
Amrita Dutta writes: Government’s refusal to talk to the Opposition as equals, using ideas of honour and propriety as a smokescreen for a ruthless exercise of power is a dissolution of democracy. It’s a game familiar to those growing up in Indian homes.
Thu, Aug 19, 2021
The devastation caused by Covid calls for a reinvention of the obituary
Amrita Dutta writes: As the pandemic continues, we must write the ‘little histories’, so that a ‘big history’ may also be written along the way
Wed, Jul 28, 2021
Surekha Pillai created an online circle of care and love
Amrita Dutta writes: On Twitter, Surekha was a woman who spread a spendthrift joy by inviting us to share the things she loved — poetry, trees, good food
Thu, Jun 17, 2021
Unhappy, like us: The British royal family
The Harry-Meghan interview reveals that not much has changed in the House of Windsor in the 26 years since Princess Diana’s tell-all BBC interview
Thu, Mar 11, 2021
Tamil writer Salma on chronicling the claustrophobia of home
The defining feature of Salma’s writing has been the close, uncompromising attention she brings to bear on home and marriage
Sun, Jan 24, 2021
False hierarchy of gender, caste practices has devalued domestic work. Pandemic has sharpened this inequality
This fundamental inequality robs women of self-worth, but also stunts men into pre-fabricated social roles. It radiates out of the home into the public sphere.
Sun, Jan 24, 2021
From Lahore to London to New York via India: Ved Mehta’s unflinching gaze — and prose
Mehta leaves behind a remarkable legacy as a memoirist, and essayist for The New Yorker — and a man who, early on, seized upon his subject: the remarkable life and times of Ved Mehta and his family, which he wrote about, over three decades, in his 12-volume autobiography, Continents of Exile.
Mon, Jan 11, 2021
DDLJ was spot-on in its confidence in post-liberalisation Indian love
DDLJ was spot-on in its confidence in post-liberalisation Indian love. Its power lies in the encounter it stages between tradition and disruption
Sat, Nov 14, 2020
‘The invisible shield reporters from the West once had is diminishing’
Journalist Declan Walsh on the many Pakistans he saw during his time as a foreign correspondent in the country
Tue, Nov 03, 2020
Is coding a must-have life skill of the future?
Once the realm of socially awkward nerds, coding is now being pitched as a new interactive playground for children
Sun, Oct 11, 2020
Nisha Susan’s debut is a crackling collection of stories about deceits and desires in post-internet India
Attraction and betrayal play out over email, Orkut chatrooms, Twitter timelines, dating sites and meditation apps, but The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories is about people
Sun, Sep 13, 2020
Society that lives in denial of its trauma and rage will turn on itself, as we have turned on Rhea Chakraborty
Whether or not Rhea is guilty of something more grievous than possession of a few grams of marijuana is for an investigation to find out, but the demonisation of even her most humane responses — why did she say sorry to Sushant’s body? why was she taking him to psychiatrists? — is the sign of a collective moral failure.
Fri, Sep 11, 2020
Lockdown Lessons: Rain gauges to puzzles, Karnataka teachers reach out through community schools
Across the state, several such examples of government teachers’ innovation through the vatara shale model abound.
Mon, Aug 17, 2020
Prime Woman: Why Shakuntala Devi was a woman who wanted it all
Anu Menon's film tells the story of a difficult mother and an unapologetic achiever. But it contests that her husband was a homosexual
Sat, Aug 01, 2020
Kanye West thinks Harriet Tubman never freed slaves, others place her among the greatest of American heroes. Who was she?
Who was Harriet Tubman? Why does her life story resonate with contemporary America?
Thu, Jul 23, 2020
Why Megha Majumdar’s much talked about debut novel fails to live up to its promise
The silences and erasures of A Burning make it a watered-down 'new India' novel
Mon, Jul 20, 2020
How song and dance made love and desire visible on screen
Writer and filmmaker Paromita Vohra on Saroj Khan’s role in bridging different styles and eras of Hindi film dance
Sun, Jul 12, 2020
Explained | Getting America to recognise caste: previous efforts, renewed push
For close to two decades now, attempts have been ongoing at various levels to get institutions overseas to recognise the peculiar challenge of caste, a system of inequality and oppression that is unique to the subcontinent and is recognised by the Constitution of India.
Fri, Oct 16, 2020
Not fair, but how lovely: Exploitative ideas of skin colour don’t have to define you forever
HUL and other brands are not the only ones guilty of colourist bias — from cinema to news television and advertising, there has been little challenge to the upper-caste, North Indian ideal of beauty and desirability. But, given the generations of dark women and men who have been made to feel unworthy because of the colour of their skin, it is not a burden they can shrug off.
Thu, Jul 02, 2020
Edgy films and web series remain rooted in an all-male aesthetic
It is logical to conclude that even if the multiplex is giving way to streaming websites, the ecosystem of writers and producers remains the chummy boys’ club it was.
Fri, Jun 12, 2020
Confined, beaten and raped, 2 women hide in forest during lockdown; now rescued
One of the women alleged that she was gangraped by two men in the factory in Kengeri. An FIR was filed on May 23 against two factory workers under Section 376D of the IPC and SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
Thu, Jun 11, 2020
Face shields to oximeter checks: Bengaluru salons get new protocol
From face shields to shoe covers, temperature checks to oximeter assessments, a temporary halt on facials and manicures to a compulsory hairwash before a haircut — salons in Bengaluru are putting in place a new post-lockdown protocol to draw back customers.
Thu, May 28, 2020
How actor-comic Danish Sait uses aatmanirbhar props to make people laugh
The baby-faced actor has been morphing into an ensemble cast of characters, who pop up in his immensely popular short videos to chat about lockdown blues.
Sun, May 24, 2020