Pratik Kanjilal
The writer is Associate Editor.
Articles By Pratik Kanjilal
Breaking down news: Prize Story
On how Abhijit Banerjee’s Nobel Prize united India and divided social media
Remembering Inspector Ganesh Ghote, who solved The Perfect Murder
The appeal of fictional keepers of law who survive corrupt systems
Breaking Down news: To Say or Not to Say
On Trumpian remarks and their power to cause ethical upheavals in news studios
Speakeasy: Speaking in Tongues
Lessons from history on the dangers of language politics
Point Zero
Matt Drudge’s predictions create a buzz in the American media while a Congress spokesperson becomes an internet sensation overnight.
It’ll soon get crowded on the lunar surface. Will the laws of space be able to keep pace?
It is time to ponder the future legal, political, economic implications of the window of opportunity that India is helping to open up.
Say What?
The Brexit silly season is producing a fine harvest, a pleasant change from our own parliamentary television.
Breaking Down News: Unquiet Front
A war on plastic lurks around the corner while talk of conflict dominates airwaves
Speakeasy: Shape of Things
Literary magazines and fiction, have been vital chroniclers of the Emergency.
Telling Numbers
Two books explore how history is shaped by demographic changes
Ninety minutes in Jorbagh
P Chidambaram's appearance at the Congress headquarters and his subsequent arrest at home all played out in front of TV cameras
News on mute
In the absence of information from Kashmir, TV news channels rose to the challenge by dredging up unverifiable rumours from social media.
Speakeasy: At Home on the Moon
The serious and funny fake news stories about the lunar missions
Mission Possible
How the first moon landing created our world
Guns and Roses
The tyranny of the weak, which Mahatma Gandhi had once harnessed to deal a body blow to colonialism, is still alive and well. Interestingly, it is wielded by the young, who are generally perceived to repose more faith in aggression.
Breaking down news: To the Moon and Back
As the launch of Chandrayaan-2 made headlines, the race to put humans back on the lunar surface is qualitatively different 50 years later.
Three novels set in the Batman universe take the superhero into the realm of prose
The three novels recently published by Titan Books in collaboration with DC Comics go out on a progressive limb from the family tree of the Batman novels. The authors are carefully chosen, the writing is crisp and the audience is exclusively adult.
Speakeasy: Stroll of Behemoths
In a nature reserve in Portugal, giant footprints made by dinosaurs are etched in stone.
Party like its 1969: What was happening in the world the year man stepped on the moon
Lots of reality-altering stuff was afoot in 1969 — besides the Apollo 11 moonshot.
Speakeasy: One’s Own Devices
Personalisation has changed the world and how we negotiate it.