Reads

Lights, Camera, Calcutta! 9 films that capture the magic of the city

A land of memory and vision. A city of joy and heartbreak. A capsule of what was and what could have been. The cinemascape of Calcutta shows us all this and more

Now reading: our favorite Tagore

Something is daunted when one attempts to remember the bequests of India’s early multi-hyphenate on his death anniversary. A good profile should be a seamless whole of the inner and outer life of the poet, Rabindranath Tagore had said, commenting on Tennyson’s biography by his son, which he admonished for being full of trivialities. But… Read more »

Once Upon A City – Visiting Calcutta in Fiction

A highly subjective list of reads to wrap you snugly in a cocoon of Calcutta-coloured threads

Staying in with Mario de Miranda

With his sharp wit and satirical yet sympathetic portrayals of daily life, Indian artist and cartoonist Mario de Miranda is the perfect companion during a lockdown. These illustrations in our StoryLTD auction, The World of Mario, would be sure to add some humour to your walls, and are as relevant as ever to the strange… Read more »

Who pulls the strings in Gulabo Sitabo?

I am desperately late to the Gulabo Sitabo Netflix watch party (or Amazon in this case), but in my defence it was catching virtual dust while sitting at the very top of my watchlist and this is just how movie screenings and time work now. How ironic it is that this film was released in… Read more »

More quarantine reading: Kerala, Kolkata and the Kafkaesque - Reads

Frozen Music – Landmarks from Iconic Hindi Film Songs

Here we share photographs from our archive, some over a hundred years old, of these iconic Indian landmarks and the unforgettable songs that will always stir our memories of the place

The mythical origins of shadow puppets

Made in China, made in India, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, or even Turkey, the tradition of shadow puppets has survived for a long time, the second century BC, some say. But as is also custom, scholars have many disagreements on its origins. Folklorist Stuart Blackburn suggests that this tradition, like Buddhism, travelled to the rest of… Read more »

‘The Dalai Lama, An Extraordinary Life,’ by Alexander Norman: an excerpt

For most people worldwide, Tibet was hardly a major issue. Many had heard of the Dalai Lama, but few know much about his homeland. It was therefore a matter of deepest regret to the Tibetan leader that, when news of the Land of Snows did finally make headlines, the picture it presented should be so… Read more »

Now quarantine reading: The real Nur, a quest for spirituality and the accession of 600 states

After discussion sped towards the end of the zoom call, the part where people start talking candidly and share recipes or book and binge recommendations, we were mildly concerned that we were all consuming the same things. Faced with the possibility that we were caught up not in a trend, but an echo chamber, we… Read more »

Amazing Stories From Kerala’s Maritime History

Come with us on a journey of Kerala’s maritime history

Now reading: The transition of the British from trader to ruler and other history lessons

Five unputdownable reads that bring all those boring history classes to life with warmth, spirit and great invention

The man behind History Men

In this interview with the author of ‘History Men’ TCA Raghavan, we talk about the ways in which history has been written, understood and shaped in the Subcontinent

The Wonderfully Weird World of Waswo X. Waswo

We discover the story behind his unusual name, the method behind those highly collaborative miniatures and the rest of one American’s unforgettable tryst with India

Now Reading: An Interview From the ’80s With Lessons For Today

The book is full of profound insights communicated in the simplest of words

Now Reading: Families, the good, the bad and the insane

Three novels about three Indian families, warts and all

Now Reading: Divine gardens, a unflinching memoir & a feast of art

Click on the badge above to follow Pavitra’s Picks for Now Reading Paradise Gardens by Monty Don & Derry Moore The English word “Paradise” actually comes from the Persian word “Pardis” meaning a walled or enclosed garden. And Monty Don’s book Paradise Gardens, with photographs by Derry Moore, explores the most beautiful walled gardens in this book… Read more »