I am flustered. I am going to hold my first village meeting, talking to women from a self-help group, and I am terribly anxious. I look around at the circle of women sitting with me; they are honest-faced and clear-eyed. I give them a watery smile. The President of the
It might come across as a rather shoddy introduction, but ever since I have known him, my dear friend M has been unfortunate enough to be in a long-distance relationship with M. Over the years, the miles between the two have only increased, giving most of M’s friends the
If you come to think of it, all families are dysfunctional, and dysfunctional in a way only families can be. The Chackos are no exception. Mariamma Chacko, an otherwise sharp-witted and intelligent woman, is often seen entertaining the walls in her house. Wagging her finger with her saree hitched at
We know, we know. We haven't published too many articles over the past month or so, but we swear, we've been busy! We've been hard at work on this, the new version of our web site. Welcome to the new Helter Skelter. Apart from
Attend a workshop on veganism or one of its offshoots---raw food, anyone?---and you’re given a list of reasons to adopt said diet: “Veganism has ‘reduced’ my diabetes.” “I haven’t fallen sick in 7 years!” “It controls cholesterol and heart diseases.” “It is against cruelty to animals.” “You
In the literary world, names have a tendency to fade away, but Aditi Rao’s hasn’t. She recently won the Toto Funds the Arts Award for Creative Writing in 2012 after winning the Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize last year. Her poems have been published in journals such as The
Back in June 2011, we spoke to Manta Ray Comics founder Pratheek Thomas about the indie publisher's critically-acclaimed debut graphic novel Hush. The Manta Ray team has been busy since then, with regular appearances at comics conventions and publishing short comics in publications such as Mint, Forbes Life,
Rasmai, a word which directly translates to “that which is drenched in juice”, is a small village 28 kilometres from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. To me, Rasmai will always mean a haven, the venue for long summer holidays, rooms rich with the smell of ripening mangoes, lazy afternoons spent devouring Agatha
It is not very often that you come across a destination that jolts you out of your slumberous existence. And if you are a cynical traveller, driven by the urge to seek something different, then Iceland provides just the right kind of kick. The country is located to the south
On July 9, 2012, a group of more than 20 men publicly molested, manhandled, and stripped a 17-year-old girl outside a bar in an upmarket area in Guwahati, Assam. A local journalist shot this on camera, and the footage went instantly viral across news channels and social media. The reportage
Ashim Ahluwalia's lens may train on the same things you and I see, but there's a slant in its gaze and a filtering process that discards the tinsel surface in favour of the murk underneath. His first feature, John & Jane, showed us the split lives