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Around Town

Hindu Varanasi or Mughal Banaras? A Toronto professor wants you to look at hidden histories too

Malavika Kasturi's mission isn't to puncture Varanasi’s Hindu city narrative. Instead, she wants to challenge the one-history-one-city model.

Can Parliament be trusted with LGBTQ rights? Star lawyers Sai Deepak, Saurabh Kirpal debate

J Sai Deepak said conservative voices like his had no place before 2014. Saurabh Kirpal agreed but added that other voices can’t be pushed out now.

‘Do you eat beef? Did you study at JNU’ — Kappan’s first-person account of his arrest

Speaking for the first time since he was released on bail, Siddique Kappan told a packed hall in Kolkata about how he feels like he is still in an open-air prison.

Amitav Ghosh new book blames India too for China’s opium addiction, ‘civilisational shock’

Opium played such a foundational role in India's history and society and yet we don’t hear about it anywhere in schools and colleges, says Amitav Ghosh.

Wide-eyed floating puppies, stranded cows—animal lovers on NDRF boats on Delhi flood rescue

Demand for boats has skyrocketed. For now, organisations and volunteers say they have access to only one boat from the NDRF in each affected area, and that too for a few hours.

Before ‘Paatal Lok’, director Avinash Arun was insecure. ‘School of Lies’ made him a risk-taker

For five years after winning a National Award, Avinash Arun Dhaware did not direct. Instead, he found solace as a cinematographer. From Irrfan Khan to Vicky Kaushal, he has shot the who’s who of Bollywood.

India Space Congress shows the need to bridge gender gap—ISRO must stand up, men must sit down

Space entrepreneur Dr Susmita Mohanty pointed out that ISRO was repeating the same mistake that NASA made in 1960s, calling for initiatives to bridge the gender gap.

‘Who killed Moosewala?’ The answer is not simple, says author of new book

Journalist and author Jupinderjit Singh's book takes the reader from the fields of Moosa to the corridors of Tihar, leaving the reader to discern who the killers of Moosewala are.

Parasite to Past Lives—PVR is in on K-culture boom. Audience is now ‘mature, language agnostic’

PVR has been screening concert films of K-pop bands since 2018. Their other biggest international draw is anime. Suzume, released in April across 85 cities collected Rs 10 crore

Ghee in risotto, Mexican bhel—Tarla Dalal made international cuisine accessible

She was the first cookbook author to receive a Padma Shri. Now Dalal is making history once again as the first Indian chef to get their own biopic, Tarla, starring Huma Qureshi.

On Camera

How mining, manufacturing & power sectors weighed on India’s industrial output since January 2024

India’s industrial output growth saw a 10-month low in June, with Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growing by mere 1.5% as against 1.9% in May 2025.

Legacy of Air Chief Marshal LM Katre, the man who flew Spitfires & ushered IAF into a modern era

ACM Katre was 2nd IAF chief to die in harness. It was at a memorial lecture in his honour where IAF chief AP Singh revealed that India shot down 6 Pakistani aircraft in Op Sindoor.

Modi’s ready to risk it all for farmers. Farm reform can answer Trump with new Green Revolution

Standing up to America is usually not a personal risk for a leader in India. Any suggestions of foreign pressure unites India behind who they see as leading them in that fight.