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Sunday, March 15, 2026
TopicMadras

Topic: Madras

An IIT Madras professor has written a book about girlhood and heartbreaks in 1910s

At the book launch, Githa Hariharan, Revati Laul and Kalpana Karunakaran used one woman’s story as a springboard to dive into questions of love, longing, and resistance.

How the East India Company picked Madras as a base. It all starts with a love story

In The Tamils, author Nirmala Lakshman crafts a rich and expansive exploration of Tamil history, society, and culture.

Marina Beach shoreline was garlanded with barbed wire & a ‘dummy fort’ to scare away Japanese bombers

In The Great Flap of 1942, Mukund Padmanabhan recalls the time between December 1941 to mid-1942 – when the Raj panicked over a Japanese non-invasion.

Bleeding Madras, George Cloth – How ‘Real Madras Handkerchiefs’ gained global popularity

Colonial merchants in the 19th century added the word ‘Real’ to Madras Handkerchief’s name to distinguish the handwoven cloth from imitations made in Europe.

From religious meetings to music concerts, how ‘sabha’ culture changed in Madras

The book Music, Modernity, and Publicness in India edited by Tejaswini Niranjana explains how musicians moved to colonial cities and formed exciting spaces of listening and desire.

Salem Godavari, Carnatic vocalist who fought superstitions to record erotic compositions

Salem Godavari is a forgotten footnote and sadly evokes no memory in Carnatic musicians or connoisseurs.

IAS aspirant to auto driver — how Chennai’s gully boys & girls fight inequality with music

The Casteless Collective, founded by filmmaker Pa. Ranjith and music producer Tenma, has grabbed attention with its use of gaana music and powerful lyrics.

Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar: The man Ambedkar said was ‘better’ than him

Ayyar, a member of Constituent Assembly, had an unparalleled knowledge of the world’s constitutions, said Ambedkar himself.

Behind the scientific brilliance of Ramanujan & Salam lay religious inspiration

With Hindutva in India, and persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, it becomes important to note that both scientiests thanked religion for their work

On Camera

Menstrual leave doesn’t work in ‘real world’. And that real world is designed by, for men

When a woman menstruates, when/if she decides to marry, when/if she decides to have kids, should not be factors when looking at a woman’s potential from a hiring standpoint.

US strike on Iran’s key oil export island Kharg raises fears of wider supply disruption

President Trump said the US had bombed military targets on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, but spared oil infrastructure.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba, the man Iran must keep alive & the secret force ‘tasked with it’—all about NOPO

The Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, or NOPO, was the only force Ali Khamenei trusted.It was founded in 1991 and is more feared than the Revolutionary Guards.

Peaceful power transfers followed uprisings in India’s neighbourhood. It’s a sign of mature democracies

Rating democracies is a tricky business. I am only using the simple metric of who in the Indian subcontinent has had the most peaceful, stable, normal political transitions and continuity.