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Sunday, February 22, 2026
TopicModernity

Topic: Modernity

Bombay’s modernism was driven by the middle class, not elites

Compared to the intellectual modernism of Calcutta or the climatically responsive architecture of Madras, Bombay’s modernism was visual, performative, and deeply embedded in everyday life.

India’s democracy goes beyond the last mall in Noida. Rural feudal rich are feeling the pinch

Shrikant Tyagi episode shows that the State, even if ruled by the BJP, will side with 'mall modernity' and crush the ego of rustic rural feudals.

Nehru was too modern for India. He suffered from a ‘cultural homelessness’

In ‘Nehru and The Spirit of India', Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee offers an original perspective on Nehru and Indian history—a ‘minoritarian’ approach.

India created cultural illiteracy in the name of modernity

We are okay with Fabindia clothing. But an encounter with popular culture anywhere outside a museum makes us squeamish.

India’s embrace of modernity is now threatened by social regression

If Indians were to truly carry out their fundamental duties, then regressive trends like laws against inter-faith marriages would be energetically countered.

Not a single Dalit in 60% of Kolkata’s neighbourhoods. How caste divides Indian cities

Indian urban localities are as segregated as our villages. Caste is still an important factor in deciding the organisation of spatial environment in cities.

A Wharton graduate marrying a tree in Made in Heaven is no anomaly in India, studies show

The ‘neoliberal’ Indian middle class does not view superstitions as a hindrance, but as benign interventions that help live a risk-averse life.

A fall through a sinkhole on prime Bengaluru property led to discovery of a hidden temple

An ancient temple's discovery illuminates the connections between present-day life and the past as a 'place' to be opened, imagined, and inhabited.

Unlike American CEOs, India Inc. under BJP is becoming timid & regressive

An excerpt from "Reconciliation" edited by Harsh Mander, Natasha Badhwar and John Dayal, explores the nexus between corporate houses and the Indian government during hate attacks. 

On Camera

Youth Congress, your foolish protest helped the Modi govt climb out of the AI summit hole

In tactical terms, the shirtless protest was worse than a self-goal. Suddenly, the fiascos of the AI Summit were forgotten, and the Youth Congress’s disruption became the issue.

In the West, there’s anxiety. In India, optimism—Rishi Sunak says India poised to be leader in AI

On Wednesday, the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking in New Delhi at a Carnegie & Observer Research Foundation event on AI.

MoD, IAF agree on some exemptions to HAL for Tejas Mk1A, but no compromise on ‘must-have’ capabilities

IAF is fine with accepting the aircraft with 'must-haves', even if some other steps remain pending, which may take at least another year, it is learnt.

No country is ever fully sovereign. Cold War era taught India its real meaning

India’s fraught neighbourhood places multiple constraints on its strategic choices. It leaves no time to take a deep breath, lean back and reset.