Sunday:4/1/2013 5:30:58 PM

​A big monster crush

Daayans , bhoots, chudails and shaitans have haunted Indian cinema over the years, and ghosts and witchcraft have always been our go-to thrillers (Think Raaz 3 and 1920 — Evil Returns).

​My heart goes bombili, bombili

The passenger liner s lowly cuts through the dead, damp heat of the Arabian Sea in the opening pages of Louis Bromfield's 'Night in Bombay'.

​Netaji's new politics

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's high praise for the BJP's LK Advani (and his brother Ram Gopal Yadav's eulogy for Atal Behari Vajpayee) earlier this month has left analysts scratching their heads.

​Not too maach

Ilish, or hilsa, rules the hearts of Bengalis. And, over the past few years, it has been breaking their hearts as well.

Now, chai ain't cheap

Quaffing several cups of chai a day might soon turn out to be a prohibitively expensive indulgence.

Incredibly uncomfortable India?

It's not just that there have been three successive attacks on women tourists recently. Many foreign female travelers complain of being subjected to groping, grabbing and lewd behavior.

Headed for a neuro nightmare

A new study reveals that 35 lakh Indians will suffer from some form of brain disability every year. Are families equipped to deal with them?

Falling for yet another comic con

Italian envoy can't be prevented from leaving: Natwar Singh

Natwar Singh may be in political hibernation, but as a former foreign minister and dyed-in-the-wool diplomat he has walked many a diplomatic tightrope.

We've helped knock Modi off the pedestal

There are a number of stakeholders in this conversation about development in India today.

Appy families

The joint family is staying together virtually. Cousins scattered across the world are now just a free ping or text message away.

Letting it all out, anon

The word "confession" can bring to mind closed booths in churches, shopaholics or a series of bad sex comedies that appeared in the US in the 1970s.

Farewell to foreign arms?

The Italian chopper scandal has yet again raised questions on why India relies so much on imports. But public sector inefficiencies and very little encouragement to the private sector mean we're very far from going desi.

The gender faultline

Dr Yangerla from Mokokchung and Rakhila Lakhiumong from Tuensang didn't just stand for election in Nagaland yesterday, they stood at the intersection of Naga society and democracy.

Clicking over cheese

A few years ago, Siddharth Mangharam was at a party in Bangalore where a platter of Roquefort blue cheese was being passed around.

Samarkand's salaam to Babur

The chocolates still come wrapped in fancy papers with hearts printed on them. Women still receive red roses from their suitors. Restaurants and cafeterias continue to do brisk business on February 14.

Sex crimes are ubiquitous

A Harvard University task force has been set up to advise on the implementation of the Justice J S Verma Committee report. It is led by Jacqueline Bhabha, a lecturer of law at the Harvard Law School and of public policy at the Kennedy School.

Bengal is sitting on a powder keg

It is rare for a policeman to be killed on duty. It is inconceivable that a policeman can be shot dead in daylight, surrounded by colleagues, while his shooter escapes.

RIP? Not unless you've booked

With cemetery space at a premium, people are making bulk bookings for graves.

'I feel relieved the Delhi girl died or she'd have faced the same porn-tinted questions'

In 1996, the Suryanelli rape case shook up Kerala the way the Nirbhaya incident convulsed Delhi in December.

The gripe over green tape

The environment ministry has been under fire for delay in clearances. But is approving projects without proper scrutiny the solution for fast-tracking development? Sunday Times looks at both sides of the debate.

Dad's sounds of India is my favourite album: Norah Jones

To the rest of the world, she's a big star but in India she's the other daughter of late Pandit Ravi Shankar. In early interviews, Norah Jones avoided talking about him as they shared a tense relationship.

The Valley never gave up on art

Kashmir is not quite the cultural desert the Pargaash episode paints it to be. Over the last few decades a lot has been happening here in the field of music, theatre and now, films.

A woman's place is at home

The original job of Jammu and Kashmir's state-backed Mufti Azam (Grand Priest) Bashir-u-Din was to confirm moon sightings before Eid and Bakrid. That was till a couple of years ago. Now Bashir-u-Din is known more for his fatwas, the latest of which declared that the state's first all-girl band, Pargaash, is "un-Islamic".

Are we out of ideas?

Not a single Indian think tank has made it to the global top 50. Sunday Times finds out why these institutions, which are essential for policymaking in a vibrant democracy, have failed to make an impact.