Sunday:3/5/2013 7:47:27 AM

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.

The caste club

Bengal's ruling elite have always been drawn from the state's upper castes.

When satire wasn't off-limits …

Ellathukkum edam kodukkum allave, neeyum emandiitta pottiduvan kullave. ( Oh Allah, who makes room for everything (in this world), if you blink, they will set a cap (fool's ) even on you). These are lyrics from a song on the sharp ways of the city in a 1955 Tamil fantasy blockbuster, Gulebakavali. The song and the movie catapulted MGR into stardom. Would the lyrics have survived the suffocating standards of non-offensiveness set by fringe groups like the TMMK today?

Why we tolerate intolerance

We are offended by films we have not watched, books we have not read, girl bands we have not heard and paintings we have not seen. There was a time the establishment stood up for the right of expression, now political parties and state governments crawl when pressure groups ask them to bend. Sunday Times looks at the many ongoing debates on liberalism.

Gandhi & the art of dying

There is but no question that Mohandas Gandhi remains, more than six decades after his assassination, the most iconic figure of modern India.

When google helps the ballot hawks

The 21,000-odd people who got themselves enrolled in multiple electoral rolls in Manipur had definitely not taken into account the power of Google Picasa.

Slam-dunk asana

The yoga bug has bitten NBA players who are practising the Indian exercise form to stay fitter, sharper, and play longer.

Met madness

Whether it is Delhi's winter rain or a TN cyclone, India's growing tribe of weather bloggers is keeping a keen eye on the climate.

Geeky godfellas

From the campy to the quirky, the Mahakumbh is a mega magnet for all kinds of seers — from Tarzan Baba to Facebook Baba. Some like 'pokes' while others walk around with pedigree dogs.

India's troubled borders

Of all the legacies the British Empire left behind in South Asia nothing may have such a lasting impact as the arbitrary borders they drew on maps during their two centuries of colonisation.

Kargil cannot be repeated every day: Nawaz Sharif

Twice prime minister of Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif, is widely expected to return to power when elections are held in Pakistan. Sharif spoke exclusively to Jyoti Malhotra at his home in Raiwind, outside Lahore, earlier this week. Excerpts...

Online world erupts in grief

There were outpourings of grief in cyberspace on Saturday. Once Nirbhaya's death was announced , Facebook and Twitter profiles turned black as a mark of protest against the 'system' . 'RIP Nirbhaya' was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Nirbhaya: from victim to the fearless one

The Guru Granth Sahib opens with the Ek Onkar, a mool mantra that says there is but one God, eternal and true. He is also without fear (nirbhau), without enemies (nirvair).

Blind to what, Your Honour?

It's time for India's courts to gaze inward and throw out deeply embedded patriarchal notions that stop judgements from being fair to women. Sexism within the system has to go before it does more damage in the country, says Indira Jaising.