Culture

October: The season of life

October feels like an O. Henry story. It has a fragile tenderness about it, a delicate sense of tragedy, but always hope, charming hope infusing the very heart of the narrative.

Where is Dan?

It is a small throwaway question by a doe-eyed girl called Shiuli, just before she plunges from a hotel balcony, that propels Danish ‘Dan’ Walia (Varun Dhawan), a reluctant hotel management trainee going mostly by the name tag “understudy,” into an unlikely knight in shining armour.

Part 4: Using theatre as therapy in Tihar

In the concluding part of this four-part series, Farooqui shows how in a cruel space like prison, theatre allowed its inhabitants to vent their feelings, sometimes find them and also sublimate their angst.

Part 3: Staging Ramlila in Tihar

In the third part of this four-part series, Farooqui delves into the lives of his Ramlila mandali in Tihar as he talks about the numerous challenges encountered in the process

Art & Culture: Breaking down the walls of patriarchy

A dance troupe called ‘Untamed Donkeys’ tries to address gender power structures through their performances
Hardnews Bureau Delhi

A city apart

I have always felt that Lucknow is different. It is only recently that I have become aware of what it means to be born and brought up in Lucknow.

Travel & Food: Morning has broken with a full moon

Himachal Pradesh is a place one returns to, again and again, with the same delight and astonishment as the first time
Ratna Raman Yol

The Wisdom Tree Revolution

The FTII freedom struggle was powered by the sheer love for cinema. A longform diary account captures the unfortunate sequence of events over the past one year
Ritwick Goswami Pune

Muharram’s ties with justice

Muharram is long over but the memory of that month of the Islamic calendar continues to play on the mind. The mourning rituals witnessed in Lucknow during these months in remembrance of the martyrdom in the seventh century of Husain, grandson of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, once again raised questions of rationality in this day and age.

Nagar best embodies Lucknawi ‘pehle aap’ culture

To better understand what makes Lucknow unique and its citizens so special read Amritlal Nagar. The birth anniversary celebration of one of the city’s most charming chroniclers is a golden opportunity to rediscover Nagar’s writings inspired by life in Lucknow.

The Hindi author’s work has a cinematic quality that leaves a lasting impression in the mind of the reader of a time when citizens belonging to various communities and practising different faiths had more in common with one another than is now remembered and even less practised.

The Indian Subcontinent’s First Melting Pot

Lucknow has always been a smart city. Even though somewhere along the way the city lost its sheen and was reduced to a shameful shabbiness, the latest figures released by the Union Tourism Ministry reveal that visitors still love Lucknow.

Last year, Uttar Pradesh, of which Lucknow is the capital, received 2.91 million visitors, which is higher than Delhi’s 2.32 million. It’s safe to assume that a majority of visitors to UP went to the state in order to see Lucknow.