SOCIETY
CIVILIZATION. CULTURE. COMMUNITY.
MANZOOR ANZWAL: FINDING THE FAQEERA
VAIBHAV NAGORI HAS MADE VEGETARIANISM SEXY!
The cofounder of the Greenr Café chain. Vaibhav Nagori. wears many hats.&n...
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WELCOME TO THE FAIRYLAND OF THE DESI DRAG QUEENS
The roots lie in queer culture, an offshoot of LGBTQ+ nightlife, and is most an...
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CHILDREN OF THE ILLEGITIMATE FATHERS
Many prostitutes bear a child or two. They are the children of the illegitimate ...
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Unkept Promises: Tea, Tarps, and the Wait for Citizenship
This is the unofficial camp of Pakistani Hindu refugees near Majnu ka Tilla, Delhi. They escaped to India because they were persecuted in the name of faith in their homeland. Their life remains a struggle.
IN PRAISE OF IDLENESS IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Over the years, I have practiced stillness — I won't call it meditation, but it does involve ridding the mind of the clutter of thoughts. There is a bright emptiness in it. My experience is that idleness is not the opposite of a meaningful life, but its condition.
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SEX TOYS TO BRIDGE THE ORGASM GAP IN INDIA
A man and a woman talk about their experiences with sex toys. In India, the broader trend seems to be that sex toys serve as a substitute; in the West, they're, at best, a supplement.
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BHANU-MATI: WOMAN IN A MAN’S BODY COULD BE INDIA’S FIRST TRANSGENDER SUPERMODEL
A native of Agra who grew up in Bangalore, Bhanu-mati now works as head of security at a five-star hotel in Delhi. There's no ambiguity here, no confusion — Bhanu-mati is sure of who they are and what they want from life.
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STOP! OR MY GRANDMOM WILL SHOOT
The 'Bandook Wali Dadi 'or grandmother with a gun, she is now 89-year-old. That makes her, in all likelihood, the oldest rifle shooter in the country.
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IN THE 'SECRET GARDEN' THEY BECAME VISIBLE TO OTHERS LIKE THEMSELVES
A vivid description of gay cruising in 1960s and '70s in New Delhi: required courage, had to be clandestine, the queer community were forced to navigate a landscape of high risk, constant surveillance, and social stigma. An excerpt from The Secret City published by Speaking Tiger.
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