The rights of a transgender may have been secured legally but their right to be recognized as humans in society is still not available to them. Larger society doesn’t recognize them as humans. The turf of the transgenders is invisible – society would rather have them out of sight. When they are...
If Liger is Bollywood's foray into pan-Indian films, then it shows Bollywood hasn't learned how to make those films. In the past, Hindi films were naturally considered pan-India merely because Hindi was spoken by more people than other languages. Others were called regional cinema. But each...
It was in late November 2003 when we visited the Adhikesava Perumal Temple at Arpakkam near Uthiramerur in Kanchipuram district. On the left of the temple, were two statues - each showing Buddha in a seated posture - lying abandoned in a dense thicket, ironically named Buddha Garden. The head...
Archaeologists are coming up with exciting finds at the Adhichanallur excavation almost on a daily basis. On Tuesday (August 9), they found a bronze deer figurine while just before that they found a gold diadem. The current excavation at the Adhichanallur is being carried out along the...
Here are some facts: LTTE leader V Prabhakaran was responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He ordered the assassination of a host of Sinhalese leaders and other Tamils including long standing leaders of repute and men of unquestioned scholarship and wisdom. Prabhakaran killed almost...
The image of my grandmother is strikingly alive and fresh in my mind. Sporting an affable, paan-stained smile and her wavy hair tied in a careless knot, my grandmother was a vivacious village woman, born decades before Independence in the interior Dindigul district of southern Tamil Nadu. The...
When Ashwathi Mohan moved from Chennai to Toronto in 2019, the visual arts graduate did not see herself as a virtual bridge across two cultures and artscapes. But three year later, the Stella Maris alumna has brought together her experience as an artist and curator at an art gallery to set up...
Among the biking community, the ‘K2K ride’ is considered one of the most challenging. While this route is usually taken by bikers riding high-powered motorcycles, one moto vlogger decided to step it up a notch. Girish Shet, who runs a Youtube channel ‘Weekend On Wheels’, took up the challenge...
There are a number of videos and blogs on temples. Unfortunately, most of the documentation gets stuck at the academic or spiritual level. To find a solution to this, Chennai-based conservation architect Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan has launched a series called “Temple Run 2.0” on August 1 by...
Parai, an ancient percussion instrument, was once popular in the social and cultural life of Tamil Nadu. But over the years the instrument lost its importance and faded into oblivion, played only by a few communities. However, Mutamil Bharathy, a native of Karaikudi, has been trying to revive...
