The Price of Development: Floods, Mud, and Lost Forests
byAnyone who sincerely takes a bird’s-eye view of the areas around Jorabat (Meghalaya, India) cannot help but feel a deep sense of hopelessness. The…
General
Shaping Cities with Heart: Otto Königsberger’s Indian Legacy
byAs we mark October 13, 2025—the 117th anniversary of Otto Königsberger’s birth—it’s impossible not to feel a deep gratitude and admiration for this remarkable…
Hubble-Bubble – Hookah
byMy hookah is a magnificent work of craftsmanship. Cornered gracefully in my cottage, it looks peevishly at me, as if it could be rewarmed…
Heritage in Dispute: Pierre Jeanneret’s Iconic Furniture in Chandigarh
byPierre Jeanneret, the Swiss-born French architect whose name is synonymous with the modernist transformation of Chandigarh, left an indelible mark through buildings and his…
Navratri’s Light and Ravana’s Shadow
byWhen I lived in an independent house in a small city like Shimla in the 70s, festivals often passed quietly. Navratri, for example, slipped…
The Rough Use Review: We Tried to Destroy Our Birkis. Here’s What Happened
byI have always been the friend whom people call reckless with shoes. Rain puddles, broken pavements, beach walks, I throw everything at my footwear…
The Eternal Rhythm That Carried Zubeen Garg
byWe are, without question, passengers on a vessel steered by “forces” we cannot foresee. When the news came that Zubeen Garg had left this…
The Vanishing State: Himachal’s Race Against Environmental Collapse
byHimachal Pradesh stands at a precipice. The mountain state is enduring a relentless cycle of environmental catastrophe, yet its stakeholders – government officials, developers,…
Why Stone Why Not Concrete?
byShattered chunks of fallen concrete, near my residence on the Forest Hill Road, Shimla, made me look into the bits of ‘ifs and buts’….
How to Fix a Society When Morality and Humanity Are Lost
byA shocking incident in Shillong, (India), where a four-year-old girl was found brutally murdered has once again forced society to ask a slew of…