Society

Bamboo chairs and wooden tables filled with art supplies and scribbles occupy the corridors of the Neighbour Gallery at Kesavadasapuram in Thiruvananthapuram, where Karu, a multidisciplinary art exhibition, is currently on. From outside, a faint sound of metal clinking from one of the exhibits syncs with the blaring horns on the road. Peaceful discussions, pleasant introductions, and artistic introspections between creators and visitors in the hallway precede a stillness inside the gallery, featuring works from artists across the country, spanning different media, from acrylic on canvas to audio-visual. The exhibition organised by Untitled Kitchen, an experimental moving collective kitchen, features…

At one of the previous editions of the quiz | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement When we speak on the phone, Dr Navin Jayakumar, ophthalmologist and quizmaster, is sifting through hundreds of questions, carefully choosing those that he will ask the gladiators of knowledge who will gather on August 15 for what is arguably Chennai’s most well-known quiz. “Chennai has a magnificent tradition of quizzing on Independence Day,” he says, adding, “From 1994 to 2020 the Landmark Quiz was an event enjoyed by school children, corporates, college students and senior citizens. The quiz was reborn as the Zifo Open Quiz two…

At a recent wedding in Delhi, the bride and groom told everyone they met through mutual friends. What the couple in their late 20s didn’t mention was that those “mutual friends” were the algorithm on Bumble, or that they had been living together in Bengaluru for nearly two years. At the sangeet, there were no photos from their apartment, no jokes about the IKEA couch they had painstakingly assembled together. Instead, their friends nodded along as the family described a sweet, serendipitous meeting at a birthday party. The past was not erased; it was simply rewritten to fit the room.This quiet…

A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government characterised by a leader or a group of leaders who wield governmental power with little to no constraints. They are either authoritarian or totalitarian and can be categorised as military dictatorships, one-party dictatorships, personalist dictatorships, or absolute monarchies. Although both authoritarian and totalitarian governments concentrate power in the hands of a single ruler, totalitarianism has far more control over every facet of life than authoritarianism. Authoritarianism typically allows for some level of social and economic autonomy, whereas totalitarianism seeks to eliminate all independent spheres of influence.How does a dictatorship work?Politics in a dictatorship…

Thirty kilometres across the Palk Strait from Rameswaram temple lies Kathadi North, a boutique hotel offering a unique blend of adventure, environment and comfort. Located at Pirappanvalasai village in Ramanathapuram district, it is run by Quest Adventure Sports Academy that offers courses in scuba diving, kitesurfing, sea kayaking, snorkelling, swimming, and stand-up paddling. The academy’s windsurfing chapter in Rameswaram kicked off when Jehan Driver, a passionate kitesurfer who started the academy in 2011 (it was called Quest Expeditions then), began his own quest along India’s East coast for good quality water and strong winds. “My heart settled on Rameswaram because of…

A claim to set itself apart in a sea of design-centric events was a tall order. In how many different ways could decor and product brands showcase their products? Last month, I walked into Design POV — a new design event debuting in Mumbai that positioned itself as not just another exhibition but as a platform that ‘does design differently’ — with high expectations. And I was greeted not by row upon row of neatly arranged stalls or pamphlet-heavy product displays, but by a welcome sense of discovery as I manoeuvred through the curated booths at the Jio World Convention Centre . Be…