A list of good reads
Four book-related reads:
- Historian Ram Guha’s Telegraph column offers an entertaining look at all the writing projects he’s been offered in the past—including ‘mentoring’ the biography of Gautam Adani!
- Related Read: Mint’s weekend section did a cover story on Guha’s brilliant writing on cricket—and why he offers a unique perspective on our national obsession.
- New York Times lists the 100 notable books of 2020—just in time for your winter holiday to-read list.
- This one isn’t a read but a candid Indian Express podcast interview with Mandira Bedi—who talks about her memoir and also the bruising experience of being a female cricket commentator.
Two culinary reads:
- GQ profiles Goa’s hippest new restaurant, Edible Archives that located itself at the “interstices between food, art and activism.”
- Also: Krish Ashok in Mint offers a very useful guide to cooking your rice exactly right.
Three mental wellness reads:
- Natalia Dashan in Psyche offers a thoughtful essay on how the experience of working on a suicide helpline changed her.
- We all have stories we tell ourselves—about who we are, how we are, and why we do what we do. This wonderful LongReads essay shows us how these stories can leave us lonelier than ever—and struggling for meaning.
- Divya Gandhi in The Hindu has an excellent report on living with dementia in India.
And some leftovers...
- Stand up comic Navin Noronha recounts raunchy hookups on Mumbai locals over at Vice.
- Fast Company makes a feminist argument why women need to switch on their video during Zoom calls at work.
- Times of India takes an engaging stroll through the history of Bollywood horror films—dating back to the haunting eeriness of ‘Mahal’.
- Atlas Obscura has an important story on sailors who have been left stranded—without salary or support—on commercial ships around the world.
- Time magazine has the 100 greatest innovations of 2020.