A list of good reads
- William Dalrymple in UnHerd offers an insightful take on what history teaches us about the debacle in Afghanistan—and what the future holds.
- The Walrus has a must-read piece on how Canadian universities rely on the financial exploitation of foreign students. This is likely true for the US as well.
- The Atlantic has a very good review of three books on the complicated relationship of women with sex.
- Wired has a hilarious piece on the latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds on Reddit: Roy Kent on ‘Ted Lasso’ is CGI.
- Speaking of conspiracy theories, did you know about the ‘Dead Internet Theory? The Byte has all the details on this seriously weird bit of fantasy.
- Wondering whether Denis Villeneuve’s version of ‘Dune’ is any good? Mashable rounds up reviews from its first screening at the Venice Film Festival.
- Rachel John in The Print looks at whether Salman Rushdie’s foray into the world newsletter writing will kill the novel—or reinvent it.
- The Quint has an important and detailed report on how the Karnataka SIT cracked the Gauri Lankesh murder case.
- Listen to Sandip Roy’s podcast where he interviews Vidya Dehejia about her wonderful new book, ‘India: A Story through 100 Objects’.
- If you want to see exactly how the renovation changed Jallianwala Bagh, check out this excellent video by Ravinder Singh Robin. You don’t need to understand Punjabi since the visuals work on their own.
- The Hindu has a useful explainer on the new income tax rules for provident fund accounts.
- The New Yorker has a wonderful feature on an art piece by Tabitha Soren named ‘Surface Tension’. It depicts the defamiliarization of the touch screen and how the physical world has been swallowed by digital meditation because of the pandemic.
- Cynthia Stephen in The Outlook pens a lovely tribute to anti-caste activist and academic Gail Omvedt.
- Claire Lampen in The Cut explains why your cotton tote bag isn’t eco-friendly at all.
- The Wire has an important ground report on the police encounter raj in Uttar Pradesh.