A list of good reads

• In this Twitter thread, Amit Schandillia unearths a bizarre tale of (near) human sacrifice from the Ramayana—and tells it in a delightful manner.
• Sandip Roy did a very good interview with Dr Bhramar Mukherjee on India’s Covid death toll.
• Fifty Two offers an excellent essay on the history of sexism in Indian science—and the mighty band of women who sought to challenge it in the 1970s.
• Margaret Atwood writes in The Atlantic on fact imitating fiction—and the US Supreme Court bringing to life her landmark novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.
• The India Forum looks at the rise of tele-gurus in India—and how they combine spirituality with ideology.
• If you prefer to watch something: Check out this 25-minute documentary on ‘death hotels’ in Varanasi—where people check in to die.
• Nisha Susan examines a very pressing question in Mint Lounge: Can pandas dethrone cats as the cutest creatures on the internet?
• The New Yorker did a piece on ‘Pasoori’—the Ali Sethi X Shae Gill collab that is bringing together India and Pakistan.
• The Guardian has a very useful guide to all the popular food myths that confuse us each time we eat or drink something.
• Also in the The Guardian: How Julius Caesar's version of Viagra went extinct thanks to climate change.
• A cognitive scientist in Entrepreneur magazine explains why we “choke” under pressure. 
• Scroll profiles Maryam Omar, the Kuwait-born Palestinian with a passion for cricket.
• Economist has a big cover story on India—flagging both the opportunity of our economic strength and the weakness of our divisive politics.