List of good reads

• The best read of the week: New York Times’ profile of the Mango Man—Kaleem Ullah Khan who has spent a lifetime grafting hundreds of different varieties of mangoes in Uttar Pradesh.
• FiftyTwo has a great read on Chennai as the chess capital of the world. (Founding member Basreeena Basheer)
• Mint Lounge has a great piece on home, self-taught chefs who are changing the image of Indian cuisine abroad.
• Looking for an off-beat fashion read? Check out Avaunt Magazine’s feature on Brazzaville’s sapeurs—men in the Republic of Congo who see style and elegance as an ideology.
• BuzzFeed News has a disturbing read on how China has turned Xinjiang—the homeland of the Uighurs—into a Disneyland that profits from their culture—even as it sends most of them into detention camps.
• Mongabay looks at the very real and alarming effects of pollution on Indian wildlife—many of whom are now eating vast amounts of plastic.
• Salon.com asks a good question: Why do so many ancient fountains feature peeing little boys?
• Inverse also investigates a good question: Why does spicy food make people sweat?
• Agents of Ishq’s piece is titled ‘My Favourite Malayalam Songs About the Small, Medium & Large Pleasures of Women’—what’s not to like?
• Indian Express looks at why flying to Qatar to catch the football World Cup has become a nightmare for fans.
• Prachi Patankar in Jacobin Magazine looks at the long arc of Dalit resistance through the lens of the many generations of her family—which includes fierce freedom fighters, activists and her mother, the famous feminist and author Gail Omvedt.