A list of good reads
- Our first pick is, of course—Shrayana Bhattacharya, on the tyranny of the Indian uncle in Mint Lounge.
- Inverse has a fascinating essay—with paintings!—on the role of cats back in the Middle Ages.
- Ok, this isn’t exactly an ideal way to start 2023… But it is entirely worth your time to read Wired on why the entire world should be worried about the effect of El Niño this year.
- Will the Russian war help boost India to the superpower status it has long desired? Roger Cohen in the New York Times (gift link) analyses the opportunity in a very long essay—which covers a lot of familiar ground. But it remains a must-read for the Western perspective on the role of India in a new world order.
- This isn’t a new essay but we enjoyed reading Audrey Truschke’s take in Aeon on the Mahabharata—the other Indian epic, brimming with immorality, sexism, politics and war.
- The News Minute has an important ground report on misogyny and medicine. The team went undercover to record the dehumanising ordeal of getting emergency contraception at a government hospital in Chennai.
- The Verge looks back at how the James Webb Space Telescope changed astronomy in its first year.
- BBC News looks at the unusual uses of blood in India—including protest, love and art.
- Washington Post (gift link) explains how teachers can foil ChatGPT—and the solution will be familiar for anyone who went to school in the pre-digital era.
