CATEGORIES

ME & MY SHELF

Siddharth Kapila is a lawyer turned writer whose writing has focussed on issues surrounding Hinduism. His debut book, Tripping Down the Ganga: A Son's Exploration of Faith (Speaking Tiger) traces his seven-year-long journey along India's holiest river and his explorations into the nature of faith among believers and skeptics alike.

EMBEDDED FROM NPR

For all its flaws and shortcomings, some of which have come under the spotlight in recent years, NPR makes some of the best hardcore journalistic podcasts ever.

ANURAG MINUS VERMA PODCAST

Interview podcasts live and die not just on the strengths of the interviewer but also the range of participating guests.

WE'RE NOT KIDDING WITH MEHDI & FRIENDS

Since his exit from MSNBC, star anchor and journalist Mehdi Hasan has gone on to found Zeteo, an all-new media startup focussing on both news and analysis.

Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis in India by Karan Madhok (Aleph)

Karan Madhok's Ananda is a lively, three-dimensional exploration of India's past and present relationship with cannabis.

I'll Have it Here: Poems by Jeet Thayil, (Fourth Estate)

For over three decades now, Jeet Thayil has been one of India's pre-eminent Englishlanguage poets.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Penguin Random House India)

Samantha Harvey became the latest winner of the Booker Prize last month for Orbital, a short, sharp shock of a novel about a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station for a long-term mission.

She Defied All the Odds

When doctors told the McCoombes that spina bifida would severely limit their daughter's life, they refused to listen. So did the little girl

DO YOU DARE?

Two Danish businesswomen want us to start eating insects. It's good for the environment, but can consumers get over the yuck factor?

Searching for Santa Claus

Santa lives at the North Pole, right? Don't say that to the people of Rovaniemi in northern Finland

A Mouthful of Good Health

How two carnivores survived on a guilt-free vegetarian diet in the heartland of Ayurveda

THE FIRST PHOTOBOMBER

struck in 1853! And other 'new' fads that are actually ancient history

BURIED IN A SNOW TOMB

The snowboarder was off the trail, headfirst under six feet of powder. To survive, his luck would need to change

How Risky Are Those Holiday Cocktails, Really?

The latest recommendations about drinking and your health

13 THINGS New Year's Traditions Around the World

MOST OF US spend the final seconds of each calendar year watching a nearly 5,440-kilo geodesic sphere descend over Times Square in New York City.

Cookies for Forgiveness

My blowup was half-baked. The apology wasn't

SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! FOR EVERYBODY!

Are you up to date on your vaccines? Our handy guide will let you know

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MEDICINE

One of the appeals of walking as exercise is that you don’t need any special equipment to do it.

HE SLIMED ME

My son's obsession with his gooey creations has been my undoing

A Hug to Stop a Bank Robber

A man with a checkered past talks a troubled soul down

Happy Holidays

Four stories that prove that there's no one right way to celebrate the holidays, as long as you're with family

BOOKS

Books review

STUDIO - Off Lamington Road by Gieve Patel

Oil on Canvas, 54 x 88 in

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MEDICINE

FOODS THAT FIGHT DEMENTIA

TO HELL AND BACK

The Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan is known as the Gates of Hell. I stood on its edge - and lived to tell the tale

THE SNAKE CHARMERS

Invasive Burmese pythons are squeezing the life out of Florida's vast Everglades. An unlikely sisterhood is taking them on

Sisterhood to Last a Lifetime

These college pals teach a master class in how to maintain a friendship for 50-plus years

...TO DIE ON A HOCKEY RINK

ONE MINUTE I WAS PLAYING IN MY BEER LEAGUE, THE NEXT I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL

Just Sit Tight

Broken, battered and trapped in a ravine for days, I desperate driver wonders, \"Will anyone find me?\"

Allow Me to Mansplain...

If there's one thing we know, it's this: We're a nation of know-it-alls