21st Possible Futures
Essay

To Put Faith In Secularism

‘Secularism’ inhabits twin strands—one simply strives to control religion; another, more composite view, allows plural views on faith to coexist. Charting secularism’s progress in France and the US, Charles Taylor alights on the passionate debate it is generating in modern Europe and India.

Charles Taylor
The Anthropocene
Quo Vadis Earth?
Is the planet itself being changed by humans? All other futures are entailed in this one.
Pranay Sharma
The Anthropocene
“The Anthropocene Concept Is Oddly Eurocentric”
Professor of Anthropology Kathleen D. Morrison on human's impact on the earth system
Pranay Sharma Interviews Kathleen D. Morrison
Gandhi
The Death And Rebirth Of Gandhi
The mystical Gandhi doesn’t just die when ‘Harijan’ gives way to ‘Dalit’. In this very death, he also becomes a spectral force.
Ajay Skaria
Identity
Caste And Faith In The Dalit Mirror
Four activists and scholars with different religious identities take stock of what has changed for India’s ‘untouchables’ and what remains the same
Uttam Sengupta, Sunil Menon
New Left
Democracy, That Untamed Excess
New languages of politics will help free the system from the grip of corporate power
Aditya Nigam
Interview
“Savarkar Is The New Father Of The Emerging India. Gandhi Is Now The Stepfather.”
Political psychologist Ashis Nandy speaks on the future of India, based on his reading of its past and present
Ajaz Ashraf Interviews Ashis Nandy
Kashmir: Memoir
Like Threads Suspended
Exile is a story that starts, and gets repeated, over and over.... This story will never end till the Pandit, the original Kashmiri, recovers what was lost.
Siddhartha Gigoo
Kashmir: Dialogue
How Not To Be India
Two writers. A ‘Kashmiri Muslim’, a ‘Kishtwari Hindu’. Both call themselves ‘A’. Can you tell whose voice is which? An enigma on the surface, a different clarity within.
Amit Kumar, Arif Ayaz Parrey
Islam
God Is Not A Khomeini
All that Islam needs for an inclusive, humane future is present in its own resources—scriptural and modern
Shajahan Madampat
Retrospective
Watermark 1916: The War Foundry
Exactly a hundred years ago, the Great War was in full blast. The shock waves it set off still influence ‘modern’ sensibility.
Saikat Niyogi
Cities: Dialogue
Going To Xa'Nadu
Excerpts from a conversation between five diverse voices—architect Raj Rewal, activist Bezwada Wilson, conservationist A.G.K. Menon, poet-linguist Rukmini Bhaya Nair and artist-photographer Dayanita Singh
Sunil Menon, Satish Padmanabhan
Nehru
If The Architect Came By In 2016
What would Nehru see if he were to revisit India today? He’d be happy to see his basic blueprint in action. (So what if the details mess it up.)
Mani Shankar Aiyar
BHASHA
Lizardology: The Future Is Writ
You could say it’s liberal democracy that grants literature freedom. Or maybe, the other way around. The onus is on the writer to set us free.
Paul Zacharia
SCIENCE
An Infinity Of Questions
The more we endeavour with science, the more we realise we do not know
Shobhit Mahajan
Crystal-Gazing
Teotwawki: Okay If We Confirm That Tomorrow?
What if the science of prediction is a fictive process and nothing more? Is the future, then, even if loosely knowable, specifically unpredictable?
Kajal Basu
Translation
‘Pterodactyl Is... Poetry Of The Future’
Talking about Mahasweta, the history that made her and her literary challenge to history, and the practice of translation. Two scholars in dialogue.
Sunil Menon, Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak, Samik Bandyopadhyay
Music
How To Compose An Ethical Fugue
Technology is not in itself a disruption, but a partner in jugalbandi with the ‘old’. But we must hearken to music’s politics as much as to its aesthetics.
T.M. Krishna
Memory
Memory: A Wound, A Womb
Memory is a contested field. Demagogues have tried to erase and rewrite it. State apparatuses have bent it to their needs.
Manas ‘Firaq’ Bhattacharjee
Food
Harappa On My Plate
When the Anthropocene winter does come, what will it do to our food?
Soity Banerjee
Cinema
How Painful Is That Mottled Lattice Light
Vetri Maaran on cinema in times of the ubiquitous camera, multiple screens for consumption and the democratisation of the craft.
Vetri Maaran
R. Prasad
 

 

 

DIGITAL
Reading
Flip A Screen, Skip An Entire Generation
Books were once engaged in with lusty physicality. Now, a tablet’s cool glow gives quiet satisfaction.
Parashuram Ray
Twitter
Dystopia’s Online. And It Will Not Die.
It’s the season of predictions, so let’s be audacious: Twitter will be the human race’s #pathtosurvival
Abhinandan Sekhri
Selfies
Making You, In Your Own Image
Narcissism is everywhere. Leave the selfie alone.
Dipsikha Thakur
Facebook
Post-Geography Of Modern Friendship
Confession: I took a Facebook daily-fix break before writing this. Pl like and share!
Nandini Lal
E-Commerce
Cast A Net On The Goodies You Want
E-tailing has rewritten the rules of selling—and how!
Arushi Bedi
VR
The Devilish Little Game Changers
Siddhartha Mishra on Pokemon mania, a gateway to VR revolution
Siddhartha Mishra
Snapchat
A Snap Is Worth Any Number Of Words
Stuti Agarwal on the ephemeral Snapchat
Stuti Agarwal
Travel
Tours And Travels
Bibek Bhattacharya takes a look at five unique apps that cover all your wandering and vacationing needs
Bibek Bhattacharya
Tinder
Love Me Tinder!
Dating apps foster relationships with no strings attached
Arushi Bedi
Skype
Out Of Sight? Never!
Skype keeps the flame alive across 500 miles or more
Anoo Bhuyan
Instagram
Picture Perfect Interactions
Stuti Agarwal on the Instagram experience
Stuti Agarwal
Food Apps
Eating Out, At Home!
Satish Padmanabhan on how food delivery apps bring the best of delicacies to your doorstep in no time
Satish Padmanabhan
Piracy
Download Syndrome
Choice has shrunk for virtual Jack Sparrows—alas, writes Martand Badoni. Then there’s Netflix.
Martand Badoni
Linkedin
Six Links Of Corporate Separation
LinkedIn connects job-seekers and providers
Arindam Mukherjee
Wiki
The Grand Democratiser Of Knowledge
Wikipedia stores all the free-flowing information we need
Siddhartha Mishra
Fitness Apps
Yes, Get That Leg Up
Forget sloth! Fitness apps are here to exorcise the lazy monster in you
Satish Padmanabhan
Whatsapp
Faster Than Truth
Martand Badoni on how WhatsApp has redefined instant communication—and conflagration
Ushinor Majumdar
Mob Wallets
This Way, Your Pocket Suffers Less
Mobile wallets are taking over the way Indians pay
Arindam Mukherjee
Law Apps
Eagles Swoop Down On Tablets
Apps serving up law are already active; many new ideas await developers
Ushinor Majumdar
Pornography
The Blue Film Of Sin Coating The Indian Woman
Sexual violence against women is fine, exploitation too. But the heavens will come crashing if she watches porn. And yet she does!
Sreemoyee Piu Kundu
OUTLOOK ARCHIVE
ISSUE DATED | JUNE 03, 2013
REVIEW
Father And Sons, Or The Lie Of The Land
An honourable Svengali and his Mujib-speaking protege ply their trade in liberated Bangladesh. Imam weaves a hyper-realistic tale of tragedy, farce, idealism and power.
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Looking Ahead
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LAST PAGE
Youtube Diary
YouTube inverted the entire logic of scarcity and desire that drove us on hot, lonely afternoons to tiny cassette shops
Sunil Menon
Outlook in Rewind
10 Years Ago
Even in the still and serene surroundings of his 2,000-acre estate on the Sahayadri slopes in Chikmagalur in the Western Ghats, Ashok Kuriyan can feel the hustle-and-bustle and the pace of the Indian economy. At Balanoor Plantations, the "feelgood" factor has gripped every worker, including its MD Kuriyan. After all, despite a huge rise in input costs, it netted a cool profit of Rs 30 lakh this season, compared to a "no-profit, no-loss situation" in the previous one. "If we had not got the Rs 25 lakh subsidy last year, we would've been in serious trouble," says Kuriyan.