COVER STORY
Outlook Magazine - 18 October 2021
Nostalgia
Cyclone Ockhi Kills At Least 14 In TN, Kerala, Likely To Hit Mumbai, Gujarat
The state government decided to urge the Centre to declare Cyclone Ockhi, which left a trail of destruction in the state, a national calamity.
The Tradition Of Making Durga Idol With Soil From Sex Worker’s House
No festival is complete without its own set of myths. Traditions invented for the relatively new Durga Puja invoke a community society chooses to forget.
Cyclone Ockhi Kills At Least 14 In TN, Kerala, Likely To Hit Mumbai, Gujarat
The state government decided to urge the Centre to declare Cyclone Ockhi, which left a trail of destruction in the state, a national calamity.
The Tradition Of Making Durga Idol With Soil From Sex Worker’s House
No festival is complete without its own set of myths. Traditions invented for the relatively new Durga Puja invoke a community society chooses to forget.
OTHER OUTLOOK MAGAZINE STORIES
Modi Govt Will Not Be Able To Equal UPA's 10-Year Average Growth Rate: Manmohan Singh
"I would be happy if this were to happen, but frankly, I don't think this will happen," he said.
Amid Vote Protests, Honduras Announces Curfew, Restrictions
The count had still not begun last night because no representatives for Nasralla had arrived
Camera Candida: A Photographer’s Efforts To Revive The Lost Art Of Portraits
From Lahore to Delhi, Dinesh Khanna follows in his father’s footsteps to capture extraordinary images.
An Artist's Labour Of Love Keeps Goa’s Heritage Alive….In Drawings
Scattered souvenirs from memory’s cache spread across Panjim, Sao Tome and Fontainhas, of growing up under Portuguese colonial shadow
How Green Was My Kashmir Valley: The Magic Of Movies In Cinemas
Watching films in theatres in 1980s Kashmir left an impact on the audience few could anticipate.
Post Card From Kashmir: The Dentist They Killed, The Driver They Assaulted
The events entrenched in memory are all imbued with a tinge of grief. A medley of loss and tears in an insurgency-wrecked Valley.
The Sound Of Magic: For The Love Of Long Playing Records
Not only do they have indubitably unique sound, old vinyl records effortlessly summon up the past in a whirl of tactility and art.
Past Imperfect: Memories Frozen In Time
From Partition to genocides in Rwanda and elsewhere, museums are important to understanding our fractured past.
Congress-Left Too Harks Back To The Past In Search For A Better Future
Exalted achievements of yore are often cited by to rehash the story of past political icons.
The Quest For Our Glorious Past Is How The Right-Wing Woos The People
The politics of nostalgia involves mobilising the masses around the yearning for a glorious past brought alive in imaginations of the future.
Song Sung Blue: Aashiqui, Violin Man And Other Stories From Here And There
The past is a world before the pandemic, a place of happiness perhaps, of love, of togetherness. We want a romanticised past to become our future.
Actor’s Diary
I never wanted to be an actor. Though I was always told that I am a good actress, I never took anybody seriously. Somehow, it happened to me and eventually I accepted it.
Chronicler With A Movie Camera
Romila Thapar’s account of a 1957 journey to ancient Buddhist sites in China, across swathes of Silk Route territory and modern cities, comprises both visitor’s gaze and historian’s introspection. The result is time travel with a continually shifting lens.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: How India Post Is Reinventing Itself In A Digital World
Postmen and women recall the days when the bearer of letters were served tea and snacks by grateful families.
Flashback: An Old-Timer Recalls Sepia-Toned Bollywood, In 70mm
Oh, to be able to return to the dank, muggy, single-screen theatres in dusty mofussil towns, and to relive the magic of Bollywood formula (Ssshhh… and some desi porn)
Angels And Demons: Growing Up In Bihar With Fantastical Tales Of Djinns And River Ghosts
In circulation for centuries, such hair-raising stories were an integral part of the state’s oral literary tradition.
The Sea In Mumbai And A Thousand Splendid Memories
An NRI looks back with fondness, and a little bit of regret, at the time when the sea was part of her everyday life but didn’t matter as much as it does now.
Tiger By The Tail: When The LTTE Held Sway And Sri Lanka Was A Bloody Mess
Seema Guha’s recollections of the violent days in Jaffna in 1987. When a fragile truce between the Lankan army and the LTTE fell apart.
From Delhi To Ontario: Seeking Mother Durga And Dhakis In Canada
The sights and sounds that are jarring at home become sweet music. Longing for things lost is the essence of nostalgia.
A Catalogue Of Melancholic Ghosts
Are your sweet memories as summer-centric as mine? One summer, I read through all my novels and comics. You see, I was bored.
Aesthetics Of Nostalgia: The Past Is Not Just Sounds And Symbols But The Distance From Them
Nostalgia is now widely commoditised and its political potential is sought to be neutralised into the service of a politics of belonging over that of longing.
Phantom Comics And Phantom Cigarettes: Collective Yearning For A Vanished Past
Mukul Kesavan’s essay on middle-class nostalgia in India—looking back fondly at a time when Indians were worse-off than they are today.
Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: Yogi Adityanath Government Fighting Fire In Uttar Pradesh
For the moment, the Lakhimpur Kheri crisis appears to have been defused. However, this may not mean much relief for the Yogi Adityanath government in the state.
The NEWS
In case you missed it: News and newsmakers from India over the past week
