COVER STORY
AFSPA: A Night Of Detention And Torture
A personal account of torture by security forces led to a play depicting the horrors of a draconian law
Outlook Magazine - 17 January 2022
The Gilded Cage: Kashmir In Winter Of An Apocalypse
‘Normal’ is not a state of life in the Kashmir valley. It’s a shiny factoid woven into every movement, manufactured in a post-truth world.
Patna Through The Eye Of The Third Kind
Snapshots of Patna seen through photographs—people, places and poetry
The Leaf-Shredder
According to the oral tradition of the Ao Nagas, there were some special men and women who were endowed with powers to read the future. They were called Arasentsür and the most common practice among them was to shred the leaf called ‘Aam’ (phyrinium pubescence) in order to predict futures and also to prescribe appropriate rituals as curatives for different diseases.
A Nation Without Humour: Why Is India Afraid Of Stand-up Comics?
Make no mistake, these are the best times for comedy, humour and satire. A comic will speak till the cows come home. Try stopping and you shall be the next joke.
Covid Dries Up Kerala’s Petro-Dollar Pipeline From Gulf
Critically dependant on remittances from the Gulf, Kerala’s economy is staring at an abyss after lakhs returned home following Covid lockdowns
Almanac Of Darkness: An Essay On Life And Love
My apocalypse came in images—an abandoned horse, a body wrapped in plastic and the story of a professor who was making a curriculum of darkness
Incomplete Account Of Diverse Voyages
Poetry by Rohith, a doctor and poet from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Gods, Bots And The New World Order
‘Non-human’ entities rule our world. And we are mere puppets in the Great Game.
Meowdi: A Short Story by Perumal Murugan
A story written for 'Outlook'. Translated from the original in Tamil by Kavitha Muralidharan.
The Gilded Cage: Kashmir In Winter Of An Apocalypse
‘Normal’ is not a state of life in the Kashmir valley. It’s a shiny factoid woven into every movement, manufactured in a post-truth world.
Patna Through The Eye Of The Third Kind
Snapshots of Patna seen through photographs—people, places and poetry
The Leaf-Shredder
According to the oral tradition of the Ao Nagas, there were some special men and women who were endowed with powers to read the future. They were called Arasentsür and the most common practice among them was to shred the leaf called ‘Aam’ (phyrinium pubescence) in order to predict futures and also to prescribe appropriate rituals as curatives for different diseases.
A Nation Without Humour: Why Is India Afraid Of Stand-up Comics?
Make no mistake, these are the best times for comedy, humour and satire. A comic will speak till the cows come home. Try stopping and you shall be the next joke.
Covid Dries Up Kerala’s Petro-Dollar Pipeline From Gulf
Critically dependant on remittances from the Gulf, Kerala’s economy is staring at an abyss after lakhs returned home following Covid lockdowns
Almanac Of Darkness: An Essay On Life And Love
My apocalypse came in images—an abandoned horse, a body wrapped in plastic and the story of a professor who was making a curriculum of darkness
Incomplete Account Of Diverse Voyages
Poetry by Rohith, a doctor and poet from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Gods, Bots And The New World Order
‘Non-human’ entities rule our world. And we are mere puppets in the Great Game.
Meowdi: A Short Story by Perumal Murugan
A story written for 'Outlook'. Translated from the original in Tamil by Kavitha Muralidharan.
OTHER OUTLOOK MAGAZINE STORIES
Song Sung Blue: The End As A New Beginning
How will the world end? With a whimper, as Eliot predicted? Or in a yawn, as Pope said it would.
Brave New World Under The Shadow Of The Pandemic
In this anniversary and year-end issue combined, Outlook looks at a range of stories of hope, despair and redemption. We delve into this apocalyptic version of the new world.
Magazine Diary | The Printed Word Is Still The King In A World Of Digital Drama
The internet has certainly liberated news. But it negates the training of a correspondent, the endless discussion in news meetings, the polishing of copy and fact-checking by the desk.
Love, Loss, Longing: A TV Show Which Throws New Light On The Pandemic
Station Eleven might be the only pandemic-related TV show which portrays loss with such sincerity—a narrative of unspoken grief
A Tale Of Two Pandemics
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed India’s stark inequalities like never before
How Covid Has Hit Sports And Spectators Around The World
Over the past two years, Covid rendered spectator sports—that symbol of civilisational normality—into a battleground of perception
Pandemic Pangs: When The World Looked Inward For Succour
The pandemic taught the world to battle emptiness and also to seek the meaning of life and love in the people around them
Life In A Hashtag: A World Overwhelmed By The Digital Wave
Looking for solitude while playing fastest finger first in a world of social media rules
The Migrant Worker As A Tragic Hero, From Reel To Real
The sufferings of migrant workers have become the most rivetingly tragic tale of our times
Death, Up Close: A Photo Essay On The World Of Dalit Morgue Workers
Dalits have been forced to handle the dead for centuries. The manner in which they are compelled to handle the bodies in modern, state-run hospitals, have gone unnoticed and undocumented.
Love Is A Many-Splendoured Thing
If anything will save us, it will be empathy and love in our darkest days
Covid Nightmare: Time Of The Living Dead
How zombie films, or almost-zombie films, have dealt with apocalypse, social crisis and personal desolation
Pandemic Aggravated Digital Divide Between Haves And Have-nots
Artistes are a fragile species who need constant reaffirmation and cultural validation
The Good Earth: Resilient And Resourceful
Our planet remains inexhaustible, as inexhaustible as our capacity for instruction and exploration.
Umar Khalid's Prison Diary: Uncertainty Keeps Political Prisoners Hanging Between Hope And Hopelessness
You remain hopeful some judge will see through the absurdity of the charges. You also caution yourself about the perils of nurturing such hopes, writes Umar Khalid after spending 15 months in Tihar jail as an undertrial.
The Four Horsemen Of Apocalypse
It’s not just planetary crisis but the destruction of the individual too
Doomsday Is Not In The Future. It’s Here And Now
There is going to be no 'pralay' as we have imagined in our conceptions of the apocalypse as a single mythic event.
