Articles

Sexcuse Me, Please: What Women Do to Get Out of Sex

Women have, over the course of history, invented a “weird excuse jar” to get out of sex. Everything from “You look like my paediatrician”, to “Jesus is watching” has been used by the sisterhood of the travelling I-don’t-feel-like-taking-my-pants-off.

Damayanti Joseph July 7, 2016

POV

Main Aur Meri EMI: Ek Choti Si Love Story

As a twenty-something educated adult with a good track record of jobs and salary accounts, banks love me and I have come to make the most of that. I chose to live the best version of my life in EMIs – a lifestyle that has 14 per cent interest, but that’s ok.

Karima Khan July 6, 2016

People

Knock Knock, Your Parcel’s Here

Whizzing around Mumbai’s gallis are the delivery boys – foot soldiers of a $16.4 billion e-commerce boom. Arré rides pillion with one, delivering everything from cupcakes to quinoa.

Damian D'souza July 6, 2016

Money Matters

Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die

There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today’s “discount-addicted” Indians need to realise that, at some point, we’re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.

Deepak Gopalakrishnan July 6, 2016

Pop Culture

Does Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act Play Into the BJP Narrative of “There is No Alternative”?

The Indian election episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj is a primer on the upcoming polls. Even if Minhaj didn’t intend it, the episode, with its alarmist tone, buys entirely into the “There is No Alternative” theory floated by the BJP.

Poulomi Das July 6, 2016

Features

Spotify’s Ruk Jaana Nahi Tells The Story Of The Common People Who Stepped Up For The Sake Of Others During The Covid Pandemic.

Narrated by Rajkummar Rao, Spotify’s collection of stories #RukJaanaNahi is a radically intimate telling of the exemplary courage and empathy shown by India’s ordinary people in the face of widespread hopelessness and despair.

Arré Bench July 6, 2016

Bollywood

Gold: So You Think You Can Make Sports Films, Bollywood?

For a film about sport, Gold treats hockey as a mere formality in service of an Akshay Kumar vanity project. It only exploits the star’s various talents: enthusiastic comic timing, the ability to arouse nationalistic pride, and romancing a much younger actress.

Poulomi Das July 6, 2016

Love and Sex

Why We Should Not Be Sleeping with Our Friends

Friends with benefits is an amazing concept – in theory. Everyone loves sex with no strings attached, but in reality, it rarely works without leaving its scars on your emotional psyche. By the end, you’re left with way too many harrowing questions and no one left to answer them.

Nihal Bambulkar July 6, 2016

Pop Culture

Farewell Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, the IPS Officer Who Inspired Udaan… And a Generation of Women

Doordarshan’s Udaan was inspired by Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, India’s first woman DGP, who passed away earlier this week. The show was a first lesson in feminism for a generation of women. And though many of us fondly remember its protagonist Kalyani Singh, it is Bhattacharya we need to doff our hats to.

Chandrima Pal July 6, 2016

Books

Ikigai and the self-help genre’s smoke and mirrors magic trick

It requires a particular kind of naiveté, of course, to believe that all human beings have access to, or resources for, the creation of beauty in a way that can become life-defining. Beauty that is the bedrock of most self-help books.

Tanuj Solanki July 6, 2016