Uncle Pai: India’s Favourite Storyteller

By Sharanya Iyer Everybody loves a good story, but only some have the true gift of storytelling. One such gifted individual was Anant Pai. So intense was his love for storytelling that he built his entire life around it. Known as the father of the Indian comic industry, Anant Pai was an immensely generous person […]

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya  (1861 – 1946)

He was the man who popularised the slogan Satyameva Jayate, Truth will Triumph. Patriot, educationist, social reformer and lawyer, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya is a towering figure in the story of our independence. His vision and hard work created Benaras Hindu University (BHU). He was a prolific writer and journalist. Pandit Malaviya’s political career saw […]

Tarabai Shinde: The Fiery Feminist

By Nainika Nambiar The 19th century saw a lot of changes in Indian society. It was a time of reform and progress in areas like education, gender equality, caste equality and more. During this phase of promoting an equal society, Tarabai Shinde was one of the very few courageous women who stood up to advocate […]

Meghnad Saha: India’s Pioneer Astrophysicist

By Krishna Priya  Imagine gazing up at the stars and wondering about the secrets they hold. Now, imagine being able to unlock those secrets with a revolutionary equation that reveals the hidden properties of stars. This is precisely what Meghnad Saha, a visionary Indian astrophysicist, achieved in the early 20th century. Meghnad literally means ‘one […]

A ‘Comical’ Journey in the History Classroom

By Mangalam Narayanan and Lakshmi Madhusudan History is considered boring and studying for and writing history exams is nothing less than a chore. Some of the more enterprising teachers have devised interesting ways of teaching history, but what about history exams? How can we make history exams inspiring and engaging for our students? Have you […]

The Pancha Sakha Poets

By Jayshree Misra Tripathi The Pancha Sakha or the Five Friends were a group of five poet-philosophers who heralded great change in Medieval Odisha (also known as Udra Desa). These scholars translated Hindu texts written in Sanskrit into simple prose, that could be easily understood by the common folk.   The Pancha Sakha resided in […]

The Margamkali Dance

The Syrian Christian community of Kerala is one of the oldest Christian communities in India, dating back to the first century CE. Margamkali is a traditional dance performed by them in which a dozen dancers, wearing the traditional chatta (blouse) and mundu (dhoti) dance around a brass lamp. The dance incorporates the martial arts of […]

Yubee-Lakpee

Yubee-Lakpee literally means ‘coconut-snatching’, which is a high-energy Manipuri game. In Manipur, able-bodied young men clutch a large coconut, its husk oiled thoroughly, and dodge other players to reach the goal. Yubee-Lakpee is almost like rugby in its roughness but definitely more difficult. Even the bodies of the players are greased! Each team has seven […]