BY: NADIA ZAIDI If you’ve never tried your favourite snack on fire, you’re missing out. At least according to the owner of a paan stall in New Delhi, who has recently caught global attention for selling this Indian staple snack…
How one Sikh freedom fighter is helping political prisoners by committing himself to a hunger strike
BY: NADIA ZAIDI You might not have heard of him, but Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa is a current day freedom fighter. He’s also an 84-year-old grandfather — and the oldest person to be on a hunger strike till date.…
The Layman’s guide to backpacking in India
BY: NADIA ZAIDI Who says that backpacking is only reserved for Europe? If you’re someone who wants to explore “third world” culture and experience its lifestyle unfiltered and unrestricted, try backpacking in India. The best way to really learn about…
Hippie culture isn’t dead – Goa remains a vibrant paradise governed by peace and love
BY: NADIA ZAIDI When we think of hippie culture we are reminiscent of 1960s and ’70s America, where peace signs and protest movements were a major driving force for political and social change — both domestically and globally. Today, hippie…
India’s first solar powered train has left the station
BY BROOKLYN PINHEIRO Decorated in green and orange balloons and chains of flowers, India’s first solar powered train hit the rails on July 14th leaving from Sfdarjung Railway Station in New Delhi. The train is one of six using sun…
Photographer captures a Bengali Tribe’s Dance With The Dead (photos)
Chaitra/Choitro is the last month of the Bengali calendar and it falls from mid-March to mid-April. Every year, in several parts deep within West Bengal, a Hindu festival called Gajan is celebrated. The celebration begins the last week of Chaitra and…
Farhan Hussain captures children of the grave in this evocative series (photos)
The Kalpalli cemetery, also known as St. John’s Cemetery, in Bengaluru is the largest burial ground in Karnataka, India. It is also home to 15 dalit families, who make a living out of these graves. Their jobs include everything from…
Meet Samurai Amma: The 75-year-old woman who dominates martial arts
Martial arts is believed to have evolved from Southern India, with Kalaripayattu, which originated in Kerala during the 13th century, taking the name of the oldest martial art form on the planet. Kalaripayattu is about learning to use the body in…
One girl’s viral photo is ending India’s “fair and lovely” culture
BY: NADIA ZAIDI A selfie featuring three dark-skinned women in traditional attire has gone viral due to its poignant caption: “the faces of India they won’t show you.” What resonates is the statement made against a culture that reveres fairness…
How Revealing: An online safe space to talk about sexual assault in India
BY: KRUPA JOSEPH Warning: Some of the stories shared in this article contain graphic details of sexual violence. Parents start teaching children right and wrong at a young age. If you are a girl, chances are that you were handed…
Cancer drugs in India are getting major price cuts
BY: ELIJAH BASSETT In India, like many places around the world, finances hold many people back from getting the medical treatment they need. Ideally, this is where the government comes in, to ensure that its citizens are able to afford…
The Canadian International School in Bengaluru is 100% self-sustaining
BY: PHILIPPE DE JOCAS It’s been a long time coming, but solar panels are finally on their way to carving out a real role for themselves on the world stage. From a tumultuous beginning, where they were seen as little…
This engineer is saving villages through ecotourism
BY: PHILIPPE DE JOCAS India is a land of extremes. It’s one of the most heavily and densely populated countries on Earth, with a rapidly rising economy that will likely push the population onto the world stage by 2020, but…
These Indian graphic novels feature inspirational, badass female leads
BY: KRUPA JOSEPH For years, in India, comics were cast aside as entertainment for the less educated. Then, in 1967, Amar Chitra Katha breathed life into Indian myths, legends, and history and transformed them into series of comics and changed…
India ditches $3 billion diamond deal to save tigers
BY: SAMANTHA TAPP The Indian government is being praised as they recently decided to ditch a diamond-mining project worth more than $3 billion USD. The land where the surface mining would take place is home to a large portion of…
A look Inside the village that is home to India’s resilient Tiger Widows
BY: KRUPA JOSEPH For me, it all started with a book. Saba Naqvi’s In Good Faith, to be precise. In the book, the political editor of Outlook takes us to distant corners of India to show that in a country…
To reclaim green space, India will spend $6 billion on reforestation efforts
BY: JESSICA BEUKER India is in the midst of a growing industrialization period, and subsequently is suffering from extensive deforestation. The country is also one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. To combat this, and to bring back…
To aid the rape crisis in India, panic buttons will be built into all new mobile phones
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Starting in 2017, all new mobile phones sold in India are required to have a panic button for users to make emergency calls. By 2018, phones will also be required to have built-in GPS navigation. According to…
In a country that values boys, one village honours girls and the environment in a unique way
BY: CAROLINE ROLF Every culture holds its own unique celebration when a child is born. In a society where the birth of a girl is far less celebrated than the birth of a boy, one village in India shows their…
This couple transformed 300 acres of desolate land in India into a thriving wildlife sanctuary
BY: JESSICA BEUKER In 1986 Anil and Pamela Malhotra ventured to India to attend the funeral of Anil’s father. They were horrified by the river pollution and deforestation in Haridwar, and couldn’t understand the general apathy towards the issue by…