Personal essay by K. S. Subramanian: ‘For the first three months of severe lockdown everyone was getting used to the eerie silence on the roads and the breeze blowing with an inherent message—stay put where you are.’

In the crippling second wave of the pandemic, that pleasant Instagram reel is a distraction for some—and a privilege for others. Barkha Kumari dialled in the social media generation and mental health experts for their take on the dilemma of the public display of happiness.

Golchakkar Series - The January panel of our virtual literary talk features K.S. Subramanian, Mallika Bhaumik, and Amit Shankar Saha: Indian Poetry from the Lockdown.

Life during the Lockdown wasn’t easy for many Kathakali artistes, leaving the practitioners of India’s internationally-renowned ‘story play’ struggling to make their ends meet. - By Akhila Damodaran

Good journeys tend to become a bridge… The bridge is always an internal choice. In a poetic photo-essay of brief, unforgettable encounters, Barnali Ray Shukla finds bridges that bring together divergent souls.

Dhruvi Acharya’s Lockdown series from the exhibition Painting in the Time of Corona provided a glimpse into the way many would feel during the pandemic, inhabiting a surreal, bewildering alternate universe. Priyanka Sacheti interviews the artist on her process and the future of her work.

The pandemic threatens to be the last nail in the coffin for many of India’s great circus troupes. By taking their act online, Rambo Circus hopes to keep an acrobatic balance for the show to go on. - By Barkha Kumari

While India’s musicians take the show online, the unsung heroes of live shows—technicians, backstage coordinators, tentwallahs and more struggle to make their ends meet since the lockdown. Some in the events industry have united to give back. - by Barkha Kumari

Nagaland-based singer-songwriter Abdon Mech discusses his lockdown-inspired single “Again”, his song writing process, future plans, and more.- by Ady Manral

A conversation with Virajas Kulkarni, actor, playwright, director, and co-founder of Theatron Entertainment: “Nobody can deny the electricity of a live performance. But we do need to keep changing what is being performed, and how it is being performed.” - by Karan Madhok.

2020 has enforced upon us a crash course on the human and economic cost of disasters. The pandemic and the lockdown have exposed the horrors of the worst-case scenario for India’s internally-displaced migrants. We need to be better prepared for the disasters looming ahead. By Shefali Saldanha

Four poems by Gopal Lahiri: ‘this calmness, this silence / the cruel and blasphemous are marking / an uneasy path; we can’t erase.’

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