With tens of crores of expected visitors, the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj is among the largest human gatherings in the world. The mythologies associated with the Samudra Manthana and Shiva’s affinity for bhang often associate it with spiritual cannabis use, too. By Karan Madhok

For centuries, Varanasi has welcomed all visitors into the same all-encompassing embrace. With aggressive forces of politics and religion threatening to segregate his hometown, Karan Madhok argues for the need to preserve the city’s true harmonious spirit.

Much of the novel Legal Fiction is about the facts only understood as fiction, and the fictions that should never interfere with facts. Chandan Pandey’s story shines in the uncomfortable confluence of the real and imagined in a dangerous New India. By Karan Madhok

After the birth of his son, Rajat Mittal began the Boyish project, a series of essays to challenge traditional aspirations of Indian masculinity—financial success, physical strength, and a lack of empathy—that have been emotional hamstrings to men for generations.

Season 2 of Prime Video’s hit show Mirzapur continued its debauchery of gore, lust, back-stabbings, and politics from the UP/Bihar belt. But at its core, the series is an exploration of fathers and sons, of expectations and fallouts, of family lost and family found. By Karan Madhok

India’s economy has failed the most-vulnerable half of the population. Shefali Saldanha argues that the pandemic could be an opportunity to change the system.