Why OP Nayyar continues to be this fan’s favourite musician
I am an ardent admirer of O P Nayyar’s music. Anyone who knows me well, knows of my love for Indian film music from...
5 powerful poems by the brilliant Javed Akhtar
A celebrated lyricist and the recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for his poetry, Javed Akhtar's name is synonymous with soul-wrenching, evocative writing.
His...
‘Stories of Kannagi’: a Tamil classic in the Blake Art Prize
"Kannagi begins as an ordinary woman; well not that ordinary, and then transforms into a goddess of justice!"
So says Bulli-based artist filmmaker Zanny Begg,...
India’s 71-Year Test: a coffee table book
For a sport with as storied a history as cricket, books on its past are unsurprisingly a dime a dozen. Given its origins, the...
5 best songs by the talented A R Rahman
Perhaps one of India's most celebrated musicians and composers, A R Rahman has made an unforgettable mark in the music landscape.
The Padma Bhushan awardee...
5 memorable quotes by Rudyard Kipling
Best known for writing The Jungle Book, Nobel Prize winning author Rudyard Kipling lives on in the hearts of many literature lovers. He's also a...
Devika Rani was an enigma to most – but not anymore (Book Review)
"I hope that I have managed to establish who Devika Rani really was. A rebellious and unusually talented and beautiful woman, a great actress...
Art using natural materials: An exhibition by preschool kids
Turmeric, beetroot, coffee, saffron, rice, blueberries, lentils. At first glance, these items seem as though they would be expected on a weekend shopping list....
Cross Your Heart, Take My Name by Novoneel Chakraborty: A review
Cross Your Heart, Take My Name is a rare Indian book to explore the psychological impact of social media, especially Instagram.
Garv Roy Gill and...
Re-sanctifying the Swastika
Choreographer Raghav Handa’s latest production Cult of The Titans comes with a content warning.
The work contains images of the swastika. … Patrons (have) the...
Indian musicians strike a chord with Grammy 2021 nominations
Amid all the noise about snubs and transparency, there are a few Indian tunes that have struck the right note at the Grammy Award...
My Encounter With Terrorists That Night: 26-11 Taj attack hero writes
On the night of the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, Marine Commandos of the Indian Navy (MARCOS) entered the Taj, one of the places...
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni on ‘The Last Queen’ and women empowerment
Reading about the Kohinoor diamond and how it was taken by the British from Maharaja Dalip Singh and given to Queen Victoria, writer Chitra...
4 Indian female poets you need to read
As more and more female poets publish their works as collections and anthologies, modern Indian literature is enriched with diverse voices and expressions of...
8 Indian and 6 Oz kids help illustrate JK Rowling’s new book
J.K. Rowling's latest offering The Ickabog has fired up the imaginations of young readers worldwide, with 18,000 responses to a competition (for the 7-to-12...
Diwali Art Contest 2020 Winners
Eight-year-old Aarav Panicker of Rouse Hill NSW has won this year’s Indian Link Diwali Art Contest for kids, in the 8-12 Years category.
Akshara Srinivasan,...
2000 people in 14 countries see Melb play online
Recently, Forty-five amateur artists pulled off a theatrical coup of sorts with Bouquet, a 9-play act held virtually. Even as COVID-caused lockdown persisted, the...
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar on “Girls and the City” and #MeToo
A trained engineer who went to IIM Calcutta, left a decade-long corporate career, and completed a Creative Writing course in the US, Manreet Sodhi...
Red Fear – The China Threat: Disputes and dominance (Review)
Red Fear: The China Threat delves into history as it traces the genesis of the present troubles. A homily uttered over a century ago...
10 Bollywood Garba songs for Navratri 2020
To make Navratri during the pandemic less somber, here are some Bollywood bangers that you can do Garba to every night for 9 days!
1....
A review of Arjun Raina’s Straight From the Horse’s Heart
"Please switch off your cameras, your phones and put yourself on speaker view, not gallery view," announced Arjun Raina, sutradhaar (narrator) of his newest...
The Incredible History Of The Indian Ocean (Book Review)
The Indian Ocean is an ocean as vast as the sub-continent whose name it bears, encompassing Asia to the north, Australia to the east,...
Azadi: Brooding yet biting articles by Arundhati Roy (Review)
When Arundhati Roy’s first novel God Of Small Things was published in 1997, it won the Booker Prize and made her an overnight celebrity....
5 incredible Lata Mangeshkar songs – that aren’t in Hindi!
The 'voice of the nation', India's nightingale Lata Mangeshkar turns 91 years old, and what better way to celebrate than a look back at...
Mission Bengal: How the state went from ‘Laal Salaam’ to ‘Jai Shri Ram’
"Mission Bengal: A saffron experiment" by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya is an in-depth look at how Bengal went from 'Laal Salaam' to 'Jai Shri Ram' in...
AR Rahman’s ‘Ae ajnabi’ recreated by French DJ Feder
French producer-DJ Feder has launched his new single titled Meghna, which is his version of nineties Bollywood hit, Ae ajnabi, originally composed by AR...
Aussie band The Buckleys to virtually perform debut album in India
Australian sibling band, The Buckleys, are excited to perform the songs of their debut album, Daydream, for fans in India via a virtual gig.
The...
It’s been a long, difficult journey: Booker longlisted author Avni Doshi
It‘s been a "long and difficult" journey spread over seven years and eight drafts, says author Avni Doshi, whose novel Burnt Sugar, about a...
Remembering Pandit Jasraj: the last aalap
It was a long journey for the six-year-old who, on his way to school stopped the moment Begum Akhtar's ghazal 'Deewana banana hai to...
Pandit Jasraj, Indian classical music veteran, passes away
Pandit Jasraj, a veteran of Indian classical music, has passed away at the age of 90. A recipient of top civilian honours including Padma...
Podcasts
Ep8: Indian links in Indigenous Australian poet Ali Cobby Eckermann’s life
To celebrate NAIDOC week 2020 (between 8-15 November) I spoke to Yakunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann about her time in India where she taught...
Ep 7: In the case of Sushant Singh Rajput
The torrid and high-octane Sushant Singh Rajput case has been fodder for Indian people and press for the last few months. The actor’s tragic...
Ep 6: The Indian LGBTQ+ community in 2020
It’s been two years since the world’s largest democracy repealed the draconian Section 377 which used to allow discrimination against homosexual people. Only this...
Latest News
Indigenous Australians, living without conciliation
I am a citizen of Australia and yet I am not a citizen of the nation I reside in within Australia. This anomaly affects...
The night we fled our home in Kashmir
“26 January is coming up, memsaab,” the milkman I had known for years said to me. “Maybe you should put up a black flag...
Review: The White Tiger (Netflix)
"Don't believe for a second there's a million-rupee game show you can win to get out of it". That's Balram Halwai in The White...
