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Love in The Time of Emergency: The 200 Letters This Couple Wrote in Prison
What is love without freedom? Does politics define the contours of a personal relationship? These are some of the questions that arise upon reading the 18-month correspondence between Madhu Dandavate,...
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Forgotten By History Books: The True Story of the 1946 Naval RIN Mutiny
Although it was an episode that actually lasted less than a week and remains largely forgotten in public memory today, the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) Mutiny of February 1946 was arguably the single most...
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‘Elephant Boy’ Mysore Sabu: Meet India’s First Star on Hollywood’s ‘Walk of...
Thirty-odd years ago, an English film on the staid old Doordarshan channel (remember, it was the only one), was an event. When the papers announced that the offering on a certain Friday evening was...
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The Incredible Story of a Brother’s Five Decade Search For a Lost King From...
In the past, The Better India has extensively covered the life and times of the 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, a high ranking Buddhist monk, statesman, Member of Parliament and diplomat considered by...
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Not Just Iconic Paintings, Raja Ravi Varma Helped India Get Our First Film!
For his 2020 calendar collection, G Venket Ram, a Chennai-based photographer, roped in twelve famous personalities from the southern film and dance industries and adapted masterpieces by Raja Ravi...
View ArticleIrawati Karve, India’s First Woman Anthropologist Who Dared to Challenge Norms
In the early 1920s, when women were actively subjugated by men and speaking out of turn was considered blasphemy, Dr Irawati Karve was riding her two-wheeler on the streets of Pune. This was not the...
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When Their Men Demurred, Here’s How 1000’s of Manipuri Women Battled the British
From the martyrdom of Haipou Jadonang, the Rongmei Naga leader who built an army of 500 to take on the British in the early 20th century to Rani Gaidinliu, who called upon ethnic Naga tribes to...
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Ghoongat, Untouchability, Dowry: This Forgotten ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ Fought Them All
I was in school when I came across an immortal line of poetry which read, “Khoob Ladi Mardani, Woh toh Jhansi wali Rani Thi’‘ penned by legendary Hindi poet and freedom fighter Subhadra Kumari Chauhan....
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The Goan Doctor Who Risked His Life to Treat 18,000 Mumbaikars From Bubonic...
With the World Health Organization recently declaring the deadly Coronavirus a global pandemic, many historians have harked back to the year 1918. It was a time when an influenza virus devastated vast...
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The Hungry Bengal: How a Common Man’s Provocative & Poignant Art Exposed the...
It was yet another day, overrun with darkness and gloom when a man in his late twenties emerged from the shadows, his head full of matted and greasy hair. As he tugged on the tattered strap of an...
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When Savitribai Phule & Her Son Gave Their Lives to Save Bubonic Plague Victims
As we live quarantined in the safety of our homes, there are dedicated doctors out there who are working tirelessly towards saving lives while putting their own at risk. In this pandemic that has...
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The Story of How This Unsung Diwan of Mysore Shaped Bengaluru & Jaipur
Every city has its own distinct charm. For example, when I think of Bengaluru, the first thing that comes to my mind is beautiful gardens, while Jaipur is the ‘pink city’ full of heritage with a touch...
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Guilt-Stricken On Killing a Tiger, Padma Shri Officer Went On To Change Their...
Our history is replete with stories of elaborate big game hunts, particularly of tigers and leopards, that were a favourite pastime of royal families in the Indian subcontinent. These events were often...
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Labourer to Liberator: The Forgotten Hero Who Helped End Colonial Slavery in...
While slavery was formally abolished by the 1830s in British colonies, what came in its place was a system of labour that was as bad if not worse. “As for slavery, which ended in British colonies by...
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Publisher of Ghalib, This Forgotten Pioneer Sparked India’s Love For Printed...
The history of printing in India dates back to 1556 when Jesuit missionaries from Portugal set up the first printing press in Goa. In 1577, Doctrina Christam, a Tamil translation of a Portuguese text...
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The Unsung ‘Coolie’ Who Made the First Astronomical Discovery by an Indian
Chinthamani Ragoonatha Chary, the 19th-century astronomer, holds a special place in the history of modern astronomy in India. He was the first India-born astronomer to publish a research paper (in the...
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Past is Present: Chennai Historian Helps You ‘Travel Through Time’ During...
With The Positive Collective, The Better India’s COVID-19 coverage is available to regional language publications for free. Write to editorial@thebetterindia.com for more details. “For many of us,...
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First to Use ‘Hinglish’, This Forgotten Writer Helped Spark the ‘Bengal...
With The Positive Collective, The Better India’s COVID-19 coverage is available to regional language publications for free. Write to editorial@thebetterindia.com for more details. In April 1831, a...
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Seth Walchand’s Secret: The Story of a Forgotten WW II Bunker in Mumbai
With The Positive Collective, The Better India’s COVID-19 coverage is available to regional language publications for free. Write to editorial@thebetterindia.com for more details. Seth Walchand...
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Pune’s Kayani to Kolkata’s Nahoum: 10 Iconic Bakeries That Won India’s...
With The Positive Collective, The Better India’s COVID-19 coverage is available to regional language publications for free. Write to editorial@thebetterindia.com for more details. As a child, I used...
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