Most students these days know that to objectify someone is not a good thing. What about the opposite? What do they learn about cultures and practices that, on the face of it, view certain "objects" not as just bits of stone or art but as in fact, living, breathing, communicating, engaging, enchanting, empowering, cosmically "social" beings? Do they, in fact, learn at all that some "objects" are sacred, or at least, even if you don't "believe" in them, polite co-existence in diverse societies demands you don't go out of your way to mock, mutilate, or appropriate them? A few days ago, as we bega ..read more

His name, engraved in the hearts of billions with a massive cultural imprint, his words and teachings that transcend the time because the force propelling his prose is his vision for humanity, and his nerve and wit are well known. Even so, it is the duty of each generation to keep the flame alive because, in Swami Vivekananda's own words “Children of India, I am here to speak to you today about some practical things, and my object in reminding you about the glories of the past is simply this. Many times, I have been told that looking into the past only degenerates and leads to nothing, and tha ..read more

The Latin word “saeculum” is of uncertain origin but is used in Classical Latin to mean “generation”, “age”. In Christian usage it came to mean the world as opposed to the church. The Oxford English Dictionary records the use of the term "secular" to mean "belonging to the world, as distinct from the church and religion; civil lay, temporal, chiefly with the negative sense of non-ecclesiastical, nonreligious, or non-sacred". Later, the term took on more emotionally charged connotations, used positively by anti-religious persons to describe “the liberation of modern man from religious tutelage ..read more

Since their commercialization in the late 19th and early 20th century, pads followed closely by tampons, have become the primary period products used by menstruators. Although these products were the most widely accessible and affordable when they first came into the market, the amount of waste produced by them is enormous. The end of the 20th century witnessed the invention of a new, zero-waste period product - the menstrual cup. Menstrual cups are small funnel shaped cups generally made of either silicone or rubber that can be inserted into the vagina to collect menstrual blood. Image: Adve ..read more

The Birkins are one of the most coveted and exclusive handbags in the world, and have been since the 90’s. Now they are known to be the ultimate status symbol and the it-bag of the fashion industry. Hermès is known for the use of premium quality ostrich, crocodile, lizard, goat and calf leather to make these bags. An Hermès Ostrich Bag | Photo: Flickr The value of the Birkins has increased from the 1980’s by more than 500%. One might wonder what exactly is so special about these handbags? The simple answer; the premium quality and the craftsmanship. Or at least that was the answer. Today’s ge ..read more

The ultimate calling of humankind for young adults - the fashion industry attracts millions of people, every year, to the sparkling, radiant faces projected on larger than life billboards endorsing a reasonably priced makeup product. While beauty products come in all shapes, sizes and varieties, products which give users' skin a subtle shimmering glow have risen in popularity in the past decade and they all share one specific ingredient in common - Mica. Mica, known as dhebra in India, is often called nature's glitter due to its properties which allow it to be crushed into a sparkling powder ..read more

In the past week, several incidences of electronic voting machines (EVMs) being found in places where they shouldn't be, have raised allegations of voter fraud during the elections for the five state assemblies. While Congress and its allies continue to ramp up their rhetoric against the Election Commision for 'being in cahoots with the BJP' as evident from the rants of twitter user and congress sympathiser Saket Gokhale after some EVMs were allegedly found in BJP leader Krishnendu Paul's car, the controversies didn't seem to end as earlier today, 6th April, multiple EVMs and VVPAT slips were ..read more

From the capitalist and modern attitude Rahul Gandhi had pretended to bring on table before 2014 Lok Sabha elections to turning into a crooked, anti-business socialist, Rahul Gandhi and his echo chamber, Congress have come a long way. What some might see as a sign of an ideological evolution of the party is merely quest for a suitable political rhetoric for it's de facto leader, Gandhi keeps on opening cans of worms which come to bite himself in the back. In 2015, merely half a year after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in which BJP won a thumping majority and Congress failed to cross the half-c ..read more

Cairn Energy gave India its biggest onland oil discovery but exited the country after it was slapped with a Rs 10,247-crore tax demand using a draconian legislation passed under the Manmohan Singh administration that gave the government the powers to tax companies retrospectively. The firm has now won an international arbitration against the tax demand and the Indian government has been ordered to return the value of shares of Cairn it had sold, dividends it had seized and tax refund it had withheld to recover the tax demand. For a government struggling to find revenue to boost a COVID-19 batt ..read more

The past few years, riding on the internet liberalization a novel form of political involvement, Social Media has risen. Just two decades ago, one had to be proficient in at least the basics of politics, and socio-economic dynamics of the past to participate into any political activity and more so to 'rise the ranks' within any movement's leadership hierarchy. Today, doing the same requires a mobile device, an internet connection, a twitter account and an uncanny ability to proclaim every opposing voice, a fascist. Politics of any nation, any region, any city is almost always based on the eve ..read more