Somak Ghoshal

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

Celebrations, uninterrupted

Milestones have a special place in our lives. Cutting the 13th birthday cake, throwing the graduation hat on commencement day, buying gifts for parents with the first salary, deciding the colour of the wedding dress, holding your newborn—these moments...

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

How pets helped Indians get through the pandemic

The last time Job Koshy had a pet was when he was eight or 10 years old. “We had a Dobermann puppy who lived with my family for five years,” says the Bengaluru-based edutech professional, now 33 and a father of two. “He was my best friend and died...

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

'The government will use the pandemic as a pretext for economic collapse'

To those of us following the course of the pandemic via hourly news updates, Vinay Lal affords a unique lens to look at covid-19. His excellent new book, The Fury Of COVID-19: The Politics, Histories, And Unrequited Love Of The Coronavirus , provides...

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

Can the Indian state save itself from satirists?

Over a century ago, when Bengali writer, illustrator and publisher Sukumar Ray wrote his satirical poem , he lampooned the administrative excesses of the British Raj. In the topsy-turvy world of his lyric, poets are held in cages, presumably for...

Mint Lounge • 8th January 2021

Will we sleep better in 2021?

Neha Tiwari, a 35-year-old bookstore-café owner in Pune, was already suffering from insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder when the covid-19 pandemic broke out and her sleep routine went out of whack. “The pandemic has been rough for a lot of...

Mintlounge • 19th November 2020

I am willing to fight and pay a price: Swara Bhasker

Swara Bhasker recounts a formative moment from her childhood in the “Foreword” to , a new book that maps the evolution of democracy in India and its culture of protests in the last decade. At the age of 10, the actor writes, shortly after watching...

Mintlounge • 19th November 2020

Whose Durga Puja is it anyway?

Durga Puja has arrived in unusual circumstances this year due to the covid-19 pandemic, but not without its share of controversies. Whereas in the past the self-proclaimed custodians of Hindu religion have routinely flown into a rage, offended by...

Mintlounge • 19th November 2020

From Godhra to Shaheen Bagh, there are many 1984s: Sarbpreet Singh

On 31 October 1984, as the Tinsukhia Mail was about to reach Kanpur station, the news of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards reached the passengers aboard the train. It’s not hard to imagine the consternation...

Mint Lounge • 19th October 2020

World Mental Health Day | How to make sure the kids are alright

In the last quarter of her new book, C Is For Cat D Is For Depression (Scholastic India, 495), Kairavi Bharat Ram hurls a couple of riders at the reader: “But is anyone really normal? Is anyone really fine?”

Mint Lounge • 19th October 2020

World Mental Health Day | Is online therapy a boon for mental health in India?

The covid-19 pandemic has pushed many of our physical life experiences into the virtual realm. Seeing a mental health professional is no exception. In the days of yore, a session with the therapist would involve commuting to their clinic, whiling away...

Livemint • 10th September 2020

Chef Ranveer Brar is #MakingMillionCount by helping Indian street food vendors

Ranveer Brar has crossed many milestones as a celebrity chef, but the recent addition to his multi-feathered cap was hitting the 1-millionth-follower count on Instagram. To mark the occasion, he launched a new project this week, in association with...

Livemint • 22nd August 2020

Opinion | Bloomsbury India cares neither for freedom of speech nor for society

Opinion | Bloomsbury India cares neither for freedom of speech nor for society Faced with a controversy the company has swiftly distanced itself from a book on the Delhi violence in February. But it’s too little, too late

Livemint • 19th August 2020

Pankaj Mishra on liberals, Hindu supremacists, and the future of Left politics

Pankaj Mishra on liberals, Hindu supremacists, and the future of Left politics The writer speaks to Lounge about his new book 'Bland Fanatics', the covid-19 pandemic, and its impact on geopolitics

HuffPost India • 30th July 2020

FYI: India has topped the list of countries with pollution-related deaths in 2015.

FYI: India has topped the list of countries with pollution-related deaths in 2015.

HuffPost India • 30th July 2020

The Facebook Campaign To Name Alleged Sex Offenders Does A Disservice To Feminism

A trial by social media may not be an ideal route to justice, but it's hard not to see its temptation.

SAGE Journals • 29th July 2020

Modi and his angry men

India’s men are responding with violence to Modi’s increasingly nationalist war cry.

Livemint • 29th July 2020

How Noor Inayat Khan, a descendent of Tipu Sultan, became a household name

Since her 2006 book on the Indian-origin British spy, journalist Shrabani Basu has made it her mission to spread Noor Inayat Khan's name far and wide. Now Khan's face may appear on British coins soon

Taylor & Francis • 29th July 2020

Thresholds and Borders: Reflections on the Art of Brexit

What are art and literature reacting to Brexit?

SAGE Journals • 29th July 2020

Open book?

In India, where people are forced to download a tracking app to get paid, journalists are worried about it also being used to access their contacts

Livemint • 15th March 2019

How to live more with less technology

For a computer scientist and best-selling author, Cal Newport keeps a low profile on the internet. “You won’t find him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram," says the bio on the flap of his recent book, Digital Minimalism: On Living Better With Less...