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I know, I know, some are Nolan-struck after The Odyssey fireworks. And Christopher did bring to Homer’s epic the grandeur it required, had us brush up on Greek myths, and turned us against each other on the star cast and Circe. While Odysseus, or Ulysses if that’s what you call him, navigated the Mediterranean Sea, even as an empty…

In 1978, in the infamous Mathura case, the Supreme Court of India acquitted two constables accused of raping a teenager at a police station, holding that the girl must have consented. The trial court had decided that she was habituated to sexual intercourse, and this was enough to doubt her word. In the case of Bhoghinbhai Hirjibhai, the court said…

Blowing in the wind from fans along a UP expressway If you haven’t watched the “only fans” show on Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, you’ve missed a milestone of Indian engineering. A showpiece road, built at a cost of ₹6.7L per metre – yes, each metre costs as much as a good hatchback car – crumbles a fortnight…

Blowing in the wind from fans along a UP expressway If you haven’t seen the “only-fans” show on the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, you’ve missed a strange new chapter in Indian engineering. A fancy new road, built at ₹6.7 lakh per metre — about the price of a good small car — started falling apart just two…

Building a life abroad often means living between opportunity and uncertainty. That tension runs through this week’s edition. The White House is making another run at birthright citizenship. New data challenges the myth of the underpaid H-1B worker by revealing which companies pay the highest salaries. And a teenager with roots in Gujarat is preparing…

This week, we are tracking: PK wins Bankpiur bypoll, upends Bihar politics Akhilesh’s new alphabet: P is for Pandit too Why your trading screen goes haywire at 3:15pm If UPI is free, who is paying for it? 1 bypoll, 3 warnings: Why PK’s win in Bankipur matters beyond Patna We should be wary of reading…

The spiritual meaning of the kanwar yatra is rooted in Hindu mythology, specifically the ancient legend of the ‘Samudra Manthan’, or the churning of the ocean. During this cosmic event, a catastrophic poison called ‘Halahal’ emerged, endangering the entire creation. To safeguard the universe, Shiv consumed the toxin and trapped it in his throat, turning his throat blue and bestowing…

HC sentence for Tejpal shows how grievously trial courts can misjudge rape cases In 2013, a young colleague accused Tarun Tejpal of raping her in a hotel lift. This was the first high-profile case under the Criminal Law Amendment Act passed that year. The post-Nirbhaya legislation aimed to punish sexual offences against women more dependably…

  SpaceX rocket’s lunar crash teaches a valuable lesson: don’t skimp on filling up the tank  Part of a SpaceX rocket crashed into Moon early on Wednesday. While scientists pore over data from this “unintentional” experiment, the most important takeaway for the rest of us is to always tank up before starting on a long…

An old-style schoolmaster would have made common cause with today’s Gen Z protesters I remember Mr Peterson and think of what he would have made of the Cockroach Janta Party. Affectionately nicknamed Gup by his students, Mr Peterson taught us English and History at La Martiniere Calcutta. He was one of the best teachers I’ve…