Selected Publications

NPR Weekend Edition

• How climate change is threatening a fishing community in coastal India For Mumbai's Koli people, the full moon marks the traditional end of the monsoon rains and a chance to return to the sea. Climate change is threatening their way of life.

Financial Times

• Commuting is back — but not as we knew it *Pandemic predictions that the daily journey to work would die off are greatly exaggerated, according to FT analysis *

PRX The World

• ‘We still need to fight’: Indian Supreme Court rules against same-sex marriage On Tuesday, India’s Supreme Court declined to legalize same-sex marriage, dealing a blow to millions of LGBTQ Indians living in the world’s largest country.
• 30 years after a devastating earthquake, this school in India continues a legacy of support for survivors Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana’s educational rehabilitation school in Pune, India, was founded to support the complex needs of students who have experienced natural disasters and other traumatic crises. The school hopes to be a model for disaster relief around the world.
• Investigation begins into India's deadly train crash *On Sunday, rescue workers pulled the last survivor from the devastating crash in eastern Odisha state that has left at least 275 dead and more than a thousand injured. Relatives are now on the scene trying to locate loved ones and train services on the line have resumed. *
• In Mumbai, waste pickers do the heavy lifting of recycling Waste pickers collect and send garbage to Dharavi, an informal settlement where thousands of recyclers live and work. They sort through the piles, and clean and separate the different types of materials destined for a second or third life. Without them, much of the city’s trash would end up in incinerators or dumped in landfills.
• Indian Supreme Court begins hearings on same-sex marriage India’s ruling party, the BJP, opposes the move, saying it goes against India’s culture and values. But proponents say there’s a basis in Indian law and history to grant LGBTQ these rights.
• This beloved Bollywood film gets a new life on Broadway The 1995 Bollywood film “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” or “DDLJ,” is the longest-running film in India’s history, screening daily for 27 years. Now, the irresistible love story is heading to Broadway.
• Gay couples in India hope same-sex marriage will soon be legal India’s Supreme Court overturned a longstanding British colonial law that banned gay sex several years ago. But gay marriage is not legal. Advocates hope that will change soon.

NPR Goats and Soda

• As the 'water tower of Asia' dries out, villagers learn to recharge their springs Himalayan mountain springs are a lifeline for millions living in northern India. Now, as many of them run dry, local women are working to bring them back.

The Pulse, WHYY

• Can the cheetah help save India's Grasslands? Inside India's effort to protect the grasslands, and the people and animals that rely on them.

Bloomberg CityLab

• A New Metro Brings Controversy to Mumbai’s ‘Green Lung’ Protesters are battling a transit plan that will cut thousands of trees and displace hundreds of residents from the Indian megacity’s only woodland.
• In Detroit, a Hallowed Ground for Auto Workers Finally Gets Its Due On the banks of the Rouge River, a new park honors the victims of the Ford Hunger March, a long-ignored milestone in labor union history.

Fifty Two (featured on Longreads)

• Smashed How Prohibition came to Andhra Pradesh, and how it’s going.

Slate

• Indian Muslims Are Being Scapegoated for the Coronavirus The #CoronaJihad narrative is a knee-jerk reaction for the Hindu nationalist government.
• India’s Great Disenfranchisement Narendra Modi’s government may be about to strip citizenship from millions of people. No one knows where they will go.
• Caste, the Patriarchy, and Climate Change The Dalit female farmers of India’s Tamil Nadu state are working together to overcome a daunting set of challenges.

The Atlantic

• When One Big Cat Is Almost Like the Other India’s Supreme Court has to decide if African cheetahs could sub in for the country’s long-lost population of Asiatic cheetahs.

• The Privacy Battle Over the World's Largest Biometric Database A new ruling could jeopardize India’s controversial collection of citizens’ fingerprints, photographs, and iris scans.

Atlas Obscura

• The Biryani Cooked Inside Bamboo A tourism bureau’s embrace of a tribal dish brings both promise and peril.

Scroll.in

• BOOK REVIEW: ‘What’s Left of the Jungle’ tells a moving and human story of wildlife management and conservation Nitin Sekar writes of life, love and elephants.

Helter Skelter

• BOOK REVIEW: His Father’s Disease The ten stories that make up Aruni Kashyap’s unflinching new collection, His Father’s Disease, roam between the turbulent villages of Assam and the frigid placidity of the American Midwest, and explore the complexities of identity and isolation, violence and resilience amidst diverse backdrops.

• BOOK REVIEW: Small Days and Nights Following its brief prologue, Tishani Doshi’s sprawling new novel Small Days and Nights opens by saying, “return is never the experience you hope for.”

• INTERVIEW: Point of Pain Annie Zaidi’s Prelude to a Riot is a closely observed study of the underlying tensions lurking within a sleepy South Indian community.

• INTERVIEW: A Transdisciplinary Approach Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories, Vandana Singh’s latest collection of short stories, brings together thirteen previously published works and one new, haunting piece, ‘Requiem’, that serves as an exploration of language, climate change, and resistance.

• INTERVIEW: Stories of Nagaland Easterine Kire’s new novel A Respectable Woman effortlessly weaves together generational family narratives with chapters of Nagaland’s tumultuous history, beginning with the Japanese invasion of Kohima during World War II.

The Juggernaut

• Apple’s Long-Awaited India Debut Apple is finally opening its legendary physical stores and online store in India — but will it help the company corner the notoriously competitive market?

Roads and Kingdoms

• THE STATUE THAT’S SPLITTING MUMBAI A plan to honor warrior-king Shivaji Maharaj with a giant statue in Mumbai threatens the fishing communities that were the city’s first inhabitants.

Sanctuary Asia

• INTERVIEW: Meet David Wallace Wells American journalist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells has been a strong voice of reason on climate change science and environmental issues.

The Telegraph

• Inside the Slumdog Millionaire neighbourhood suffering India's punitive lockdown measures Social distancing is impossible, and life is becoming very hard for the slum's hundreds of thousands of residents.

Welt-Sichten (German)

• Wie Inder auf die Kolonialzeit blicken Rechtssystem, Kastenwesen, Bildung oder Kultur: Überall hat die britische Kolonialherrschaft in Indien tiefe Spuren hinterlassen. Mit den dadurch vertieften sozialen Gegensätzen kämpft das Land bis heute.

• Eingesperrt im Elendsviertel Mit einem rabiat durchgesetzten Lockdown versucht die indische Regierung, das Coronavirus einzudämmen. Unter den Folgen leiden vor allem arme Wanderarbeiter, Slumbewohner und die muslimische Minderheit des Landes.

• Superreich und geizig Inder spenden gern für wohltätige Zwecke – aber je mehr Geld sie haben, desto weniger geben sie. Auch die Kampagne der Regierung gegen die Zivilgesellschaft schreckt Spender ab.

• Staatenlos im Heimatland Im indischen Bundesstaat Assam müssen zwei Millionen Menschen um ihre Staatsbürgerschaft bangen. Indiens Regierung begrüßt das – für sie gehört Indien den Hindus.

• Weg von Schulen nur für Reiche Indien hat Privatschulen gesetzlich verpflichtet, ärmere Kinder aufzunehmen. Davon profitieren auch die Zöglinge der Elite – aber geht das auf Kosten der staatlichen Schulen?

• Der Makel der dunklen Haut Hellhäutig, schlank und mit glatten Haaren – dieses Schönheitsideal ist in Indien tief verwurzelt, nicht zuletzt im Kastenwesen. Doch in den Städten wächst der Widerstand gegen die Diskriminierung nach Hautfarbe.

• Freiheit ohne Angst Vor mehr als fünf Jahren sorgte die brutale Vergewaltigung einer Studentin in Indien für einen öffentlichen Aufschrei. Wie geht die indische Gesellschaft heute mit Sexualverbrechen um?

• Der gläserne Inder Die indische Regierung hat mit Aadhaar die größte biometrische Datenbank der Welt geschaffen. Sie soll Armen den Zugang zu Sozialhilfen erleichtern – doch die Angst vor Überwachung wächst.