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Aishwarya KhoslaMar 11, 2026
The author of The Hyderabadis on the Shia roots of the Old City, the slow collapse of the Gulf dream, and whether a composite culture can survive the pressures closing in on it.
Nikita MohtaMar 6, 2026
In September 1914, Captain Karl von Müller, who was in charge of ‘SMS Emden’, ordered an attack on several large oil tanks in Madras—a bombardment that was a severe blow to British morale.
Adrija RoychowdhuryMar 1, 2026
What ‘martyrdom’ means in Iran: From Karbala to Khamenei Subscriber Only
Rooted in Shiism, the official religion of the Islamic Republic, martyrdom is not merely a theological concept but a powerful strand in the country’s collective memory and political imagination.
Nikita MohtaFeb 27, 2026
The forgotten story of Yankee merchants: America’s first trade connection with India Subscriber Only
US trade with India began immediately after America’s independence from Britain in 1783, when American shipowners could trade directly with the East.
Adrija RoychowdhuryFeb 24, 2026
The political debate around Vande Mataram cannot be understood without revisiting Anandamath, the 1882 novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay that embedded the song within a larger nationalist narrative set during the 18th-century Sanyasi Rebellion.
Feb 19, 2026
Meet ‘Capital’, the forgotten Kolkata newspaper that invented business journalism in India Subscriber Only
From 1888 to 1979, ‘Capital’ reported on trade, production, taxation, infrastructure, labour relations, and politics with balanced authority and clarity.
Nikita MohtaFeb 18, 2026
Aminia Restaurant: From a tiny food cart in 1929 to a biryani institution in Kolkata Subscriber Only
Aminia’s legacy traces its roots to Dariabad, a small town near Lucknow, says Kabir Azhar, the fourth-generation owner of the iconic Kolkata restaurant.
Nikita MohtaFeb 17, 2026
Jesse Jackson: The Civil Rights icon who popularised the term ‘African American’ over ‘Black’ Subscriber Only
Born in 1941, Jesse Jackson emerged as a civil rights leader, shaped by the principles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi
Adrija RoychowdhuryFeb 16, 2026
The forgotten Danish colony in India: How Tranquebar became Denmark’s foothold in Tamil Nadu Subscriber Only
An expedition meant to challenge the Portuguese in Sri Lanka instead left behind a Protestant church, a Tamil printing press, and a marginal empire in Tranquebar.
Nikita MohtaFeb 12, 2026
Deepta Roy Chakraverti’s ‘Daktarin Jamini Sen’ traces Jamini Sen’s journey from her birth in a Bengal village to her rise as one of British India’s first female doctors.
Nikita MohtaFeb 11, 2026
Founded in 1552 by King Edward VI in the United Kingdom, Shrewsbury School opened its fully boarding international campus in Bhopal last year.
Aishwarya KhoslaFeb 10, 2026
The king’s lover and a devil, a spotted monster: Why the 17th century needed the Duke of Buckingham to die Subscriber Only
Hated in his lifetime and celebrated in death, the Duke of Buckingham became the convenient villain through whom England learned to criticise power without naming the king.
Nikita MohtaFeb 4, 2026
Weapon of peace or trade war? Trump slashes India tariffs to 18% in historic deal. But the Founding Fathers might disagree Subscriber Only
While Trump described the reduction of tariffs on Indian goods as an act of reciprocity, an idea rooted in early American trade policy, the First Tariff Act of 1789 treated reciprocity as a safeguard against
Nikita MohtaFeb 2, 2026
Echoes of history: Before Sunetra Pawar, VN Janaki was sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM after MGR’s death Subscriber Only
Vaikom Narayani Janaki served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for 23 days in 1988 following the death of her husband, M G Ramachandran (MGR).
Nikita MohtaJan 30, 2026
Book excerpt: How Sikkim went from kingdom to Indian state Subscriber Only
Akhilesh Upadhyay’s book, In the Margins of Empires: A History of the Chicken’s Neck, spotlights the borderland people of the eastern Himalayan region who find themselves caught in the crosscurrents of larger geopolitical rivalries.
Adrija RoychowdhuryJan 28, 2026
From Opium Wars to 1962 Tezpur invasion, Shehnab Sahin opens a fictional window to Assam’s forgotten history Subscriber Only
Shehnab Sahin’s short story collection, ‘Colour My Grave Purple and Other Stories’, seeks to expand Assam’s narrative beyond insurgency and AFSPA.
Aishwarya KhoslaJan 27, 2026
‘Ireland was laboratory for the Empire’: Jane Ohlmeyer on India, Ireland and British rule Subscriber Only
Historian Jane Ohlmeyer reflects on the long and uneasy connections between Ireland and India under British rule, from shared imperial structures and Irish participation in empire to partition, migration, and the politics of historical memory.
Adrija RoychowdhuryJan 23, 2026
From Exile to Alternative: Why the Son of Iran’s Last Shah is Suddenly Back in Focus Subscriber Only
"The Pahlavi monarchy has always been there as a strong alternative... especially in the minds of younger people." As anti-government protests challenge the Islamic Republic, the legacy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his father,
Nikita MohtaJan 22, 2026
At a time when US President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ threatens the UN’s future, the League of Nations and its collapse offers some sobering lessons.
Nikita MohtaJan 20, 2026
Why Kabaddi still lives in the shadow of Cricket Subscriber Only
Once played across the subcontinent under many names, kabaddi was rapidly standardised in newly independent India. This process enabled its rise as a “national sport” but also eroded much of its vernacular and rural roots
Jan 17, 2026
How Kolkata wrote her own history, one year at a time Subscriber Only
19th-century English Directories and Bengali Directory-Panjikas recorded streets, professions and rituals with a precision modern urban history often neglects
Nikita MohtaJan 14, 2026
While US President Donald Trump has reiterated his desire to take control of resource-rich Greenland, he is not the first to harbour such intentions, history shows.
Aishwarya KhoslaJan 13, 2026
The long, uneasy history of women, cigarettes, and freedom Subscriber Only
Once engineered as a symbol of women’s liberation, the cigarette has travelled a long road from corporate manipulation to cinematic cliché, and now, to acts of rebellion under Iran’s authoritarian rule.
Nikita MohtaJan 9, 2026
Why the Monroe Doctrine, meant for Europe, still echoes in Venezuela — and once in India Subscriber Only
The Monroe Doctrine was meant to keep European empires out of the Americas. But it has, scholars argue, become a flexible tool for justifying US intervention instead. President Donald Trump’s invocation of the doctrine over
Rohan BasuJan 8, 2026
Why ‘national’ science has been obsessed with ancient history Subscriber Only
Today, when NCERT textbooks assert that Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya developed algebra independently and before Arab scholars, they repeat a logic that has haunted Indian scholarship for nearly two centuries. Such claims are framed as historical
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