“In 1976, Nanda Devi Unsoeld, the daughter of legendary alpinist Willi Unsoeld, died while climbing the massive Indian peak for which she was named.”
India
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
How rural America is failing migrants. The life lessons of soccer strategy. Moving on after the unthinkable happens. One house’s unsettling past. And a conversation between film icons. (Who doesn’t need more Nic Cage?) Welcome to our editors’ five favorite stories of the week. 1. What Happened to Rezwan Kartikay Mehrotra, Matti Gellman | ProPublica, […]
Identity Crisis
“In a checklist of responses to a large-scale disaster, victim identification comes low down the pecking order.”
A Touch of Moss
“Inside a rainforest or on the city pavement, moss asks so little yet offers so much: a tactile encounter with time itself”
Living Through India’s Next-Level Heat Wave
India is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave. Dhruv Khullar describes what living and working in the extreme heat feels like, especially for the country’s poorest residents in and around Delhi. The women described headaches, exhaustion, dizziness, rashes, fever. The stench of the landfill—an acrid mixture of excrement and rotting trash—was sickening, they said, but the […]
The Sizzler: The California Origin Story Behind One of India’s Flashiest Dishes
Whether you’re a fan of culinary cross-pollination or just loaded nachos/fries/[insert substrate here], you’ll leave this gustatory lineage story with a growling stomach. And if you’re lucky enough to live near a place that serves sizzlers? Well, you’ll just have to try to beat me there. About ten minutes after we put in our order, […]
The State We Are In: Neither Here, There, nor in Heaven
On vaccine privilege in America and COVID-19 inequities in India.
India’s Journalistic Source of Narrative Nonfiction
The dangers of journalists speaking the truth will not slow this Indian magazine down.
The Rise of a Hindu Vigilante in the Age of WhatsApp and Modi
“They pushed him against a closet and told him to strip so they could see whether he was circumcised, a sure sign that he wasn’t Hindu. After that, the group handed the man over to police.”
Arundhati Roy: 1.3 Billion on Lockdown on Four Hours’ Notice
“Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could.”