Essays

Sarita Ravindranath

Mar 4, 20223 min read

Watching the Great Pied Hornbill

“So, you’re travelling 600 km in the hope of meeting someone who doesn’t really want to see you?” A friend’s question comes back to me as...

Sarita Ravindranath

Mar 3, 20224 min read

Five favourite Gulzar songs

He has hovered around in the background while you were at the nearest nightclub (Dhan Te Nan) or at the crossroads, worrying about your...

Sarita Ravindranath

Feb 28, 20224 min read

Kerala's Women in Cinema Collective: Why their fight is important to us all

A primer on the formation of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) and why the ramifications of the case against actor Dileep go beyond...

Sarita Ravindranath

Feb 21, 20224 min read

Lost in Tranquebar: Singing waves, torrid affairs and a grand history

It's the middle of the night and I'm sandwiched between two slices of history - a 1306 AD temple and a 1620 AD fort. And I just can't...

Sarita Ravindranath

Feb 11, 20224 min read

Murder and the Malayalee: Revisiting Yavanika

Who killed whom and why? It seems no one wants to know just that any more. The murder novel has evolved beyond answering simplistic...

Sarita Ravindranath

Feb 9, 20226 min read

Ramayana: Lessons from Lalithambika Antharjanam's 1972 classic

The bullies from Kozhikode haven't just stopped Kerala scholar Dr MM Basheer from publishing an essay on the Ramayana. The Hanuman Sena's...