Society & Culture Stories
Two sisters accused father of sexual abuse. One died from neglect, the other by suicide
It's a tragic story, far more common than society cares to admit, that shows just how little has changed for incest survivors and why they are mostly still left to fight alone
Pakistani man explains how he became the bully he never saw
After his post admitting he was once a bully went viral, Umar Hameed revisits childhood memories of body-shaming, sibling humiliation and classroom cruelty and asks why families and schools so often mistake emotional harm for harmless growing up
- Umar Hameed
- TIMESOFINDIA.COM
When Kolhapuri went couture
After Prada’s ‘sandal scandal’, Indian footwear labels are giving the chappal a high-fashion spin with sneaker and silk makeovers, bringing fresh attention to the craft and its artisans
- Sneha Bhura
- TNN
‘Why That Man Wasn’t For Me’
There are men who believe beds make themselves & fresh parathas appear by magic at midnight. They woo passionately, but afterwards the woman plays second fiddle to MIL, cricket, and PlayStation
- Mila Supinskaya
- TIMESOFINDIA.COM
What India needs to understand to truly be a 'Vishwaguru'
India’s strength has never come from imagined civilisational supremacy or from screaming insults at 'Macaulay’s children'.
- Devdutt Pattanaik
- THE ECONOMIC TIMES
Talking death over coffee and cake
From cafes and literacy festivals to doulas and yoga circles, people are finding newer, gentler spaces to tackle loss and end-of-life care
Char Dham tourism, and the need to balance economy with ecology
As pilgrim traffic surges in the Himalayas, faith, fragile mountains and unchecked growth are on a collision course
The smart case for dumbphones
The old-school handset, with no internet and no apps, is making a comeback as users tire of doomscrolling and constant pings, fear privacy breaches
- Shruti Sonal
- TNN
Balcony Of Boundaries: Adjusting, Not Disappearing
That little place that looks out is a blessing. It doesn’t make family storms go away. It isn’t an exit. It’s about finding one’s emotional equilibrium. This can be the most loving thing to do in a crowded household
Pursuit of Buddha’s Relics
Piprahwa relics are welcome back in India. But it may alter the architecture of restitution – India invoked their return as a right, but the relics returned as part of a private collection on loan to govt
‘Why should rappers have all the fun?’ How Rishab Sharma made the sitar sexy again
With an LED-lit sitar, DJ instincts, and a wellness twist, the Gen Z musician is turning riyaaz into reels, and classical music recitals into roaring arenas
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Aam Aadmi, Khas Identity
What our favourite mango reveals about who we are – from our childhood to our personality types. The French have their Bordeaux and Beaujolais. We have our Alphonso and Langda
What The Woman In Worli Tells Us About Our Life
A political rally had blocked her from picking up her child from school. When our life is interrupted like this without apology, our roads & time taken from us, why shouldn’t we get angry?
‘Pure milk’, ‘protein shakes’: How dry Bihar gets its high
A decade of prohibition in the state has pushed drinking underground, creating coded doorstep liquor deliveries, a booming black market, rising drug abuse, and repeated hooch tragedies
- Madan Kumar
- TNN
How Raghu Rai documented India's most chaotic and iconic moments
Rai’s frames documented India's biggest names but also the song of struggling India, with washermen, wrestlers, construction workers, and cart pullers also becoming the subjects of iconic photos.
- Avijit Ghosh
- TNN
500 years after the First Battle of Panipat, a turning point fades from memory
It took roughly 300 minutes and changed India, but the anniversary barely makes a ripple beyond worn-out memorials and a few residents keeping bits of its past alive
- Sneha Bhura
- TNN
The enemy within: Changing face of rape on screen
No torn blouses, leering villains and revenge sagas. Some filmmakers are moving beyond tropes to confront the ordinariness of sexual offenders and systems that enable everyday harm
- Shruti Sonal
- TNN
Why We Shouldn’t Feel So Bad About Our Bad Sex Life
As philosopher Alain de Botton explains, modern lovers should redraw their expectations from relationships – they should value any satisfaction they get, as the norm really is sexual rejection
A year after Pahalgam horror, families speak of loss and change
Spouses & families of men killed in the April 22, 2025 terror attack recount loss, resilience, anger, and the long struggle to move forward
- Team TOI
- TNN
Band, bajaa, reverse baraat: The dads turning divorce into a homecoming
If there is one thing these fathers seem to agree on, it is that stigma thrives in silence. So, they decided to borrow from the visual language of a wedding — the procession, band-baaja, and public spectacle — and deploy it at the other end of the marital journey
- Mohua Das
- TNN