Page 4 - Eye Culture
Rahul Jacob: Autumn of our discontent
Roger Federer was not even at Flushing Meadows, having elected to sit out the rest of 2016 to allow a knee injury to heal
Shuma Raha: When 'he' is a 'zie'
The use of "he" as a generic pronoun is deemed offensive, and the PC rulebook will be thrown at you if don't follow it up with a polite "or she"
Shreekant Sambrani: Changing India's sporting culture
All of us who are crying ourselves a river over India's poor performance at Rio would do well to introspect and take the right road to Tokyo
Shuma Raha: Simply Semenya
If you go to the Twitter account of South African sprinter Caster Semenya, you will find that many of her tweets contain messages like this: "Be happy in front of your haters. It kills them." It's because hate, great blasts of it, often comes her way. Semenya, 25, is the favourite to win the gold in the women's 800m in Rio on Sunday. In fact, she has been in such blistering form this year that she could end up shattering the event's 33-year-old record set by Jarmila Kratochvílova of Czechoslovakia. Yet, even as she stands on the threshold of greatness, Semenya has been at the centre of controversy, debate and at times, plain loathing.Semenya is hyperandrogenic, with significantly higher levels of testosterone than that occurring in an average woman. The controversy around her pivots on this. Testosterone builds muscle mass, spurs red blood cell production, and boosts the oxygen carrying capacity of cells, all of which are critical for an athlete's peak performance. The question is, si
Vikram Johri: Ordinary gay lives
When HBO's honchos decided to cancel Looking after the show's second season last year, they greenlit a wrap-up movie that would, fans were promised, tie up any loose ends
Uttaran Das Gupta: Mother of rickshawpullers
When Mahasweta Devi died last month, the first person I thought of was Byapari. Tracing him down on Facebook, I called him, demanding a new story
Shuma Raha: Star Trek at 50
Star Trek Beyond is visually spectacular - with stunning special effects and gazillions of zero-gravity action
Vikram Johri: The box-office sultan
With Sultan, Salman Khan's latest starrer, on course to become the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, the actor's position as the unrivalled king of Bollywood has been further cemented
Dhruv Munjal: What women's tennis needs
What women's tennis needs is a golden generation - one that can make matches competitive and viewing more riveting
Vikram Johri: Anurag Kashyap's dark, unidimensional world
Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Ramanna, a serial killer, in the recently released Raman Raghav 2.0, loosely based on the story of the real Raman Raghav, who terrorised Mumbai in the 1960s
Shuma Raha: Surrogacy rising
Bollywood biggies Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan and their wives used surrogates to have a child in 2011 and 2013 respectively
Aabhas Sharma: The great (foot)ball of China
China is methodically and strategically attacking football at different levels
Shuma Raha: Bollywood hits IS
The idea is to infuriate and unnerve the jihadis who live by an ultra-orthodox interpretation of Islam and consider music to be frivolous and unholy
Vikram Johri: Regional films on a roll
Sairat by Nagraj Manjule is a Marathi film about young love between members of different castes. Thithi by Raam Reddy is a Kannada film about the death of a family patriarch
Shuma Raha: High on haldi
Now haldi doodh has gone global, and it's got health freaks and food faddists all blissed out
Shuma Raha: It's Bond. Jane Bond?
Indeed, ever since actor Daniel Craig refused a £68-million offer to play 007 for the fifth time
Desh Gaurav Chopra Sekhri: History in the making at Roland Garros
Playing better and with solid purpose this clay court season, Nadal is looking to win his tenth title here, and will ask some difficult questions of anyone he is pitted against
Vikram Johri: A modern classic
With Wolf Hall winning the Bafta award for Best TV series this week, Hilary Mantel's novel has now won accolades across the literature and television firmaments
Vikram Johri: A missed chance
In pre-liberalisation India, the film industry - both the art circuit and Bollywood - routinely portrayed industrialists as villainous and all-powerful agents stacked against the common man
Makarand R Paranjape: The deepest Orientalist
The author, or should I say authority, behind these words is Sheldon Pollock, Arvind Raghunathan Professor of South Asian Studies at Columbia University, and Mentor-Chief Editor of the Murty Library