Page 10 - Weekend Reads

Bibek Debroy's translation of the Markandeya Purana animates Devi Mahatamya

The description of how the Shakti was born and how the evil was annihilated towers above the other highly erudite chapters on Yoga, Dharma and Karma

Prolific Indian jazz musician Adil Manuel on balancing craft with commerce

Adil's parents were rock and rollers as their home in Uttar Pradesh echoed with The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Cream and Peter Frampton

Diss and be damned

When a basic food item galvanised the masses to rise against an empire

The cover story: What makes the SPG India's finest special protection force

The SPG was raised in 1985 after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her bodyguards

Indonesia's Gili Islands are an underwater museum of art and marine life

Bit by bit, these sculptures are becoming home to soft corals and sponges. Soon, they will form coral reefs

As a mountain biking motivator, add a little electronic assist

E-mountain bikes may enable newcomers to gain fitness on daunting hills or snowy trails

A 'soul writing' retreat in Thailand's Chiang Rai converts a cynic

Certified cynic Payal Dhar braves a 'soul writing' retreat and is left quite surprised by the results

CHESS #1377

Alexander Grischuk beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the finals of the Hamburg Grand Prix, winning 2.5-1.5 in Rapid tiebreaks

Golden girls of comedy introduce black women in all their complexity

The show is deeply rooted in black culture, having been written and acted by an all-female, all-black cast, and is laugh-out-loud funny even to those outside it

Mumbai's NCPA turns 50 and is throwing a cultural extravaganza to celebrate

NCPA will showcase old favourites and new productions in a festival marking the Mumbai culture venue's 50-year-old history

Art in the time of recession

What insiders wish for is a revival of interest in contemporary artists and their work; many who made a name for themselves before the 2008 crash have still to recover

John le Carre's is an unremarkable novel about spies in the time of Brexit

This is not a novel of quality. This review is a call for the master

The faces behind the voices of the ongoing student protests at JNU

Students are against differential fees and also now demand nothing less than the removal of the Vice Chancellor

Inside the toxic world of online trolls and the devastation they cause

A Molotov cocktail of lies, abuse and bigotry is blowing up social media

How spyware Pegasus used WhatsApp servers to infect phones and steal data

Pegasus has been around for three years and is considered one of the most sophisticated spyware in the market

Not yet retired: This octogenarian duo refuses to give up on civic activism

From collecting money to build toilets for primary students in government schools to saving a lake from land sharks, Padmanabha and Rao are the dynamic duo of civic activism

Myths and modernity

The only complaint one has of this book is that it is so slim

On the rise of nationalism and the urgent need for interdependence

Economist Nitin Desai analyses what ails nations today and offers a prescription for the future

'The Crown' executes a peaceful palace coup

Created and written by Peter Morgan, the series has spent two acclaimed seasons exploring the nation's politics and social mores through the prism of Queen Elizabeth II's reign

Feeble to formidable

India's fielders can today probably save at least 50 runs more per innings as opposed to our teams of the past