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Laurence Westwood
4 days ago4 min read
Casting of the Pearls: A Diplomatic Puzzle that shaped History’s Course
A 1077 diplomatic mission from the Chola Empire to the Song court raises questions about ancient maritime rivalries, trade and the...


Rajeev Puri
Feb 14 min read
The Forgotten Strongman
The unsung Jat hero from Rohtak, Sir Chhotu Ram and his Unionist Party stood as the bulwark against Jinnah’s ambitions for Punjab, but...


Shoumojit Banerjee
Jan 253 min read
What if Clive had lost at Plassey?
History is fickle. Some battles leave scars that fade faster than anticipated; others cast shadows long before anyone realizes their...


Sanjeev Sabde
Jan 215 min read
The Legacy of Mumbai’s Land Dynasties
Amid soaring real estate prices and widespread encroachments, the vast holdings of the metropolis’ early landowners hold stories of...


Christoph Ernst
Jan 204 min read
The Truce Mirage: Why the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Cannot Guarantee Peace
The Western assumption that all conflicts are amenable to negotiation misunderstands the zero-sum logic that governs much of the Middle...


Laurence Westwood
Jan 153 min read
Victorians, Volcanoes and Vanishing Species: The Great Auk’s Tragic Story
In the spring of 1848, two British naturalists, John Wolley and Alfred Newton, sailed to Iceland, propelled by equal measures of ambition...


Laurence Westwood
Jan 13 min read
In Defence of Papillon
It was 1976, or maybe 1977, during a hated French lesson, that Ajay, sitting behind me in class, tapped me on the back and muttered out...


Aditi Pai
Dec 28, 20243 min read
‘Bhagat Singh had covered 1924 Congress session in Belgaum as a journalist’
In an exclusive chat with ‘The Perfect Voice’ freedom fighter Vithal Yalgi, 98, reveals anecdotes from the 1924 Congress plenary session...


Laurence Westwood
Dec 22, 20244 min read
Navigating Empire: Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers in the Far East
The year was 1810, the place was Canton - a city on the edge of Qing Dynasty China, where trade and tension often mingled in precarious...


Smitha Balachandran
Dec 4, 20242 min read
Kanhoji Angre: Protecting the Konkan from Foreign Invaders
Kanhoji Angre, a Maratha naval admiral, is vividly brought to life in Sohail Rekhy’s Angria, capturing his relentless battles, personal...


Laurence Westwood
Dec 4, 20243 min read
The Mignonette’s Dark Legacy: Murder, Survival and the Shaping of Legal Doctrine
A case of life and death in the South Atlantic redefined the boundaries of necessity and continues to intrigue lawyers and writers alike....


Rajeev Puri
Nov 27, 20245 min read
The Forgotten Defender of Punjab
On November 22, India marks the 57th death anniversary of Master Tara Singh, a towering figure and a fearless leader who changed the...


Laurence Westwood
Nov 12, 20244 min read
Song Binbin and the Killing That Defined Mao’s Cultural Revolution
On August 5, 1966, Bian Zhongyun, vice-principal of the Girl’s Secondary School affiliated to Beijing Normal University, was beaten to...


Girish Kale
Oct 8, 20243 min read
Durgavati: The Queen Who Stood Against the Mughal Tide
India has long been a land of valiant kings and queens who defended their realm against invaders for over a millennium. From the British...


Shoumojit Banerjee
Oct 5, 20244 min read
Podcast Pundits and the Rewriting of History
Recently, conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson’s show with a podcaster Darryl Cooper stirred huge controversy. Cooper, a...


Kiran D. Tare
Oct 4, 20243 min read
Manipulating Gandhi: A History of Misrepresentation
Few historical figures command the universal reverence that Mahatma Gandhi does. His enduring legacy of non-violence, justice, and social...


Laurence Westwood
Sep 22, 20243 min read
From Lahore to the Stars: The Genius of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
In the autumn of 1983, browsing through a university bookshop, I stumbled upon ‘An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure’ by S....


Shoumojit Banerjee
Sep 21, 20243 min read
The Fall of the House of Timur
The siege of great cities in modern history has made for some harrowing though memorable non-fiction narratives: Cornelius Ryan’s ‘The...


Shoumojit Banerjee
Sep 19, 20243 min read
What If Aurangzeb Had Lost the War of Succession?
Counterfactual history, though generally disdained by scholars, can be valuable in exploring alternate historical outcomes by respecting...
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