India Archives

How to be Culturally Sensitive in India’s Religious Cities

Millions of people travel to India for leisure every year, enamoured by the exhilarating and romantic possibilities the country holds for them. But India is not a country of just one culture as depicted by stereotypes in western media, as well as by growing Hindu nationalism inside the country. There are 22 officially recognised languages,…

ByNirvana BhandarySeptember 1, 2024

India Story

Swimming in My Father’s Ashes

Somebody once told me that if you want to go to India, you have to give yourself time. Time to see, to taste, time to sink into the spirit of the land – but most of all, time to get sick. Because even if all the other things leave you cold and uninspired, you will…

ByPhilip Webb GreggJuly 5, 2023

Editorial India Nepal

White Feminism and Cultural Appropriation Beyond Clothes

You’re at a house party and a woman you don’t know won’t stop blabbering to the group about her three-month trip to India and Nepal. “I just got back! Like six months ago,” she says, raising her voice to compete with the music. It’s the third time she’s recounted this anecdote tonight in your earshot,…

ByNirvana BhandaryJune 24, 2022

India Story

The Halloween Puja

I’m going to be a boxer. I walk to town and ask my tailor to make me a baby blue bathrobe with a hood. This requires a fair amount of pantomiming and gesturing. Then I ask him to make me a pair of red boxing gloves. “Boxing gloves?” asks Rajesh. He sends a boy out…

ByAlex TzelnicJuly 27, 2020

India Story

No One Ever Told Me How to Reject a Billionaire

I have a habit of getting into cars with strange men. And despite what your mother may have told you about such activities, I’ve had a good run. I’ve lived to tell the tale of Venetian musos, Nepali gurus, Indian politicians and Spanish royalists, all prepared to give a reckless Kiwi lass a lift in…

ByJosie MajorJanuary 2, 2019