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Bhanuj Kappal

Articles by Bhanuj Kappal

First word problems: A new book explores the ancient history of the spoken word

Writing goes back about 5,000 years, but the spoken words is over a million years old. Psychology, biology and archaeology are now piecing its tale together.

Markings in a cave at Lascaux, France. For aeons before the written word, splotches and scratchings like the ones above were likely used to communicate information. What were the sounds that likely accompanied them? (Hartlepool Museums)

Art and Culture

Updated on Mar 14, 2025 04:23 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Crystal gazing: Could we essentially preserve our species forever?

A new ‘Superman crystal’ holds a map of the entire human genome. It could live forever. But who would resurrect us? What else can the crystal do? Take a look.

Art and Culture

Updated on Dec 21, 2024 07:06 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Treble in the village: See what sets the Big Bang! Festival of Love apart

It celebrates music, but also Assam’s culture and indigenous ways of life.Expect foraging walks, wine-making sessions, takes on politics and peace.

Japanese trombonist Chie Nishikori at the festival. (Image:Nilotpal Kalita)

Art and Culture

Updated on Dec 14, 2024 04:39 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Bone of contention: How anthropologist Irawati Karve took on race theory

‘Logic and reason don’t belong to any one group of people,’ Karve famously said. A new book traces her life, legacy, and how she faced her own demons too.

Karve at work in Gujarat, in 1944. (Images courtesy Iru: The Remarkable Life of Irawati Karve)

Art and Culture

Updated on Nov 29, 2024 01:55 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

How MuSo helps kids learn outside classrooms

Mumbai's Museum of Solutions (MuSo) offers children hands-on learning through play, fostering creativity and critical thinking in a unique space.

Mumbai

Updated on Nov 17, 2024 07:12 AM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Hit and myths: Poems of love, tales of anger from Meghalaya

The poet and author Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih has just won another award, for works that weave past and present, what we’ve lost and are at risk of losing.

The writer’s new book, The Distaste of the Earth, uses a Khasi legend about star-crossed lovers to explore themes of religion, justice and communal conflict. It has been longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature.

Art and Culture

Updated on Oct 18, 2024 07:47 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

A man befriends a cloud, in a touching debut by filmmaker Abhinandan Banerjee

The Cloud and the Man has been running in theatres for weeks, in West Bengal. He didn’t expect this for his little indie debut, Banerjee says.

A still from Manikbabur Megh, featuring theatre veteran Chandan Sen.

Art and Culture

Updated on Oct 12, 2024 01:28 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Quick on the draw: A Wknd interview with comic journalist Dan Archer

He draws news stories of homelessness, police brutality, incarceration. His first graphic novel is now out, set amid human-trafficking victims in Nepal.

In some of Archer’s VR and AR comics, the viewer walks through a re-enactment as it unfolds. This allows for multiple perspectives, he says. ‘Which is a very important reminder that there is no one single truth.’ (Images courtesy Dan Archer / Voices from Nepal)

Art and Culture

Updated on Oct 11, 2024 01:35 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Lost and sound: Bhanuj Kappal writes on the new Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album

The tracks were recorded by the legendary qawwal in 1990. 27 years after his death, Chain of Light is a gift, a treasure, a reminder of a largely forgotten tale

Art and Culture

Updated on Sep 27, 2024 09:12 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Track changes in Bastar: Check out medleys by tribal artists, Mumbai band Daira

A new album – Jadoo Bastar – features intriguing collaborations. It was recorded in that district too, in fairly unusual circumstances.

(Clockwise from top left) Lakheshwar Khudaram, Vineeta Pandey, Rahul Raikwar on the flute, and Soma playing the todi.

Art and Culture

Updated on Sep 21, 2024 01:27 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Nusrat fan from Kumaon breaks the caste barrier

Fourteen years later, the 29-year-old is living his dream as the frontman and bandleader of Rehmat-e-Nusrat, a group of young musicians from the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand who perform qawwali and ghazals with a subtle Kumaoni-folk twist

Mumbai

Updated on Sep 01, 2024 06:22 AM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

An experiment heard around the world:The making of L Subramaniam’s Global Fusion

In the seminal album by the Carnatic violinist, musicians from around the world combine instruments and vocals in new ways.

Art and Culture

Updated on Aug 30, 2024 04:34 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

As easy as 2 + 2?: Violinist L Subramaniam on his unique formula for music

The world-renowned Carnatic violinist has always sought to meld musical cultures. In his new book, he explores an approach that would let anyone do this.

At a recording studio in Los Angeles with George Harrison, in 1974.

Art and Culture

Updated on Aug 30, 2024 07:47 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Fellowship of the string: Bhanuj Kappal on pathbreaking violinist L Subramaniam

He's performed with George Harrison, Yehudi Menuhin; taken the Carnatic violin around the world; created a new formula for music. We must try new things,he says

‘Using my method, anyone who is familiar with Carnatic music can write major orchestral pieces without having to go abroad to study Western music theory,’ says Subramaniam. His new book, Raga Harmony, has more on this.

Art and Culture

Updated on Aug 30, 2024 04:30 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Soon, you can book tickets for Eiffel Tower using UPI, with French visa

Under Patrick Branco Ruivo, the organisation has taken many steps to make the Eiffel Tower a more appealing destination for Indian tourists

A grab of a video released by the Olympic Broadcasting Services shows Canadian Singer Celine Dion performing on the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, on July 26, 2024. (Photo by various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

Mumbai

Updated on Aug 28, 2024 09:07 AM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Note what you’d expect: A photobook zooms in on Meghalaya’s indie musicians

See how photographer Anurag Banerjee’s search for home and identity led him to explore the struggles, songs and universal experiences of these artists.

Khasi music group Ka Sur Na Nongkyndong, as photographed by Anurag Banerjee for the book The Songs of our People.

Art and Culture

Updated on Jul 26, 2024 02:40 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

I’m the problem, it’s me: Turns out, pop lyrics are stuck in a loop

New research suggests a trend towards simpler, more repetitive lines - and towards lyrics focused increasingly on the self.

Art and Culture

Updated on Jul 20, 2024 04:42 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Ebrahim Alkazi: A giant’s tale is retold for a new generation

A biography by his daughter, Amal Allana, finally puts the masterful theatre director at centrestage. See how he built a new mission for the art form in India.

Ebrahim Alkazi: Holding Time Captive was released this year by Vintage. In it, writing as a daughter, a student (she trained under him at NSD) and a veteran theatre director herself, Allana paints an intimate portrait of a complex man.

Art and Culture

Updated on Jul 06, 2024 03:32 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Writing, yoga, toddy-tapping: Retreats are making authorship more accessible

Authors visit to talk to aspiring writers; communities develop, share their work with each other and benefit from collaborations and feedback.

At an edition of the Alekhya Retreat in Himachal Pradesh.

Art and Culture

Updated on Jun 29, 2024 02:56 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

L Shankar and his double violin’s journey through pop, jazz and classical music

The violin maestro has collaborated or performed with a whole host of musical greats from East and West, including Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, Trilok Gurtu, Eric Clapton, and Sting. Even at 74, he’s indefatigable, always looking ahead to the next studio session or performance

Mumbai

Updated on Jun 16, 2024 07:52 AM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Symphony of flavours from home kitchens

These Mumbaikars have mastered the secret sauce of artisanal takeaways and are doling out limited-edition gastronomic experiences

Mumbai

Updated on Jun 09, 2024 06:27 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Gather the storm troopers: A look at 150 years of IMD

The agency began with a single employee. It’s seen blue skies, cloudy days. See how it's evolving, but why it still can’t reliably say: Will it rain tomorrow?

In a key instance of delayed notice, the warning about the dust storm that hit Mumbai on May 13 only went out about an hour before it struck. (HT Archives)

Art and Culture

Updated on May 25, 2024 02:02 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

A math major makes a calculated move into jazz and theatre

After spending the last year in New York as a cast member in Mira Nair’s ‘Monsoon Wedding’ musical, she is currently in rehearsals for an upcoming staging of the Rajiv Joseph play ‘Letters of Suresh’, directed by Feroze Abbas Khan

Palomi Ghosh, now a National-Award-winning actor with a sideline in music. (Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times)

Mumbai

Updated on May 05, 2024 06:46 AM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Desert prose: A rebel Mughal princess comes to life, in a new book

Gulbadan Begum, author of the Humayun-nama, was the Mughal empire’s only woman historian. A new book looks at her intriguing life.

Celebrations in the women’s quarters at the time of Akbar’s circumcision. The British Library blog notes: 'One of the ladies is almost certainly Gulbadan.' (Akbarnama, BL Or. 12988, fol. 114r, British Library. With permission from the British Library / Granger)

Art and Culture

Updated on Apr 26, 2024 09:54 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

You’ve got tales: Titles to bookmark this year

Ai Weiwei writes a graphic novel on his life; AI retells Animal Farm; Questlove on hip-hop; a robot on the run... check out books with a twist to watch out for.

Art and Culture

Updated on Apr 12, 2024 05:43 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

1984-letter words: Ripple effects in music, videogames, books and films

Artists have found creative ways, over 75 years, to bring Oceania and its dystopia into their works. Reimaginings have included parodies and spoofs too.

Muse performs songs from their 1984-inspired album The Resistance (2009), in Birmingham.

Art and Culture

Updated on Apr 05, 2024 06:19 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Caught in the current: Check out the short film series Water Wars

How have diet, real-estate, crime contributed to our water crises? Two great minds collaborate to offer answers, in a series of animated narrative short films.

A still from The Land of Good Intentions, on Punjab, rice and agriculture, illustrated by Sarnath Banerjee. (Courtesy MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology and MIT Department of Economics)

Art and Culture

Updated on Mar 29, 2024 04:30 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Dock,stock and barrel: Meet the rocket engineer driving a sea change in shipping

It was hard to leave her dream job at ISRO. But Padmini Mellacheruvu, 30, is now framing rules to help massive ships switch to a clean fuel: hydrogen.

‘Small hydrogen-powered tug boats are already running in European waters. I am confident hydrogen will catch on, over the next five years,’ says Mellacheruvu, a hydrogen systems expert with Lloyd’s Register.

Art and Culture

Updated on Mar 15, 2024 07:48 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Thinning out, not cooling off: Climate crisis and the dip in global population

We’ve always thought of fewer humans as good news: fewer mouths to feed, fewer emissions. But when it comes to climate, the case for optimism is much weaker.

A detail of artist Hema Upadhyay’s (1972-2015) installation, Where The Bees Suck There Suck I (2009), a depiction of urban chaos, characterised by overpopulation and political and economic perils. (Wikimedia Commons)

Art and Culture

Updated on Mar 02, 2024 11:43 AM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

Muggle breaks a spell:The remarkable tale of Harry Potter stuntsman David Holmes

He was Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double. An accident on set left him paralysed. Holmes discusses new loves, new life, as a documentary sets out to tell his tale.

During a practice session for an aerial stunt. (Photos courtesy David Holmes)

Art and Culture

Updated on Feb 17, 2024 02:51 PM IST

ByBhanuj Kappal

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Bhanuj Kappal

Writing goes back about 5,000 years, but the spoken words is over a million years old. Psychology, biology and archaeology are now piecing its tale together.

A new ‘Superman crystal’ holds a map of the entire human genome. It could live forever. But who would resurrect us? What else can the crystal do? Take a look.

It celebrates music, but also Assam’s culture and indigenous ways of life.Expect foraging walks, wine-making sessions, takes on politics and peace.

‘Logic and reason don’t belong to any one group of people,’ Karve famously said. A new book traces her life, legacy, and how she faced her own demons too.

Mumbai's Museum of Solutions (MuSo) offers children hands-on learning through play, fostering creativity and critical thinking in a unique space.

The poet and author Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih has just won another award, for works that weave past and present, what we’ve lost and are at risk of losing.

The Cloud and the Man has been running in theatres for weeks, in West Bengal. He didn’t expect this for his little indie debut, Banerjee says.

He draws news stories of homelessness, police brutality, incarceration. His first graphic novel is now out, set amid human-trafficking victims in Nepal.

The tracks were recorded by the legendary qawwal in 1990. 27 years after his death, Chain of Light is a gift, a treasure, a reminder of a largely forgotten tale

A new album – Jadoo Bastar – features intriguing collaborations. It was recorded in that district too, in fairly unusual circumstances.

Fourteen years later, the 29-year-old is living his dream as the frontman and bandleader of Rehmat-e-Nusrat, a group of young musicians from the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand who perform qawwali and ghazals with a subtle Kumaoni-folk twist

In the seminal album by the Carnatic violinist, musicians from around the world combine instruments and vocals in new ways.

The world-renowned Carnatic violinist has always sought to meld musical cultures. In his new book, he explores an approach that would let anyone do this.

He's performed with George Harrison, Yehudi Menuhin; taken the Carnatic violin around the world; created a new formula for music. We must try new things,he says

Under Patrick Branco Ruivo, the organisation has taken many steps to make the Eiffel Tower a more appealing destination for Indian tourists

See how photographer Anurag Banerjee’s search for home and identity led him to explore the struggles, songs and universal experiences of these artists.

New research suggests a trend towards simpler, more repetitive lines - and towards lyrics focused increasingly on the self.

A biography by his daughter, Amal Allana, finally puts the masterful theatre director at centrestage. See how he built a new mission for the art form in India.

Authors visit to talk to aspiring writers; communities develop, share their work with each other and benefit from collaborations and feedback.

The violin maestro has collaborated or performed with a whole host of musical greats from East and West, including Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, Trilok Gurtu, Eric Clapton, and Sting. Even at 74, he’s indefatigable, always looking ahead to the next studio session or performance

These Mumbaikars have mastered the secret sauce of artisanal takeaways and are doling out limited-edition gastronomic experiences

The agency began with a single employee. It’s seen blue skies, cloudy days. See how it's evolving, but why it still can’t reliably say: Will it rain tomorrow?

After spending the last year in New York as a cast member in Mira Nair’s ‘Monsoon Wedding’ musical, she is currently in rehearsals for an upcoming staging of the Rajiv Joseph play ‘Letters of Suresh’, directed by Feroze Abbas Khan

Gulbadan Begum, author of the Humayun-nama, was the Mughal empire’s only woman historian. A new book looks at her intriguing life.

Ai Weiwei writes a graphic novel on his life; AI retells Animal Farm; Questlove on hip-hop; a robot on the run... check out books with a twist to watch out for.

Artists have found creative ways, over 75 years, to bring Oceania and its dystopia into their works. Reimaginings have included parodies and spoofs too.

How have diet, real-estate, crime contributed to our water crises? Two great minds collaborate to offer answers, in a series of animated narrative short films.

It was hard to leave her dream job at ISRO. But Padmini Mellacheruvu, 30, is now framing rules to help massive ships switch to a clean fuel: hydrogen.

We’ve always thought of fewer humans as good news: fewer mouths to feed, fewer emissions. But when it comes to climate, the case for optimism is much weaker.

He was Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double. An accident on set left him paralysed. Holmes discusses new loves, new life, as a documentary sets out to tell his tale.

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