close_game
close_game
Rachel Lopez

Rachel Lopez is a a writer and editor with the Hindustan Times. She has worked with the Times Group, Time Out and Vogue and has a special interest in city history, culture, etymology and internet and society.

Articles by Rachel Lopez

Do you look good on paper?: Rachel Lopez on the resume of 2022

Start from scratch, beat the bots, pivot to video, and other tips on how to tweak your profile so you stand apart, and above, others with similar skills.

 (Shutterstock)
Updated on Jan 22, 2022 05:39 PM IST

We only offer food we’d be willing to eat too, says Sahil Gilani of Gits

Gits was set up in 1963, two decades before the launch of Maggi noodles. Initially, retailers would hear packaged soup and say ‘You mean soap?” Most sales occurred overseas. Today, 65% of sales occur in India, ‘a complete flip from two decades ago’, Gilani says.

 (Photo courtesy Gits)
Updated on Jan 15, 2022 06:39 PM IST

That’s a mouthful!: A look at the science behind quick meals

Freeze-drying, flash-freezing, irradiation, retort: See what goes into giving food packages a longer life, without compromising on taste and texture.

Seaweed, fish cakes, instant noodles, prawn crackers… a hearty bowl of ramen featuring numerous preserved foods. (Pixabay)
Updated on Jan 15, 2022 06:29 PM IST

Quite a stir: A look at the 2-Minute revolution, as Maggi turns 40 in India

Maggi turned India into a noodle-slurping nation. We loved the convenience so much, we now buy microwaveable biryani and dhokla pre-mixes, and “just add water” for piping-hot, in-flight upma. See what it took to get the ball rolling, and get a taste of what’s to come.

 (Photos: Shutterstock, Nestle, Gits, Knorr, MTR, ITC; HT Imaging: Puneet Kumar)
Updated on Jan 15, 2022 06:04 PM IST

How to be a hero in 2022

It’s possible to be a good guy and not come last, be Mr Right without the righteousness, and be a nice guy even when you’re an action hero. Here are our favourite non-toxic screen characters.

Ted Lasso isn’t just nice. He maintains a level of excellence at what he does, whether its playing darts or turning young men into better versions of themselves.
Updated on Jan 01, 2022 02:29 PM IST

How do you stay chic through the party season when all styles are in?

A Wknd guide to prepping for your finest hour when every colour is cool, every style is in, and you’re Covid-negative but body-positive.

Consider a dressy onesie, a playsuit or jumpsuit, if you’d like to keep it light and chic. (Pankaj and Nidhi)
Updated on Dec 25, 2021 12:31 PM IST

Behind the scenes: Myth and memory in the Matrix

The trilogy sparked memes, conspiracy theories, in-jokes for its legions of fans. A fourth Matrix film is now in theatres. See how the franchise became the phenomenon.

Those 360-degree views were made by placing still cameras around the actors, which took shots at the same time or microseconds apart. The photos were then strung together into one seamless scene. (Warner Bros)
Updated on Dec 24, 2021 05:26 PM IST

Neo noir: The Matrix trilogy in 10 definitive scenes

If you want to catch up but it feels like three movies too many, there’s good news. Most of the films’ most iconic bits are floating around on YouTube. Use our keywords to find them.

Stop! You don’t have to rewatch all three films to make sense of The Matrix Resurrections. Use Wknd’s guide to reboot your memory in under one hour. (Warner Bros)
Updated on Dec 24, 2021 04:43 PM IST

Order! Order!: Decluttering tips from around the world

With 2022 around the corner, promising a fresh start, try out decluttering methods from around the world, and see how other cultures manage the mess.

 (HT Illustration: Jayachandran)
Updated on Dec 18, 2021 05:02 PM IST

Word on the street: Dictionaries make hefty updates for 2021

Some Korean, some Japanese, hashtags and new delicacies are among the latest additions to Merriam-Webster, OED and Collins.

 (Getty Images)
Updated on Dec 04, 2021 02:41 PM IST

Money can’t buy me love: The Beatles at auction

Their music is priceless. But what is their memorabilia worth? It depends on who’s buying, when, and what you consider to be Beatles objects in the first place.

The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Some artefacts receive no love. A fibreglass wall segment from the show, with an autograph and caricature by each band member, went on auction with a reserve price of just over $1 million, but found no takers.
Updated on Dec 03, 2021 08:34 PM IST

A rewrite: The ballad of John and Yoko

Ono didn’t break the Beatles up, but she’s long been cast as the villain in the tale. Half a century on, fans are finally seeing her in a fairer light, and as an artist and musician in her own right.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon protest the Vietnam War by staging a ‘bed-in’ at a hotel room in Amsterdam in 1969. (Redferns via Getty Images)
Updated on Dec 03, 2021 08:14 PM IST

The truth is out there: Inside the world’s largest fact-checkers’ conference

New findings and fears were discussed at the recent Global Fact 8. What will the next battles and frontiers in fake news be? Take a look.

 (HT Illustration: Jayachandran)
Updated on Nov 20, 2021 02:21 PM IST

It’s a-me, Mario: The world’s favourite video game turns 40

See how Super Mario Bros and its beloved Italian plumber have shaped gaming and pop culture over the decades.

Why is it still the best-selling title of all time? The game’s designer Shigeru Miyamoto believes it’s because Mario’s journey is universal. “Everyone is afraid of falling from a great height. If there is a gap, everyone is going to try to run to jump across,” he has said. (Nintendo)
Updated on Nov 20, 2021 12:52 PM IST

Dominating the cheeseboard: Mausam Jotwani Narang

A 35-year-old who set up her fromagerie in 2014 just walked away with a silver rating at the World Cheese Awards. Meet the woman behind Mumbai’s Eleftheria, and her now-world-renowned Norwegian-style brunost.

 (Satish Bate / HT Photo)
Updated on Nov 19, 2021 08:06 PM IST

Learn to tell a rerun from a reunion, reboot and recut

It seems like every new movie or TV show on screen these days harks back to an older version. As entertainment moguls mine our memories and turn nostalgia into new material, much gets changed along the way. Here’s how to keep track of it all.

The Gossip Girl reboot is a reworking of the show for an even newer audience. It restarts the same premise eight years after the events of the old series. (HBO Max)
Updated on Nov 12, 2021 09:50 PM IST

An ode to blue: the pigment of our imagination

Blue is rare enough in the natural world. Now, paint makers say they’re running out of raw materials for the synthetic version too. The colour is an integral part of modern life — it’s in our plastics, paintings, public profiles and protests. How did this shade end up infusing our world?

Blue pigments have taken over our world, representing everything from royalty to the colour of resistance. And they tell stories of art, commerce, history and science. (Shutterstock)
Updated on Nov 14, 2021 02:44 PM IST

This Madras-born chemist invented the first blue pigment in 200 years

It’s a once-in-a-blue-moon find. But Mas Subramanian, at the Oregon State University in the US, says his new find is more than a cosmetic change. It’s a colour that can help fight climate change.

Mas Subramanian with is prize discovery, a sample of YInMn Blue. (Oregon State University)
Updated on Nov 12, 2021 09:52 PM IST

See how these blue paints were born, and how they took over the world

Each shade of synthetic blue has a story of its own, telling tales of our own obsession with a colour so rarely found in nature.

See how these blue paints were born, and how they took over the world
Updated on Nov 12, 2021 09:52 PM IST

Missing blue? Here’s a whole show of Indian art dedicated to it

How you see blue reflects how you see life, says Shatadeep Maitra, co-curator of Indian Blue: From Realism to Abstraction, showing at Delhi’s DAG gallery until December 1.

Blue pops out of a Cubist-inspired work by Ramkinkar Baij. (DAG gallery)
Updated on Nov 12, 2021 09:53 PM IST

Through the ages: How one colour blue us away

From prized hue to a symbol of the resistance, check out the various roles blue has played across the world over the centuries

Van Gogh used Prussian Blue to dramatic effect in Starry Night. (Van Gogh Museum)
Updated on Nov 12, 2021 09:54 PM IST

How to make sense of the millennial devotion to Sally Rooney

At 30, her books have sold millions of copies. You can’t escape her on screen either. Do her spare prose, banal intimacies and joyless characters make for epic stories? They don’t. So what has worked?

Rooney’s Normal People has been turned into a TV series (above); more adaptations are in the works. What works for Rooney is that she taps into the malaise of her young audience; even love straggles along like everything else, as the world slowly comes apart. (Hulu)
Updated on Oct 29, 2021 08:39 PM IST

Playing the field: Meet the earth warrior who has won a £1 million global prize

Vidyut Mohan has created a machine that can turn crop waste into biofuel, at a lower cost to the operator and the environment. Could this help with India’s annual post-harvest smog crisis? The 30-year-old is betting, and hoping, that it can.

 (Raj K Raj / HT Photo)
Updated on Oct 30, 2021 07:26 PM IST

Global flavour: GI foods from around the world

In Russia, a tussle over the term champagne; in Japan, a unique tomato. Check out how other countries make the most of their indigenous produce.

Germany’s Black Forest ham. It’s among the country’s 9,500 Geographical Indications. Others include a variety of beers, sausages and cheeses. (Shutterstock)
Updated on Oct 16, 2021 04:31 PM IST

I’m not sure that GI has helped Darjeeling tea, says Tea Board chairman

Darjeeling tea was granted India’s first GI, in 2004. But unless you’re selling directly to a customer who already knows your product, a GI tag is of no help, says Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah.

 (Shutterstock)
Updated on Oct 16, 2021 03:55 PM IST

Top of the crops: Take a trip around India in 10 GI foods

To celebrate the real flavour of India, sample the foods it is protecting. From Lakadong turmeric in Meghalaya to Gujarat’s Gir Kesar mangoes, from Kashmir saffron to Edayur chillies in Kerala, India’s Geographical Indications tell new stories of culture, community, craft and unique cuisine.

Over 380 items have received Geographical Indications in India. Among the most recent food items are (clockwise from top left) the Silao khaja, Hyderabad haleem, Dahanu Gholvad chikoo, Khola chillies, Jhabua Kadaknath black chicken meat and kalanamak rice from UP’s Purvanchal region. (Shutterstock)
Updated on Oct 16, 2021 03:45 PM IST

Grounded in art: Highlights from the Air India collection

There’s art by Husain, Raza and Ara, ancient sculpture, collectibles, an ashtray designed by Salvador Dali. Sadly, no museum yet. But that could change.

Air-India’s much-sought-after hand-painted calendars. Those in private collections now fetch upwards of <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>10,000 each.
Updated on Oct 08, 2021 08:17 PM IST

The secrets are out: What declassified files have revealed

As India moves to declassify old military records and make them public, take a look at strange events from world history that remained secrets for years, even decades.

Part of Alan Turing’s Enigma Machine, which was used to decode enemy messages during WWII at Bletchley Park in Britain. (Shutterstock)
Updated on Sep 25, 2021 03:47 PM IST

All the sci-fi fantasy films and shows headed your way

It’s more than magic. Sequels, prequels, animations and brand new adaptations of classic titles are on the books.

Finally, a children’s show set in the Star Trek universe. The animated series features adventures of the crew aboard the experimental Starfleet ship, USS Protostar.
Updated on Sep 24, 2021 08:36 PM IST

Foundation course: Your guide to Asimov’s books and backstory

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series casts a long shadow over science fiction. See why, and what connections Hari Seldon to Harry Potter.

Foundation course: Your guide to Asimov’s books and backstory
Updated on Sep 24, 2021 08:33 PM IST
SHARE
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • ...
Story Saved
Live Score
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Monday, February 10, 2025
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On