Soumya Vajpayee

Somewhere on Instagram, a teenager has paired a Faiz Ahmad Faiz couplet with a 15-second rain-soaked montage. Elsewhere, Mehdi Hassan has become the soundtrack to late-night study sessions, while someone has stumbled upon Mirza Ghalib through a Spotify playlist assembled by an algorithm that knows nothing about Urdu but everything about mood. Separately, across Mumbai, preparations are underway for the 25th edition of Khazana, India's longest-running ghazal festival, where audiences will happily devote an entire evening to an artform that rewards patience, attention and reflection. Those worlds seem far apart, yet they are increasingly converging.

From pani-puri to cut fruits, experts decode what to eat, what to avoid, and how to keep your Indian kitchen monsoon-proof

From timing your dinner to bacteria-boosting foods, experts share an evidence-based blueprint to safeguard your microbiome against seasonal infections

| Soumya Vajpayee [email protected] | Jul 27, 2026, 04:00 IST Share ‘AGT was a pit stop, not the destination'

As Euphoria marks its return with Dhoomsday, Dr Palash Sen reflects on the songs that defined a generation, balancing life as a doctor and musician, and why staying true matters more than chasing trends

Mumbai has little patience for fusion. It is expensive, loud and quick to demand, bhai, original bajao na? Yet The Indian Jam Project has spent a decade recasting Oppenheimer, Squid Game, Harry Potter and James Bond through sarangi, tabla, bansuri and sitar.

There is a singular, almost otherworldly quality when Padma Vibhushan Dr N Rajam holds her violin. Under her bow, an instrument that came to India from the West becomes a vessel for the human voice — bending, lingering and gliding through a raga with the inflection of a singer. This was Rajam's great artistic intervention: not simply to play Hindustani music on the violin, but to make the violin speak its language.

On February 1, 2026, Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama won Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording at the 68th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The album placed the Dalai Lama's words on peace, compassion and human responsibility alongside original music by sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, 80, and his sons, Amaan Ali Bangash, 49, and Ayaan Ali Bangash, 46.

The history of the Indian television detective can be traced through his tools. Karamchand had a carrot and an assistant named Kitty; the crime procedurals of the satellite era brought forensic laboratories, mobile vans and officers who could extract a confession before the next commercial break. Today, CCTV footage and phone locations do much of the sleuthing.

From moringa to amla to khubani, top chefs share easy recipes that use seasonal ingredients and spices to support digestion, immunity and gut health