Culture

Take a visual tour of the colourful festival of Holi as it is celebrated in all its glory in the ancient cities of Mathura and Vrindavan.

The Parsis may be a small community in terms of numbers, and it would have been quite easy for them to become invisible in this vast country of ours, but their accomplishments and sense of philanthropy has made them stand out. Here's a look at how they landed in India, and managed to flourish while creating a deep respect and adoration in the hearts of Indians. Gangadharan Menon has interacted with his several Parsi friends and traveled to their historically important sites to recreate their history in words and photographs.

The Hornbill Festival, held in the first week of December every year, is a marvelous riot of colour that shows off the rich fare of diverse cultures and traditional arts that is Nagaland. Here you can witness the attires, folk music and dance forms, headgears, cuisines, paintings, handicrafts, and other intricacies of the varied tribes and sub-tribes of the state, as Meena Vaidyanathan did. Here we invite you to take a look at the festival just gone by through her words and lens, while hoping you can make it there yourself this year!

India is estimated to have about 635 indigenous communities. Each of these groups of people have a unique identity, with their very own brand of culture, traditions and folklore. Unfortunately, most of this knowledge is passed on from generation to generation in the oral form, and in the face of dwindling tribal population, advent of modern education and widespread displacement in the name of development, most of this ancient wisdom is getting eroded. This is where a group of individuals calling themselves Acoustics Traditional are making an effort to preserve the precious heritage.

Pratham Books celebrated International Literacy Day in a unique way - by holding storytelling sessions for thousands of children across India. Read an account of one such session held by our friend and writer in Assam, and learn about the beautiful experience storytelling can be - both for the listener and the teller, while serving as an important educational aid.

A nondescript village in Bihar is showing the way with its innovative way of celebrating the birth of a girl child - by planting at least 10 fruit trees! They are tackling declining sex ratios, global warming and climate change - all at once!