How English Has Corrupted Indian Literature

India has had languages of the elite in the past — Sanskrit was one, Persian another. They were needed to unite an entity more linguistically diverse than Europe. But there was perhaps never one that bore such an uneasy relationship to the languages operating beneath it, a relationship the Sanskrit scholar Sheldon Pollock has described as “a scorched-earth policy,” as English.

Why Do Little Girls Think There’s Only One Plot?

“The girls were terrific. Silly and shy, coy and rambunctious, attention-seeking, wise beyond their years, strikingly immature, they strutted about the room like little heroines in a post-modern novella. … Their monologues, however, were a disappointment. Not because they were poorly written or lacking in style or stingy with words, but because only one girl wrote a monologue that wasn’t about getting a boyfriend, keeping a boyfriend, or losing a boyfriend.”

The Oldest Ballerina Dies At 101

“Galina Petrova was born in the city of Kerch in Crimea in 1913. She was educated as a ballet dancer at the Moscow Choreography School. During her student years the young, promising ballet dancer already danced ballet parts at Bolshoi. Upon graduation from the ballet school Petrova joined the Bolshoi ballet.”

What Does Art Smell Like?

“Imagine you’re in an art gallery, studying a portrait with a red background. Does your interpretation of it change if you taste ketchup while you look? Or smell blood? Or both? Tate Sensorium, an upcoming exhibition at the London museum Tate Britain, is attempting to answer these questions by using interactive technology to experiment with how senses change the way people interpret visual art.”